Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Nanny state (Score 1) 360

I do have to agree there. I don't see anything wrong in particular when it comes to limiting volume to non-dangerously high levels, especially as this will benefit everyone. If you're stupid enough to ruin your hearing in the US, well, tough luck. In the EU with mostly easily available, cheap healthcare, this will get incredibly expensive for the general populace as incident numbers start soaring. I don't see why you should cry "nanny state" here; they're not outlawing listening to loud music, they're just imposing limits on output power of MP3 players.

That said, I think the problem is the craptastic headphones that come with all players. They have to be cheap, so their frequency response will be absolutely horrible. In order to hear anything at all, you have to crank them up immensely, which is not the best thing to do in regards to your hearing. Decent phones, however, don't need to be loud, as they're clear even without being driven at extreme volume.

Comment Molyneux' games are okay, but that doesn't matter. (Score 1) 55

Credit where credit is due: Peter Molyneux has made some nice games, but that's not his greatest achievement. Molyneux has been, and still is, one of the few game developers who doesn't see himself as too good for answering press inquiries and doing dozens of interviews. I've seen some TV programmes about games and the gaming industry and in every single one of them, Molyneux gave an interview. He might talk overhyped trash from time to time (i.e. almost always), but at least he talks. If Molyneux wouldn't constantly talk about his games to anyone who's brave enough to ask, he'd long be forgotten.

Comment Re:Logitech UltraX (Score 1) 519

I used to type on a Cherry Evolution Stream, which is quite similar to the Logitech UltraX. Now, I own several clicky keyboards including a Model M. While the UltraX has its merits, the Model M is far superior in terms of about everything. Pantograph-style laptop keys just don't cut it when it comes to real tactile feedback. As far as typing speeds go: It's nice to know your theoretical maximum, but I usually don't type faster than 60-70 wpm (although I can do about 100) simply because of my need to think before I type. If your typing speed is on a level where continuous typing is not a concern of typing, but of thinking speed, you might as well go for the nicest keyboard you can find.

Comment Re:Cherry has G80-3000 with click (Score 1) 519

The G80-3000 with click surely is a nice keyboard, but it doesn't even come close to the Model M. The Model M is a humungous piece of hardware, the lighter models weighing about 1.6 kg, with the heavier ones of them even above 2 kg. The G80-3000, on the other hand, weighs just a mere 0.96 kg. The Model M is rigid. It might be a bit creaky, but it doesn't warp like the G80-3000. The only screws to be found in the G80-3000 are two tiny screws holding the keyboard controller PCB in place, everything else is just held together by plastic clips. The key feel is still quite nice, but not as defined as the Model M's. In fact, it's another type of clicky sensation, more subdued than buckling springs or even old Alps switches. It's considerably quieter as well, making it more suitable for work environments. Plus, it's quite inexpensive for a mechanical keyboard, so I'd consider buying one for a start.

Comment Re:Quality, or neophobia (Score 1) 519

I've got both a Unicomp keyboard and a Cherry keyboard with blue MX switches, and I prefer the Unicomp with buckling springs. The blue Cherry MX are great, their availability is better and the keyboards employing them are generally much cheaper if you don't happen to live in the US (postage to old Europe for Unicomp's keyboards is about $50, so that's a considerable factor, whereas Cherry's G80-3000 can be had for as low as EUR 45), but I still prefer buckling springs. The blue MX's required force is much lower, the click is mushed and they have this very irritating "sticky" effect when released slowly. Still, they feel about a thousand times better than rubber dome keyboards.

Censorship

IOC Trademarks Part of Canadian National Anthem 412

gravis777 sends us to BoingBoing for news that the International Olympic Committee has trademarked a line from the Canadian National Anthem and is threatening to sue anyone who uses it. The line in question is "with glowing hearts." "The committee is so serious about protecting the Olympic brand it managed to get a landmark piece of legislation passed in the House of Commons last year that made using certain phrases related to the Games a violation of law. The list includes the number 2010 and the word 'winter,' phrases that normally couldn't be trademarked because they are so general."
Science

Another Way the LHC Could Self-Destruct 367

KentuckyFC writes "Just when you thought it was safe to switch on the LHC (though it won't be for a while yet), another nightmare scenario has emerged that some critics worry could cause the particle accelerator to explode. The culprit this time is not an Earth-swallowing black hole but a 'Bose supernova' in the accelerator's superfluid helium bath. Physicists have been playing with Bose Einstein Condensate (BECs) for over 10 years now. But in 2001, one group discovered that placing them in a powerful magnetic field could cause the attractive forces between atoms to become repulsive. That caused their BEC to explode in a Bose supernova — which they called a 'Bosenova,' a name that fortunately did not catch on. This was little more than a curiosity when only a microscopic blob of cold matter was involved. But superfluid liquid helium is also BEC. And physicists have suddenly remembered that the LHC is swimming in 700,000 liters of the stuff while being zapped by some of the most powerful magnetic fields on the planet. So is the LHC a Bose supernova waiting to go off? Not according to the CERN theory division, which has published its calculations that show the LHC is safe (abstract). They also point out that no other superfluid helium handling facility has mysteriously blown itself to pieces."

