ebbdr - Slashdot User

Doubts Multiply About the "Long Tail" 194

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @02:31PM from the to-him-who-hath-shall-be-given dept.

fruey sends in a New Scientist analysis of the many second thoughts about the Long Tail theory. It summarizes four studies that show, in different markets, that the tail is both flatter and thinner than originally supposed, and that blockbusters are not going away in those markets — they are getting bigger. It's theorized that widely used collaborative filtering software is magnifying the winners' share of the various pies, and peer influence is a large contributor to consumer behavior.

Torture in Games 249

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 16, 2008 @01:32AM from the ok-torture's-bad-but-killing's-fine-right dept.

Recent comments from Richard Bartle, one of the developers for the first Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), stirred up discussion about whether virtual torture is acceptable as part of modern games. Bartle was referring to a quest in the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, in which players are instructed to extract information from an NPC. He drew criticism for his view from a variety of sources, but Wired is now running a piece provocatively titled, "Why We Need More Torture in Games." The author makes the case that the failure of most media to properly portray how horrible torture actually is (for example, on the TV show 24), and the increased focus on real-world topics like Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and waterboarding, could make games the perfect venue for demonstrating the "devastating repercussions" of torture.

The Best Burglar Alarm In History 137

Posted by samzenpus on Monday December 15, 2008 @07:07PM from the suck-it-Edison dept.

Sportsqs writes "When Nikola Tesla got creative with transformers and driver circuits at the turn of the 20th century he probably had no idea that others would have so much fun with his concepts over a hundred years later. One such guy is an Australian named Peter who runs a website called TeslaDownUnder, which showcases all his wacky Tesla ways, or rather electrickery, as Peter calls it." Very cool stuff, I wish I would have had something like this to protect my comic books from my little brother when I was a kid.

Watching Tonight's Presidential Debate Online 349

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 15, 2008 @10:33AM from the play-the-drinking-game dept.

farkinga writes "For those of us that no longer have a television, live TV events can be a challenge to watch. Fortunately, tonight's Presidential Debate has attracted the attention of most US broadcasters, many of whom will provide online viewing options. Leading the way is Hulu, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, who will stream the Fox-branded feed tonight — assuming they worked out the bandwidth issues that came up during the second debate!"

Game Devs Using One-Time Bonuses to Fight Used Game Sales 229

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 04, 2008 @06:59PM from the thanks-so-much dept.

ShackNews reports on an emerging trend which sees game publishers offer one-time bonus codes to unlock extra content for certain titles. Rock Band 2, for example, comes with a code which will allow free 20-song download, but is only usable once. NBA Live '09 has functionality to update team rosters on a daily basis, but will only do so for the original owner. "'This information and data is very valuable and it wasn't free for us,' an EA representative explained on Operation Sports. 'T-Mobile is paying for it this year for all users who buy the game new. This is a very expensive tool to use, and if you don't buy it new, then you'll have to pay for this. It isn't greed at all.'"

Journal Journal: Scientology Abuses YouTube to Silence Critics 5

Journal by Anti-Trend on Friday April 18, 2008 @01:28PM

The story was carried by major news outlets globally when actor and high-ranking Scientologist Jason Beghe sat down with outspoken Scientology critic Mark Bunker (XenuTV.com) and gave an interview regarding his former membership in the organization last week. A 3-minute teaser video graced YouTube, and met with fierce hostility from Scientology advocates. When Mark promised to upload the complete version of the interview on Thursday the 18

Comment Re:But the Samaritans take their name from the Bib (Score 1) 148

by ebbdr on Thursday December 05, 2002 @10:10AM (#4818233) Attached to: Good Samaritans Choose Linux

No, but they take there ethos from a biblical story about someone who was good even though he wasn't of the same set of beliefs as the storyteller or audience.

the only connection to any religion that samaritans have is our name. the philosophy / ethos and practical methods we use to help those in distress have nothing whatsoever to do with religion - everything is geared towards befriending the suicidal and the emotionally distressed. this is an avowedly secular organisation. i feel compelled to make these points because someone reading some of the preceding posts might get the idea that we are associated with the bible or christianity - if they choose not to call us because they got the wrong idea from this website the consequences might be considerably worse than any of us might care to imagine. so please take care before you start branding us one thing or the other.

cheers, bdr (ed 4685)

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