Kaikopere - Slashdot User

Comment Even animated movies use actors (Score 1) 441

by Kaikopere on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @02:52PM (#18085210) Attached to: Don't Believe What You See at the Movies

So at what point do the actor's/actress' talents become obsolete?

Actors are still artists - a good actor can bring a lot to a performance even if they're just voice acting or mo-capped. Golum had a live actor bringing him to life, as did Sonny in I, Robot. The CGI folks drew heavily on the actor's portrayals. A lot of directors see their relationship with their actors as a collaboration and some tend to choose the same folks over and over because they work well together. From what I've seen in the special features sections of some animated movies, the voice actors are filmed while they're reading and some of that performance gets incorporated into the film. So I think there will be less room for mediocre actors, and the "extra" may become obsolete, but I think there will always be room for the person with a talent for acting or performance.

The bright side that I can see is that perhaps not having to put up with so many dumb, uneducated actors as public role models and political activists.

Well professors should lecture and artists should speak through their art. It's really annoying to get lectured when you're expecting art. People should stand for what they believe in because it's the right thing to do, not because all of the cool kids are doing it or because it helps their image.

Who Pays For Credit Card Breaches? 313

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @02:36PM from the buck-stops-where? dept.

PetManimal writes "A scheme to steal customers' credit and debit card information at a New England supermarket chain highlights a little-understood fact about credit card security: Customers still think that the credit-card companies have to eat fraudulent charges, but since the PCI DSS standards were adopted, it's actually the merchant banks and merchants who have to pay up. And, according to the blogger writing in the latter article, it's a good thing." "The main reason PCI exists is that there are tens of thousands of merchants who don't understand the basics of information security and weren't even taking the very minimum steps to secure their networks and the credit card information they stored... PCI pushes that burden downstream and forces merchants to... put in a properly configured firewall, encrypt sensitive information and maintain a minimum security stance or be fined by their merchant banks... [T]he credit card companies have taken the bulk of the financial burden off of themselves and placed it on the merchants, which is where much of it belongs...'"

Submission + - Gracenote Database Helps Find Musical Plagurist

Submitted by SeaDour on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @12:38AM

SeaDour writes: A music critic for Gramophone, a classical music magazine, has discovered that the recent works of Joyce Hatto, a famed British pianist who passed away last year, are nothing more than blatant copies of other performances. What makes this story interesting is that he found this out when iTunes, and therefore the Gracenote music database, "misidentified" the CD. "He put the disc into his computer to listen, and something awfully strange happened. His computer's player identified the disc as ... not a Hatto recording. Instead, his display suggested that the disc was one on BIS Records, by the pianist Lászlo Simon. Mystified, our critic checked his Hatto disc against the actual Simon recording, and to his amazement they sounded exactly the same." Sound wave analysis is now being done to determine just how many of Hatto's recordings are indeed rip-offs.

Submission + - Bee Farmers Buzzing About Misfortunes

Submitted by

Da3vid

on Monday February 12, 2007 @06:52PM

Da3vid writes: "Bees have been mysteriously disappearing. Beekeepers in 22 states report losses of up to 80 percent. Speculation is that mites or poor nectar has caused their demise, but scientists haven't reached any conclusions. One farmer estimates that he will lose $350,000 based only on his current losses. In only a matter of days, entire hives have been lost. Is this a problem we have already seen the effects of, or is it just developing?"

Submission + - Julie Amero wrongly convicted? The spyware defense

Submitted by Anonymous Howard on Monday February 12, 2007 @06:28PM

Anonymous Howard writes: Substitute teacher Julie Amero faces up to 40 years in prison for exposing kids to porn using a classroom computer, but the facts strongly suggest that she was wrongfully convicted. Many issues remain, from the need for an independent computer forensics investigation and the presence of spyware and adware on the Windows 98 machine, to bad or incomplete legal work on both sides of this criminal case. It appears that spyware caused Julie Amero's conviction. She will be sentenced on March 2, 2007. This is a new development from the previously story on Slashdot.

Submission + - Texas Gov. Pressured to Rescind Vaccination Order

Submitted by

rock_climbing_guy

on Monday February 05, 2007 @03:09PM

rock_climbing_guy writes: "Recently, the state of Texas became the first state to require vaccination against HPV, a set of strains of viruses that cause warts and cancer, for all girls entering the sixth grade, beginning in September 2006. Texas Governor Rick Perry, as reported by Fox News, is being pressured by the state senate to rescind the order. Many critics of the order say that requiring such a vaccination will encourage premarital sex. Under Texas law, some parents may opt-out of the requirement for their children for religious or philosophical reasons.

How do we balance the need to provide citizens with protection against dangerous diseases with individual autonomy and freedom? Do such mandatory vaccinations violate our civil rights?"

Submission + - The Future of Online Dating

Submitted by

eldavojohn

on Thursday February 01, 2007 @04:05PM

eldavojohn writes: "Scientific American is running an interesting article on online dating. Points out a lot of the problems existing with online dating today but also notes that it's here to stay and will only get better in the future."

