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Comment Re:Intentional? (Score 1) 824

by Bluskale (#34168816) Attached to: The Placebo Effect Not Just On Drugs
So the two intersections near where I live in San Francisco had completely automated cross walk signals and lights and whatnot. Several months ago, cross-walk buttons were installed. Now these intersections have completely automated cross walk signals, but most people now reach & press the buttons when they want to cross. The only rational reason I can figure for installing the buttons was the inclusion of audible cues for the visually impaired.

Comment Re:What are they going to do? (Score 1) 1217

by Bluskale (#32544300) Attached to: MA High School Forces All Students To Buy MacBooks

This reminds me of another story not so long ago of a school that required Apple laptops and then used the built-in camera to snoop on students at home, in their bedrooms, in their showers.

Not to diminish the terrible actions of those administrators... but seriously, who takes a shower and leaves their laptop sitting in the bathroom, much less with the lid open AND facing the shower?
PC Games (Games)

Future Ubisoft Games To Require Constant Internet Access 497

Posted by Soulskill from the this-will-go-over-well dept.
Following up on our discussion yesterday of annoying game distribution platforms, Ubisoft has announced the details of their Online Services Platform, which they will use to distribute and administer future PC game releases. The platform will require internet access in order to play installed games, saved games will be stored remotely, and the game you're playing will even pause and try to reconnect if your connection is lost during play. Quoting Rock, Paper, Shotgun: "This seems like such a bizarre, bewildering backward step. Of course we haven't experienced it yet, but based on Ubi’s own description of the system so many concerns arise. Yes, certainly, most people have the internet all the time on their PCs. But not all people. So already a percentage of the audience is lost. Then comes those who own gaming laptops, who now will not be able to play games on trains, buses, in the park, or anywhere they may not be able to find a WiFi connection (something that’s rarely free in the UK, of course – fancy paying the £10/hour in the airport to play your Ubisoft game?). Then there's the day your internet is down, and the engineers can’t come out to fix it until tomorrow. No game for you. Or any of the dozens of other situations when the internet is not available to a player. But further, there are people who do not wish to let a publisher know their private gaming habits. People who do not wish to report in to a company they’ve no affiliation with, nor accountability to, whenever they play a game they’ve legally bought. People who don’t want their save data stored remotely. This new system renders all customers beholden to Ubisoft in perpetuity whenever they buy their games."
Biotech

Submission + - How A "Superbaby" Is Leading To New Medic

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A baby boy with unusually big muscles — caused by a gene mutation — is leading to new muscular dystrophy drugs. Forbes has the story, from the gene's discovery in mice, then in cattle (lots of beefy breeds have a mutated copy) to the current quest for new medicines, which pits a tiny biotech against drug giant Wyeth.

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0226/074.ht ml?partner=yahoomag
NASA

Submission + - Lakes found under Antarctic ice using space lasers

Submitted by
Reverse Gear
Reverse Gear writes: "There is a new study circling the media about these newly found big lakes found underneath the antarctic ice sheets that apparently empty and fills back up quite fast (study has been working in 3 years and has detected massive movements), from the article:

The scientists allay fears that global warming has created these pockets of water. They say these lakes lie some 2,300 feet below compressed snow and ice, too deep for environmental temperature to reach. However, it is necessary to understand what causes the phenomenon as it can facilitate an understanding of the impact of climate change on the ice sheet in Antarctica
NASA also has some information on the technique used to detect these lakes"
Graphics

Submission + - Rollable E Ink Display Becomes Real Product

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Two years ago Philips unveiled a prototype of a functional electronic-document reader, called the Readius, which could unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself. Unfortunately, that was only a prototype. According to Cnet, however, Polymer Vision, which spun out from Philips in 2006, has redesigned the Readius and turned it into a real product that it is going to be available by the end of this year. There are some notable differences between this Readius and the prototype version, in particular, the ability to display 16 shades of grey instead of just 4 and the connectivity options. What doesn't make sense though, is given the energy efficiency and easy-to-read high contrast functionality of E Ink, why other than Motorola with its Motofone, has no other cell phone manufacturer incorporated E Ink technology into its handsets?

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