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Comment MXO? (Score 1) 95

Remember when MXO started they promised that everything that happened in the game would become lore for any more movies. Too bad that the brothers(!?) screwed up the last two so bad that there never will be any others. Of course MXO bit the dust last month and no one even cared about the end of the Matrix.

Comment Re:You have a very confused definition of privacy (Score 1) 124

I'm in the middle of developing an Android location based services game. I have cut it down to the course location (read cell tower triangulation) and only am using to data to do two things. The first is to determine your startup location and radius of play. The second is to allow interaction between users based on if you fire up the game in their location. You have certain options not available to you when you are in someone elses territory. In no case do I keep any of data except your startup location. The rest gets wiped when you exit the game.
As for privacy concerns I guess it would be a valid point. I know that I have played Parallel Kingdoms (which is cross platform both android and iphone) and it uses the location based services also for the same general purpose of picking a starting area. I'm not any more concerned about a game storing my data than I am about the ability to track my phone without my consent via triangulation. After all the phone has to communicate to the towers.
Microsoft

Submission + - Bing blocks sexual content in 20% of regions

An anonymous reader writes: One Microsoft Way is reporting that 20 percent of the regions offered on Bing get the following error message when searching for sexual content: 'The search sex may return sexually explicit content. To get results, change your search terms.' 12 out of 58 receive this message. You can see the block yourself by changing your region in the top right corner of a Bing search. The workaround is just as simple: just choose a region that isn't on the list above to get around the block. Microsoft says it determined this list of regions by looking at their local laws.
Books

Submission + - Author David Eddings Has Passed Away, Age 77 (about.com)

thejynxed writes: "From the source article:

Eddings was famously old-fashioned, never using a typewriter or computer (he wrote out his scripts in long-hand) and was well-known for being self-effacing, once remarking, "I'm never going to be in danger of getting a Nobel Prize for literature."

From another article:

David Eddings, the acclaimed fantasy novelist and author of such series as The Belgariad and The Malloreon, has died at the age of 77. David Eddings was predeceased by his wife and writing partner Leigh two years ago.

It's a shame really, as The Belgariad is one of the better series out there, IMHO. I spent many hours of class time during my junior and high school years reading his novels."

Comment Squatting is not the word. (Score 1) 800

And don't forget about gambling. It must not be reasonable either. Honestly I question why a person sitting on a domain that has a single search page is squatting? I have several that are either in development (behind the scenes) or failed attempts. Probably more failed attempts but I suck at promotion. These ALL have something on them that MAY make me some money to offset the costs that I have incurred while developing. I'm not squatting on them and if someone wanted to purchase them they could easily negotiate with me. Squatting would mean that someone else owns the rights or property to the said domain.

Comment Re:So, what is the problem? (Score 1) 358

I have a similar issue with yahoo. We have people sign up for classes then mark the email they receive with their information as spam. This means that tech support gets to field calls because yahoo bans also by IP. No one that uses yahoo gets their login information and every one of them calls. Emails to the administration "team" result in form mail back telling me to email them if I want more help. Damnit! I can't email them from the email they want me to email from because they have it blocked. They just don't give a damn.
Patents

Submission + - New Crime; "Attempted Copyright Infringement&#

qazwart writes: According to a story in News.com, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pushing changes in the copyright law that would make it a crime to attempt to infringe a copyright. These changes are in the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007.

Currently, federal law makes not-for-profit copyright infringement a felony. Under this new proposal, it would now be a crime if you merely attempt to infringe on a copyright. Also under the new proposal:

  • Life sentence for using pirated software: Anyone who uses pirated software that recklessly causes or attempts to cause death can be imprisoned for life. A government example was a hospital that uses software it didn't pay for.
  • More Wiretaps: Wiretaps can be authorized for Americans who are attempting to infringe on copyrights
  • Civil Asset Forfeiture: Computer equipment "intended to be used in any manner" for committing a crime under this statute (including attempting to infringe on a copyright) may be seized via a civil asset forfeiture. That is, your computer equipment can be confiscated before you are charged with a crime, and can be sold by the government for additional revenue.
  • Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America: This would happen when "unauthorized fixations of the sounds, or sounds and images, of a live musical performance" are attempted to be imported. No other copyright holder would have this privilege.
According to the article:

A representative of the Motion Picture Association of America told us: "We appreciate the department's commitment to intellectual-property protection and look forward to working with both the department and Congress as the process moves ahead.
Microsoft

Submission + - Has M$ sabotaged Windown XP?

Michael Andersen writes: Is it just me? Or has Microsoft sabotaged XP lately, possibly to 'help' Vista sales along. I work in IT, and I get one machine after the other in to be fixed, and they all suffer from the most mysterious sickness. They boot up, then after a little while the disk access increases, and it continues to increase until the machine is deadlocked. In my many years in IT and in the history og Windows XP, I have never experienced so many problems at once. Windows XP has always been pretty stable and reliable, and now that Vista sales are lagging, XP performs worse than ever. I know that people will yell at me for acting paranoid, but hey, M$ has created this state in people themselves by using every trick known to mandkind to get further ahead, so no I wouldn't but anything past them anymore! I have had a few people tell me that they have updated to Vista because it gave them better performance on their exsistent hardware!! anyone who has ever used Vista know that, that's not possible !! P.S. If I dissapear, You know who did it!! Cheers, Michael

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