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Comment Re:delete? (Score 5, Insightful) 221

by QAPete (#43238613) Attached to: Google Keep Labelled "Delete"

Exactly. First iGoogle, then Reader, two user-friendly, very efficient ways of getting stuff I want to see in front of my beady eyes. Google kills them both, and is constantly begging / pushing me to use Google +, which I have absolutely no wish to use. Both iGoogle and Reader were great examples of things Google did very well. Now they are putting their resources into things that OTHER companies do very well, like Google + and Google Keep.

I have ties to Gmail I need for now, but beyond that I'm not getting involved in Google anything.

First Person Shooters (Games)

Quake 3 For Android 137

Posted by Soulskill from the can-i-get-a-hell-yeah dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Over the last two months I ported Quake 3 to Android as a hobby project. It only took a few days to get the game working. More time was spent on tweaking the game experience. Right now the game runs at 25fps on a Motorola Milestone/Droid. 'Normally when you compile C/C++ code using the Android NDK, the compiler targets a generic ARMv5 CPU which uses software floating-point. Without any optimizations and audio Quake 3 runs at 22fps. Since Quake 3 uses a lot of floating-point calculations, I tried a better C-compiler (GCC 4.4.0 from Android GIT) which supports modern CPUs and Neon SIMD instructions. Quake 3 optimized for Cortex-A8 with Neon is about 15% faster without audio and 35% with audio compared to the generic ARMv5 build. Most likely the performance improvement compared to the ARMv5 build is not that big because the system libraries of the Milestone have been compiled with FPU support, so sin/cos/log/.. take advantage of the FPU.''

Comment Re:FCC Compliance Sticker (Score 1) 589

by QAPete (#28052179) Attached to: FCC Reserves the Right To Search Your Home, Any Time

This is correct. BTW, by definition, Part 15 of the FCC rules state that consumer electronic devices DO produce interference, and CAN BE interfered with:

"This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation."

AMD

AMD Overclocks New Phenom II X4 To 7 GHz 288

Posted by timothy from the adult-supervision dept.
CWmike writes "Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday introduced the latest member of its Phenom II X4 family of high-performance quad-core CPUs, which the No. 2 chip maker said it had run as fast as 7 GHz in extreme overclocking tests. Out of the box, the new X4 955 Black Edition, which is aimed at gamers and hobbyists, runs at 3.2 GHz, giving it similar performance to Intel's fastest desktop chips at lower cost, AMD says. The company was able to more than double the CPU's speed during its tests using extreme cooling technology that is not safe at home, said Brent Barry, an AMD product manager. The Web site Ripping.org notes that hobbyists with early access to the X4 955 chip have been able to clock it at up to 6.7 GHz. AMD said the chip was safe with fan cooling at up to 3.8 GHz."
Movies

Digital Schwarzenegger Set For New 'Terminator' 309

Posted by samzenpus from the he-said-he'd-be-back dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The Governator revealed this week that he may appear in the upcoming 'Terminator Salvation,' but when he said he didn't want to act, he left many fans scratching their heads. Turns out Schwarzenegger has been secretly working with helmer McG and the effects team to reprise his signature role ... without lifting a finger. 'I made it very clear that I don't have the time to do the movie,' says Schwarzenegger. 'I said that I would be willing to be in the movie if they get the technology together, and so they are working on that right now.' A body-cast mold of Schwarzenegger, created when he first appeared as the muscle-ripped cyborg, provided the basis for a digital-effects version of his famous character so the figure can appear in 'Terminator Salvation' as a living, breathing actor. Warner first screens the movie in early May, and opens it May 21. 'I think it's cool to continue on with the franchise ... in case I want to jump over again and get into the acting after I'm through here,' adds Schwarzenegger."
Toys

Toys You Control With Your Brain 83

Posted by samzenpus from the but-thinking-is-hard dept.
Kaliann writes "Toys that respond to brainwaves are the next generation of unique user interfaces. The Washington Post looks at the current market appeal and future uses of technology that can meaningfully respond to the thoughts of a user. Currently the toys have a fairly simple basic idea: the harder you concentrate the more the object moves. A sensor on the forehead picks up brain waves that are associated with concentration, then levitates a ball in response: basic biofeedback. While this may seem to be a rather humble beginning, progress in this field could have astounding consequences in the advancement of technologies devoted to thought-controlled devices. As the author points out, Jedi Beer Pong is within our grasp."
Microsoft

