Comment Re:I for one... (Score 1) 102
My first thought was along these lines too. Will the Uranium promote mutation into more deadly forms? I hope the Uranium (and E-coli) recovery is going to be tightly controlled
Comment Re:console wars (Score 1) 232
Everyone may have a HDTV set, but how many are watching HD content. Most people are still happy with standard definition DVDs and TV and bought the set to get a large, slim screen - the HD part was just an extra.
Comment Re:The answer is... (Score 4, Interesting) 821
That's because they haven't recovered the development costs for Vista, so you also have to pay for that if you purchase of Windows 7.
Comment Re:Perfect example of why wikipedia is not so bad (Score 1) 391
... demonstrates that wikipedia is pretty good at self-correcting itself !
It may be good at self-correcting, but most people don't re-visit the site to check if a particular fact is still true - or have the desire to check recent edits or follow editorial discussions on the article. If you cannot guarantee the validity of the material at any instant you visit the site, then it is essentialy worthless. That said, nothing can be 100% right, but you need to have confidence that what you are reading is, in all probability, correct. Otherwise you may as well save time and google the answer elsewhere.
A Real Bill Gates Rant 293
lou ibmix XI submitted an
email written by Bill Gates a few years ago and turned over to the feds as part of the government's antitrust case. Great quotes like 'Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable?' and 'The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind.' We like to think of him as an abstract, but I think this is interesting stuff. Also, this might seem familiar. Oops.
Simulating Emotions Within Games 47
Gamasutra is running an opinion piece about the way video games handle simulated emotions. Most often, an non-player character's emotional state is used to either tell a story or to drive gameplay. The author suggests that as both concepts become more complex in modern games, the simulation of emotions must also become more dynamic to remain interesting. Quoting:
"Most of our emotional simulations use a simple sensation/calculation/behavior loop. Someone says or does something to a character; this influences his emotional state; he acts upon his feelings. His emotional state then reverts to a more neutral state over time (I was angry half an hour ago, but I've calmed down now), or changes again in response to another sensation. If these systems are really simple they produce absurd results: a character is furious one moment and cheerful a second later, like a Warner Brothers cartoon character. This is the kind of thing you get with finite state machines. This approach doesn't take into account the fact that behavior itself changes emotions. Behavior is not merely an output to be exhibited; it also affects how we feel. It feeds back into our emotional state."
Submission + - Chess Boxing: Out of the basement, into the ring
AmIAnAi writes: BBC News reports on the first ever Chess Boxing World Championship in Berlin, won by 'Anti Terror' Frank Stoldt from Germany. Chess Boxing is described as:
a competition which requires both brains and brawn
The World Chess Boxing Organisation is even looking for new chessboxers. Fancy beating someone with your fists AND brain for a change?
Submission + - Poll Suggestion
AmIAnAi writes: How much time did you donate to free software development in the last year?
None
1 — 10 hours
10 — 100 hours
More than 100 hours
I'm Cowboy Neal's code monkey.
None
1 — 10 hours
10 — 100 hours
More than 100 hours
I'm Cowboy Neal's code monkey.
Submission + - testing cmdrtaco test (cmdrtaco.net) 3
Anonymous Coward writes: "askjdllkjads ljksdakjldsakjl ajklsdakljadsjkl sdalkjdaskljlkdjsakjldasasd"
Submission + - Has Microsoft XNA failed?
KWE writes: When the Microsoft XNA [Wikipedia] was first announced over a year and a half ago it received a lot of
attention and many appeared to treat it as a very big deal.
Enthusiastic speculations on how development for indie games on both the PC and XBOX360 would take off appeared on developer forums.
Now, almost 10 months after the first real release, it seems as though XNA is all but dead.
The last time it was mentioned here[Slashdot], for example, it received virtually no attention.
So, is anyone actually using XNA anymore, and if not, why do you think it failed?
Submission + - Does the Slashdot moderation system still work? 1
An anonymous reader writes: Recently I have noticed a trend among my posts on Slashdot: Very few of them are ever moderated in any way. I can insightful, informative, funny or trolly, but only a lucky few posts ever stray from the default score. In my current post history, two posts out of 24 have gotten any moderation. Browsing through threads shows a similar trend: There's hardly anything but "Score: 1" out there.
So, is there any use for a moderation system where most posts are never affected at all? And as a question for the admins, what is the current ration of moderations to posts? It would seem to be far below 1 at the moment, and this does not seem a very good state of affairs.
So, is there any use for a moderation system where most posts are never affected at all? And as a question for the admins, what is the current ration of moderations to posts? It would seem to be far below 1 at the moment, and this does not seem a very good state of affairs.
Submission + - The Linux Driver Project Starts (Again) (linuxdriverproject.org)
eldavojohn writes: "A Novell employee named Greg K-H is trying to revive the Linux Driver Project. He original tried to start this back in January but due to one reason or another had to push it back. Now he's looking for more developers and companies to help out in this effort. From the Wiki, 'We are a group of Linux kernel developers (over 100 strong) and project managers (over 10) that develop and maintain Linux kernel drivers. We work with the manufacturers of the specific device to specify, develop, submit to the main kernel, and maintain the kernel drivers. We are willing and able to sign NDAs with companies if they wish to keep their specifications closed, as long as we are able to create a proper GPLv2 Linux kernel driver as an end result.' If you ever wanted to help out and be a part of the Linux effort, this might be a good chance to get your feet wet."
Submission + - Apple sends takedown notice to iPod hacker's ISP (tuaw.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Unofficial Apple Weblog (tuaw.com) reports that "A hacker named "Martyn" had obtained a broken iPod touch, and was planning to dive in and download code from it to create 3rd party applications. He didn't plan to release the code to the public, but he did plan to upload the code to a secured area of his site in order to let the other touch hackers have a crack at it.
But even before his upload finished, his ISP showed up, with a takedown notice in hand. Apple had somehow found his site, had contacted his ISP, and let them know that it would be against copyright law for him to upload that code to the Internet. Martyn isn't interested in breaking the law (and it would be illegal to share that code), so he pulled the page off."
To me, Apple is now on slippery slope. And a company I would never ever buy one toy from.
But even before his upload finished, his ISP showed up, with a takedown notice in hand. Apple had somehow found his site, had contacted his ISP, and let them know that it would be against copyright law for him to upload that code to the Internet. Martyn isn't interested in breaking the law (and it would be illegal to share that code), so he pulled the page off."
To me, Apple is now on slippery slope. And a company I would never ever buy one toy from.
Submission + - Microsoft loses EU appeal
rcasha2 writes: Microsoft has lost its appeal against the EU fine of almost 500m / $700m. Microsoft could still appeal again at the European Court of Justice. More important than the fine, however, is the confirmation of the ruling that Microsoft must share with competitors information needed for interoperability. This ruling could have an effect on such products as Samba, email clients etc.
