The Barking Dog - Slashdot User

DX11 Tested Against DX9 With Dirt 2 Demo 201

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday December 03, 2009 @02:20AM from the shadows-with-shadows dept.

MojoKid writes "The PC demo for Codemasters' upcoming DirectX 11 racing title, Dirt 2, has just hit the web and is available for download. Dirt 2 is a highly-anticipated racing sim that also happens to feature leading-edge graphic effects. In addition to a DirectX 9 code path, Dirt 2 also utilizes a number of DirectX 11 features, like hardware-tessellated dynamic water, an animated crowd and dynamic cloth effects, in addition to DirectCompute 11-accelerated high-definition ambient occlusion (HADO), full floating-point high dynamic range (HDR) lighting, and full-screen resolution post processing. Performance-wise, DX11 didn't take its toll as much as you'd expect this early on in its adoption cycle." Bit-tech also took a look at the graphical differences, arriving at this conclusion: "You'd need a seriously keen eye and brown paper envelope full of cash from one of the creators of Dirt 2 to notice any real difference between textures in the two versions of DirectX."

Comment Re:I can't speak to raw escolar, but... (Score 1) 554

by The Barking Dog on Monday November 23, 2009 @08:45AM (#30200872) Attached to: Is That Sushi Hazardous To Your Health?

I had a similar, though better informed, experience with escolar. My wife and I were planning on having a nice anniversary dinner at an upscale restaurant in Austin, TX. Escolar was on their online menu, and I read up on it. The Wikipedia article is very precise in its description of its symptoms, and that it's banned in other countries. I thought, bah, it can't really do that to you...can it? It was one of two options on their prixe fixe menu, and I can cook a good steak myself, so it's what I ordered. After dinner, we walked a couple blocks over to a bar off 6th Street. As the lady at the door was going to take our cover charge, I suddenly felt like my bowels were going to violently void themselves. We ducked out of line and hurried back to the hotel. I made it just in time, and had one of the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had on a toilet. The symptom descriptions were very accurate.

The Sims 3 To Mesh With Social Networks 25

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday May 02, 2009 @06:26AM from the linked-sim-book-space dept.

Electronic Arts has released a good bit of information about the online aspects of The Sims 3, which is due for release in early June. The game will have downloadable content available on launch day that includes a second, separate town called Riverview. They'll also be revamping the game's website to allow the sharing of content and integration with social media. In addition, EA mentioned that the game will make use of micro-transactions, which players can use to buy things like furniture, clothing, and other items.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Confirmed For the PS3, 360 83

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday April 28, 2009 @07:34AM from the hey-why-not dept.

RyuuzakiTetsuya writes "According to Kotaku, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is making its way to the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It's based on the Dreamcast code, and it includes Online play and widescreen support. A demo will be available Thursday on the Playstation Network, and the full game will retail for $15 on each of the respective online services. A gameplay trailer is available as well."

The Woman Who Established Fair Use 226

Posted by kdawson on Sunday April 26, 2009 @08:42PM from the one-of-a-kind dept.

The Narrative Fallacy writes "The Washington Post has an interesting profile on Barbara A. Ringer, who joined the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress in 1949 and spent 21 years drafting the legislation and lobbying Congress before the Copyright Act of 1976 was finally passed. Ringer wrote most of the bill herself. 'Barbara had personal and political skills that could meld together the contentious factions that threatened to tear apart every compromise in the 20 year road to passage of the 1976 Act,' wrote copyright lawyer William Patry. The act codified the fair use defense to copyright infringement. For the first time, scholars and reviewers could quote briefly from copyrighted works without having to pay fees. With the 1976 act that Ringer conceived, an author owned the copyright for his or her lifetime plus 50 years. Previously under the old 1909 law, an author owned the copyright for 28 years from the date of publication and unless the copyright was renewed, the work entered the public domain, and the author lost any right to royalties. Ringer received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, the highest honor for a federal worker. Ringer remained active in copyright law for years, attending international conferences and filing briefs with the Supreme Court before her death earlier this year at age 83. 'Her contributions were monumental,' said Marybeth Peters, the Library of Congress's current register of copyrights. 'She blazed trails. She was a heroine.'"

The Circus Widens In Aftermath of Pirate Bay Verdict 319

Posted by kdawson on Saturday April 25, 2009 @04:19PM from the buy-me-some-peanuts-and-crackerjacks dept.

