46675673
submission
jones_supa writes
"Google's YouTube is celebrating its 8-year birthday, and at the same time they reveal some interesting numbers. 'Today, more than 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s more than four days of video uploaded each minute! Every month, more than 1 billion people come to YouTube to access news, answer questions and have a little fun. That’s almost one out of every two people on the Internet. Millions of partners are creating content for YouTube and more than 1,000 companies worldwide have mandated a one-hour mid-day break to watch nothing but funny YouTube videos. Well, we made that last stat up, but that would be cool (the other stats are true).'"Link to Original Source
46575229
submission
jones_supa writes
"Bill Gates is once again the world's richest person. He recaptured the title from Mexican investor Carlos Slim, as Microsoft hit a five-year high. It is the first time Gates has held the mantle since 2007. His fortune is valued at $72.7 billion, up 16 percent year-to-date. At the same time, Mr. Slim’s América Móvil, the largest mobile-phone operator in the Americas, has dropped 14 percent this year after Mexico’s Congress passed a bill that could quash the billionaire’s market dominance. That’s helped erase more than $3 billion from the tycoon’s net worth. What comes to Bill Gates, most of his fortune is held in Cascade Investment LLC, a holding entity through which he owns stakes in more than a dozen publicly traded companies and several closely held operations. He has donated $28 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."Link to Original Source
46511009
submission
jones_supa writes
"There has been brewing an open source game in the spirit of RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 and 2: OpenRCT! If you are looking for an interesting game project to hop in to, here's your chance as the team is searching for new contributors. According to the documentation, there is need for both programmers and graphic artists: 'Anything that does not work or exist needs fixing. You need to know C++, and make patches using the code style of the project, and provide Doxygen comments with it. The code should build out of the box at a Linux system. For Windows, the build system first needs to be extended so we can build it at both platforms. If you need graphics that do not exist yet, just make some stub graphics. It does not matter how ugly they are. Submissions take the form of patches in unified diff format.'"
46436423
submission
jones_supa writes
"British Psychological Society's division of clinical psychology (DCP) will on Monday issue a statement declaring that, given the lack of evidence, it is time for a 'paradigm shift' in how the issues of mental health are understood. According to their claim, there is no scientific evidence that psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are valid or useful. The statement effectively casts doubt on psychiatry's predominantly biomedical model of mental distress – the idea that people are suffering from illnesses that are treatable by doctors using drugs. The DCP said its decision to speak out 'reflects fundamental concerns about the development, personal impact and core assumptions of the (diagnosis) systems', used by psychiatry.
The provocative statement by the DCP has been timed to come out shortly before the release of DSM-5, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatry Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The manual has been attacked for expanding the range of mental health issues that are classified as disorders."Link to Original Source
46281089
submission
jones_supa writes
"Microsoft has confirmed to be preparing to reverse course over key elements of its Windows 8 operating system. 'Key aspects' of how the software is used will be changed when Microsoft releases an updated version of the operating system this year, Tami Reller, head of marketing and finance for the Windows business, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Referring to difficulties many users have had with mastering the software, she added: 'The learning curve is definitely real.' Analysts warned that changing course would be a significant admission of failure for Steve Ballmer, chief executive, who called the October launch of Windows 8 a 'bet-the-company' moment as Microsoft sought to respond to the success of Apple’s iPad."Link to Original Source
45907511
submission
jones_supa writes
"Here is a gem for all the programmers. Representatives from the team at Valve take a look at the difficulties they went through in porting the Source game engine to Linux. In the presentation, they mostly discuss about the methodologies of switching from DirectX to OpenGL while comparing the APIs and talking about the various tools they used to do the port. The developers found that OpenGL actually incurs less overhead than DirectX, and they note that with OpenGL you can bring the latest draft on any OS, including the still large base of Windows XP computers. A PDF compilation of the slides is also available."
45894629
submission
jones_supa writes
"Long story short: the greatly appreciated feature of Windows 8 — disc image loopback mounting — has been backported by Microsoft to previous versions of Windows. The Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel utility enables users of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 to mount ISO disk image files as virtual CD-ROM drives."
