Submission + - Make All Systems Region Free and Import Friendly
YokimaSun writes: DCEmu have an article up that asks all gamers to stand up for Region
Free Gaming and be allowed to buy consoles and games worldwide: " Since
the death of Lik Sang last year it is now virtually impossible to import games
into the UK and Europe from companies like Play Asia, Play Asia are obviously
scared of lawsuits from Sony for selling PSP & PS3 games to the UK after Sony
went after UK firms and eventually claimed the scalp of Lik Sang who were easily
the biggest importer of games and consoles worldwide. I suppose you can understand
Sonys point that hardware brought from Japan may not work or with stepdown power
issues not last long but people who import know this anyway. But with systems
like the PSP, Nintendo DS and Playstation 3 all being region free systems it seems
stupid that we cant buy games (and consoles) from anywhere in the world."
Submission + - Tokyo Demands Youtube Play Fair
eldavojohn writes: "Sometimes I think Google does more negotiating with foreign countries than the United States government. Recently, Tokyo has requested for political speeches to be pulled from the site claiming that it gave certain hopefuls an advantage over others for Sunday's election. You may recall Youtube being in trouble with more than couple countries. Is it fair that some government officials are being viewed more on Youtube than others or is it simply leveling the playing field for anyone with a message since it costs very little to put a video on Youtube? American politics seem to have embraced it either way."
Submission + - Easter (Egg) Holiday
updog writes: "With Easter just around the corner, what better way for a Slashdotter to celebrate than finding his or her own Easter Egg?
While many people have seen the classic Excel Flight Simulator, there are over 10,000 other Easter Eggs found in DVD's, books, and music — for example, there are over 8 eggs on the Futurama DVD; and some hidden Emoticons in Skype.
What are some of the readers' favorite Easter Eggs?"
While many people have seen the classic Excel Flight Simulator, there are over 10,000 other Easter Eggs found in DVD's, books, and music — for example, there are over 8 eggs on the Futurama DVD; and some hidden Emoticons in Skype.
What are some of the readers' favorite Easter Eggs?"
Submission + - First iPod virus discovered
InfoWorldMike writes: "Security researchers have found what they believe to be the first proof-of-concept attack designed specifically to infect Apple's popular iPod portable multimedia devices. In a blog post on its Web site, Russian anti-virus specialists Kaspersky Lab published details of the threat, dubbed Podloso, which it claims can be launched and run on an iPod. However, in order for the attack to take root, an iPod must have Linux installed, which is probably still fairly rare as it demands that users add the software themselves. Still, in the enterprise, one could imagine that news of the test threat could lead more IT departments to ban the use of iPods on their networks. Some companies have already forbidden use of the handheld devices because they pose a risk for unauthorized data storage."
Submission + - password restrictions by ISPs
catalina writes: "I recently discovered that ISPs (and/or web hosting companies) seem to restrict user passwords to alphameric-only, yet most of the security articles recommend using special characters (!@#$%^&*()_+:;"'.?/) in passwords.
I found this out by accident, after TimeWarner migrated Comcast customers. My Comcast password seems to have been moved successfully to the TW system, and my email was being delivered by POP using the Comcast password. When I had occasion to change the password, I discovered that their password tool wouldn't accept the old PW apparently because of the special characters. Their help desk confirmed that only alphamerics were allowed in passwords.
In calling around to various other ISPs and web-hosting customers, it seems that most, if not all of them restrict passwords to A-Z, a-z, and 0-9. Why is this?"
I found this out by accident, after TimeWarner migrated Comcast customers. My Comcast password seems to have been moved successfully to the TW system, and my email was being delivered by POP using the Comcast password. When I had occasion to change the password, I discovered that their password tool wouldn't accept the old PW apparently because of the special characters. Their help desk confirmed that only alphamerics were allowed in passwords.
In calling around to various other ISPs and web-hosting customers, it seems that most, if not all of them restrict passwords to A-Z, a-z, and 0-9. Why is this?"
