Comment Re:Vampire obviously (Score 5, Funny) 481
Unfortunately, due to the recent popularity of Twilight, most of them are 12.
Comment Re:Same thing, different name (Score 1) 117
Just use the term analblog.
Wait...
Comment Re:Shame it's dying (Score 1) 427
It's interesting that console games are now more like PC games than ever: some need specific hardware configurations (GTA IV on the Xbox 360 requires a hard drive, IIRC) or lengthy installations (games on the PS3), many have a lot of software patches that repair broken games (Fat Princess's online) or constantly improve the game experience (Burnout Paradise) and some are great principally based on their online connectivity (without human opponents or user-created content, they wouldn't be as good).
Comment Re:first post! (Score 1) 820
And Casablanca was made with 1940s-quality film equipment. Still looks great on HD though.
Perhaps you think only movies from 1996 onward look good in HD?
Submission + - New York Times Ends Its Paid Subscription Service (reuters.com) 1
Mike writes: "The New York Times has finally admitted that making people pay for its content is a losing proposition. The paper has announced that it will end its paid Internet service in favor of making most of its Web site available for free in the hopes of attracting more readers and higher advertising revenue. This had been predicted countless times and is now coming to pass. How long before other online papers and similar information services come to the same realization and open up their sites?"
Submission + - The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer (nytimes.com)
The-Bus writes: Julian Dibbell has written a great article for the New York Times Magazine on the life of Chinese gold farmers. It's a great read and has a lot of very interesting tidbits, from comparing the potential size of the economy of MMO games and the GDP of Bolivia, to a Stanford scholar who found similarities between contemporary anti-gold-farmer rhetoric and 19th-century U.S. literature on immigrant Chinese laundry workers.
Submission + - Black Xbox 360 Confirmed
scott666 writes: "Kotaku.com has a story repeating the April issue of Game Informer magazine confirming the existance of the Black Xbox 360. The new console with retail for $479, and include a HDMI port, HDMI cable and 120GB hard drive. It does not include an HD-DVD drive, as has been rumored because the "format's not proven.""
Submission + - Prius more environmentally damaging than a Hummer
An anonymous reader writes: According to this story from Central Connecticut State University the Prius takes more energy to manufacture than a Hummer, requiring 50% more energy to produce. In addition, they calculate that the Prius costs $3.25 per mile over it's expected lifespan of 100,000 miles compared to $1.95 per mile for the hummer.
Submission + - ISPs Fighting To Keep Broadband Gaps A Mystery
Aaron writes: Broadband Reports notes how Maryland was working on a law that would force ISPs to show exactly where they offer service and at what speed. The goal was to help map coverage gaps, since FCC broadband data traditionally isn't accurate. Cable and phone company lobbyists have scuttled the plan, convincing state leaders the plan would bring "competitive harm," "stifle innovation," and even close local coffee shops. Of course the real reason is they don't want the public to know what criteria they use to determine the financial viability of your neighborhood — as they roll out next-generation services to only the most lucrative areas (aka cherry pick). The Center for Public Integrity is trying to obtain the unreleased raw FCC penetration data, but these companies are also fighting this tooth and nail.
Submission + - FoxTrot moving to Sundays only.
Randolpho writes: "Every day, I visit one of my favorite comic strips on the web, Bill Amend's FoxTrot. It's most likely one of your favorites, too. Imagine my surprise when I learned this morning that FoxTrot will be moving to a Sunday-only format! I am saddened by this, as I look forward to FoxTrot every day, and now I have to wait a week for my FoxTrot fix! But there is hope. From the article:
Perhaps a FoxTrot cartoon series similar to PvP's upcoming PvP: The Series?""In addition to Sunday newspapers, we may see FoxTrot entertaining us in other kinds of media platforms," says Lee Salem, president and editor of Universal Press Syndicate.
Submission + - Effective operations of a small helpdesk system
El Presidente writes: "I'm the department head of a small IT helpdesk in a not-quite-so-small business. The department's small in the sense that (a) there's only three people (including me), and (b) not only do we do helpdesk, but develop all the in-house systems, build our own servers, etc.
We're supposed to log every helpdesk call that comes in (we've previously developed our own software for this), log notes on each call, and log the resolution. However, although I do set a good example by logging (most!) of my calls, the other two don't, even though I've talked to them numerous times.
Although they do the job well, this is the one area that is letting the department down, and now management want full stats on what we do every day, so obviously a full helpdesk log for each day would go a long way to prove what we do (or don't do!!)
I don't want to come down on them with the Big Iron Fist (tm) and check up on them every few minutes (because I've got better things to do with my time, like real work) how can I actually get them to buy into logging calls, and not "forget" or be "too busy to log properly""
We're supposed to log every helpdesk call that comes in (we've previously developed our own software for this), log notes on each call, and log the resolution. However, although I do set a good example by logging (most!) of my calls, the other two don't, even though I've talked to them numerous times.
Although they do the job well, this is the one area that is letting the department down, and now management want full stats on what we do every day, so obviously a full helpdesk log for each day would go a long way to prove what we do (or don't do!!)
I don't want to come down on them with the Big Iron Fist (tm) and check up on them every few minutes (because I've got better things to do with my time, like real work) how can I actually get them to buy into logging calls, and not "forget" or be "too busy to log properly""
Submission + - World's Simplest Electric Motor
haos writes: "This video shows us how to construct the world's simplest electric motor, using just a battery, magnet and copper wire.
http://nonk.nonk.info/pages2/motor.php"
Submission + - Wiimote cracked open
An anonymous reader writes: The guys at Sparkfun just did what everybody secretly wants to do with their new electronic gadgets: voiding the warranty to take a sneek peek at their internals! Here is the link to a very explicit naked wiimote along with many usefull remarks on it's electronics
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/present.php?p=Wii -Internals
"It features an 8051 core and RAM/ROM memory featuring the HID bluetooth profile and stack. Any chance they used a flash part that we can hack instead of the masked ROM (un-changeable) version? Highly unlikely. But lemme know if someone figures out how to get into the core. The small crystal is 24MHz. They make it look so easy don't they?"
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/present.php?p=Wi
"It features an 8051 core and RAM/ROM memory featuring the HID bluetooth profile and stack. Any chance they used a flash part that we can hack instead of the masked ROM (un-changeable) version? Highly unlikely. But lemme know if someone figures out how to get into the core. The small crystal is 24MHz. They make it look so easy don't they?"