Comment Re:Group-think hypocrisy? (Score 1) 133

Games can be used to convey messages, just like books. If you take a random shooter, chances are you'll get at least an attempt at a story which acts as a reason for your gaming (the half-life series being a very good example of this). However, there is not much ideology in these games and you won't be forced to play them if you so desire or parts of the storyline do offend you.

It's different with school books or games being played at school--these should be as neutral as possible and not carry any sublimal messages. If I want science, I get a science book from a well-established science publisher, not "ballistic physics of various projectiles, proudly brought to you by the U.S. Army," even if it might be free and not contain exaggerated propaganda.

Learning about the military is okay with me, but I'd find using their material related to non-military subjects in public education highly disturbing, because it's not their business.

Privacy

Shadow Analysis Could Spot Terrorists 245

Hugh Pickens writes "An engineer at Jet Propulsion Labs says it should be possible to identify people from the way they walk — a technique called gait analysis, whose power lies in the fact that a person's walking style is very hard to disguise. Adrian Stoica has written software that recognizes human movement in aerial and satellite video footage by isolating moving shadows and using data on the time of day and the camera angle to correct shadows that are elongated or foreshortened. In tests on footage shot from the sixth floor of a building, Stoica says his software was indeed able to extract useful gait data. Extending the idea to satellites could prove trickier, though. Space imaging expert Bhupendra Jasani at King's College London says geostationary satellites simply don't have the resolution to provide useful detail. 'I find it hard to believe they could apply this technique from space,' says Jasani." Comments on the article speculate on the maximum resolution possible from KH-11 and KH-12 spy satellites.
Businesses

Bloatware Removal Threatens PC Industry Profits 341

Anti-Globalism sends along a piece on how a consumer-friendly service is not so good for PC manufacturers. "Before they ship PCs to retailers like Best Buy, computer makers load them up with lots of free software. For $30, Best Buy will get rid of it for you. That simple cleanup service is threatening the precarious economics of the personal computer industry. Software companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars to PC makers like Hewlett-Packard to install their photo tools, financial programs, and other products, usually with some tie-in to a paid service or upgrade. With margins growing thinner than most laptops, this critical revenue can make the difference between profit and loss for the computer makers, industry analysts say."
PC Games (Games)

New Racing Simulation Distances Itself From Gamers 208

waderoush writes "In an unusual move that could alienate a large segment of potential customers, iRacing.com, an online racing simulation company that opened its site to the public on August 26, is calling its system a 'driver development tool' that isn't designed for PC or console gamers. 'We don't think of ourselves as a game company,' says one exec. 'World of Warcraft has a real appeal...But our system is more serious, frankly. If you are serious about racing, our product is for you, because getting on a [simulated] track with a full field of other drivers and racing against them safely involves as much commitment and time investment as if you went to racing school.' In fact, to distinguish its system from MMOs, the company has come up with a new acronym to describe its simulation: MMIS, for 'massively multiparticipant Internet sport.'"
Privacy

UK Gov't Proposes Massive Internet Snooping, Data Storage 342

Barence writes "Big Brother Britain moved a step further today with the news that the Government will store 'a billion incidents of data exchange a day' as details of every text, email and browsing session in the UK are recorded. Under new proposals published yesterday, the information will be made available to police forces in order to crack down on serious crime, but will also be accessible by local councils, health authorities and even Ofsted and the Post Office. The Conservatives have criticised the idea, with the Shadow Home Secretary saying, 'yet again the Government has proved itself unable to resist the temptation to take a power quite properly designed to combat terrorism to snoop on the lives of ordinary people in everyday circumstances.'"
Security

Moving Beyond Passwords For Security 235

Naturalist writes with an excerpt from a New York Times story about the need for a more secure method for identification than the password-based system almost everyone currently uses. The article also discusses the weaknesses of the OpenID initiative to simplify the process. "The solution urged by the experts is to abandon passwords -- and to move to a fundamentally different model, one in which humans play little or no part in logging on. Instead, machines have a cryptographically encoded conversation to establish both parties' authenticity, using digital keys that we, as users, have no need to see. ...OpenID offers, at best, a little convenience, and ignores the security vulnerability inherent in the process of typing a password into someone else's Web site. Nevertheless, every few months another brand-name company announces that it has become the newest OpenID signatory."

Slashdot Top Deals

The test of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts. -- Aldo Leopold

Working...