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Education

OLPC 2.0 — One Laptop Foundation Reboots 187

Greg Huang writes "In early January, the One Laptop Per Child Foundation laid off half its staff and shed work on the Sugar graphical interface. Now, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte and president Chuck Kane for the first time detail the foundation's new plans, describe how the XO laptop will do what netbooks can't do, and share their hope to keep working with Sugar developer Walter Bender, who left OLPC last year."
United States

Researcher Finds No Link Between Violent Games and School Shootings 116

GamePolitics writes "A researcher at Texas A&M International University has found no link between playing violent video games and school shootings. Prof. Christopher Ferguson cites 'moral panic' and criticizes politicians, the news media and some social scientists for playing up what he believes is a false connection between video games and school shooting incidents. Quoting: 'Actual causes of violent crime, such as family environment, genetics, poverty, and inequality, are oftentimes difficult, controversial, and intractable problems. By contrast, video games present something of a "straw man" by which politicians can create an appearance of taking action against crime.'"
Space

Milky Way Heavier Than Thought, and Spinning Faster 285

An anonymous reader writes "The Milky Way is spinning much faster and has 50 per cent more mass than previously believed. This means the Milky Way is equivalent in size to our neighbor Andromeda — instead of being the little sister in the local galaxy group, as had been believed. One implication of this new finding is that we may collide with Andromeda sooner than we had thought, in 2 or 3 billion years instead of 5."
The Almighty Buck

Publishers Detail Specific In-Game Ad Plans For Future Games 104

MTV's Multiplayer Blog recaps a recent event held by Massive Inc., a subsidiary of Microsoft, during which game publishers put forth specific ideas on what types of in-game advertising players will and won't be seeing in the near future. The examples varied in how interactive and intrusive they were, from name-brand bottled water power-ups to destructible virtual billboards to taking advantage of sports game locker rooms for product placement. They did claim they would restrain themselves from blatant advertisements that would ruin immersion in fantasy games. Blizzard partnered with Massive to bring ads to Battle.net, but don't expect to see ads in the associated games.

Comment Re:People scoffed at my contention... (Score 1) 905

Except that he's correct. More people do get paid to develop software that fits the definition of Free Software. I believe that's always been the case.

Every person who works in the IT shop of some company churning out custom solutions for that company is working on Free Software.

wtf!
Can you give any facts that support this claim?

Comment Re:Non fighting, non loot games... (Score 1) 329

I disagree - and so would market figures. The average age of gamers is rising every year, and now that there are proportionately less youngsters playing games so there is less need for gamers to use games to vent their unconscious rage against their sense of powerlessneness.

I don't dispute that gamers are getting older. I'll be 40 in a couple of weeks. But I do think you are talking out of your a** when you claim older gamers have less need of killing sprites to let off some steam than younger people.
It's not like we have less things to be frustrated about (kids (my own), mortage, pension, prostate, hair loss, kids (on lawn), PHB, dog with fleas, price of gas....)

It's funny.  Laugh.

Lame Duck Challenge Ends With Free Codeweavers Software For All 433

gzipped_tar writes to tell us that The Codeweavers "Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge" has ended in surprise and free software all day Tuesday (October 28, 2008) at the Codeweavers site. A while back Codeweavers gave President Bush a challenge to meet one of several goals before he left office. One of these goals was to lower gas prices in the Twin Cities below $2.79 a gallon, which has since transpired. "How was I to know that President Bush would take my challenge so seriously? And, give the man credit, I didn't think there was *any* way he could pull it off. But engineering a total market meltdown - wow - that was pure genius. I clearly underestimated the man. I'm ashamed that I goaded him into this and take full responsibility for the collapse of any savings you might have. Please accept our free software as my way of apologizing for the global calamity we now find ourselves embroiled in."
Businesses

Submission + - Girl kills herself over LHC fear mongering (dailymail.co.uk)

AnonChef writes: "

A teenage girl in central India killed herself after being traumatised by media reports that a 'Big Bang' experiment in Europe could bring about the end of the world, her father said. The 16-year old girl from the state of Madhya Pradesh drank pesticide and was rushed to the hospital but later died, police said.

So sad that the medias desire to sell a few more copies/adspots makes them spread this kind of fud.
I really think the medias has gone downhill ethically, but perhaps it's always been this bad and I'm only delusional."

Google

Submission + - Google Chrome Released! 19

AKAImBatman writes: "Google's much anticipated web browser Google Chrome is now available for download. This new browser professes to have process-isolated tabs, the fastest Javascript VM on the market, extensive compatibility with existing web pages and web standards, and Google Gears pre-installed. For those who are concerned about the privacy of the browser, Google has a privacy FAQ to address your concerns."

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