Submission + - The Reg: Windows Media Player smokes Weed
morlock_man writes: "From the Register: A music-sharing site popular with small and independent artists is suspending operations because of incompatibilities with Microsoft's latest version of Windows Media Player. Weedshare, home to 10,000 musicians and 100,000 tracks, will go offline next week after four years because Windows Media Player 11 does not play music files that have been updated to enable operators to charge consumers." Read the full article."
Submission + - Popular Diet Myths Regarding Beer
cb_is_cool writes: We've all heard the old cliche about having a "beer belly". Find out some of the facts regarding beer and related alcoholic beverages:
From the Article: An online expert for "The South Beach Diet" recently wrote: "This diet is constantly changing based on new research so some of the info in the book is out of date. One of those items, you will be happy to know, is the ban on beer ... One or two drinks [of beer] is unlikely to cause weight gain since it takes an extra 3500 calories over what the body needs to gain a pound of fat."
This sounds like something we can all drink to... :)
From the Article: An online expert for "The South Beach Diet" recently wrote: "This diet is constantly changing based on new research so some of the info in the book is out of date. One of those items, you will be happy to know, is the ban on beer
This sounds like something we can all drink to...
Submission + - Poll: if your life is a movie, who is the director
krakround writes: choices:
ingmar bergman
alfred hitchcock
steven spielberg
akira kurosawa
werner herzog
john woo
george lucas
cowboy neal
Submission + - John W Backus, Fortran Developer Dies at 82
westlake writes: John W. Backus, lead developer for the Fortran team has died at age 82. Fortran changed the terms of communication between humans and computers, moving up a level to a language that was more comprehensible by humans. So Fortran is considered the first successful higher-level language. Fortran was also extremely efficient, running as fast as programs painstakingly hand-coded by the programming elite, who worked in arcane machine languages. This was a feat considered impossible before. It was achieved by the masterful design of the Fortran compiler, a program that captures the human intent of a program and recasts it in a way that a computer can process. In the Fortran project, Mr. Backus tackled two fundamental problems in computing — how to make programming easier for humans, and how to structure the underlying code to make that possible. John W. Backus
Submission + - Microsoft Tracks Down Mass Fake Web Pages
An anonymous reader writes: According to an article on New York Times, Microsoft researchers discovered tens of thousands of junk Web pages, created only to lure search-engine users to advertisements, are generated by a small group of shadowy operators. By following the money trail, Microsoft researchers were able to track that flows from big-name advertisers to search engine spammers. Many use Google blogspot.com to set up spam doorway pages. The report is available at Microsoft Strider Search Ranger project page.
Submission + - R2-D2: Astromail Delivery Droid
Submission + - FCC report: TV violence should be regulated
tanman writes: CNN reports that a draft FCC report circulating on Capitol Hill "suggests Congress could craft a law that would let the agency regulate violent programming much like it regulates sexual content and profanity — by barring it from being aired during hours when children may be watching, for example ... 'In general, what the commission's report says is that there is strong evidence that shows violent media can have an impact on children's behavior and there are some things that can be done about it,' FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday. The issue is bipartisan. Martin, a Republican, gave a joint interview to The Associated Press with Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps."
Submission + - Nvidia Unlocks Computing Potential in Graphics Chi
kog777 writes: Graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA) said Friday that it has released a new software development tool that will allow programmers to tap into the power of its processors, opening the door to solve complex computing problems.
The firm's core product, the graphics processor (GPU) has traditionally been used to create complex 3D images in games and design software. Over the years, the GPU has become increasingly adept in handling mathematically intense calculations — functions specifically needed for graphics. Nvidia's CUDA development kit, however, promises to bring those functions outside of gaming, empowering scientists and engineers with raw processing power.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070216/nvidia-cu da-sdk.htm
Submission + - LSU Professor Resolves Einstein's Twin Paradox
justelite writes: "Subhash Kak, Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at LSU, recently resolved the twin paradox, known as one of the most enduring puzzles of modern-day physics.
In more recent times, the paradox has been described using the analogy of twins. If one twin is placed on a space shuttle and travels near the speed of light while the remaining twin remains earthbound, the unmoved twin would have aged dramatically compared to his interstellar sibling, according to the paradox."
