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Iphone

Zynga Accused of Cloning Hit Indie iPhone Game Tiny Tower 245

Posted by samzenpus
from the we-did-it-first dept.
FrankPoole writes "Indie iPhone game developer Nimblebit is accusing social games giant Zynga of ripping off its popular mobile title Tiny Tower. Nimblebit's Ian Marsh got word out about the similarities between Dream Heights and Tiny Tower with an image that's still making the Twitter rounds. The image is made up of screenshots showing how Dream Heights' interface and gameplay mechanics appear strikingly similar to Tiny Tower's."

Comment: Re:Checkout PostGIS (Score 1) 316

by Braedley (#38720918) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Open Source vs Proprietary GIS Solution?
I'm with ^. We use Postgres in association with dynamic location data and haven't had any major issues. We haven't integrated PostGIS, but have definitely contemplated it, as it would make many of our queries an order of magnitude easier to write and (at least from what I hear) wouldn't compromise on speed when post query filtering is also accounted for. The only reason we haven't done it is that we haven't had the time and budget to make sure it was bullet proof, and we've been able to make do without the finer control offered by PostGIS. I believe another project in my office has been using PostGIS, and as far as I can tell, it's been paying off for them. While we're generally happy with a flat earth NW to SE bounding box, this other project needs much finer control for determining if a point is within an area.
Businesses

Career Advice: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer 422

Posted by Soulskill
from the be-a-leveraged-syngeristic-cloud-solution-instead dept.
Ian Lamont writes "Patrick McKenzie has written about the do's and don't's of working as a software engineer, and some solid (and often amusing) advice on how to get ahead. One of the first pieces of advice: 'Don't call yourself a programmer: "Programmer" sounds like "anomalously high-cost peon who types some mumbo-jumbo into some other mumbo-jumbo." If you call yourself a programmer, someone is already working on a way to get you fired.' Although he runs his own company, he is a cold realist about the possibilities for new college grads in the startup world: 'The high-percentage outcome is you work really hard for the next couple of years, fail ingloriously, and then be jobless and looking to get into another startup.'"
Hardware Hacking

Stuffing a PS3 and an Xbox 360 Into a PC Case 96

Posted by Soulskill
from the no-more-exclusive-game-launches dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A man identifying himself as 'Timofiend' has posted a detailed walkthrough of how he built an impressive case mod that fits both a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox 360 into a mid-tower computer case. He used one of the newer Slim 360 models hooked up to an ATX power supply, and one of the bulkier old PS3 units, with its standard power supply as well. After arranging the internal boards, persuading the two optical drives to fit and loading up on fans to prevent overheating, he wound up with a very cool (and functional!) blend of gaming platforms."
XBox (Games)

Xbox 360 Reset Hack Yields Unsigned Code Execution 177

Posted by Soulskill
from the let's-see-if-microsoft-pulls-a-sony dept.
walshy007 writes "A new exploit has been shown which allows unsigned code execution on the Xbox 360 for all current models. It functions by pulsing the reset pin at a critical time during the checksumming/crypto boot process. The exploit enables the running of Xell, a boot loader which facilitates the running of Linux, amongst other programs."

Comment: Old age (Score 1) 317

by Braedley (#37239814) Attached to: I've lost more computers to ...
The only computer I can really say I've lost was an Intel P4 from when I started University. One Thanksgiving after graduating, the fan on the Radeon 9800 went, causing the card to overheat and fail, taking the motherboard with it. She was a good little secondary machine, filling the roles of mythbuntu machine and server machine well while she was alive.

Comment: Wind and rain, but not worried (Score 1) 147

by Braedley (#37227248) Attached to: I am preparing for Hurricane Irene ...
The projected track puts Irene about 500km (300 miles) to the northwest of me, so I'll get lots of wind, lots of rain, but no serious storm surge here. Also, it'll have been downgraded to below hurricane strength half a day to a day before it hits here. The worst that'll happen here is loss of power or water coming in through my crappy window sills.
Android

JooJoo Maker Is Back With a New Tablet 73

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the some-kind-of-immortal dept.
itwbennett writes "I bet you forgot all about the JooJoo, the tablet that started life as CrunchPad and sparked a bitter fight between Michael Arrington and Fusion Garage. Well, Fusion hasn't forgotten and 'they are back in the news with a new line of products,' writes blogger Peter Smith. 'The Grid4 is a smartphone and the Grid10 is a tablet, both of them running the new GridOS, a custom OS built on the Android [kernel],' says Smith. Fusion calls GridOS 'stunning, smart, social and transportable,' whatever that may mean."
Earth

US Energy Panel Cautiously Endorses Fracking 294

Posted by timothy
from the like-they're-the-fracking-experts dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports that a U.S. Energy Department advisory panel has endorsed fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a promising technology that injects a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals underground to fracture rock and release shale gas previously thought unretrievable, paving the way for tens of thousands of new wells. If fracking can be done safely, it could be a major source of domestic energy over the next century. Shale gas makes up about 14 percent of the U.S. natural gas supply today, but is expected to reach 45 percent by 2035. But first, serious environmental concerns must be addressed. Earlier this year, a Duke University study of 68 private groundwater wells in Pennsylvania and New York state found evidence that shale-gas extraction has caused them to become contaminated with methane. One key recommendation by the panel is a call for transparency regarding the use of chemicals in the extraction process. Drillers say they would like to keep the exact formula of the chemicals they use secret because it represents a competitive advantage."

Comment: Re:Restricted doesn't mean anything (Score 1) 187

by Braedley (#36844942) Attached to: Anonymous Releases Restricted NATO Document
What should be done and what is done are two completely different things. The only real requirements for storing Restricted documents is that they be stored in "secured areas". I work for a defence contractor. If I have physical possession of Restricted documents (I don't, and I rarely would), I would only need to place them in my desk drawer at the end of the day since the office meets the requirements to store material that's classified higher than that. They don't need to be in a safe, or even in a locked filing cabinet. Consider that (at least in Canada), an Access to Information request can get you many restricted documents (albeit usually with an attached NDA), and you see that Restricted documents aren't all that special.

Comment: Re:Island only accessible by boat.. (Score 1) 270

by Braedley (#36594978) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Mobile Data In Canada For a US Citizen?
Actually, my cell coverage is pretty darn good, for someone "out east". It's piss poor inside my office, but that's to be expected. Otherwise, I have a full 3G connection between where I live, and where I spend my weekends in the summer weekends several hours away. Okay, that's a bit of a lie, as the 3G will sometimes drop out on the road, but I can't complain about the coverage here.

Comment: Back in 2022? (Score 1) 183

by Braedley (#36573314) Attached to: Asteroid To Pass Near Earth On Monday
How about we wait to calculate the next closest approach until after it's left Earth's gravity well. I know our understanding of spatial dynamics is pretty much complete (between Newton and Kepler, we have almost all the knowledge we need), but we've only known about this thing for, what, 3 days? Also, there's the whole "Orbital predictions indicate that its flight path will be significantly altered by this close approach" thing, which tells me we aren't 100% sure which way this thing will be leaving our neighbourhood. I don't want to be thinking that we won't be seeing this thing until 2022 when it comes a knocking in 2020.

Hoping to goodness is not theologically sound. - Peanuts

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