Woodblock - Slashdot User

Gaming In Sweden Bigger Than Football and Hockey 252

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday November 26, 2008 @12:37PM from the second-only-to-bikini-teaming dept.

An anonymous reader writes "SIFO (a major Swedish survey company) has conducted a gaming survey right before the launch of Dreamhack Winter. One of the results is that gaming is bigger than football and hockey combined."

New Details On Halo Wars 45

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday November 18, 2008 @03:05AM from the branching-out dept.

As Halo Wars gets closer to its February release, details are gradually emerging about the game. In an interview with CVG, lead designer Graeme Devine claimed that the controls are actually better than those of a PC RTS, and said the downloadable content for the game is mostly done already, but will be held back until well after the release. Giant Bomb got some hands-on time with the game, and said the controls the controls "do work well enough, even if they're geared more toward broad tactical strokes than intensive small-group micromanagement." Kotaku has further details about the game as well. A video showing some of the gameplay is also available. Ensemble Studios has explicitly denied the possibility of a PC port.

Nintendo Blocks Homebrew Installation 251

Posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, 2008 @11:55AM from the see-how-long-that-lasts dept.

ElementC writes "Sometime yesterday Nintendo uploaded the latest Wii system update. This update quietly patches a few bugs that allowed the installation of both homebrew and warez apps. Currently installed apps such as the Homebrew Channel and the video DVD library, DVDX, are reportedly not affected. Those not installing this update are blocked out of the Wii Shop channel and in the future may be blocked out of certain games. Team Twiizers cracked the last update within about eight hours. They're already on the case. Readers familiar with the architecture of the Wii will find the list of currently discovered changes interesting."

Scientists Use Virus To Reprogram Adult Cells In Mice 36

Posted by timothy on Thursday August 28, 2008 @05:04PM from the now-the-mice-hate-cocaine dept.

n2hightech writes "Harvard University scientists figured out how to activate a trio of dormant genes that commanded non-insulin producing pancreas cells to switch to the Beta type insulin producing cells. The method uses an engineered virus to infect the cells and deliver special proteins that activate the dormant genes. This technology has the potential to make all stem cell based methods obsolete because it does not pose the risk of rejection and cancer associated with stem cells. A simple injection into the area where cells need to be reprogrammed is all that is required." Gospodin adds a link to coverage at the Washington Post.

MS To Share Vulnerability Details Ahead of Patches 27

Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 05, 2008 @10:23AM from the keeping-admins-abreast dept.

Bridge to Nowhere writes "ZDNet is reporting that Microsoft will start sharing details on software vulnerabilities with security vendors ahead of Patch Tuesday under a daring new program aimed at reducing the window of exposure to hacker attacks. The new Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) will give anti-virus, intrusion prevention/detection and corporate network security vendors a head-start to add signatures and filters to protect against Microsoft software vulnerabilities."

Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache Foundation 425

Posted by timothy on Friday July 25, 2008 @06:09PM from the could-be-the-largest-free-software-vendor dept.

Penguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll release Vista under a GPL license anytime soon, this is certainly an unexpected series of moves on their part, and could possibly lead to more OSS (as opposed to 'Shared Source') interactivity between what is arguably Linux' greatest adversary and the Open Source community." (We mentioned the announced support for the Apache Foundation earlier today, as well.)

Gates Says "A Lot of Work" Ahead In IT Development 77

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday January 30, 2008 @05:32PM from the last-continental-words dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Bill Gates concluded his last Microsoft-associated public appearance in the EU today with comments about the future of IT. The long-time company head said that there's still a lot of work to be done before Information Technology resources truly come into their own. '"There's another side that is how software is allowing people to be more productive at work. It's the empowerment of these people to do their jobs more effectively." Gates also commented on the potential of the Internet, calling it a "huge democratization tool". But Gates said there is still a long road ahead for tech development. "It's come a long way in the last 30 years but we're not even halfway there with building the systems we need to have."'"

Comment Re:This is actually disappointing (Score 4, Insightful) 894

by Woodblock on Friday March 18, 2005 @04:38PM (#11979204) Attached to: Buying DRM-Free Songs From the ITMS

Except every few months Apple changes what "Fair and Reasonable" means. They've decreased the limits on how many times you can burn a play list and removed the ability for an iPod to play Real's files, among other changes.

I would be more willing to evaluate an iPod and iTunes if I knew exactly what I was signing up for. Right now it is "DRM plus whatever Apple wants you to have" and that is a situation that is so heavily weighted in their favour that I'd rather not sign up to, essentially, borrow music from Apple without knowing the terms in advance.

People need to wake up. When people say "DRM is bad because it gives a corporation too much power and take away too much from the user", they can't also say "Yeah, but Apple is good."

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