Comment Re:what about freeze tag? (Score 3) 336
That would be a gun like action, and is (or will be) more severely punished than touching. Suspension? SWAT team!
Why Creators Should Never Read Their Forums 221
spidweb writes "One full-time Indie developer writes about why he never goes to online forums discussing his work and why he advises other creators to do the same. It's possible to learn valuable things, but the time and the stress just don't justify the effort. From the article, 'Forums contain a cacophony of people telling you to do diametrically opposite things, very loudly, often for bad reasons. There will be plenty of good ideas, but picking them out from the bad ones is unreliable and a lot of work. If you try to make too many people happy at once, you will drive yourself mad. You have to be very, very careful who you let into your head.'"
4chan Declares War On Snow 201
With all the recent hacktivism in the news, Anonymous has decided to take on a new and powerful enemy: snow. On Sunday the group announced that it will "do everything in its power to shut snow down by attacking the Weather Channel and North Face websites, boycotting outerwear, and voting for the sun as Time’s 2010 Person Of The Year." I'm sure there are a lot of people in Minneapolis right now that would wish them luck.
Man Sues Rockstar Saying GTA:SA Is Based On His Life 124
dotarray writes "From the article: 'Rockstar Games are no strangers to legal action, but it doesn't come stranger than this. An American model, Michael Washington (known as "Shagg") is suing the publisher — as well as parent company Take Two Interactive — because they based Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on his life.'" It's a good thing Washington never learned the infinite ammo cheat.
Student Googles Himself, Finds He's Accused of Murder 184
University of Florida student Zachary Garcia was more than a little surprised to find out he was wanted for murder after Googling his name. It turns out the police were looking for a different man but had mistakenly used Garcia's photo. From the article: "Investigators originally released a driver's license photo of Zachary Garcia — spelled with an 'A' — but it was Zachery Garcia — spelled with an 'E'— who was charged in connection with the crime."
When DLC Goes Wrong 261
kube00 writes "Poorly done downloadable content is one of a gamer's worst nightmares right now. Where a publisher stands to make some money, gamers get screwed. Whether it's the overpriced extra maps/costumes DLC, on-the-disc-at-launch DLC, or DLC that is nothing more than a remake of other content, no game is safe from bad DLC. That includes Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, Uncharted 2 and a host of many other popular games. Is there a chance to fix this system?"
Blizzard To Require Real First and Last Names For Official Forums 833
An anonymous reader writes "Recently, Blizzard Entertainment implemented a Real ID feature for some of its current games and all of its future Battle.net-based games. Today, Blizzard announced that it intends to require usage of the real names of Battle.net posters for its StarCraft II forums before release, and for its World of Warcraft forums shortly before the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. From the announcement: 'The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.'"
Comment Re:the gun (Score 1) 52
From the original lifehacker article, I believe the author suggested using a starting pistol, which doesn't fire actual bullets, and is therefore cheaper and less regulated, but still classified as a firearm by the TSA.
Police Called Over 11-Year-Old's Science Project 687
garg0yle writes "Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of 'a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics,' after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family 'get counseling.' Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?"
Dragon Age: Origins Expansion Coming In March 80
ishanjain tipped news that BioWare has announced an expansion for Dragon Age: Origins, called Awakening, that is due out on March 16th. Awakening "is supposed to run about 15 hours and will allow for players to import and edit characters they've broken in from the core game," and it will take place "in the in the role of a Grey Warden Commander who's been tasked with rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens and finding out how the darkspawn survived following the death of the Archdemon dragon." A trailer is available at the official site, as well as some information on a new bit of DLC that will be out shortly, entitled Return to Ostagar. (It was originally due for release on January 5th, but was delayed.)
Aussie Scientists Find Coconut-Carrying Octopus 205
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from an AP report: "Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal. The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot. ... 'I was gobsmacked,' said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. 'I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh.'"
Zelda On The DS, Sega on the Revolution 263
At the Nintendo Keynote today, Company President Iwata reiterated the same 'think differently' ideas that he espoused at last year's GDC. This time he had concrete data to back up his industry disruption message, detailing the millions in sales their 'Brain Training' line of games have racked up. Along with his message, he announced a new Zelda title on the DS, and the fact that Sega Genesis games will be on the Revolution, a part of the online library of games they're offering.
Comment Re:Lemme get this straight... (Score 1) 531
Well, the Faraday cage would certainly stop the other signals. Unfortunately, it will also kill your cell phone reception.
That's not that important, is it?
Okay, perhaps you don't need the entire cage, just the sides where the excess signals are the stongest.
Comment The biggest problems that i tend to see (Score 1) 551
are when software has multiple, seemingly redundant menu options, and when software behaves in an unexpected and (relatively) unexplained manner. I base these observations on my mother, who has difficulty programming a microwave. She's not by any means an unintelligent person, she's just not technologically inclined, and some of the things that we Geeks absorb and automatically 'get' give her more trouble than my teenage siblings.
I wholeheartedly subscribe to the theory that if my (mother|grandmother) can use it without any more assistance than usual (troubleshooting and the like), it's a generally well-designed product.
I wholeheartedly subscribe to the theory that if my (mother|grandmother) can use it without any more assistance than usual (troubleshooting and the like), it's a generally well-designed product.
Journal Journal: Best. Site. Ever.
Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About
What, you want examples? Okie dokie... (note: all quotes are in HTML that was lifted directly from the site. It is not mine, I do not make any claim of ownership.)
What, you want examples? Okie dokie... (note: all quotes are in HTML that was lifted directly from the site. It is not mine, I do not make any claim of ownership.)
A Few Concepts Margret Continues To Have Trouble Assimilating:
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We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise. -- Larry Wall
