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PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - 2nd Week Of UK PS3 Launch A Near Disaster

Submitted by mrneutron2004
mrneutron2004 writes: Wow! ChartTrack indicates PS3 sales fell 82% during week two. Is it any shock with the outrageous price? "Apparently though this was perhaps just a "release valve" on pent up demand, as Chart Track now reports an astonishing 82% decline in PS3 sales during week two. If you ask us, Sony's European market pricing is outrageous. Priced at a massive 425 English Pounds (that's a staggering $834 in U.S. Dollars) I just cant see "average Joe Consumer" buying into the PS3 in the UK with this pricing." http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/2nd-week-of -uk-ps3-launch-a-near-disaster.html?Itemid=60
Space

Submission + - US Spaceflight record Broken

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "Today, astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria has been living and working in space for 197 days. The previous record of 196 days was held by expedition 4 crew members Carl Walz and Dan Bursch. When Lopez-Alegria returns to Earth on April 20, he will have spent 214 days aboard the IIS. From the article:

"You know it's kind of being like Barry Bonds and...Albert Pujos playing on the same team," Lopez-Alegria, an avid baseball fan, said referring to professional ballplayers. "I have a feeling my record isn't going to last very long, and I know exactly who is going to break it."

While the US may have broken its own record, it still has a long way to go to catch up with the world record of 438 days held by Valery Polyakov, a MIR crew member. You can view the article located at space.com here."
Caldera

Submission + - The Original SCO

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Before Caldera came into the picture, there was The Santa Cruz Operation. As a few of you might know, there was an imfamous yearly "Follies" show put on by employees. A rich history of satire ended when the firm was sold and progressively shrunk to a hundredth of its former size. Here is a small sample that speaks of the joy and creative spirit that once characterized the company:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKQT6Y4_P3E
Science

French Train Breaks Speed Record 612

Posted by Zonk from the zooom dept.
Josh Fink writes "A French train on the TGV line has broken the wheeled train speed record - again. At a speed of 350 miles per hour, they came close to breaking the all time record of 361 miles per hour, held by a Japanese maglev train. It was last broken back in 1990. From the article: 'The TGV, short for "train a grande vitesse," as France's bullet trains are called, is made up of three double-decker cars between two engines. It has been equipped with larger wheels than the usual TGV to cover more ground with each rotation and a stronger, 25,000-horsepower engine, said Alain Cuccaroni, in charge of the technical aspects of testing.'"
Upgrades

Submission + - Prototype Train Reaches 575 kph

Submitted by necro81
necro81 writes: The NY Times is reporting that the French train manufacturer, Alstom, today demonstrated its next-generation prototype train, the V150, in a test that reached 574.8 kph (357 mph), a new rail speed record. Although the V150 is just a demonstration platform, "[h]igh-speed trains are a potentially lucrative market in developing countries — China and India are the biggest markets, with China spending about 15 billion euros a year on its rail sector, while India is looking at developing a high-speed train network."
Supercomputing

Submission + - Raytheon builds polymorphic computer

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Raytheon have built a CPU for the DoD that can change architectures depending on what it's being used for. FTFA:

Dubbed MONARCH (Morphable Networked Micro-Architecture) and developed to address the large data volume of sensor systems as well as their signal and data processing throughput requirements, it is the most adaptable processor ever built for the Department of Defense, reducing the number of processor types required. It performs as a single system on a chip, resulting in a significant reduction of the number of processors required for computing systems, and it performs in an array of chips for teraflop throughput.
Insert Beowolf Cluster joke here.
Censorship

Submission + - NFL Caught Abusing the DMCA

Submitted by
Implied Oral Consent
Implied Oral Consent writes: "You know how the NFL puts up those notices before every game saying "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience, and any other use of this telecast or of any pictures, descriptions or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is prohibited"? Well, Ars Technica is reporting that Wendy Seltzer thought that that was over-reaching and posted a video of the notice on YouTube. Predictably, the NFL filed a DMCA Take Down notice on the clip. But Ms. Seltzer knows her rights, so she filed a DMCA Counter Notice. This is when the NFL violated the DMCA, by filing another Take Down notice instead of taking the issue to court — their only legitimate option, according to the DMCA. Unfortunately for the NFL, Ms. Seltzer is a law professor, an EFF lawyer, and the founder of Chilling Effects. Oops!"
Space

