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Comment Re:Available in Gaza (Score 1) 553

by vitalyb (#26273307) Attached to: Man Invents Alternative To Cooking Gas

It isn't statistics in any way, just an insight of someone who lives in Israel (50km from Qassam threat).

However, majority of Israel is secular or "traditional" and while there is a LOT of grudge toward Hammas and various terror groups, the actual groups that would support hurting an innocent Palestinian as main target would be below 0.5%.

Obviously it doesn't cover the cases where collateral damage is involved while trying to harm Quassam sources. Then the numbers would be more around 70%-80%

Comment Re:Easy - make the Games free and charge for onlin (Score 1) 387

by vitalyb (#25461327) Attached to: The State of Piracy and DRM In PC Gaming

"Well, let's see, since scene people like dopeman and such have already managed to rip the actual games and make it steam-free, you won't have to worry that much except for maybe the multiplayer games."

I am not worried. And yes, this offline mode is new to me. However, suppose you have a new computer and steam is offline forever, why should I need the help of pirates to play the OFFLINE games I played for?

I agree that it is DRM it its best (so far) but it is still restrictive and lets not forget that.
Media

MLB Fans Who Bought DRM Videos Get Hosed 299

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the digital-restrictions-management dept.
Billosaur writes "Major League Baseball has just strengthened the case against DRM. If you downloaded videos of baseball games from MLB.com before 2006, apparently they no longer work and you are out of luck. MLB.com, sometime during 2006, changed their DRM system. Result: game videos purchased before that time will now no longer work, as the previous DRM system is no longer supported. When the video is played, apparently the MLB.com servers are contacted and a license obtained to verify the authenticity of the video; this is done by a web link. That link no longer exists, and so now the videos will no longer play, even though the MLB FAQ says that a license is only obtained once and will not need to be re-obtained. The blogger who is reporting this contacted MLB technical support, only to be told there are no refunds due to this problem."
Encryption

Download And Burn Movies Available Soon 97

Posted by Zonk from the oh-css-is-there-nothing-you-can't-do dept.
An anonymous reader writes "According to an article from PC World, a source close to the CSS Managed Recording forum said that technology which allows movies to be downloaded and burned to blank DVDs, using the same content-protection system as commercial discs, received official approval on Thursday. 'The technology will require discs that are slightly different from the conventional DVD-Rs found in shops today. The burned discs will be compatible with the vast majority of consumer DVD players ... Despite Thursday's approval, services that allow consumers to legally download and burn movies in their own homes are unlikely to appear quickly. The DVD CCA said it will be initially restricted to professional uses. These might include kiosks in retail stores where consumers can purchase and burn discs in a controlled environment.'"
Businesses

Biology Goes Open Source 100

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the models-that-work-from-time-to-time dept.
cford writes "According to Forbes some of the drug company giants are finally realizing that their genetic research is worth more if they give it away. 'Novartis, the Basel, Switzerland, drug giant, has helped uncover which of the 20,000 genes identified by the Human Genome Project are likely to be associated with diabetes. But rather than hoard this information, as drug firms have traditionally done, it is making it available for free on the World Wide Web. "It will take the entire world to interpret these data," says Novartis research head Mark Fishman. "We figure we will benefit more by having a lot of companies look at these data than by holding it secret."'"
Microsoft

Sony and Universal Prohibit Sharing Via Zune 325

Posted by Zonk from the as-if-the-zune-didn't-have-enough-trouble-already dept.
ack154 writes "Engadget has a story about Sony and Universal Music apparently denying Zune owners the ability to 'squirt' songs by certain artists to other Zune users. That's right, if you've actually purchased songs from the Zune marketplace and happen to run into another Zune owner, you're prohibited from sharing certain songs. From the article: 'In a non-scientific sampling of popular artists by Zunerama and Zune Thoughts, it looks like it's roughly 40-50 percent of artists that fall under this prohibited banner, and the worst news is that there's no warning that a song might be unsharable until you actually try to send it and fail.'"

Studios OK Burning Movie Downloads 216

Posted by CowboyNeal from the so-long-as-it's-paid-for dept.
SirClicksalot writes "The DVD Copy Control Association has released a statement (pdf) announcing that it will make adaptations to the Content Scramble System (CSS) used to protect DVDs. The association, made up of Hollywood studios, consumer electronics and software companies, licenses CSS to the DVD industry to protect content. The changes will allow home users to legally burn purchased movie downloads to special CSS protected DVDs, compatible with existing DVD players."

Has Orwell's '1984' Come 22 Years Later? 1272

Posted by Cliff from the his-words-are-still-precient dept.
gabec asks: "This weekend my mother bought a grille lighter, something like this butane lighter. The self-scanner at Kroger's locked itself up and paged a clerk, who had to enter our drivers license numbers into her kiosk before we could continue. Last week my girlfriend bought four peaches. An alert came up stating that peaches were a restricted item and she had to identify herself before being able to purchase such a decidedly high quantity of the dangerous fruit. My video games spy on me, reporting the applications I run, the websites I visit, the accounts of the people I IM. My ISP is being strong-armed into a two-year archive of each action I take online under the guise of catching pedophiles, the companies I trust to free information are my enemies, the people looking out for me are being watched. As if that weren't enough, my own computer spies on me daily, my bank has been compromised, my phone is tapped--has been for years--and my phone company is A-OK with it. What's a guy that doesn't even consider himself paranoid to think of the current state of affairs?" The sad state of affairs is that Big Brother probably became a quiet part of our lives a lot earlier. The big question now is: how much worse can it get?

Two-Player Games for Mixed Skill Level Players? 506

Posted by Cliff from the an-semi-level-playing-field dept.
koreth asks: "What are some good two-player games that a newbie can successfully play with a more seasoned gamer? I want to find a good console or PC game I can play with my girlfriend, who has only recently started gaming. Something cooperative would be great, but head-to-head is fine too. All the games we've tried are made for players of roughly the same skill level -- so either I end up dumbing my gameplay way down (no fun for me) or blowing her out of the water without much effort (no fun for her). Is there any game out there that gives two players tasks of varying difficulty to keep both of them engrossed, at the same time?"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Stupid relatives suck.

Journal by xYoni69x

I was at my aunt's, and a dumb distant relative of mine who was there kept talking about this psychic that her friend went to who felt the presence of the spirits of her parents in her room blah blah blah blah. I couldn't stand it and went home. They are still there talking about that crap, probably. Ugh.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Bus relationships 3

Journal by xYoni69x

Have you ever had a forced conversation with someone? It's the one where you have to talk, but there is nothing to talk about. For instance, when a person you sort-of know runs into you on the bus, and sits next to you, so you almost have to talk to them until one of you gets off the bus.

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Seen on a button at an SF Convention: Veteran of the Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force. 1990-1951.

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