Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
Earth

Norwegian Study: Global Warming Less Severe Than Feared 468

Numerous news outlets are reporting the findings of a study from the Research Council of Norway — a government agency — which concludes that (in Bloomberg's version) "After the planet's average surface temperature rose through the 1990s, the increase has almost leveled off at the level of 2000, while ocean water temperature has also stabilized." The New York Times' Dot Earth blog offers some reasons to be skeptical of the findings.
Cloud

DIY Dropbox Alternatives 188

jfruhlinger writes "Dropbox was a service that many techies fell in love with, only to be disappointed when they found out about its dodgy security and dubious copyright claims. The company's tried to make amends — but what other options are there for those who have had enough? While there's nothing quite as seamless out there, it's not difficult to build your own Dropbox alternatives from freely available software and services from other vendors."
Lord of the Rings

LotR Online's Free-To-Play Switch Tripled Revenue 91

Last June, Turbine made the decision to switch Lord of the Rings Online from a subscription-based business model to a free-to-play model supported by microtransactions. In a podcast interview with Ten Ton Hammer, Turbine executives revealed that the switch has gone well for the company, with game revenues roughly tripling. The active player base has also grown significantly in that time. Executive Producer Kate Paiz said, "This really echoes a lot of what we've seen throughout the entertainment industry in general. It's really about letting players make their choices about how they play."
Image

Survey Shows That Fox News Makes You Less Informed 1352

A survey of American voters by World Public Opinion shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. One of the most interesting questions was about President Obama's birthplace. 63 percent of Fox viewers believe Obama was not born in the US (or that it is unclear). In 2003 a similar study about the Iraq war showed that Fox viewers were once again less knowledgeable on the subject than average. Let the flame war begin!

Comment Re:There isn't really any homebrew on the 360 (Score 1) 453

Exactly like Icegryphon said. Scratching disks is a known problem that the Xbox360 is famous for, and Microsoft has admitted to. Many people at one time or another have had there Xbox360 scratch up some disk. There is nothing morally wrong about playing backups of games you own, and in this case people have a legitimate fear that the console is going to eat there disk. No one should have to buy the same game twice.

Comment I've found the opposite (Score 1) 494

My spelling and hand writing are absolutely atrocious, and would be with or without computers as I'm mildly dyslexic (this has been tested and documented). In the case of my spelling however, I've found it improving as I use computers. When I have a spell check constantly telling me what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it, eventually some things stick. It doesn't work for everything (such as using the wrong word with the right spelling), but it helps. Not to mention being able to hand in work that's nicely typed and legible, something that would be difficult for me otherwise.

Comment Re:A dangerous road (Score 1) 271

I wasn't necessarily talking about the United States' definition of free speech, but perhaps I could have used a better word. I'm trying to make the point that no one, not even the government, should be able to prosecute you for what you say (or think as the case may be). The problem isn't so clear in most modernized countries, but what about cases where the government's idea of prosecutable speech goes beyond slander? North Korea and China come to mind. If anyone (the government or otherwise) has the means to track you down, then eventually it will be abused. This is a difficult point to argue over something like this (I'm in no way defending what this guy did). But when you start to make exceptions someone is bound to eventually make an exception that you don't like. The best way to prevent abuse is to make it impossible to make exceptions in the first place.

Comment A dangerous road (Score 1) 271

'The protection of the right to communicate anonymously must be balanced against the need to assure that those persons who choose to abuse the opportunities presented by this medium can be made to answer for such transgressions.'

This is a dangerous road to go down. "Yes you have anonymity, unless you say something we don't like. Then we get to sue/jail/etc. you". Not many people will get upset over something like this, where what's being said is truly distasteful. But in order for people to truly have "free speach", we need to be given true anonymity unconditionally.

Slashdot Top Deals

I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats; If it be man's work I will do it.

Working...