MaulerOfEmotards sends along an in-depth followup, from the Swedish press, of our discussion the other day about the biased trial judge in the Pirate Bay case. "The turmoil concerns Tomas Norström, the presiding judge of The Pirate Bay trial, who is suspected of bias after reports surfaced of affiliation with copyright protection organizations. For this he has been reported to the appeals court (in Swedish; translation here). The circus around the judge is currently focused on three points. First, his personal affiliation with at least four copyright protection organizations, a state the potential bias of which he himself fails to see and refuses to admit. Secondly, Swedish trials use a system of several lay assessors to supervise the presiding judge. One of these, a member of an artists' interest organization, was forced by Mr. Norström to resign from the trial for potential bias. The judge's failure to see the obvious contradiction in this (translation) casts doubts on his suitability and competence. Thirdly, according to professor of judicial sociology Håkan Hydén (translation), the judge has inappropriately 'duped and influenced the lay assessors' during the trial: 'a judge that has decided that "this is something we can't allow" has little problem finding legal arguments that are difficult for assisting lay assessors to counter.'" Click the link below to read further on Professor Hydén's enumeration of "at least three strange things in a strange trial." On a related note, reader Siker adds the factoid that membership in the Pirate Party exploded 150% in the week following the verdict. The Pirate Party now surpasses in size four smaller parties in Sweden, and is closing in on a fifth. Political fallout could ensue as soon as June, when an election for EU parliament will be held.

Why AT&T Wants To Keep the iPhone Away From Verizon 237

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday April 25, 2009 @12:20PM from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Saul Hansell of the NY Times has an interesting post analyzing AT&T's earnings report and highlighting the enormous stakes involved in the renewal of its exclusive contract to distribute Apple's iPhone in the United States. Hansell does some rough calculations: 'If the average iPhone customer brings in $90 a month, or $1,080 a year in revenue, and the operating profit margin stays constant at 26 percent, that means an iPhone customer represents at least $561 in operating profit over a two-year contract,' says Hansell. 'Put another way, if the company gets 2.5 million new customers a year because of its iPhone exclusivity, the deal represents at least $700 million a year in operating profits — profits that it could lose if Verizon sold the iPhone, too.' With those sort of numbers, AT&T has every reason to make Apple an offer it can't refuse to keep its exclusive deal for another few years. Of course, the incentives for Verizon are presumably the mirror image, so expect Verizon to come to Cupertino, checkbook in hand, to see what sort of deal they can make. 'The benefit of somewhat more iPhone sales from wide distribution is likely to be swamped by a huge bid from AT&T to keep exclusivity, and an equally high bid from Verizon to win some (or maybe even all) of the business for itself.'"

Using Light's Handedness To Find Alien Life 210

Posted by timothy on Friday April 24, 2009 @01:18AM from the let's-skip-some-steps-in-the-middle dept.

Rational Egoist writes "Scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have come up with a novel, easy way to detect life on other planets. Rather than try to measure the composition of atmospheres, they want to look at the chirality of light coming from the planet. From the article: '"If the [planet's] surface had just a collection of random chiral molecules, half would go left, half right," Germer says. "But life's self-assembly means they all would go one way. It's hard to imagine a planet's surface exhibiting handedness without the presence of self assembly, which is an essential component of life."' And they have already built a working model: 'Because chiral molecules reflect light in a way that indicates their handedness, the research team built a device to shine light on plant leaves and bacteria, and then detect the polarized reflections from the organisms' chlorophyll from a short distance away. The device detected chirality from both sources.' The article abstract is available online."

DHS Seeks "Ethical Hackers" To Protect Federal Net Infrastructure 133

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday April 18, 2009 @01:21PM from the loaded-phrases dept.

Death Metal sends this excerpt from an AP report: "General Dynamics Information Technology put out an ad last month on behalf of the Homeland Security Department seeking someone who could 'think like the bad guy.' Applicants, it said, must understand hackers' tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal systems. In the Pentagon's budget request submitted last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon will increase the number of cyberexperts it can train each year from 80 to 250 by 2011. With warnings that the US is ill-prepared for a cyberattack, the White House conducted a 60-day study of how the government can better manage and use technology (PDF) to protect everything from the electrical grid and stock markets to tax data, airline flight systems, and nuclear launch codes. ... Nadia Short, vice president at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, said the job posting for ethical hackers fills a critical need for the government."