Submission + - Massive Cloud Seen Over Titan's North Pole

Submitted by

sighted

on Thursday February 01, 2007 @03:30PM

sighted writes: "NASA has published intriguing images that show a giant cloud, half the size of the United States, at Saturn's moon Titan. It may be responsible for the material that fills the recently-discovered lakes."

Submission + - Best piracy money can buy

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01, 2007 @02:36PM

An anonymous reader writes: Almost as follow-up on a discussion here on Slashdot, regarding the help Microsoft got from piracy in establishing its worldwide domination, comes this message from Romania's president, Traian Basescu, as reported in the Washington Post: "Piracy helped the young generation discover computers. It set off the development of the IT industry in Romania." What makes this even more interesting (and ironic) is that these words of wisdom were uttered during a joint press conference with Bill Gates (there to promote a few things, Vista, Office 07 and a spanking new support center); moreover, Mr. Basescu was for much of his life a ship captain, so, it is to be assumed he knows good piracy when he sees it. According to the Post "Gates made no comment."

Submission + - Can the NFL control Super Bowl broadcast?

Submitted by

youvegottobekidding

on Thursday February 01, 2007 @12:40PM

youvegottobekidding writes: "The Indy Star has an article ( http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID= 2007702010431 )about Super Bowl Party Rules. It appears the NFL is ready to bust churches for holding Super Bowl parties because they: use "Super Bowl" in the promotion, show the game on a TV larger than 55", and are not a sports bar. Can they really control how the broadcast is shown when it is sent over the airwaves? It's not like this is pay tv. Call out the ACLU!!!"

Submission + - Tennessee Libel Bill Targets Internet

Submitted by

YIAAL

on Thursday February 01, 2007 @11:53AM

YIAAL writes: "Bill Hobbs reports on a Tennessee bill that would require that allegedly defamatory material on the internet be removed within two days of a complaint being made. The bill provides:

An owner or licensee of a web site or web page shall have fifteen (15) days to remove any defamatory statements about a person from such web site or web page; however if the owner or licensee has been given notice that such statements are defamatory then that owner or licensee shall have two (2) days from the date of the notice to remove the statements from the web site or web page, whichever is less. Failure to remove defamatory statements as provided in this section shall create a presumption of malice intent.
As the poor grammar suggests, this may not have been very well thought out, and it's almost certainly invalid under any reasonable interpretation of Federal (and Tennessee) constitutional law, not to mention the Communications Decency Act. But it serves as a warning that politicians remain anxious to shut down Internet criticism — and, of course, "reasonable" interpretations aren't always the interpretations we get in these cases. Were this bill to take effect, web publishers would basically be forced to remove material upon any charge that it's defamatory, as the risk of not doing so would be higher than most commercial concerns, or impecunious bloggers, would be willing to face."

Submission + - The Trouble with Vista

Submitted by jcatcw on Thursday February 01, 2007 @11:30AM

jcatcw writes: After hundreds of hours of testing Vista, Scot Finnie is supremely tired of it. And of Microsoft. Although 80% of the changes in Windows Vista are positive, there is nothing about Vista that is truly innovative or compelling; there's no transformational, gotta-have-it feature in Vista. But the real problem isn't with Vista. It's with Microsoft itself. Microsoft stopped focusing on end users. They "now seemingly makes many decisions based on these two things: 1. Avoiding negative publicity (especially about security and software quality) 2. Making sure the largest enterprise customers are happy."

Submission + - Windows Vista Upgrade Invalidates XP Key

Submitted by Karrde712 on Thursday February 01, 2007 @10:05AM

Karrde712 writes: From Vista's EULA (Warning: PDF): "13. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from." According to LXer, during the upgrade process, Microsoft will invalidate your original Windows XP cd-key, preventing its use on another computer. Since you cannot install the Vista upgrade media from a system without Windows XP already on it and activated, this makes the Vista upgrade a one-way move.

Submission + - Can I be sued for quitting?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @09:23PM

An anonymous reader writes: I work at a large hosting company in Texas and recently decided to go work for a smaller competitor. I had a great relationship with my employer and wanted to leave on good terms. I felt the new company had just gotten too large and I didn't like working there anymore, I gave them two weeks notice in writing. They were really upset when I insisted on leaving and one week into my last two weeks the V.P. of Sales told me the company was suing me for leaving and suing my new employer for hiring me. They then escorted me out of the building. I was shocked. Should I hire an attorney? Has anybody ever heard of this happening? Do they have any legal basis for suing me? I never signed any non-compete or employment agreement.

Submission + - Google loses "Gmail" in Europe

Submitted by Hippie Hippie Shake on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @01:50PM

Hippie Hippie Shake writes: Google has just lost the right to use the name "Gmail" in Europe, according to the EU. From the article: "Daniel Giersch, a German-born 32-year old entrepreneur, has just announced that his company received a positive ruling last week from the Harmonization Office supporting his claim that "Gmail" and his own "G-mail" are confusingly similar. G-mail is a German service that provides a "gmail.de" email address, but also allows for a sort of "hybrid mail" system in which documents can be sent electronically, printed out by the company, and delivered in paper format to local addresses." It looks like "Google Mail" from here on out, at least in the Old Country.

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