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Games

EA Won't Use DRM For The Sims 3 128

Posted by Soulskill from the learning-from-their-mistakes dept.
After taking heavy criticism for the use of SecuROM in Spore and other games, EA has made the decision to go back to simple serial code authentication for The Sims 3. EA's Rod Humble said simply, "We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future."
Censorship

CP80's Cheryl Preston Suggests "CyberSecurity" Group At ICANN 139

Posted by timothy from the one-frustrated-astronaut dept.
Beezlebub33 writes "A new petition has been filed under the GSNO (Generic Names Supporting Organization) of ICANN to create a new constituency the CyberSafety Constituency. Existing constituencies include 'Commercial and Business,' 'gTLD,' 'Registrars,' 'Non-commercial,' etc. The new proposed one on CyberSafety is in the 'interest of balancing free speech and anonymity with the values of protection and safety in developing Internet policy within ICANN.' If that doesn't raise red flags all by itself, consider that the person submitting it is Cheryl B. Preston. She's listed in the petition with the organization Brigham Young University, but she's part of CP80. She's suggested limiting content on port 80 to the 'right' things, and other stuff can go on other ports, so it can be appropriately filtered by the authorities. Guess who gets to decide what goes on which ports?"
Sci-Fi

Sci Fi Channel Becoming Less Geek-Centric "SyFy" 798

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the or-you-could-quit-cancelling-good-programs dept.
narramissic writes "According to a TV Week article, NBC Universal has decided to change the name of their Sci Fi Channel to SyFy. Why? To pull in a more 'mainstream' audience. If you're unclear what 'more mainstream' means, TV Historian Tim Brooks spells it out for you: 'The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular.' Yes, we should probably all be offended. And telling us that a crack marketing team came up with the name because that's how tech-savvy 18-to-34 year-olds would text it really doesn't help."

Comment Re:Let's be serious (Score 1) 904

by nyet (#27129529) Attached to: Locking Down Linux Desktops In an Enterprise?

A computer is a general purpose machine, completely customizable by whoever has physical access to it. GPO is a stupid, ugly, misguided hack that can never be implemented in a way that guarantees what it claims to do (much like DRM) because of this.

There is absolutely no reason for any linux developer to waste even a moments thought on this deranged requirement.

You dont like it? Don't deploy *computers*. Deploy the equivalent of a thin terminal or diskless web client.
Windows

Windows 7 Kill Switch For IE Confirmed — For More Apps, Too 208

Posted by timothy from the for-just-a-few-dollars-more dept.
CWmike writes "Microsoft has confirmed that users will be able to remove its IE8 browser, as well as several other integrated applications, from Windows 7. Jack Mayo, a group program manager on the Windows team, listed in a blog post the applications that can be switched off. They include Internet Explorer 8, Fax and Scan, handwriting recognition, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Gadget Platform, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and XPS Viewer and Services. He explained that the files associated with those applications and features are not actually deleted from the hard drive. The public beta of Windows 7 does not include the ability to 'kill' said apps. But a pirated copy of Windows 7 Build 7048 includes the new removal options, and has been leaked on the Internet." (We mentioned the reported ability to turn off IE8 yesterday as well.)
Space

Illinois Declares Pluto a Planet 512

Posted by timothy from the after-ruling-out-pebble-and-mailing-tube dept.
The Bad Astronomer writes "The legislators in Illinois, always on the lookout for more places to find voters, have passed a resolution declaring Pluto is a planet. I'm not sure what else can be said here, except that — besides overstepping their jurisdiction just a wee bit — they make a couple of scientific howlers in the resolution itself."
Microsoft

Roundup of Microsoft Research At TechFest 2009 123

Posted by kdawson from the thirty-five-cool-things dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has a very thorough post of some of the technologies that Microsoft researchers showed off at TechFest last week. 'The exact number of projects that were demonstrated at TechFest 2009 is not clear, but here's a quick rundown of about 35 research projects that haven't received much coverage, accompanied by links that will let you further explore if your interest is piqued. Remember that these are concepts and prototypes, not finished products, and they may never end up becoming anything significant.'" While Microsoft has been criticized for squandering a fortune on R&D, there can be no doubt that they are showing off some cool tech here.

Comment Re:Jones Day 1, Slashdot crowd 0 (Score 2, Interesting) 333

by nyet (#26946867) Attached to: Startup Threatened Into Settling Over Hyperlinking

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act does not cover publicly accessible URLs. It never has. Period.

And even if it did, like most amateur, wannabe, condescendingly annoying, psuedo legal eagles, you are confusing "rights" with the law. There are rights that we have that the legistlature and judicial system consistently and repeatedly ignore. To make matters worse, they do it because of ignorant, shortsighted, luddite fools just like you. You disgust me. There is absolutely nothing morally wrong with deeplinking a to a publically available URL.

Don't pretend for a minute that you know more about what is right and wrong than anybody here, let alone assume we are as completely ignorant of the law as you are.
The Courts

Court Reinstates Proof-of-Age Requirement For Nude Ads 267

Posted by timothy from the barely-legal dept.
arbitraryaardvark writes "An Ohio swinger's magazine objects to keeping proof on file that its advertisers are over 18. I reported here in 2007 that the 6th circuit struck down U.S.C. Title 18, Section 2257 as a First Amendment violation. The full 6th circuit has now overturned that ruling. The case might continue to the Supreme Court. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports."

Comment Re:I call Poe's law. (Score 1) 647

by nyet (#26816733) Attached to: WSJ Says Gov't Money Injection Won't Help Broadband

Does it worry you that somebody reading your original post might assume that *you* feel you are Morally Supreme? That you feel you are a Rational Being of Wonder? That you feel that all that oppose you are Stupid and Evil?

Would you be upset if they made those assumptions about you, then told a friend how, when they "met" you, it reinforced their opinion that people that share your opinion are all like that?

You know, considering you are a member of a group of people that consider themselves "open minded" and all.

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