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Comment Re:Crossplatform (Score 1) 129

by francisstp (#26176503) Attached to: Game Devs Warming Up To More Mature-Rated Games On the Wii

I see what you mean in that the same games as on the other 2 won't be released on the Wii because the hardware just can't handle it. This is fine.

However this really should not be a problem in itself for the Wii. In other industries suppliers usually adapt to the major market players even when they need to design more basic products. Take the Korean car manufacturers for example. We don't see them having shortages of features like gas tanks or cup holders because Toyota, Honda and Renault have higher quality requirements than they do. Why is this such an issue in the console market? Why can't the software designers make custom software for the Wii when they know they'd have a good chance of selling millions of copies?

Comment Re:Crossplatform (Score 1) 129

by francisstp (#26174927) Attached to: Game Devs Warming Up To More Mature-Rated Games On the Wii

Can't keep up in what respect? Graphical power? That's definitely not the main factor anymore in the success of games.

The Wii has been outpacing the competition in console sales, which should be enough for third party software makers. They're not in business to make the most powerful games, they're in this business to sell games and the Wii would allow them to do just that.
Cellphones

Submission + - iPhones Produced in China Smuggled Right Back in

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes: "Factories in China produce iPhones that are exported to the United States and Europe and then smuggled right back in helping explain why Apple says it sold about 3.7 million iPhones last year while only 2.3 million are actually registered in the United States and Europe. For Apple, the booming overseas market for iPhones is a sign of its marketing prowess but also a blow to Apple's business model, costing the company as much as $1 billion over the next three years, according to some analysts. Since negotiations between Apple and China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile-phone service operator with more than 350 million subscribers, broke down last month, the official release of the iPhone in China has been stalled producing a thriving gray market. Copycat models are another possible threat to Apple in China. Not long after the iPhone was released, research and development teams in China were taking it apart, trying to copy or steal the design and software for use in iPhone knockoffs, or iClones and some people who have used the clones say they are sophisticated and have many functions that mimic the iPhone. "A lot of people here want to get an iPhone," says Shanghai lawyer Conlyn Chan."
Television

Submission + - How Hi-Def Will Transform Spectacles

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Kevin Kelly has an interesting post on his blog about attending the New York Metropolitan Opera while he was in California under the Met's new program of broadcasting their current opera live to HD digital projection movie theaters around the country. "I could easily follow along with the subtitles.," says Kelly adding that "you get the best seat in the house. You are close enough (via the camera) to see the actor's faces, and in between scenes to go backstage and witness the elaborate mechanics of stage-craft." The series is enjoying box office success, reaching an estimated audience of more than 325,000 viewers. "Like football, watching in HD is far better than being at the game itself. The Met HD Live gives a hint of how great hi-def media will transform spectacles.""
Toys

Submission + - SPAM: Not your father's hot rod: $140,000 Hot Wheels car

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "If you are any thing like me you had tons of Hot Wheels cars when you were a kid, some were nicer (and faster!) than others but I know you never had anything like this: a $140,000, 23 carat, diamond jeweled 1:64 scale hot rod. The car is cast in 18-karat white gold with the majority of the vehicle detailed with micro pave-set brilliant blue diamonds, mimicking the Hot Wheels Spectraflame blue paint, the company said in a release. Under the functional hood, the engine features white and black diamonds, the company said. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
Medicine

Submission + - Gecko inspired waterproof adhesive bandage (telegraph.co.uk) 1

Submitted by anonymous
anonymous writes: A case of amazing animal biology applied in creating a medical breakthrough, the solution to how geckos stick to glass is being used to make better bandages:

From the U.K. Telegraph:

Surgeons are preparing for the day they can repair their patients with a waterproof adhesive bandage that is inspired by the clingy feet of gecko lizards.

