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Comment AI (Score 1) 349

by Nullifier (#40921671) Attached to: Bad Software Runs the World

Humans write software. Humans are inherently fallible, therefore the software they code is likewise fallible. Properly motivating a software engineer with pain or pay will not cause the engineer to become infallible. Removing greed from the equation might help, but like fallibility, it is in our nature and not likely to change.
Music

Universal Sends DMCA Takedown On 1980 Report 189

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-see-what-you-did-there dept.
An anonymous reader writes "For many, many years, every time some new technology has come along, the music industry has insisted that it's going to "kill" the industry. The player piano was supposed to kill live music. So was the radio. And, of course, every time this happens the press is willing to take the industry's word at face value. In 1980, the news program 20/20 posted a report all about how "home taping is killing music," with various recording industry execs insisting the industry was on its last legs unless something was done. Someone posted that 20/20 episode to YouTube a few years back, where it sat in obscurity until people noticed it a couple weeks ago. And suddenly, Universal Music issued a takedown notice for the show. Universal Music does not own 20/20, and there were only brief clips of music in the show. It appears the only reason for Universal to issue the takedown is that it doesn't want you seeing how badly it overreacted in the past."

Submission + - Gene mutation caused 2009 H1N1 virus spread 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have found that a gene mutation was the reason behind the increased virulence of the 2009 H1N1 swine flu virus which resulted in an unprecedented pandemic across the world. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine researchers identified the relocation of a specific amino acid in the gene matrix that enabled the 2009 H1N1 swine flu virus to hijack host cells, a feat that triggered the recent pandemic.
Games

Submission + - FOSS RTS Game Glest gets revival, enter Mega-Glest

Submitted by Softhaus
Softhaus writes: Many readers here are likely familiar with the popular open source RTS game Glest (glest.org) which comes packaged with nearly every Linux distro. Unfortunately all development had ceased on the original game back in 2008 creating friction around the world due to a great loss felt worldwide (sets the stage for his shamless marketing pitch). During the past year a new fork (called Mega-Glest) has endeavoured to take this great game and bring it to the masses! This new fork will prove hours of fun at your next LAN party as it sports up to 8 players realtime (with or without CPU AI players) and the newly released v3.3.5 offers Internet play via a master server lobby. Cross platform network play is now a reality which could conceptually create world peace as angry gamers return to "real strategy" and walk away from their mindless fps's, finally bridging the gap between Linux and Windows users in a co-hesive manner. One of the best features of Mega-Glest (and indeed Glest itself) is the ease of which new "factions" and mod's may be produced via a Map editor, model viewer, Blender plugins, xml files which describe your units traits, particles, weapons etc. and to top it off LUA scripting for scenarios and AI.

Where can i get it? Full installers for windows, Linux 32 and 64 bit are waiting on sourceforge for you, promising hours of fun. But one warning, the game can become highly addictive.

Drop by the sourceforge.net download page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/megaglest/files/current_release/

or visit the forums to tell us what your think:
http://glest.org/glest_board/index.php?board=20.0"
Wireless Networking

Survey Says Most iPhone Users Love AT&T 490

Posted by kdawson from the hoi-and-the-polloi dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "In a report sure to raise eyebrows, CNN Money claims that despite a very vocal group of detractors, the vast majority of iPhone users love AT&T. A survey released this week by Yankee Group reports that 73% of iPhone owners scored their satisfaction with the carrier as an 8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale. The results seem surprising, given the pounding AT&T has taken in the media and on the blogosphere about its service-related issues with the iPhone and AT&T's recent iPad-related security glitch. For its part, AT&T says its network really isn't as bad as many people think. 'There's a gap between what people hear about us and what their experience is with us. We think that gap is beginning to close,' says Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. 'It doesn't mean we're perfect; we still have work to do. But that's no surprise to us, because we have a great network.'" Buried in the penultimate paragraph is the somewhat alarming note that "77% of iPhone owners say they'll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they'll buy another Android phone."

Comment Create jobs? (Score 1, Troll) 174

by Nullifier (#32780710) Attached to: New US Broadband Projects Get $795 Million In Funding
A quarter of a billion dollars to rural utilities so Joe Blow in North Dakota can have fibre to the curb, but congress can't manage to pass an unemployment extension that will allow the CHILDREN of over 3 million jobless Americans to EAT tonight. Near term, long term, I don't care... this is NOT where we need to be spending what little funds we have. I'm pretty sure Joe Blow would rather feed his kids tonight and dial up to check his Farmville, than have fibre and starve. Will it create jobs? Sure. How much longer are we going to look 10 years into the future when we have the problem RIGHT NOW?
Idle

Hand Written Clock 86

Posted by samzenpus from the up-to-the-minute dept.
a3buster writes "This clock does not actually have a man inside, but a flatscreen that plays a 24-hour loop of this video by the artist watching his own clock somewhere and painstakingly erasing and re-writing each minute. This video was taken at Design Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009."
Games

Over 160 Tutorial Videos Created For Unreal Dev Kit 48

Posted by Soulskill from the how-it's-done dept.
As a follow-up to Epic Games' release of a free version of the Unreal Engine last month, the company has now posted over 160 video tutorials which demonstrate the various uses of the Unreal Development Kit. Roughly 20 hours of footage were created by technical education company 3D Buzz, with topics ranging from user interface to game physics to cinematics.

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