Submission + - Possible massive meteorite found

Submitted by
johkir
johkir writes: "Geologists think they may have found a meteorite the size of a small town. They were looking for oil but instead found space dust and a possible mammoth meteorite. The possible meteorite is buried deep in the ground about ten miles west of Stockton, Calif. in an area called Victoria Island. 3-D images show that the circular crater created by the rock is estimated to have been about 3 miles wide. The meteorite is also believed to have fallen to earth over 50 million years ago. Per the news feed, 'The impact would have been as powerful as 100-thousand atomic bomb blasts and would have been seen and heard for hundreds of miles.' BBC has the story, as does a local CBS affiliate (with flash video), and there is an abstract for the upcoming AAPG conference."
Windows

Submission + - Stopping WGA Installation sends data to Microsoft

Submitted by
rev
rev writes: "The new WGA Notification installation that can be installed using Windows Update sends data to Microsoft if the user decides to cancel the installation. A cookie is set that could be used to identify the host and information such as version of Windows and WGA as well as language of the operating system are transmitted. Part of the data is encrypted. (read more)"
Microsoft

Submission + - Script Kiddie Foils Microsoft

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A forum user (going by the handle Computer User) over at keznews has successfully created a brute force keygen for Microsoft Windows Vista. Within hours, the news had spread like wildfire to all corners of the internet, garnering public reaction ranging from disbelief to praise. Computer User shortly thereafter posted a statement of regret for 'hacking' Microsoft's unhackable validation. Sarcasm or sincerity?
Privacy

Blizzard Exposes Detailed WoW Character Data 233

Posted by Zonk from the seatec-astronomy dept.
Gavin Scott writes "Blizzard has introduced a new web site called the Armory which lets you get information on any World of Warcraft character, extracted from their live databases, in near real-time. This exposes a great deal of information that was not previously obtainable including profession choices, skill levels for all skills, and the character's complete talent specification and all faction reputation data, along with all gear currently equipped. The complete roster of any guild or arena team is also available. Some players are upset about this, such as arena PvP teams who now have all their gear and talent choices exposed to the world, or players with non-standard or less-popular talent choices who fear they will have difficulty getting into pickup groups now that people can instantly find out everything about them. Are these complaints fair? Blizzard claims to own all the data and the characters, but at what point does this data represent personal choices and information about their players which would be covered by their own privacy policy? In a virtual society, should people be able to present a view of themselves that differs from (virtual) reality, or should all details be exposed?"
Patents

Submission + - UK government will not enforce US software patents

Submitted by VJ42
VJ42 writes: I recently signed a online petition on software patents, but instead of dismissing it the UK government sent me a reply confirming it's position against software patents.

The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software. Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK.
They also remain committed to implementing the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property which means that

The Government will implement those recommendations for which it is responsible, and will therefore continue to exclude patents from areas where they may hinder innovation: including patents which are too broad, speculative, or obvious, or where the advance they make lies in an excluded area such as software.
After all the bad press they've had, this is a welcome bit of good news for us techies.
Security

Submission + - Citibank: training users to be less secure

Submitted by Llamedos
Llamedos writes: Citibank has redesigned their credit card website (Citicards.com) so that the login page is not an SSL encrypted page. Instead, they expect users to simply accept a little lock GIF file they put up themselves, and their assurance that the form is submitted via SSL. According to Citibank, "Your security is important to us. While the new Citicards.com has an "http" address and no lock icon displays in your browser, your personal information is still protected." Citibank's security page While other sites are moving to more security and more ways for the user to protect himself (e.g., Bank of America's SiteKey program), Citibank is tearing away at protections and trying to train users not to care about security.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Using free wireless at library described as theft

Submitted by
Robert Carter
Robert Carter writes: "According to the Anchorage Daily News (http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8667098p-855 9268c.html) a Man's laptop was taken for using free wireless outside of a library in Palmer. What does this say about the liability of free or municipal hotspots for informing that unauthorized use is prohibited?"

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