45162847
submission
jones_supa writes
"AMD will gradually phase out CPU products using FM1 and AM3 sockets starting April with FM1-based processors to officially step out of the market in the third quarter and AM3-based processors at the end of 2013, according to sources from inside the motherboard industry. The good old AM3+ socket will still stay around. There are currently several FX series processors including the eight-core 8350/8320, six-core 6350/6300, quad-core 4350/4300/4130 which feature the AM3+ socket. Meanwhile, AMD's existing quad-core 5800K/5700/5600K/5500, dual-core 5400K/5300/4000 and Athlon quad-core and dual-core series will continue to represent the FM2 line-up."Link to Original Source
45117701
submission
jones_supa writes
"The gutting of LucasArts was a tragic loss for the video game industry, but for many of us, it was more than that. By most accounts the last truly great LucasArts game was released almost 15 years ago, and yet, many in the industry still hold these titles as the benchmark. But why is that? Why is it that we still consider these games among our pinnacle achievements as an industry? Why do developers still namedrop Monkey Island in pitch meetings when discussing their proposed game's story? Why do we all continue to mentally associate the word "LucasArts" as the splash screen we see before a graphical adventure game, even though the company hadn't released one in over a decade? Gamasutra has collected a good majority of the answers. Following these responses, as a special treat, Lucasfilm Games veteran David Fox attempts to answer that question with his own insider perspective."
44933907
submission
jones_supa writes
"Today's project by Kenny Kerr is for the DirectX C++ crew out there. If you're C++ coding in the Direct2D, Direct3D, DXGI, DirectWrite, the Windows Imaging Component (WIC), and the Windows Animation Manager (WAM) space, this project is one you're going to want to check out. dx.h is a modern C++ library that aims to simplify DirectX-related development in C++. It’s designed to make DirectX programming elegant and fun without sacrificing performance. There’s no documentation yet, but a growing collection of samples should get you started. dx.h is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 (both desktop and Windows Store projects), and Windows Phone 8."
44846849
submission
jones_supa writes
"The Finnish computer hardware juggernaut Verkkokauppa.com is heading towards transparency regarding its product information. The store has published over 13 000 uncensored product reviews, with the average score being 4.2 stars. In addition to reviews, the store has now revealed the service and return percentages of each product. Throughout a recent data analysis phase of six months, the most returned product was the Eizo FlexScan S1902SH-BK display, with the most serviced one being the MSI Z68A-GD65 motherboard. The brands with the lowest return rate were Kensington, Blackstorm, Elinchrom and Gardena. Looking at the user reviews, the queen position is held by The Cloud Nine Iron hair iron, while other top brands are Samsung, Apple and Electrolux. 'As far as I know, no other retailer is as open about its products,' says the service chief Mikko Dunderfelt."Link to Original Source
44403165
submission
jones_supa writes
"Many of Slashdotters are probably aware of the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System platformer classic DuckTales, designed around the Disney cartoon series. Capcom announced today at their PAX East panel that they are resurrecting the beloved game. Developed by Wayforward and Capcom, DuckTales: Remastered is something of a remake based on the original version. The embedded video shows some solid back-to-basics platformer action. The game will be out this summer for Xbox Live, PSN, and Wii U."
44313273
submission
jones_supa writes
"South Korea is trying to figure out the cause of massive computer network failures at major TV stations and banks today. At least three broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN, and two banks Shinhan Bank and Nonghyup, reported to the National Police Agency (NPA) that their computer networks were entirely halted around 2 p.m. for unknown reasons, police said. The suspects unsurprisingly include North Korea, but nothing has been determined yet, officials have said. Warnings reportedly appeared on some computer screens from a previously unknown group calling itself the 'WhoisTeam', showing skulls and a message stating it was only the beginning of 'our movement'."
44159491
submission
jones_supa writes
"The cartoon heroes are back, with even stronger superpowers. Set to be released this autumn, the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Deep Silver Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level – the leaders of the free world. In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. Saints Row IV lets players delve into an arsenal of alien weaponry and technology that will turn each Saint into an ultimate entity of destruction. The player utilizes out-of-this-world superpowers to fight all the way to the top. With intensified action and enhanced customization, the protagonists can use their newfound superpowers and leap over buildings, outrun the fastest sports cars, or send enemies flying with telekinesis in the most insane installment of Saints Row yet."Link to Original Source
43806965
submission
jones_supa writes
"Software companies create documentation for millions of topics concerning its APIs, services, and software platforms. Creating this documentation comes at a considerable cost and effort. And after all this effort much documentation is rarely consulted. API documentation is especially difficult to create: as just a few writers must create documentation that teaches concepts and that maximally covers the many ways the thousands to millions of developers may be using their API. Now, the trend may shift even more to indirectly documenting APIs themselves through a process called crowd documentation, by publishing blog posts and curating questions and answers about APIs. In this small study, we find various facts regarding Stack Overflow, including suggesting that developers may be getting as much as 50% of their documentation from the site."
