Comment Downgrade options (Score 1) 236
I wonder if it's too late to switch back to the old pager.
Comment Re:That son of a bitch (Score 1) 287
The last time this story ran, he was helping a woman figure out what was wrong with her Macbook. Afterwards people said to her, "do you know who that was?"
Can you link to the article where this story appeared? I'd love to see the original text, sounds like a great little tale to share with people.
Comment SecondLife has been doing it since 2005 (Score 1) 141
Microsoft has patented this in 2006.
Second Life has been doing this since March 2005.
There are also other, less known virtual worlds that have been doing it since prior to 2005.
(I think Active Worlds had this running in the same year or earlier? Needs to be checked.)
I wonder if this patent would hold against this sort of a prior art?
Scientology Charged With Slavery, Human Trafficking 802
eldavojohn writes "A formal complaint was filed in California (caged PDF) last week by John Lindstein naming David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology International as defendants. Lindstein claims that for sixteen years (from age 8) he was forced to work as a slave at Gold Base, a secret CoS site run by Golden Era Productions with 'razor wire, security guard patrols, surveillance posts, and three roll calls each day.' The pay was $50 a week. The allegations include 'Violations of wage and hour laws as well as unfair/illegal business practices actionable under California B&P 17200 Et. Seq.' and a complaint under the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, which abolished slavery. Members of the group Anonymous praised the summons."
AU Senator Calls Scientology a "Criminal Organization" 511
An anonymous reader passes along news that an Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, has denounced the Church of Scientology as "a criminal organization" from the floor of Parliament. "Senator Xenophon used a speech in Parliament last night to raise allegations of widespread criminal conduct within the church, saying he had received letters from former followers detailing claims of abuse, false imprisonment, and forced abortion. He says he has passed on the letters to the police and is calling for a Senate inquiry into the religion and its tax-exempt status." It wasn't that long ago that the CoS was calling for Net censorship in Australia; a month later the organization was convicted of fraud in France.
Comment Re:This is not targeting Second Life (Score 2, Insightful) 180
What has been described in the press so far doesn't sound anything like Second Life, except at the most superficial level. These systems are targeting things like IMVU and Puzzle Pirates. There are more similarities between Slashdot and Livejournal than there are between Second Life and Sony Home.
Parent has it right.
This is targeting the "We (corporate) create stuff - you buy it" market, that is populated by the mainstream typical user who doesnt want to learn how to create their own content or shape their own environment.
This is about you coming in and buying like a good little consumerist, then going to a fancy club populated by other cool people and run a dance animation for 2 hours trying to get compliments for your self assembled looks and get people to go play a game with you.
Ofcourse, this stuff is happening in SecondLife - but that is because SecondLife enables people to create an environment where this is possible, as well as other places where other types of behavior are encouraged.
Doing anything except for this particular behavior is not going to be possible nor encouraged in Sony's Home service.
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