Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Graphics

Submission + - id's ET: Quake Wars And Carmack's MegaTextures (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "id Software continues to enhance the Doom 3 engine. The recent release of their Enemy Territory: Quake Wars demo showcases a new texture compression technology. The screen shots here, taken on a Geforce 8800 with high quality details and 4X anti-aliasing, show the first application of John Carmack's MegaTexture for terrain mapping. This technology allows rendering of extremely large outdoor terrain without the need to re-use or tile multiple smaller textures. The trick is all in Carmack's compression algorithm where for example, a 6 gig environment landscape texture map can be compressed down to 8MB without any loss in image quality. The HDR-like lighting in the engine looks impressive as well."
Censorship

Submission + - Comcast Shutting Down Big Downloaders

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The rapid growth of online videos, music and games has created a new Internet sin: using it too much.

Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.

"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.
United States

Submission + - Help Find Steve Fossett (avweb.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: DigitalGlobe, one of Google's imaging partners, as acquired new high-resolution satellite imagery of the area where adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared on Monday. Using the Amazon Mechanical Turk, the public can now, go through this imagery and quickly flag any images which might contain Fossett's plane. Images which are flagged will receive further review by Search and Rescue experts.
Security

Submission + - The Cipher Event - World wide challenge (codesandciphers.org.uk)

Submitted by pinbal wizerd
pinbal wizerd writes: The Colossus Rebuild Project in the National Museum of Computing The Cipher Event. To celebrate the completion of the Colossus Mk 2 Rebuild What is it? To transmit, by radio, by teleprinter, from the Heinz Nixdorf Computer Museum in Paderborn in Germany, a series of secret messages enciphered on a WW II Lorenz SZ42 cipher machine. To issue a world-wide challange to anyone to break the cipher settings and decipher these messages before the Rebuild of WW II Colossus Mk 2 in Bletchley Park does it.
Microsoft

Submission + - ISO says "No" to Microsoft's OOXML standar (noooxml.org)

Submitted by qcomp
qcomp writes: The votes are in and Microsoft has lost for now, reports the FFII's campaign website OOXML. The 2/3 majority needed to proceed with the fast-track standarization has not been achieved. Now the standard will head to the ballot resolution meeting to address the hundreds of technical commentsa submitted along with the "no" (as well as some "yes" votes.
Windows

Submission + - Windows XP Thumb Drive Edition Is Real (osweekly.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OSWeekly.com's Matt Hartley has discovered a real, working version of Windows XP Thumb Edition. He comments: "While a proof-of-concept has been perpetuated without Microsoft's content, the instructions are fuzzy, and trying to install this would certainly be a clear violation of existing US law, but my sources have indicated this to be the real deal — you can install Windows XP onto a USB drive as described above. Why hasn't Microsoft bothered to create such a thing themselves? It could be the belief that they do not see the cost/benefit value for offering a bootable USB OS despite the immense success of such a thing with Linux.
Security

Submission + - Important Ruling for the Anti-Malware Industry (net-security.org)

Submitted by ABC
ABC writes: Zango sued Kaspersky Lab to force the Company to reclassify Zango's programs as nonthreatening and to prevent Kaspersky Labs's security software from blocking Zango's potentially undesirable programs. In the important ruling for the anti-malware industry, Judge Coughenour of the Western District of Washington threw out Zango's lawsuit on the grounds that Kaspersky was immune from liability under the Communications Decency Act.
Software

Submission + - India decides to vote "No" for OOXML. (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by Indian
Indian writes: India on Thursday gave Microsoft a thumbs-down in the war of standards for office documents. In a tense meeting at Delhi's Manak Bhawan, the 21-member technical committee decided that India will vote a 'no' against Microsoft's Open Office Extensible Mark Up Language (OOXML) standard at the International Standards Organisation (ISO) in Geneva on September 2.
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - Sony to add TV tuner, DVR to PS3

Submitted by pjhenley
pjhenley writes: Sony has announced that they will add digital TV and DVR capabilities to the PS3 in Europe. TV can also be watched on a PSP using "remote play" over WiFi or via downloaded recordings. You can read the press release on the semi-official Sony UK blog. Engadget has some details as well.
Music

Submission + - SoundExchange backs off DRM for webcasters (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe writes: The big news is not that SoundExchange has repackaged the same royalty proposal that small webcasters rejected in May, but that SoundExchange has dropped its previous insistence that DRM be a part of any agreement. 'On the bright side, it doesn't appear as if DRM is part of the terms this time around. Previously, SoundExchange stated that webcasters who agree to the deal must actively "work to stop users from engaging in 'streamripping'." This began a war of words between the Digital Media Association (DiMA) and SoundExchange, with DiMA accusing SoundExchange of using rate negotiations to push mandatory DRM. SoundExchange's letter leaves the much-maligned streamripping issue out of the discussion, clearing at least that hurdle.'
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Bioshock DRM Causes Massive Outcry (pcgamer.com)

Submitted by
Dr Kool, PhD
Dr Kool, PhD writes: "The PC DVD version of Bioshock is loaded with DRM like no other game ever released, and the outcry has reached critical mass. PC Gamer editors are reporting that they are not able to install and activate the game more than twice, even when previous copies are uninstalled. Thousands of complaints from frustrated buyers have flooded 2K Games' official Bioshock forum. The game uses a new version of the rootkit SecuROM to do its dirty deeds."
XBox (Games)

Submission + - XBox 360 security defeated (again) 1

Submitted by
Robinsod
Robinsod writes: "Back in Janruary this year I "discovered" that MS where using eFuses to prevent downgrading once a user had applied one of the 4xxx or 5xxx updates. I discovered this the hard way by "bricking" a brand new 360 :( During the previous six month the scene has gradually uncovered the secrets of the 360, how individual flash images are paired to individual CPUs & how the eFuses are used to "Lock Down" consoles such that they cannot be downgraded. Two important discoveries were made: 1) How to downgrade to an any version IF the CPU key is known. 3) The 360 is vulnerable to a "timing attack" that allows downgrading WITHOUT the eFuses. At 3AM this morning (after 3 evenings of struggling ;) ) I "guessed" the last byte of the secret required to defeat the version lockdown and my "bricked" 360 booted to the original 2.0.1888 Kernel & Dash!. It should be possible, soon, for anyone with an Infectus modchip and 20 Euros worth of homebrew hardware to downgrade. What does this mean? Once downgraded to the base Kernel and Dash the 360 can be upgraded again to any version. The Kiosk disk will boot again, upgrade your 360 to a vulnerable Kernel (4532/4548) and the King Kong exploit will allow you to run Linux or obtain your CPU Key and modify the 360s Key Vault to play games from other regions."

Slashdot Top Deals

I've noticed several design suggestions in your code.

Close