Comment Re: Planned Obsolescence (Score 1) 116
I was given an S4 and installed LineageOS Oreo on it, and it works really well.
Comment Re: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 case (Score 1) 116
I'm running a hand-me-down Note 4 with the excellent Resurrection Remix 7.1 ROM on it, undervolted and underclocked, rooted with Magisk and it's wonderful.
I saw yesterday that Resurrection Remix has released a new Oreo version that supports the Note 4, which I will get around to installing and trying at some point.
I saw yesterday that Resurrection Remix has released a new Oreo version that supports the Note 4, which I will get around to installing and trying at some point.
Comment Re: Planned Obsolescence (Score 4, Informative) 116
I've inherited a hand-me-down Note 4 and am currently running the wonderful Resurrection Remix ROM (7.1),undervolted and underclocked, rooted with Magisk, and it's a fantastic phone IME.
I've just noticed yesterday that Resurrection Remix has just released a new Oreo version for phones that include the Note 4,so it looks like it's still got some life left in this model yet.
I've just noticed yesterday that Resurrection Remix has just released a new Oreo version for phones that include the Note 4,so it looks like it's still got some life left in this model yet.
Comment Re:Cant be done "right". (Score 1) 203
But hasn't it been shown that simple, relevantly-tagetted text ads like Google Ads have been shown to be very effective? These hardly use any screen estate, and the screens on most portable 'smart' devices are actually getting quite large and hi-res and can display quite a lot compared to mobiles of old.
Also, ads that use recognisable, simple, company logos would work on these devices - think 'brought to you by AT&T' with their nifty death-star icon tucked somewhere unobtrusive.
I don't think it's undo-able - I reckon it just needs a bit of a paradigm-shift in thinking and design away from how things are done on the Web, which is only really now becoming anything like a 'mature' market.
Also, ads that use recognisable, simple, company logos would work on these devices - think 'brought to you by AT&T' with their nifty death-star icon tucked somewhere unobtrusive.
I don't think it's undo-able - I reckon it just needs a bit of a paradigm-shift in thinking and design away from how things are done on the Web, which is only really now becoming anything like a 'mature' market.
Where Are the Joysticks For Retro Gaming? 262
Doctor O writes "With all those nice emulators for classic gaming around (such as MAME, VICE or Stella) I want to establish monthly retro gaming evenings with some friends. The problem is I can't find any good joysticks for that purpose. There's a new version of the legendary Competition Pro, but judging from the many one-star reviews on Amazon, it's terrible. I found the USB version of the classic Atari Joystick, but it doesn't seem to be available and would have prohibitive shipping costs to Germany anyway. So, Slashdot to the rescue — where are the suitable USB joysticks for retro gaming?"
Halo Elite Cosplay Puts Others To Shame 115
AndrewGOO9 writes "Pete Mander, a special effects artist from Ontario, Canada seems like he might have either had way too much time on his hands or just really enjoys Halo. Either way, this is one of those costumes that makes all of the cosplayers at a con feel like their best efforts just weren't quite up to par."
Iowa Aims to Establish International Video Game Hall of Fame 60
eldavojohn writes "Anyone who's seen King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters knows that Ottumwa, Iowa is the Dodge City of video games. Yesterday, 3,500 people showed up to the kick-off speech that announced the intent to build the International Video Game Hall of Fame right there. Radio Free Iowa states Ottumwa's desire to become the 'video game capital of the world' and held a Halo 3 and Guitar Hero tournament there yesterday. Will this town of 25,000 residents secure the title?"
Nearby, Recent Interplanetary Collision Inferred 88
The Bad Astronomer writes about a new discovery by the Spitzer Space Telescope, which detected signs of an interplanetary smashup only 100 light-years from here, and only a few thousand years ago. There's a NASA-produced animation of the collision between a Mercury-sized planet and a moon-sized impactor. The collision's aftermath was detected by the presence of what are essentially glass shards in orbit around the star. Here's NASA's writeup.
Inside the AP's Plan To Security-Wrap Its News Content 138
suraj.sun writes with an excerpt from this story at Ars Technica that the "Associated Press, reeling from the newspaper apocalypse, has a new plan to 'wrap' and 'protect' its content though a 'digital permissions framework.' The Associated Press last week rolled out its brave new plan to 'apply protective format to news.' The AP's news registry will 'tag and track all AP content online to assure compliance with terms of use,' and it will provide a 'platform for protect, point, and pay.' That's a lot of 'p'-prefaced jargon, but it boils down to a sort of DRM for news — 'enforcement,' in AP-speak."
The State of Game AI 88
Gamasutra has a summary written by Dan Kline of Crystal Dynamics for this year's Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) Conference held at Stanford University. They discussed why AI capabilities have not scaled with CPU speed, balancing MMO economies and game mechanics, procedural dialogue, and many other topics. Kline also wrote in more detail about the conference at his blog.
"... Rabin put forth his own challenge for the future: Despite all this, why is AI still allowed to suck? Because, in his view, sharp AI is just not required for many games, and game designers frequently don't get what AI can do. That was his challenge for this AIIDE — to show others the potential, and necessity, of game AI, to find the problems that designers are trying to tackle, and solve them."
Charity Refuses Donation Because of D&D Connection 216
An anonymous reader writes "This year's GenCon Charity Auction
raised over $17,000 which they intended to donate to Gary Gygax's favorite charity,
Christian Children's Fund.
However, the charity refused the donation when they learned of its connection to Dungeons & Dragons." It seems to me all they would need to do is cast remove curse or dispel evil and the money would be fine to use.
Examining the Role of Video Games In the US Election 81
Gamasutra is running an article discussing the influence of games and gamers on the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. The connection, while minor, is continuing to strengthen, from allowing people to register to vote through their consoles, to in-game advertising, to games about and involving the candidates. However, it may still be an uphill climb as media-sharing becomes easier. From Gamasutra:
"There are reasons games have grown slowly compared to other technologies for political outreach. The most important one is also the most obvious: since 2004, online video and social networks have become the big thing, as blogs were four years ago. Instead of urging voters to 'play my game,' as Loftus and I surmised, candidates urged their constituents to 'watch my video.' Online video became the political totem of 2008, from James Kotecki's dorm room interviews to CNN's YouTube debates."
