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Technology

Nanomaterial May Allow Devices to Rewire Themselves 61

Posted by samzenpus
from the future-is-now dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have developed a nanomaterial that can 'steer' electrical currents. The discovery could lead to the invention of devices that can reconfigure their internal wiring and evolve into an entirely different and new device, to reflect the changing needs of consumers. From the article: 'The team is aiming to create a single device able to reconfigure itself into a resistor, a rectifier, a diode and a transistor based on signals from a computer. The multi-dimensional circuitry could be reconfigured into new electronic circuits using a varied input sequence of electrical pulses, the team said. 'Our new steering technology allows use to direct current flow through a piece of continuous material,' said Professor Bartosz Grzybowski, who led the research. 'Like redirecting a river, streams of electrons can be steered in multiple directions through a block of the material; even multiple streams flowing in opposing directions at the same time.'"
PC Games (Games)

Valve Apologizes For 12,000 Erroneous Anti-Cheating Bans 202

Posted by Soulskill
from the making-it-right dept.
Earlier this week, there were reports that large numbers of Modern Warfare 2 players on Steam were getting erroneously banned by Valve's Anti-Cheat software. While such claims are usually best taken with a grain of salt, the quantity and suddenness caused speculation that Valve's software wasn't operating correctly. A few days later, Valve president Gabe Newell sent out an email acknowledging that roughly 12,000 players had been inappropriately banned over the preceding two weeks. "The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game." Valve reversed the bans and gave free copies of Left 4 Dead 2 to everyone who was affected.

Emergency backup cellular phones

Submitted by Tha_Big_Guy23
Tha_Big_Guy23 writes "After many years of faithful periodic service my emergency cell phone, a Motorola Star-Tac, has finally given up the ghost and no longer powers on. As a result I find myself looking for a replacement that just places phone calls. I have no need for any of the frills of a smart phone, a camera or anything else. I have a blackberry already as my primary phone and this one is to be used solely for emergencies only. The 911 only phones won't work as I may have need to place a call to AAA, or something of that nature. I do want to make sure that when I need it, it actually places a call. Can anyone out there suggest a replacement phone that will serve as an appropriate emergency backup phone?"
First Person Shooters (Games)

Which FPS game to choose for AI modding?

Submitted by Fuzuli
Fuzuli writes "I've always been fascinated with game development. Back in the days when things were simple, you could write simple games and share with friends without being embarrassed, or let's say you could do it without being embarrassed a lot, since graphics would be very simple anyway.
Today, all major games are huge pieces of work with millions of dollars of art work in them, and creating one that looks like them is impossible to do, if you are on your own. Modding offers lots of fun though, and as someone who is interested in AI in first person shooters, I am looking for the perfect fps for testing my ideas in game AI. I do not have a killer gaming machine, so I need a game that can run on moderately old hardware (Dell XPS m1530 laptop), and having access to free tools for development would be good. Which FPS games out there are suitable for modification, so that I can try experiment on various AI aspects of gaming?"
Bug

Stock Market Sell-Off Might Stem From Trader's Fat Finger 643

Posted by timothy
from the knight-of-the-order-of-magnitude dept.
s122604 points out a CNBC story according to which "the catalyst for today's extraordinary price swing (at one point the Dow lost almost 9 percent in less than an hour) may have been because a trader entered a 'B' for billions instead of an 'M' for millions on a trade of Procter and Gamble: 'According to multiple sources, a trader entered a "b" for billion instead of an "m" for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble, a component in the Dow. (CNBC's Jim Cramer noted suspicious price movement in P&G stock on air during the height of the market selloff).' Unbelievable there are no safeguards to protect against this."
Google

Talk of an Apple Search Engine To Thwart Google 276

Posted by kdawson
from the don't-want-to-play-in-your-yard dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "eWeek reports that the data Apple collects about users from its iPhone is so valuable that the company may build its own iPhone-centric search engine just to keep Google from gleaning insight from that data. 'The data generated on the iPhone OS platform must become an increasing priority for Apple and we believe the company has the resources to develop its own products in both maps and search in the next five years,' writes analyst Gene Munster. Google is currently the default search engine on the iPhone, but Google has increasingly encroached on Apple's mobile turf, offering the Android operating system and several mobile applications. As the search provider for the iPhone, Google sees what iPhone users are searching for, which can help it tailor software and services for its own mobile smartphones — a competitive advantage that has not gone unnoticed by Apple. Apple lacks the experience and engineering wherewithal to build a large, scalable search engine, but Munster says Apple could buy a search startup with a Web index, such as Cuil or Taptu, and use its index as the seed for its own search engine. 'Apple is in an inside position to tap into the current pent-up demand for better mobile search, and add a new competitive differentiation from other search providers and device makers,' adds IDC analyst Hadley Reynolds."
AMD

Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 — Gaming On Six Panels 111

Posted by Soulskill
from the for-the-truly-dedicated dept.
MojoKid writes "AMD's 6-output Radeon has been seen in action at a number of events, but today the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition is being officially launched. HotHardware paired the card up with six 22" Dell LCD panels in a 3x2 configuration — with a max resolution of 5760x2160 — and ran it through a number of popular titles including Dirt 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Crysis. For specialized, high-end graphics cards like this, the market potential may be relatively small. If, however, the idea of multi-monitor gaming is appealing to you and you've got the means to score one of these cards (along with multiple displays), you won't be disappointed." Reader Vigile adds a different analysis of the card's six-monitor gaming: "PC Perspective found FPS games were basically unplayable because of the bezel through the middle of their vision while RTS and racing games like StarCraft 2 and DiRT 2 were spectacular."
Games

The Struggle For Private Game Servers 125

Posted by Soulskill
from the let's-make-onyxia-fight-ragnaros dept.
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."
News

Murderer With "Aggression Genes" Gets Reduced Sentence 507

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the blame-it-on-genetics dept.
Noiser writes "New Scientist reports: 'In 2007, Abdelmalek Bayout admitted to stabbing and killing a man and received a sentence of 9 years and 2 months. An appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression.'"

Comment: But will it allow native development?? (Score 1) 378

by Fuzuli (#29820957) Attached to: 50+ Android Phones Expected In Near Future

I've been reading about exciting devices that will be released with Android for quite some time now. I am a developer and I am more interested in the device as a developer than I am as an end user. iPhone has a lot of roadblocks for me, I need a Mac to develop on it, which is a huge cost for me at the moment. Apple's policy about publishing apps is another story which has been discussed a lot.
The problem is; even if Android is emphasizing openness, its development model seems to be "we know what is good for you". As far as I can see, there is no low level access to device for developers, and you are supposed to use Java, with some JNI capabilities for process intensive tasks. Native code can only be isolated chunks which still can't access device using C/C++.
This is most likely to ensure that code runs on all devices, but this is a choice that should be left to the developer, at least if you're claiming that your platform is open. If I decide to develop something on a particular phone, knowing that it may not work in the same way on other devices, this is my choice, and I should have this option.
For whatever reason I have, I want to have native apis for C/C++ and Android does not seem to offer this. Maybe my money is not that important, but for things like gaming, which will probably be huge on the iPhone quite soon, this will be a problem.

Education

Crytek Giving Away CryEngine To UK Universities 67

Posted by Soulskill
from the nibbles-doesn't-cut-it-anymore dept.
GamesIndustry reports that German game developer Crytek will be making CryEngine, the game engine behind Far Cry and Aion, available to universities in the UK for free. They're doing so because they want new college grads to get hands-on experience with the technology that runs real games. Crytek's Karl Hilton said, "Universities are looking to foster creativity and send people out into the industry who have lots of ideas, but it's also about that practical hands-on training so that they know what the limitations are. It's very easy for students to come out of the academic world and not have a grasp on the realities of making a videogame. The more we can get involved with them and give them feedback and access to the tools involved, the more accurate the course will become in training people up."

Comment: Irex digital reader (Score 2, Interesting) 503

by Fuzuli (#29387543) Attached to: E-book readers ...

I own one. Probably the largest screen size in any electronic reader. Lets you annotate, and can read any pdf, it is under your control.
I can easily read A4 pages with diagrams etc. For me, there is no alternative to this device. All other display technologies hurt my eyes if I read for hours, and I have to read for hours. Also there is no way on earth I can carry around all the docs I need all the time, and even a tablet pc is too thick to hold in your hands to read comfortably. Don't forget the heat problem too. Digital reader solves all of these problems.
The cons are: very expensive, buggy software, not so good battery life. No security, so I can't carry around critical docs in this.

I still have no doubt that this is the future of reading, but I'm afraid of Kindle type of products being the only option: where content and functionality is under strict control.

Microsoft

Celebrate Your Next Birthday At the Microsoft Store 301

Posted by kdawson
from the innovation-on-display dept.
theodp writes "Chuck E. Cheese, meet Bill H. Gates. A leaked PowerPoint posted at Gizmodo provides a glimpse of what Microsoft's retail shops may look like, noting that you'll even be able to pay to celebrate your birthday there. Some of the stores that were profiled for ideas were Nike, Nokia, Sony, Apple, and AT&T. Microsoft's take on the Genius Bar is the Answers Bar (aka Guru Bar, Windows Bar)."

The best way to avoid responsibility is to say, "I've got responsibilities."