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PlayStation (Games)

The 5-Year Console Cycle Is Dead 422

Posted by Soulskill from the trading-increments-for-subscriptions dept.
Pickens writes "The Xbox 360 recently turned five years old, and with no known successor on the horizon for the 360, PlayStation 3 or Wii, Cnet reports on the death of the 5-year console cycle — one of the video game industry's most longstanding truisms. For example, the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1985, followed by the Super NES in 1991, the Nintendo 64 in 1996, the GameCube in 2001, and the Wii in 2006. But now, why should console makers upgrade their offerings? Consumers are still buying their machines by the hundreds of thousands each month, and ramped-up online initiatives are breathing new life into the systems. A lot of it has to do with the fact that with the current generation of consoles, each company found a way to maximize either the technology behind the devices, or the utility to a wide range of new gamers."
Privacy

TSA Saw My Junk, Missed Razor Blades, Says Adam Savage 609

Posted by timothy from the happy-24th dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The TSA isn't the most respected of governmental agencies right now, but at least it comes by the poor reputation honestly. The lack of standards, inconsistent application of searches and policies, and occasional rude agent all combine to make flying an unpleasant experience. It's often derided as 'security theater,' which describes the experience of Mythbuster Adam Savage before a recent flight. Savage was put through the full-body scanner, and while he joked that it made his penis feel small, no one seemed to notice the items he was carrying on his person. The video tells the rest of the story."
Google

Google Maps Adds Drone Imagery 141

Posted by timothy from the hook-'em-horns-but-closer dept.
joshuadugie writes "Slashdot carried a story a while ago that Google had purchased drones for unknown purposes. Google Maps has now added new non-satellite imagery (at UT Austin, for example) when you zoom in close enough. Mystery solved!" I'd like to think that there really are (or were) drones over Austin, but would also like to see Google's explanation for the close-up images.
Government

FCC Approves Changes To Cable Box Rules 439

Posted by timothy from the crack-in-the-castle-wall dept.
GovTechGuy writes "The FCC issued an order Thursday that should make it much easier and cheaper for consumers to purchase and install third-party cable boxes made by manufacturers such as TiVo. The rules are aimed at spurring competition in the cable box market; currently consumers overwhelmingly choose to rent a box from their cable provider rather than buy their own. Lawmakers have complained the current cable box technology is outdated and doesn't allow consumers to leverage new sources of video content such as the Web or streaming services from providers such as Netflix. The new rules should result in a smarter, more advanced cable box in the near future."
Encryption

HDCP Encryption/Decryption Code Released 225

Posted by timothy from the didn't-take-long dept.
rtj writes "We have released an open-source (BSD licensed) implementation of the HDCP encryption/decryption algorithms. The code includes the block cipher, stream cipher, and hashing algorithms necessary to perform an HDCP handshake and to encrypt or decrypt video. The code passes the test vectors provided in the HDCP specification and can encrypt video at a rate of about 180 640x480 frames/second on a 2.33GHz Intel Xeon CPU. This isn't quite fast enough to decrypt 1080p content in real-time on a single core, but decryption can be parallelized across multiple cores. There are also many opportunities for further optimisation, such as using SSE instructions. We are releasing the code in hopes that others will further optimize it and use it in their HDCP-related projects."
The Internet

Destroy Entire Websites With Asteroids Bookmarklet 65

Posted by Soulskill from the take-that,-ads-with-sound dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Have you ever visited a website and been so frustrated by the content, layout, or adverts that you'd love to destroy it? Well, now you can. If you head on over to the erkie GitHub page there's a JavaScript bookmarklet you can drag and add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then just visit any website and click the bookmarklet. An Asteroids-style ship should appear that you can move around with the arrow keys. Press space and it will start firing bullets which destroy page content."
Iphone

iPad Bait and Switch — No More Unlimited Data Plan 670

Posted by kdawson from the nice-while-it-lasted dept.
_KiTA_ writes "AT&T announced today that the iPhone will gain tethering, finally, at an extra $20 a month, but only for people on a new 2GB a month plan. They also quietly announced at the same time the real news — that the $30 Unlimited Data plan on the iPad 3G will be axed in lieu of the same data plan. Yes, this would be the same 'revolutionary data plan' that Steve Jobs was so proud of during the iPad unveiling — it lasted just a month after the 3G model was delayed to May 7. People feeling vibes of previous Apple iDevice releases are not alone. Existing accounts will be allowed to grandfather in, although Apple has removed the ability to purchase the iPad from the online store at this time, and AT&T has a history of changing its plans without warning. Finally, there is no word on what happens if you ever let your Unlimited plan lapse for a month at this time."
Google

Submission + - Google Open Sources VP8 Video Codec (openvideoalliance.org)

Submitted by soDean
soDean writes: Google, Mozilla and Opera announced a new open video format today called WebM. As part of the WebM project, Google is is freely licensing the VP8 compression technology. This new open video format will use a modified Matroska video container (.webm). WebM format support is available today in Firefox, Chromium, and Opera development builds. All videos that are 720p or larger, uploaded to YouTube after May 19th, will be be encoded in WebM. The Open Video Alliance has the full scoop.
Google

Submission + - Google Shopping List has been broken since April 4 (google.com)

Submitted by terevos
terevos writes: Google Shopping List has been broken since the beginning of April and has not done anything about it. There are a number of people who were using it to track wishlists and book recommendations, etc. It's now a month later and there has been no response and no indication that they are working on it. Do you have a Google Shopping list? And are you having trouble accessing it? The Google Help forum is here. Add your comments to the list if you're also experiencing this issue.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - 4G iPhone Misplacer Invited to Germany for Beer (erictric.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: You may recall the hapless engineer who left a fairly sensitive iPhone at a bar recently. Well, in a PR stunt, Lufthansa has invited him to visit Germany on their dime after citing his latest Facebook status, "I underestimated how good German beer is" as well as his obvious passion for German beer and culture. It's not clear if Gray Powell has decided to "pick up where he last left off" (as the letter puts it). I know what my decision would be.
Science

Submission + - Caltech Lab "Grows" Cheap, Efficient Solar Panels (wired.com)

Submitted by thomst
thomst writes: Wired publishes a photo tour of the Atwater Research Group's lab-scale factory for "growing" a new kind of solar panel. Based on silicon "wires" embedded in a rubber matrix, the new technology uses only 1% as much silicon as traditional solar panels, is more efficient, requires fewer hazardous materials, and is a lot less wasteful of expensive silicon. Pretty cool stuff.
Earth

Painting The World's Roofs White Could Slow Climate Change 712

Posted by timothy from the why-do-you-think-they-paint-ice-white? dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Dr. Steven Chu, the Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as Energy Secretary, wants to paint the world white. Chu said at the opening of the St James's Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium that by lightening paved surfaces and roofs to the color of cement, it would be possible to cut carbon emissions by as much as taking all the world's cars off the roads for 11 years. Pale surfaces reflect up to 80 percent of the sunlight that falls on them, compared with about 20 percent for dark ones, which is why roofs and walls in hot countries are often whitewashed." (Continues, below.)

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