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PlayStation (Games)

US Air Force To Suffer From PS3 Update 349

tlhIngan writes "The US Air Force, having purchased PS3s for supercomputing research, is now the latest victim of Sony's removal of the Install Other OS feature. It turns out that while their PS3s don't need the firmware update, it will be impossible to replace PS3s that fail. PS3s with the Other OS feature are no longer produced since the Slim was introduced, so replacements will have to come from the existing stock of used PS3s. However, as most gamers have probably updated their PS3s, that used stock is no longer suitable for the USAF's research. In addition, smaller educational clusters using PS3s will share the same fate — unable to replace machines that die in their clusters." In related news, Sony has been hit with two more lawsuits over this issue.

Comment Seperation (Score 1) 763

I have:
Car keys (2)
Motorcycle Keys (3)
Scooter Keys (2)
House Keys (9)
Work keys (11)
MISC other keys that I use sometimes (20)

And more that I use less frequently.

I have multiple key chains.

What I do, is I put the most often used keys on one ring (house keys). These are the keys, that regardless of what else changes, I am going to need on a daily, or semi-daily basis.

I have a series of "Valet" key chains. This is a key chain that has two rings on it, and will seperate with the push of a button. I have the female receiver mounted on my daily key ring, and the male side mounted on the keyrings I use less frequently.

Next to my front door, I have a series of the female valet key parts hanging from hooks, and I hang my vehicle key rings from them. As I leave in the morning, I grab the keyring that is associated with the vehicle I am taking for the day, and clip it to my daily key ring.

Work keys are held on a "key-bak"retractable key chain clipped to my belt.

A note regarding ignition keys.

If you have your ignition key on a ring with a bunch of other keys, you are running a risk of injury, and damage to your car.

The added weight of a ridiculously large key wad hanging from the ignition switch will wear out the ignition switch prematurely, resulting in the switch either breaking, or just getting so worn out that you can use a screwdriver to start your car. Also, if you are in an accident and any of your keys are between you knee and the dash, those keys will be IN your knee once you stop. It hurts, trust me.

As for the other keys that are rarely used, but still important (like safe deposit boxes, storage lockers, etc.) get a key box, tag the keys individually (so you remember what they are) and hang them up. Better yet, keep them in a safe that is bolted through your floor, or at least bolted to a very large piece of furniture. (If someone won't take kindly to bolt holes in their building)

Keys left on your person are inherently insecure, so no one should really carry more keys around than what they really need for the day.

Communications

Internet Communications While At Sea? 504

ubergamer1337 writes "Next semester I will be participating in a college study abroad program known as Semester at Sea. The gist of it is that over four months 600ish students sail around the world on a converted cruise ship, visiting diverse port cities while taking classes when we are between ports. Debates about its educational merit aside, my internet options while I will be at sea will be severely limited. We get just 100 minutes of internet access for the entire voyage, and once thats gone the only internet access we have is a university email address, which is limited to messages under a megabyte with no attachments. I have been pondering different ways to staying in contact with friends and family back at home without running to an internet cafe in every port, and I have already decided that I want to set up a blog that can be updated by email, but I wanted to ask the collective wisdom of Slashdot if anyone knows of any other ways to transmit more then just your standard message through email. Some things I would be particularity interested in being able to figure out would be a way to send photos (encode them as text?), and a way to get Wikipedia pages etc. emailed to me."
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail 135

This installment of Disagree Mail highlights a man's concern about illegal cloning in the Hollywood community, a guy who is sick of US imperialism and his low karma, and an example of the kind of people you don't want as roommates in college. Read below to find out just how crazy, angry and irresponsible it gets.
Education

Game-Related Education On the Rise At Colleges 178

The LA Times has a story about the increased interest in learning how to make video games amongst college students, and the subsequent rise in game-related education as the schools respond to that demand. Some programs are gaining legitimacy, while others do perhaps more harm than good. Quoting: "The surge in interest has led schools to add games to their menu — but not always to the benefit of its students. Recruiters say they often see 'mills' that run around-the-clock sessions to quickly churn out as many students as possible. Other programs teach specific skills but not how games are pulled together. 'It's a very hot academic growth area,' said Colleen McCreary, who runs EA's university relations program. 'I'm very worried about the number of community colleges and for-profit institutions, as well as four-year programs, that are using game design as a lure for students who are not going to be prepared for the real entry-level positions that the game industry wants.'"

