btharris - Slashdot User

UK Government Plans 10-Year Database of Citizens' Travel 289

Posted by timothy on Monday February 09, 2009 @04:54AM from the always-on-vacation-in-oceania dept.

moderators_are_w*nke writes "The UK government is planning yet another database to track its citizens, this time keeping track of their movements in and out of the country for ten years. Just like all their other databases, this one 'is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and [of course] terrorism.'" I'd be very surprised if the US is not already doing this, and just not making a point to let anyone know.

Bush's Electronic Archives Threaten To Swamp National Archives 185

Posted by timothy on Sunday December 28, 2008 @04:50AM from the if-you're-smart-this-can-all-end-well dept.

ColdWetDog writes "The New York Times reports that the soon-to-be-disbanded Bush / Cheney White House threatens to overload the National Archives with close to 100 Terabytes of data. This includes the Barney Cam and even 'formats not previously dealt with.' By way of comparison, the Clinton White House dumped less than a single terabyte into the archives. Of course, Mr. Cheney, always the Good Citizen, tried to help out when he 'asserted this month in a court case that he had absolute discretion to decide which of his records are official and which are personal, and thus do not have to be transferred to the archives.' Glad to see that somebody over there is trying to clean up the cruft for posterity."

Comment I wonder how they count them (Score 2, Interesting) 207

by btharris on Thursday December 25, 2008 @01:16PM (#26230497) Attached to: Notebook Sales Outpace Desktop Sales

I don't buy "a desktop", but I buy parts, often from different merchants. I doubt a user-assembled desktop counts for these numbers since it's not assembled by a big name OEM. For laptops, notebooks, etc., you have to buy the package deal and buy a machine with a name on it, so buying one would surely be counted as a notebook purchase. Since my desktop wasn't purchased as a whole machine, I wonder if it was counted.

The State of UK Broadband — Not So Fast 279

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday November 26, 2008 @06:29AM from the but-you-have-actual-competition dept.

Barence writes "The deplorable speed of British broadband connections has been revealed in the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, which show that 42.3% of broadband connections are slower than 2Mb/sec. More worryingly, the ONS statistics are based on the connection's headline speed, not actual throughput, which means that many more British broadband connections are effectively below the 2Mb/sec barrier. Better still, a separate report issued yesterday by Ofcom revealed that the majority of broadband users had no idea about the speed of their connection anyway."

The Player Is and Is Not the Character 152

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday November 26, 2008 @12:21AM from the i-agree-and-disagree dept.

Jill Duffy writes "GameCareerGuide has posted an intellectual article about video games which argues there is no such thing as 'breaking the fourth wall' in games. Written by Matthew Weise, a lead game designer for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, the article considers the complex relationship between video game players and characters. Weise says that, unlike in theater and film, video games don't ever really break the fourth wall, as it were, because in games, there is no wall. Players are always tethered to the technology, and the player is always just as much the main character as not the main character. Weise looks at both modern experimental games, like Mirror's Edge, as well as old classics, like Sonic the Hedgehog, to defend his point. He writes, 'Both avatars and the technological devices we use to control them are never simply in one reality. They are inherently liminal entities, contributing to a mindset that we, as players, exist in two realities at once. It's just as natural for a player to say, "I defeated that boss," as it is to say, "Snake defeated that boss," since Snake is and is not the player at the same time. It is likewise natural for a player to say, "I punched an enemy soldier," when in reality, she punched no one. All she did was press a button.'"

Comment Zephram Cochran (Score 2, Insightful) 494

by btharris on Tuesday October 05, 2004 @02:23PM (#10442470) Attached to: Space Tourism is Off and Running

Burt Rutan is our Zephram Cochran. no, he didn't make it to warp 1 or catch the attention of the Vulcans. he didn't even pilot the ship. but the opportunity for significant change was certainly made, and that is what makes history.

SpaceShipOne of course wasn't the first spacecraft, but it's the first technology that's accessible to such a large number of people. being the first is not as significant as bringing change. Columbus wasn't the first to visit America, but he's the one that started the change. this is what makes history.

Slashdot Top Deals