Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Really bad summary (Score 1) 281

Maybe I'm misreading TFA, but weren't these phones stolen, not purchased? I realize it was from a federal agent, so all the usual arguments as far as entrapment would ensue, but wasn't he actually jailed BECAUSE HE PLEAD GUILTY and was a foreign national who intended to flee the country upon his release? God, can't we just post article summaries that accurately portray the articles? Oh wait, I forgot where I am... Nevermind.

Comment Re:This will be overturned (Score 1) 631

Maybe. Most table saws come with splitters and chip guards that are the first thing to be removed by the user. They might improve safety but make the saw almost impossible to use effectively. I see this leading to tool manufacturers' insurance carriers mandating the inclusion of some other cheaply made and ineffective solution to the problem. That saw-stop technology is amazing - I've seen the demos. But other manufacturers will jump through whatever hoops they have to in order to avoid actually incorporating technology that increases the cost of the saw and the reduction of their profit margins. Woodworkers are a pretty macho bunch and will not demand better from the makers.
Games

The Struggle For Private Game Servers 125

A story at the BBC takes a look at the use of private game servers for games that tend not to allow them. While most gamers are happy to let companies like Blizzard and NCSoft administer the servers that host their MMORPGs, others want different rules, a cheaper way to play, or the technical challenge of setting up their own. A South African player called Hendrick put up his own WoW server because the game "wasn't available in the country at the time." A 21-year-old Swede created a server called Epilogue, which "had strict codes of conduct and rules, as well as a high degree of customized content (such as new currency, methods of earning experience, the ability to construct buildings and hire non-player characters, plus 'permanent' player death) unavailable in the retail version of the game." The game companies make an effort to quash these servers when they can, though it's frequently more trouble that it's worth. An NCSoft representative referenced the "growing menace" of IP theft, and a Blizzard spokesperson said,"We also have a responsibility to our players to ensure the integrity and reliability of their World of Warcraft gaming experience and that responsibility compels us to protect our rights."

Comment Re:Uh, Popular Mechanics? Unpublished Work? (Score 2, Insightful) 195

Isn't Popular Mechanics the rag where half-baked technologies go to die? Right after the part where they will revolutionize All Life As We Know It? And right before the part where The Idea is killed by an Evil Conspiracy?

They are usually late with the important news and way too early with stuff that will eventually crash and burn. Not that they can't build a raging headline and a totally misleading cover out of it.

I stopped going to Popular Mechanics for my cutting edge technology news when I was about nine years old. They are long on hype and short on details - not to mention short on discrimination in their editorial department.

Excuse me, but the nuclear battery in my flying car is running low. Gotta run...

Slashdot Top Deals

Software production is assumed to be a line function, but it is run like a staff function. -- Paul Licker

Working...