krane - Slashdot User

Comment Re:No longer a day one purchase (Score 3, Informative) 473

by krane on Tuesday November 18, 2014 @04:57AM (#48409211) Attached to: Elite: Dangerous Dumps Offline Single-Player

Yeah, as it turns out, "from time to time" means (in the dev's words): "At the moment it's whenever you need to conduct a server moderated transaction like trading." and "The servers handle more than just the data, they handle all the key processes for interaction in the game, so trading, mission generation and background simulation to name a few." Anecdotally, in the beta at least, the client apparently lasts between 2 and 5 seconds if you pull your 'Net connection. The enormous rage-thread about this on Frontier's forum is hither: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/... (is at nearly 500 pages now). Another useful thread to check out is this one: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/... which just has stuff the company has had to say since the whole thing blew up (although they haven't posted since Saturday).

Ford To Introduce Restrictive Car Keys For Parents 1224

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 07, 2008 @12:21AM from the no-you-cannot-borrow-my-keys dept.

thesandbender writes "Ford is set to release a management system that will restrict certain aspects of a car's performance based on which key is in the ignition. The speed is limited to 80, you can't turn off traction control, and you can't turn the stereo up to eleven. It's targeted at parents of teenagers and seems like a generally good idea, especially if you get a break on your insurance." The keys will be introduced with the 2010 Focus coupe and will quickly spread to Ford's entire lineup.

Using Money As Incentive For Competition On Consoles? 40

Posted by Soulskill on Monday October 06, 2008 @11:20PM from the or-is-it-just-gambling dept.

MTV's Multiplayer blog reports on a company about to start offering a service that will allow players to compete in matches and tournaments over their PS2, PS3, or Xbox 360 with real money as a prize. Doing so will, of course, require entry fees, but the contests are set up and opted into by the players themselves. Quoting: "To prevent cheating, the company has access to the game data and promises a knowledgeable in-house customer support team. There's also a reputation and feedback system, which Levy compared to eBay, that will allow gamers to make informed decisions about who they're playing against. ... [Company co-founder Billy Levy] ultimately thinks World Gaming will open up the field for gamers who want to make money from games but can't make it to live competitions due to the expense or having to take time off from work or school.

Microsoft Programming Contest Hacked and Defaced 151

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 06, 2008 @10:16PM from the star-developers dept.

davidmwilliams writes "Microsoft followed their major annual Tech-Ed event in Australia with a week-long programming contest called 'DevSta,' to find 'star developers.' While the quantity and quality of submissions suggest a poor turnout, it certainly caught the attention of at least two hackers who left their mark. Here is the low-down on the contest, what happened, by whom, and screen shots for posterity in case it's been fixed by the time you read this. And unless the volume of submissions increase dramatically within the next few hours, someone may be awarded an Xbox for doing nothing more than rewriting the Windows calculator as a .NET app."

A Look At the Warhammer Community 169

Posted by Soulskill on Monday October 06, 2008 @09:13PM from the greenskin-buddies dept.

Gamasutra is running a story examining the development of the Warhammer Online community since its recent launch. The author explains how the gameplay and rules tend to affect social interaction. GamerDNA has a related piece looking at numbers for actual players involved with Warhammer's launch, and how it's affecting populations in other MMOs. "Getting on the computer to play WAR apparently reminded the WAR fanatics that they had a computer, because overall, their gameplay went up as a whole. They logged in more often to titles like COD4, Oblivion, and even AOC. But the MMO bug bit hard, and logins to LOTRO and EVE more than doubled after the launch of WAR."

Small Asteroid On Collision Course With Earth 397

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 06, 2008 @08:11PM from the big-kaboom dept.

musatov writes "There's talk on The Minor Planet Mailing List about a small asteroid approaching Earth with a 99.8% probability of colliding. The entrance to the Earth's atmosphere will take place October 7 at 0246 UTC (2:35 after this story goes live) over northern Sudan, releasing the energy of about a kiloton of TNT. The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size; it is expected to burn up completely in the atmosphere, causing no harm. As a powerful bolide, it may put on quite a show in the sky. For those advanced enough in astronomy to observe, check the MPEC 2008-T50 and MPEC 2008-T64 circulars. NASA's JPL Small Body Database has a 3D orbit view. The story has been already picked up by CNN and NASA."

Hands-On With the PSP-3000 41

Posted by Soulskill on Monday October 06, 2008 @07:57PM from the upgrades dept.

Eurogamer got a chance to take a look at Sony's latest hardware revision for the PSP. Their overall impression of the new model is positive, finding that a redesigned screen offers noticeably better graphics and higher brightness without affecting battery life. They also say the button pads may be slightly different, and the unit comes with useful firmware upgrades. "Elsewhere, our side-by-side comparison of the current PSP/PSP-2000 firmware, 4.05, and the new 4.20 firmware on the PSP-3000 reveals a 'USB Auto-Connect' option, which promises to automatically switch the handheld to USB mode when a cable is connected. It will do this from anywhere on the XMB, but it won't interrupt gameplay. ... The new-model PSP also allows you to play games on a TV by hooking it up with a special adapter (sold separately) and a composite cable, whereas the old one would only allow composite cables to display video, with gaming reserved for component output."

Enterprise Software Sales Dried Up In September 173

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 06, 2008 @07:25PM from the surprise-surprise dept.

CurtMonash writes "As I predicted a week ago, it looks as if the third quarter was ugly for software vendors, due to the economic crisis. SAP said 'The market developments of the past several weeks have been dramatic and worrying to many businesses. These concerns triggered a very sudden and unexpected drop in business activity at the end of the quarter.' My old acquaintance John Treadway, who used to work in Sybase's financial services vertical unit, reports that things are even worse than that in the financial services industry, Wall Street and retail banks alike. So now what? Well, IT is a huge part of capital spending, and at enterprises that have to cut back capital spending, IT is going to get hurt. On the other hand, high-growth companies — Web businesses, analytic services providers, etc. — may try to power through the downturn. And the more directly an IT project affects near-term profits, the more likely it is to survive."

Comment Re:Patterson & Hennesey (Score 1) 522

by krane on Saturday July 27, 2002 @11:40AM (#3964289) Attached to: Best Computer Books For The Smart

Haven't read this particular one, but 'Computer Orginisation and Design' by these guys is worth a look, too.

They tend to start with the obvious, simple or initial ways of doing things, then build along clear principles to get to where the more complex stuff is.

A good study of that fraught region where the hardware and software meet, with particular emphasis on MIPS architecture and RISC design (but with online extra bits that go into more detail about other chip designs).

Managed to make some information adhere to my brain despite my awful study habits.

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