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Submission + - Indicted ex-FIFA executive cites Onion article in rant slamming US (time.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner renewed his criticism of the United States, where he faces corruption charges, on Sunday by releasing a pair of videorecorded comments — one of them based on a story by satirical website The Onion.

"This past week has been a most trying one for me, a most difficult one," Warner said.

Even Sunday wasn't easy, when Warner needed two attempts to get his message across by telling followers that the latest accusations against him stem largely from the U.S. being upset that it did not win the rights to host the 2022 World Cup — which went to Qatar.

In an eight-minute Facebook video, which was quickly deleted after numerous news reports picked up on the gaffe, Warner held up a printout of a fictitious story from The Onion bearing the headline: "FIFA Frantically Announces 2015 Summer World Cup In United States."

The fake story was published on Wednesday, hours after Warner was indicted in the U.S. and arrested and briefly jailed in Trinidad. Warner asked why the story was "two days before the FIFA election" when Sepp Blatter was re-elected as president.

Submission + - Khan Academy Seeks Patents on Learning Computer Programming, Social Programming

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: When it announced its brand new Computer Science platform in August 2012, Khan Academy explained it drew inspiration from both Bret Victor and GitHub (SlideShare). Still, that didn't stop Khan Academy from eventually seeking patents on its apparently Victor-inspired Methods and Systems for Learning Computer Programming and GitHub-inspired Systems and Methods for Social Programming, applications for which were quietly disclosed by the USPTO earlier this year. Silicon Valley legal powerhouse Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which provides a pro bono team of 20+ to assist billionaire-backed Khan Academy with its legal needs, filed provisional patent applications for KA in August 2013 — provisional applications can be filed up to 12 months following an inventor's public disclosure of the invention — giving it another 12 months before formal claims had to be filed (KA's non-provisional applications were filed in August 2014).

Submission + - Does a black hole have a shape? 1

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: When you think about a black hole, you very likely think about a large amount of mass, pulled towards a central location by the tremendous force of gravity. While black holes themselves may be perfectly spherical (or for rotating black holes, almost perfectly spherical), there are important physical cases that can cause them to look tremendously asymmetrical, including the possession of an accretion disk and, in the most extreme case, a merger with another black hole.

Comment I Love Windows, Here for the Science (Score 1) 1880

by JonnyRocks (#38022726) Attached to: What's Keeping You On Windows?
I come here for the Science news. Who really cares what OS we use. Windows works great. It really really does. When will it no longer be cool to bash it. I have had friends use only linux and they use it for the same reason i use windows. It's what they know. I can fix it. I develop for it. I also love linux, and i would be worried if it went away one day.

Comment Marketing (Score 1) 117

by JonnyRocks (#36670744) Attached to: Xbox Live Indie Games Struggle For Profitability
Did anyone else get the feeling that the developers thought Microsoft should do something to promote their games. If your game isn't known, then you need to get the word out. No one is going to do it for you. Promote it. Buy an ad. I'm sorry it costs money but that's how it is for everyone.

Comment Do people work at companies? (Score 1) 313

by JonnyRocks (#34993490) Attached to: Italian Consumer Watchdog Sues Microsoft Over 'Windows Tax'
Microsoft isn't selling you Windows. It's silly to me that they are suing Microsoft, they really have nothing to do with this. A PC maker buys Windows and then installs it on the machine. It's like suing black and decker because Home Depot won't take your refund you for a drill. HP, Dell, Sony now owns the product. Why it's cheaper is becuase installing Windows is part of a process. To uninstall windows takes manual intervention, hence more money. Then putting on the advertisement shortcuts on your desktop help lower the cost even more. I am just surprised that people don't get how life works. It's not some nefarious tax or people out to get you. It's about making a product as inexpensive as they can. It makes perfect sense that taking windows off cost more money than putting it on.
Firefox

Mozilla Flips Kill-Switch On Skype Toolbar 284

Posted by Soulskill from the take-a-time-out-until-you-can-play-nice-with-the-other-kids dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Whenever Skype is installed or updated, it automatically installs the Skype Toolbar add-on for Firefox. Unfortunately, the add-on causes serious performance problems, slowing down some operations by a factor of 300 and is one of the top causes for Firefox crashes. As a result, Mozilla has decided to 'soft-block' the add-on, effectively killing it on all Firefox installs unless the user intentionally re-enables it. Given the extreme popularity of Skype, this has ramifications for millions of users."
PC Games (Games)

PC Gaming Alliance's New President Talks DRM, System Requirements 163

Posted by Soulskill from the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately-or-ever dept.
arcticstoat writes "It's been nearly three years since the PC Gaming Alliance announced its formation at GDC 2008, promising to 'advance the PC as a worldwide gaming platform.' Since then, Activision-Blizzard has publicly left the alliance, Sony DADC – developer of the controversial SecuROM DRM software – has signed up and some people are wondering if the PCGA is really acting in the best interests of PC gamers. However, in December 2010 the alliance appointed a new president — Intel's Matt Ployhar — who's promising to make some changes. In this in-depth interview, Ployhar reveals that he wants to tempt Activision Blizzard back to the alliance, saying that 'Activision's Kotick and Blizzard's Morhaime may be more aligned with our future objectives than they may realize.' He also discusses Sony DADC's role in the alliance, and the group's stance on DRM, explaining that its research can 'really help to influence Sony DADC's and other members' awareness of key trends taking place in the PC gaming ecosystem. Given the trend of retail's diminishing presence, free-to-play, games moving towards authentication, game streaming and so on, it's really hard to divine where DRM solutions fit into this equation in the future.'"

Comment Some DLC is good (Score 1) 261

by JonnyRocks (#34195464) Attached to: When DLC Goes Wrong
The article forgot to mention that some DLC (Dargon Age) is very good. I love the attention bioware gave to Dragon Age. i have enjoyed the adventures. I also like what the Sims 3 has done. I think the prices are reasonable for both as well. The games listed in the article don't surprise me. These aren't games I usually buy because of so many issues plaguing them. I guess my issue here is that the article focuses on the wrong issue. DLC is a great idea, some really bad companies don't know how to handle it. Big game companies are now like hollywood they just don't get it.

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