The team that devised the "gecko bandage" hope to start human trials within as little as two years and believe that it may soon join sutures and staples as a basic operating room tool for doctors patching up surgical wounds or internal injuries.
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Each gecko foot is packed with about half a million fine hairs. The tip of each hair has thousands of projections, which measure about 10 millionths of an inch across and can get so close to a surface that weak interactions between the surfaces become significant.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - SPAM: Giant, flying casinos poised for take off

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "George Carlin once said if you nail two things together that have never been nailed together before, some schmuck will buy it from you. That seems to be the case this week as the gambling industry is apparently mating with the jumbo aircraft world to create giant flying casinos. First, this week Airbus said it was holding talks with a number of customers interested in converting its superjumbo A380 — the world's biggest passenger plane — into a flying casino. Then the Las Vegas Sands Corp., this week it said it had purchased two L-1011 jet airliners and would be retrofitting to serve as private jets that will chauffeur gamblers to the company's Las Vegas casinos from Asia. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
The Courts

Submission + - "Open Sourcing" the Law (resource.org)

Submitted by
slcdb
slcdb writes: "Most of the codified laws of the land, such as the Unites States Code, have been freely available online for some time. But case law, a significant body of the law, has mostly only been available to law firms and others who can afford to pay for expensive subscriptions to services like Westlaw and LexisNexis. One Carl Malamud has begun to open the source of "the operating system of our society". With the help of the EFF, Carl has recently secured access to a "huge chunk" of case law, much of it going back to the 1950s and some going back as far as 1754. His non-profit company, Public.Resource.Org, is using open source tools to massage the data and put it online."
Government

Submission + - Children caught kissing face jail (scotsman.com)

Submitted by
SL Baur
SL Baur writes: "It wasn't very long ago in history that ages 14 and younger were considered adults enough to marry instead of "children".

GERMANY is poised to bring in a draconian law tomorrow that will effectively outlaw kissing and cuddling between children under 17 in public places.

While experts acknowledge that the bill has good intentions, they fear it will deprive teens of a sexual rite of passage, through flirting and experimentation.
Full story is here: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1935372007"
Media

Submission + - FBI reopens D.B. Cooper hijaking case (oregonlive.com)

Submitted by Z80xxc!
Z80xxc! writes: The FBI decided to reopen the case on "D.B. Cooper", the unidentified man who hijacked a plane traveling from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA on November 24, 1971, almost exactly 36 years ago. He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes, which he collected in Washington in exchange for the passengers on board the plane, then ordered it towards Mexico. He parachuted out of the plane somewhere over Washington, but despite an lengthy search, no trace of him was ever found until nine years later when $5,800 in bills discovered to be among those taken by him were found by an 8 year old near the Columbia River.
Operating Systems

Submission + - 28 Papers on Real-Time Linux

Submitted by __aajbyc7391
__aajbyc7391 writes: LinuxDevices has just published the proceedings from the Ninth Real-Time Linux Workshop. The 28 papers, all available for free public download without registration, span a broad range of topics, ranging from fundamental real-time technologies to applications, hardware, and tools. As usual, the conference was organized by the Real-Time Linux Foundation. This year, the conference was held at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz, Austria.
Security

Submission + - Chinese film fans hit with Lust, Virus (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by Bergkamp10
Bergkamp10 writes: Lust seems to be prevailing over caution for computer users in China who download certain unauthorized copies of Ang Lee's latest film: some of them are receiving dozens of viruses instead. Because "Lust, Caution" was released in China with about 30 minutes of footage censored by the local film overseer — almost all of it depicting graphic sex — movie audiences here are turning to unauthorized downloads of the film to see what they missed. However, hackers are replacing what appear to be copies of the film with software that infects end users' computers, according to a warning from antivirus software maker Beijing Rising International Software. Rising's antivirus software first flagged the problem on Friday or Saturday, said spokeswoman Li Ting. Rising estimates that about 15 percent of the copies of "Lust, Caution" available online would supply frustration rather than titillation, causing a blue screen to appear on the user's computer and possibly stealing passwords for Web sites and instant messaging programs.

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