Comment Re:There is hope (Score 2, Informative) 512

Until 6 months ago, I was managing the production floor at an electronics manufacturing company, so I know a bit about this. (I left for a better job.)
What to do:
1. Open the case of the electronic device, and asses the condition of the PCA's. If the traces are corroded, you are probably too late, but you can still give it a whirl.
2. Use a natural hair scrub brush (Hog hair works really well) and scrub the surface of the board while holding the board under a stream of warm water. Tap water is OK so long as you don't have hard water. If you do, then still use warm water, but finish with distilled water. Unplug any connections, either board to board, or wire to board, and scrub and rinse those as well.
3. If there is corrosion on the board, scrub it all off, and check the integrity of the circuit traces with a DMM set to ohms or continuity. Repair with appropriatly sized wire. (appx 24 awg for signal, 18 awg for power is a good starting point.)
4. Use compressed air (make sure it is dessicated, and oil free if it is from a compressor) to blow off as much of the water as you can.
5. Place the components underneath a heat lamp, or blow the output from a space heater over the device. Let it set for a few hours.
6. Shake the device out, to make sure all of the water is gone. You should then place a sheet of ESD plastic on top to see if you get any condensation. If you do, keep the heat on. DO NOT LET IT GET ABOVE 150F!!!!! Anything above that is very bad for the solder joints and components.
7. Put the device back together. Check any moving parts for proper movement (Fans for instance). Replace if bad. Check potentiometers for function: Measure the resistance between the two outer pins. This is the max range of the pot. Now measure from one of the outside pins to the center pin. Turn the knob from one side to the other. At the extreme positions, you will see zero ohms, and the reading you got from measuring the two outside pins. Measure from the center pin to the other outside pin, your results will be exactly opposite if the pot is working properly. Replace with a pot with the same specifications if you don't get the proper results.
8. Power on the device, and check for functionality. If done properly, and if the electronics weren't wet for too long, then you should have fairly good luck with this. I have cleanded literally tens of thousands of boards this way, and it works perfectly.

Microsoft

Bill Gates Chews Out Microsoft 836

s31523 writes "All of us have one time or another been completely frustrated by certain Windows usability issues, and in many cases our experiences have driven us over to Linux, or kept us there. For anyone that has ever been frustrated, you will be happy to know you aren't the only one. After reading this leaked Microsoft memo from Bill Gates back in 2003, you will surely have more insight into why Vista is a complete disaster due to Microsoft not learning anything from their experiences from XP."
Microsoft

Microsoft Says Vista Has the Fewest Flaws 548

ancientribe writes "Microsoft issued a year-one security report on its Windows Vista operating system today, and it turns out Vista logged less than half the vulnerabilities than Windows XP did in its first year. According to the new Microsoft report, Vista also had fewer vulnerabilities in its first year than other OSes — including Red Hat rhel4ws, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, and Apple Mac OS X 10.4 — did in their first years."

BUG - "The LEGO of Gadgets" 131

TheBrutalTruth writes "Bug Labs will soon be launching what Webware calls 'the LEGO of gadgets.' From their site: 'BUG is a collection of easy-to-use electronic modules that snap together to build any gadget you can imagine. Each BUGmodule represents a specific gadget function (ex: a camera, a keyboard, a video output, etc). You decide which functions to include and BUG takes care of the rest, letting you try out different combinations quickly and easily. With BUG and the integrated programming environment/web community (BUGnet), anyone can build, program, and share innovative devices and applications. We don't define the final products — you do.'" Looks a bit vaporous, but conceptually interesting.
Television

What's Wrong With the TV News 536

MBCook writes "Technology Review has a fantastic seven page piece titled "You Don't Understand Our Audience" by former Dateline correspondent John Hockenberry. In it he discusses how NBC (and the networks at large) has missed and wasted opportunities brought by the Internet; and how they work to hard to get viewers at the expense of actual news. The story describes various events such as turning down a report on who al-Qaeda is for a reality show about firefighters, having to tie a story about a radical student group into American Dreams, and the failure to cover events like Kurt Cobain suicide (except as an Andy Rooney complaint piece)."
The Internet

How Feds are Dropping the Ball on IPv6 299

BobB-NW writes "U.S. federal agencies have six months to meet a deadline to support IPv6, an upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol known as IPv4. But most agencies are not grabbing hold of the new technology and running with it, industry observers say. Instead, most federal CIOs are doing the bare minimum required by law to meet the IPv6 mandate, and they aren't planning to use the new network protocol for the foreseeable future."
Microsoft

Microsoft Wants OLPC System to Run Windows XP 553

Stony Stevenson passed us a link to an IT News story about Microsoft's recent request that the folks behind the XO laptop redesign it to suit their needs. The company now wants to be able to run Windows XP on the highly-publicized and inexpensive portable. "Microsoft general manager ... Utzschneider says a shrunken version of Windows XP could potentially run on 2 Gbytes of flash memory. The XO, however, can only hold 1 Gbyte. As a result, Microsoft wants the XO's designers to add a slot through which more memory can be added via a secure digital (SD) card, Utzschneider said. Microsoft's renewed interest in participating in OLPC might be viewed by skeptics as an admission that a rival offering for developing markets called Classmate — which uses an Intel processor on Microsoft software — has failed to catch on."
Anime

Comcast Targets Unlicensed Anime Torrenters 352

SailorSpork writes "According to a thread on the forums of AnimeSuki, a popular anime bittorent index site, Comcast has begun sending DCMA letters to customers downloading unlicensed fan-subtitled anime shows via bittorrent. By 'unlicensed', they mean that no english language company has the rights to it. The letters are claiming that the copyright holder or an authorized agent are making the infringement claims, though usually these requests are also sent to the site itself rather that individual downloaders. My question is have they really been in contact with Japanese anime companies, or is this another scare tactic by Comcast to try and reduce the bandwidth use of their heavier customers now that their previous tactics have come under legal fire?"
Intel

Submission + - Intel Core 2 "Penryn" and Linux (linuxhardware.org)

LHoAugustus writes: "Linux Hardware has posted a look at the new Intel "Penryn" processor and how the new processor will work with Linux. "Intel recently released the new "Penryn" Core 2 processor with many new features. So what are these features and how will they equate into benefits to Linux users? That's what Linux Hardware is here to unravel. In this review I'll cover all the high points of the new "Penryn" core and talk to a couple Linux projects about the impact on end-user performance.""

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