Comment Re:Oh great... (Score 1) 396
R. Daneel? R.Daneel doesn't come into the Foundation series until Foundation and Earth...unless they make "Prelude" first, I guess.
Opus the Penguin Retired 218
garylian writes "Berkeley Breathed has announced that he has drawn the final comic containing the greatest penguin ever, Opus. The author is now going to write children's books. For those of you in your mid-30s and older, you remember Bloom County as a staple of the comic pages in a similar time frame as Calvin & Hobbes, and that time was probably the greatest the daily/Sunday comics have ever known. From running for the vice presidency to impersonating Michael Jackson, from gracing a ton of t-shirts to being one of the weirdest stuffed animals ever, from rocking in a heavy metal band 'Billy and the Boingers' to cleaning up Bill's hair balls, Opus was perfect for that time. And Bloom County would have been perfect during the Bush 2 years. Now, I'm going to pull out all my old Bloom County books and read them. After I dig through some boxes and find my old Opus dolls. I wonder what my kids are going to think of them."
Submission + - Blockbuster CEO confused by Netflix fascination (wired.com)
Robaato writes: Wired Magazine's Epicenter blog reports that Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes is baffled by the success of Netflix. "I've been frankly confused by this fascination that everybody has with Netflix," he said in an interview.
Keyes also expresses the belief that since HE is only interested in watching new releases, EVERYBODY is only interested in watching new releases. A film buff he is not.
Keyes also expresses the belief that since HE is only interested in watching new releases, EVERYBODY is only interested in watching new releases. A film buff he is not.
Submission + - 30 Years of Voyager (smh.com.au)
Robaato writes: While Spirit and Opportunity's endurance is certainly amazing, the Voyager missions, launched 30 years ago, are just as incredible if not more so.
Which do you think is more impressive, the Mars Rover's survival in the harsh conditions on Mars, or Voyager 1 and 2's sheer longevity?With the nuclear-powered Voyagers tipped to keep transmitting until at least 2020, Mr Murray has to show younger staff how to maintain the vital hardware. "I find it funny that I send people I am teaching to go and get parts for these machines that are older than them," he said.
Submission + - Blockbuster chooses Blu-Ray over HD-DVD (engadget.com)
Robaato writes: "Blockbuster has opted to stock Blu-Ray over HD-DVD in almost all of its brick & mortar stores. However, they will still carry both HD formats on their online service. Endgadget calls it a "huge blow to Toshiba, Universal, and the rest of the HD DVD devotees," and asks "is the war over?" in their headline. Is this realistic, or could they be over-estimating the impact of Blockbuster in this day and age?"
Report of Net Art Theft Draws Lawyer Threats 211
An anonymous reader sends in word of the well-known artist Todd Goldman, who has been accused of stealing images and ideas from an Internet comic artist/author and others, and profiting from them. Goldman has now threatened to sue the Web page that pointed out the apparent theft to the world.
Submission + - Where Digg Failed
legoburner writes: "An interesting op-ed piece has appeared detailing the author's belief that Digg is so fundamentally flawed that it is only a matter of time before it completely collapses. Why Digg Failed has some choice quotes and analysis of why Digg's popularity has caused it to become too similar to tabloids in gaining attention and how quality has fallen drastically as usage has increased. Take note slashdot/firehose!"
Submission + - AllOfMP3 payments cut off
cerberusss writes: "As of February 2007, the popular Russian music download site AllOfMP3 seems to be cut off from user payments. Whereas previously it was possible to buy gift certificates at XRost and then using these at AllOfMP3, the XRost payment provider displays the following message upon logging in:
However, the 48 hours have passed since long and it's not known when payments will be possible again. Did the RIAA finally get what they wanted?"As part of our ongoing effort to improve the payment platform, we will be performing a scheduled server maintenance. The payment option at our site will be restored in 48 hours.
Submission + - Citizendium failing to gain traction?
An anonymous reader writes: Despite the two recent Slashdot articles about Larry Sanger's Citizendium, it appears that the site is having difficulty converting good publicity into new content. Although the project saw impressive spikes in the number of new user registrations on both occasions, neither of them resulted in a general increase in the number of edits made to the site; even the number of article edits for the last 24 hours are lower than pre-Slashdot levels. What does this mean for the budding Wikipedia competitor?
CEO Shawn Hogan Takes on MPAA 491
IAmTheDave writes "Shawn Hogan, CEO of Digital Point Solutions, has found himself on the receiving end of an MPAA lawsuit claiming he downloaded a copy of 'Meet the Fockers' on Bittorrent. Mr. Hogan both denies the charges as well as claims he already owns the movie on DVD. After being asked to pay a $2500 extortion fee, Mr. Hogan lawyered up and has vowed to challenge and help change the MPAA's tactics. 'They're completely abusing the system,' Hogan says. Although expecting to pay well over $100,000 to defend himself, he claims 'I would spend well into the millions on this.'"
The Pornographers vs. The Pirates 275
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a piece on how pornography is again leading the way and showing Holywood how to fight back against piracy. From the article: 'Some producers of porn are starting to share revenues from online movies with the distributors of their DVDs, who might otherwise feel endangered by digital distribution online. Bolder yet, one large studio is allowing fans who buy movies online to burn them from their computers onto DVDs, with some protections included, of course.'"
