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Games

Gamefly Complains of Poor Treatment From USPS 269

Posted by Soulskill from the spurring-rubber-dvd-development dept.
Gamefly, the popular video game rental service that operates through the mail, has filed a complaint with the Postal Regulatory Commission about the high number of games that are lost or stolen in the mail. The complaint (PDF) asserts that the postal service's automated sorting machines have a tendency to break a small percentage of discs, and that preferential treatment is given to DVD rental services like Netflix and Blockbuster. "According to Gamefly's numbers, it mails out 590,000 games and receives 510,000 games back from subscribers a month. The company sees, depending on the mailer, between one and two percent of its games broken in transit. ... Even if you assume the number is one percent, and a game costs $50 to replace, that's an astounding $295,000 a month in lost merchandise. ... That's not the only issue — games are also stolen in transit, which has lead to the arrest of 19 Postal Service employees."
Movies

Judge Opens Hearing On RealDVD Legal Battle 164

Posted by Soulskill from the pondering-pirate-bay-precedent dept.
FP writes "On Friday morning, lawyers urged a federal judge to bar RealNetworks from selling software that allows consumers to copy their DVDs to computer hard drives, arguing that the Seattle-based company's product is an illegal pirating tool. RealNetworks' lawyers countered later in the morning that its RealDVD product is equipped with piracy protections that limits a DVD owner to making a single copy and is a legitimate way to back up copies of movies legally purchased. This legal battle began with a restraining order last October which stopped the sale of RealDVD. More coverage is available at NPR. The same judge who shut down Napster is presiding over the three-day trial." Reader IonOtter points out that later in the day, Judge Patel sealed the court after DVD Copy Control Association lawyers "argued that public testimony of aspects of the CSS copy-control technology would violate trade secrets."

Comment Re:Not even close. (Score 1) 785

by Ykant (#26437507) Attached to: In-Depth With the Windows 7 Public Beta

I would have said this may be Windows XP to Vista's ME. Which is to say, ME had an extremely short life, and most people skipped it.

XP was the most direct successor to ME, not 2000. Cairo was NT4. By most accounts, 2000 actually worked comparatively well out of the box.

I would also go so far as to say some people had no choice but to move to XP when they found that new games wouldn't install at all under 98, and required a little hacking to install under 2000. Not a problem with the game, but the installers doing a version check.

Comment Re:JT (Score 1) 43

by Ykant (#26378535) Attached to: The end does NOT justify the means

No BS, I had a similar dream sometime in July of that year, dreamt I was with someone from my company who worked 1200 miles away, watching the thing replay over and over on the television, concerned about the well-being of someone (I don't know anyone who worked in the building). Very detailed, but none of it made any sense to me at the time. It was odd enough to me that I mentioned it to my girlfriend when I woke up. Sure as shit, the fellow flew into my town on the 10th, and his aunt worked on one of the lower floors. That (and other less notable experiences) convinced me that there are definitely things about the mind (or something "out there") that we don't know about yet.

Comment Re:tolerance (Score 1) 17

by Ykant (#26214785) Attached to: Intolerant Gays

So, might I ask, then: What is your position with regards to gays marrying? Not the "lifestyle" or the people (or their general attitude), but the civil union.

For / don't care / against?

Honestly, I say why the heck not. To those who claim the idea erodes the family, I say I'm not terribly impressed with their family if they think it so fragile.

As for having multiple spouses, again, why not? I wouldn't want that kind of trouble, but why should I stop somebody else? I'm reminded of a fellow I knew years back who said, "Anyone might as well be able to marry anyone - why should I be the only one to suffer?"
Security

Submission + - MacGyver Multi-tool bypass for Medeco Locks

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over at Engadget and also at in.security.org there an analysis detailing the bypass of Medeco's High Security m3 slider with nothing more than a paper clip. While this is only one of three levels of security in this lock the author claims that with this bypass the lock is susceptible to bumping and picking. (previously Medeco touted the m3 as "bump proof" and "pick proof")
Media

Submission + - Dead man's Wikipedia entry changed in advance

Submitted by Ykant
Ykant writes: According to an AP article, the Wikipedia entry of pro wrestler Chris Benoit (who was found dead in his home earlier this week, along with his wife and child) was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found. It said he missed a match Saturday night "stemming from the death of his wife." An Atlanta news station reports that a Wikipedia user has admitted to making the edits, but had no advance knowledge of the event, calling it a "terrible coincidence".
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft executive overseeing Zune will depart

Submitted by
twofish
twofish writes: "Bryan Lee, the Microsoft Corp. executive responsible for its newly launched Zune digital music player will leave the company according to Ars Technica.

The software maker said the departure of Bryan Lee, a corporate vice president in Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, was for personal reasons and "absolutely not" related to sales of the music player."

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