How is this news?

The Xbox and GFW marketplaces have technically been the same anyway (the entire services have been), Microsoft simply let the GFW service run after the xbox service instead of letting it develop on its own which caused a lot of the initial problems (and still does for some). GFW also doesn't have dedicated support, the Xbox crew does that all.

I guess they just wanted to make it official, at least as far as the marketplaces are concerned, that the PC service is just a peripheral 'thing' of the Xbox service.

Chrome suddenly got a huge share of the market and the only thing Mozilla could think of was to make their release schedule mirror Chrome's.

Simple solution:

Mozilla should remain Mozilla. They're neither Google nor Microsoft. Whoever's running Mozilla should get their heads out of their arses and focus on making the best browser, not on getting to the highest version number.

... very simple.

Science is HOW, religion is WHY.

Both mesh and can coexist peacefully. Neither interferes with the other.

Why can't people see this and stop forcing one on the other?

Science is *how*, religion is *why*.

It's a very simple separation, i just don't understand why people have to keep blowing it out of proportion with either a vicious hate against either or an entire book's worth of explanations that amount to nothing.

That's why it tanked in the 90's. It got boring.

It strikes me how Moriarty only mentions semi-historical strategy games. Is he (or Ebert for that matter) even aware of things like Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, Half-Life, Limbo, World of Goo or even The Void?

I think their notion of videogames leads them to try the ultra-popular stuff from 10-20 years ago and then look at games as one single genre of b-movie like material. The games i mentioned aren't perfect, but i assume everyone here can agree that at least 2 of those list are worthy of another look by the 'art experts'.

HD-DVD was limited to 15Gb at most, as a 'standard for the future' it's severely lacking. Next year we'll be getting 8 layer Blurays which can hold 200Gb...

On that argument alone i'd choose the latter over the former, at least for now. Besides, we'll be getting HCD some time soon anyway.

And yet the US celebrates it when "a hero from China/Iraq" or whatever country would publish their secret documents and would "protest heavily" if their own country would prosecute them.

Of course, that's the rub with this kind of plan. Still, a media tax on internet services would solve everyone's problem, $5-10 depending on the service you're already paying for. You could argue that people who don't download any media at all shouldn't be paying this, but that would raise a lot of technical issues which would get into big brother territory - Besides, bandwidth limits would take care of things like that.

Of course, this should also mean that things like iTunes would have to get cheaper aswell. A lot cheaper.

Or.... Wait.

Did no one else think of A View To A Kill when they read this?

Music execs: "This internet thing, what is it? It's destroying our sales! We must destroy it!"

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a result of old age and a refusal to adapt and evolve. They are destroying themselves by consistently denying and ignoring the only way for them to move forward. When a multinational, multi-billion dollar industry is forced on it's knees by services (originally) at least provided by geeks in basements, it's time to stop believing they have any credibility left.

It's a statistics thing, though i agree the current sample size is too small to base too many theories around the concept of a habitable zone. The important factor here is liquid water, which is only found in the right conditions, ie, the habitable zone. At the moment we don't know whether it's possible for any other conditions to generate life, let alone how - But on the plus side, this can only mean that this is a worst case scenario and there are *at least* 500 million planets in the galaxy capable of supporting (human) life.

The requirement for this certificate will be a series of classes or a test, which in itself requires a 'nominal fee' to take. More bureaucratic nonsense serving no purpose other than fill the pockets of people who have no clue about what they're actually selling.

Are those prosecutors and agents actually taking a step back and look at what they're doing anymore? It's like they're deliberately trying to look as idiotic as possible.

Cinema revenue has been increasing because of the higher price point of 3D movies, and the general increase in ticket prices. Add the recent (very high) inflation to this, and you'll notice that all the numbers Hollywood accountants are bragging about are actually a solid indicator of the movie industry going south, fast.

Roger Ebert has been a staunch opponent of 3D, and while he's not the most important man in the industry, his word carries a lot of weight with much of the movie going audience. If such a prominent figure takes up arms against it you can bet that more people will do so, and soon. Add to that the recent reports of how the current implementation of 3D is actually harmful to the human eye and you've got an avalanche waiting to happen.

What's even more, independant movies are on the rise and studios with little to no input from their parent companies (like, for instance, Pixar) are proving to be much more succesful in the long run than any of the execs' own creations - They have been relying on licensed franchises for their money for a long time now, exceptions such as Inception or Avatar not withstanding. This only shows how desperate Hollywood has become.

Not to mention that the (video)games industry has overtaken Hollywood by a not-so-inconsiderable margin. It says a lot when your product is being outsold by a supposed children's toy to the same audience you're trying to sell your 'works of art' to.

Oh, and Farmville has been more profitable than Avatar.

Cinemas as they are now are on their way out. They will still exist, but in a far more specialized manner. They will get more expensive, but in return you'll get a better experience. They will get rarer, but the quality will go up.

That is, if the film industry finally realizes it's entered the new millenium over a decade ago and starts to reform it's business accordingly.