Karl the Pagan - Slashdot User

Comment Shirow Masamune / robotic control software (Score 1) 203

by Karl the Pagan on Friday December 07, 2007 @12:44PM (#21613769) Attached to: Toyota Unveils Violin-Playing Robot

Perhaps as in the "Ghost in the Shell" fiction series each function of a robot or cyborg's abilities will be linked to specialized software tailor made for that application. The power users will combine and tweak their control software, hackers could inject viruses, or feedback in cybernetic systems could drive users mad.

It's all been predicted... now we just need to show that the alternative (AI) is possible and test if it is more desirable.

Submission + - Google Quietly Closes AdSense API to Small Sites (idealog.us)

Submitted by

NewsCloud

on Friday September 14, 2007 @03:38PM

NewsCloud writes: "Google has raised the required minimum traffic limit for publishers who wish to use its AdSense API to 100,000 page views per day. The AdSense API was introduced in March as a way for sites with user generated content to share advertising revenue with their members. Says Google, "This policy change will probably result in fewer developers going live and give us a chance to enhance our support resources and processes to more easily support a greater number of developers in the future...we hope to be able to lower it in the future as we become more efficient at supporting our developers!" Meanwhile, some publishers report waiting a month for their API usage to be approved. I take Google at its word for now but worry that small developers could be increasingly squeezed out of the mashup space if this were to become a trend."

Behind the Scenes At Gamestop's Private Expo 13

Posted by Zonk on Friday September 14, 2007 @03:09PM from the crouching-manager-hidden-gamer dept.

Gamasutra has a look behind the curtain, at a game expo few people even know exist. The annual Gamestop expo has a lot of the air of old-E3, with a greater focus on business deals, swag, and benefits for the hard working Gamestopper. "What did the show accomplish? In some sense, it seemed almost to be a reward for the store managers -- who work long hours on the front lines -- to listen to the show-floor scuttlebutt. While the official line was that the show was all business, bringing the managers to Las Vegas, loading their arms with swag, and letting them play pre-release games is obviously a big draw for these 'professional gamers'. They were so enthusiastic, in fact, that a huge number stayed beyond the 9 PM closing time; kiosks had to be deactivated before the die-hard crowd filtered away."

Lindor Attacks Record Company Copyright-Pooling 136

Posted by Zonk on Friday September 14, 2007 @02:22PM from the avoiding-the-rule-of-inverse-ninjas dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Back in March, 2006, Marie Lindor called the record companies suing her a collusive cartel, and their joint agreement to pool their copyrights "copyright misuse" (pdf). A year and a half later, the RIAA apparently got nervous about that allegation and made a motion to strike the allegations. Ms. Lindor has struck back, pointing out to the Judge not only that the RIAA's arguments had no legal basis, but also that its brief was completely silent as to any justification for the record companies' copyright-pooling agreement. Such a justification would be necessary for it to pass muster under 'rule of reason' analysis mandated by the US Supreme Court. Ms. Lindor, a home health worker who has never even used a computer, let alone infringed anyone's copyrights with a p2p file sharing program, is the same defendant who exposed, with a little help from her friends, some of the weaknesses in the RIAA's expert testimony. She also obtained a ruling that the RIAA's $750-per-song file damages theory might be a wee bit unconstitutional."

Submission + - TD Ameritrade Finds Cause of Client Spam

Submitted by

RalphTheWonderLlama

on Friday September 14, 2007 @02:19PM

RalphTheWonderLlama writes: "There have been many remarks from users of online stock brokers about how their emails have been improperly given over to spammers and today TD Ameritrade released details of their investigation into the matter (along with a video message from the CEO and special FAQ at www.amtd.com). It seems some "unauthorized code" had exposed client email addresses and possibly other sensitive information from an internal database. Many had just expected they gave away that info like evil corporations are wont to do. Being a client myself, I don't know if this is any better to hear."

Submission + - Apple Cuts Linux iPod Users Off (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

Will Fisher

on Friday September 14, 2007 @01:50PM

Will Fisher writes: "New iPods will no longer be able to work with Linux. iTunes now writes some kind of hash (SHA1, md5?) to the iPod database which new iPods check against. If this check fails then the iPod reports that it contains 0 songs. This appears to be protection against 3rd party applications writing out their own databases. We haven't found out how to generate our own valid hashes (but we do know the hash includes the database itself, and possibly the iPod serial number), and are looking for help."

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