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Submission + - Windows Update driver update breaks systems

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Multiple forums around the Web are seeing frustrated users with all of their data gone just after updating to the latest Promise Technologies RAID driver available as an optional update in Windows Update. After installing these drivers, users report having lost access to all of their data. A simple query on Google will show that the problem is widely spread and until this date not addressed by Microsoft: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=promise+drivers+windows+update&aq=f&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Role Playing (Games)

Co-op Neverwinter RPG Announced For 2011 169

Posted by Soulskill from the taking-the-first-m-out-of-mmorpg dept.
Atari and Cryptic Studios are teaming up to make a new Dungeons & Dragons-based RPG called Neverwinter, planned for Q4 2011. Gameplay will center on five-person groups that can include other players and/or AI allies, and there will be an extensive content generation system. Gamespot spoke with Cryptic CEO Jack Emmert, who explained parts of the game in more depth: "I think there are two very unique gameplay elements in 4th Edition that we've done something interesting with: action points and healing surges. In the tabletop game, an action point lets a player perform a reroll or add an additional die to a roll. In our game, action points are earned through combat and spent to power special abilities called 'boons.' These boons give players special boosts, but only in certain circumstances. Healing surges represent the amount of times a player can heal himself before resting. In D&D and Neverwinter, various abilities let players use a surge immediately or perhaps replenish the number of surges available. It's a precious resource that players will need to husband as they adventure in the brave new world. Positioning, flanking, tactics, and using powers with your teammates are also all things that come from the 4th Edition that are interesting. Of course, we're using power names and trying to keep power behavior consistent with the pen-and-paper counterparts. Neverwinter will definitely feel familiar to anyone who has played the 4th Edition."
Censorship

Submission + - Thailand blocks WikiLeaks (bangkokpost.com)

Submitted by societyofrobots
societyofrobots writes: Thailand, already known for blocking tens of thousands of websites for 'offending the monarchy', has now 'blocked domestic access to the WikiLeaks whistleblower website on security grounds'.
Games

Submission + - UK Xbox FFXIII Ad Banned For Using PS3 Footage (itproportal.com)

Submitted by siliconbits
siliconbits writes: UK Ad watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), also says that Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console delivers sharper images than Microsoft's Xbox 360. The ASA came to this decision after it was notified that PS3 footage was used in an advert for the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII.
Security

Submission + - 1978 Cryptosystem Resists Quantum Attack (technologyreview.com) 1

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: In 1978, the CalTech mathematician Robert McEliece developed a cryptosystem based on the (then) new idea of using asymmetric mathematical functions to create different keys for encrypting and decrypting information. The security of these systems relies on mathematical steps that are easy to make in one direction but hard to do in the other. The most famous example is multiplication. It is easy to multiply two numbers together to get a third but hard to start with the third number and work out which two generated it, a process called factorisation. Today, popular encryption systems such as the RSA algorithm use exactly this idea. But in 1994, the mathematician Peter Shor dreamt up a quantum algorithm that could factorise much faster than any classical counterpart and so can break these codes. As soon as the first decent-sized quantum computer is switched on, these codes will become breakable. Since then, cryptographers have been hunting for encryption systems that will be safe in the post quantum world. Now a group of mathematicians have shown that the McEliece encryption system is safe against attack by Shor's algorithm and all other known quantum algorithms. That's because it does not depend on factorisation but gets its security from another asymmetric conundrum known as the hidden subgroup problem which they show is immune to all known quantum attacks (although the work says nothing about its safety against new quantum (or classical) attacks).
Games

Submission + - Microsoft reboots two classic PC games (pcauthority.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ever since it launched the Xbox, Microsoft has had a fickle relationship with Windows as a gaming platform. On one hand PC gaming is a major driver of hardware and operating system sales, but on the other hand the PC is inherently less secure than the Xbox console, with piracy much more likely to impact sales of a PC title than a console one. Games for Windows Live has been an attempt to bring some of the success of Xbox Live to the PC, and while many games have shipped with support for Games for Windows Live it hasn't exactly been a favourite of PC gamers. After all these half-hearted efforts, the last thing anyone expected was for Microsoft to announce new PC-only reboots of two classic game franchises, Flight Simulator and Age of Empires. But yesterday it did just that, announcing a massively multiplayer version of Age of Empires and a new Flight Simulator called Flight. The big question is whether Microsoft can make Games For Windows Live relevant in a market where Steam has taken hold, or if it's too late.
Privacy

Feds Won't File Charges In School Laptop-Spy Case 398

Posted by samzenpus from the noa-culpa dept.
jamie writes "Federal prosecutors have decided not to file charges against a Philadelphia school district or its employees over the use of software to remotely monitor students. From the article: 'US Attorney Zane David Memeger says investigators have found no evidence of criminal intent by Lower Merion School District employees who activated tracking software that took thousands of webcam and screenshot images on school-provided laptops.'"

Comment I hate Foursquare (Score 1) 220

by RevRagnarok (#33275886) Attached to: Facebook Takes On FourSquare

1. The usual "please rob me since I am not at home" rant.
2. I actually follow an RSS twitter search of my (current) hometown. It was very useful when the snowpcalypse came because the state highway admin was actually posting useful updates. It went from 2-3 a day to about 10-15, and it is all "I'm here and you don't give a crap!" tweets.

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