Comic Sans, Font of Ill Will 503

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday April 18, 2009 @12:22PM from the less-comic-more-sans-please dept.

Kelson writes "The Wall Street Journal profiles Vincent Connare, designer of the web's most-hated font, Comic Sans. Not surprisingly, the font's origins go back to Microsoft Bob, where he saw a talking dog speaking in Times New Roman. Connare pulled out Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns for reference, and created the comic book-style font over the next week. 'Mr. Connare has looked on, alternately amused and mortified, as Comic Sans has spread from a software project at Microsoft Corp. 15 years ago to grade-school fliers and holiday newsletters, Disney ads and Beanie Baby tags, business emails, street signs, Bibles, porn sites, gravestones and hospital posters about bowel cancer. ... The jolly typeface has spawned the Ban Comic Sans movement, nearly a decade old but stronger now than ever, thanks to the Web."

Valve Provides Details On Left 4 Dead Survival Pack DLC 62

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday April 18, 2009 @01:06AM from the a-new-take-on-not-dying dept.

A post on the Left 4 Dead blog shares details of the Survival Pack downloadable content due out next week. It will be free, and available for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game. "Our goals for Survival Mode are to deliver a mode of play distinct from Campaign or Versus, have games that regularly last under ten minutes, and emphasize competition with team play through leaderboards. Survival Mode draws on the planning and communication aspects of a successful Finale or Crescendo event, while taking it to another level. It rapidly hits a fever pitch that only a well coordinated team will be able to successfully survive. ... Given the extreme pace of Survival Mode, the number of zombies killed in a single round often outnumbers an entire campaign."

The Real Story Behind Gaming Addiction 300

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday April 16, 2009 @06:03AM from the spotlight-on-black-tar-warcraft dept.

Gamespot is running a feature looking into the facts behind gaming addiction: what it is, whether it exists, and why the need still exists for objective research into the issue. Quoting: "[Richard M. Ryan, a psychologist and professor of psychology, psychiatry, and education at the University of Rochester in New York] thinks the lack of quality research into video game overuse will be rectified with time as games become more sophisticated in the ways they satisfy people's psychological needs. 'We have a lot of people, some in the media and some in the sciences, who are too ready to make very strong claims about video games, whether we are talking about aggression, addiction, or cultural estrangement, based on very little evidence. I think that is especially how the media often sells stories. Some commentators exaggerate risks, and on the other hand there are defenders of games who deny any and all problems and attack any perceived bad news. Games are relatively new in our culture, and such vacillation between hysteria and denial I suspect often greets any new phenomenon, from hip-hop to the Internet to video games. Both sides usually have some part of the truth, but it may be a while before at least we as scientists, much less as a society, have a coherent understanding.'"

Comment Dogs (Score 1) 1397

by The Barking Dog on Tuesday February 03, 2009 @08:28AM (#26707753) Attached to: Why Do We Name Servers the Way We Do?

I've had various naming schemes at employers. One, it was sea creatures (the name of the company was The Pond). Another, military aircraft (the owner was a vet who spent his Army years flying helicopters). Another, the staff picked so it was a mishmash, though our SpamAssassin cluster used names of successful US presidential assassins (though when we got to McKinley's and couldn't spell it, it was marking the end of the meme). Yet another, trees.

For my personal stuff, though, I use names of famous dogs, and I try not to recycle them. I've used Toto, Fido, Speck, Einstein, Astro, Scooby, Nipper, Laika, Strelka, and a lot more. My latest are Gromit (can't believe that in 10 years I'd never used it!) and Petey.

Comment Re:Inspired (Score 1) 381

by The Barking Dog on Monday December 29, 2008 @06:52PM (#26262763) Attached to: Resurrecting Old Games, What Works?

The story's icon inspires me: Pac Man should be revived as a first person eater!

Part of the greatness of Pac-Man was that you could see the entire board at once and plan your route accordingly. A first-person perspective would take that away. Sure, you could have a map, but that clutters the HUD and mars the immersion.

But, I haven't seen anyone mention the superb Pac-Man Championship Edition. It took everything great about Pac-Man, improved the visuals, and tweaked the gameplay just enough to make it new.

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