Researchers Show How To Take Control of Windows 7 325

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-wait-a-minute dept.
alphadogg writes "Security researchers demonstrated how to take control of a computer running Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system at the Hack In The Box Security Conference (HITB) in Dubai on Thursday. Researchers Vipin Kumar and Nitin Kumar used proof-of-concept code they developed, called VBootkit 2.0, to take control of a Windows 7 virtual machine while it was booting up. 'There's no fix for this. It cannot be fixed. It's a design problem,' Vipin Kumar said, explaining the software exploits the Windows 7 assumption that the boot process is safe from attack. While VBootkit 2.0 shows how an attacker can take control of a Windows 7 computer, it's not necessarily a serious threat. For the attack to work, an attacker must have physical access to the victim's computer. The attack can not be done remotely." Which makes me wonder why I'm posting this :)
The Internet

Time Warner Cable Won't Compete, Seeks Legislation 621

Posted by Soulskill from the they-sure-seem-to-like-bad-publicity dept.
narramissic writes "The good people of Wilson, NC pay $99/month for 10/10 Mbps internet service, 81 TV channels and telephone service. How'd they manage that, you ask? Well, the city-owned and operated cable service called Greenlight came into being when the City of Wilson approached TWC and local DSL provider Embarq and requested faster service for the area. 'TWC refused the request. And so Greenlight was born,' says blogger Peter Smith. 'Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq are upset that they've got competition, and rather than try to go head to head with Greenlight on price and service, they've instead been lobbying the state government of NC to pass laws to put Greenlight out of business. Apparently they're having some success, as the NC State Senate has proposed bills that would do TWC's bidding.'"
Portables

First Android-Based Netbook, Set-Top Box 114

Posted by timothy from the every-glovebox-could-have-one dept.
An anonymous reader writes "China based Skytone famous for making skype headsets have brought out a $100 device, the Alpha-680 netbook running Google Android for its OS. The device has Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB ports and an SD card slot. After watching the video though, I get a feeling that the boot time is somewhat long. IMO good enough for browsing." Also on the Android front, ruphus13 points out what the maker claims is the first "fully realized" non-mobile Android device (though I think there were some other non-mobile gadgets on diplay at CES), a set-top box from Motorola based on Android. According to the linked post, it's "capable of playing DVDs and CDs, transferring music and video to a mobile device, and ripping and storing files" and "will have a full-featured Chrome-like browser."
Education

BYU Prof. Says University Classrooms Will Be "Irrelevant" By 2020 469

Posted by timothy from the not-into-job-security dept.
dragoncortez writes "According to this Deseret News article, University classrooms will be obsolete by 2020. BYU professor David Wiley envisions a world where students listen to lectures on iPods, and those lectures are also available online to everyone anywhere for free. Course materials are shared between universities, science labs are virtual, and digital textbooks are free. He says, 'Higher education doesn't reflect the life that students are living ... today's colleges are typically tethered, isolated, generic, and closed.' In the world according to Wiley, universities would still make money, because they have a marketable commodity: to get college credits and a diploma, you'd have to be a paying customer. Wiley helped start Flat World Knowledge, which creates peer-reviewed textbooks that can be downloaded for free, or bought as paperbacks for $30."

Comment So long, good friend! (Score 4, Interesting) 118

by QAPete (#27342207) Attached to: FileFront Shutting Down

This is personally very sad to me. When my team and I set up BeyondUnreal back in 2001, FileFront was one of our original two file mirrors (eDome was the other). I remember clearly speaking with the great Mark Molinaro of FileFront, who has always been a huge proponent of the open source community, and who was 100% behind supporting our growing Unreal-powered gaming community. Never once in all that time did FileFront waver in their support of our efforts.

Unfortunately, this is a sign of the times. As the ad revenue streams dry up, it becomes more difficult to run ad-supported businesses. eDome suffered the same fate: there was no money in the file hosting business.

Farewell, FileFront, and thank you for being such a good friend to literally THOUSANDS of online communities just like mine.

Comment Re:Apple LED displays have an awful gamut... (Score 1) 504

by QAPete (#26649155) Attached to: Photog Rob Galbraith Rates MacBook Pro Display "Not Acceptable"

My 17" Macbook Pro LED-backlit matte screen is simply excellent at 1920 x 1200. It powers on to full brightness immediately, is plenty bright in every ambient light situation I've had it in, the blacks are "black enough", and it's easy on the eyes to the point where I don't have an issue working on it all day.

That being said, I would *never* buy a laptop with a glossy display, for all the reasons Rob mentions in the article. Just go to any Apple store and be honest with yourself when you look at the displays. In most homes and offices, the reflectiveness of the screen is a MAJOR annoyance. When you're spending $2-3 thousand on a laptop, the words "major annoyance" shouldn't even come into your mind.

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