matthobbs05 - Slashdot User

Comment Re:15 year olds can't buy games rated for 15 years (Score 5, Informative) 161

by matthobbs05 on Tuesday April 03, 2012 @12:26AM (#39556681) Attached to: Bill Introduced To Ban Sale of MA15+ Games To Anyone Under 18 in SA

[From TFA]

Therefore, my intention is that the South Australian legislation will prevent the sale of MA15+ games to minors. This move will give parents greater certainty about the appropriateness of games for their children.

From what I gather, the aim is to make parents/guardians responsible for the content they are viewing/playing, and forcing them (or anyone over 18) to be there at the time of purchase.

However, this goes against the description of the MA15+ rating...

[From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Classification_Board ]

MA15+ (Mature Accompanied for those under 15) - Persons under said age may only legally purchase, rent, exhibit or view MA15+ rated content under the supervision of an adult guardian. The exhibition of these films to people under the age of 15 years who are not supervised by an adult guardian is a criminal offence. Recommended for 14-15+.

Comment Re:Why? (Score 1) 329

by matthobbs05 on Monday February 06, 2012 @07:02PM (#38947435) Attached to: Full-Body Scans Rolled Out At All Australian International Airports

I never heard of any plane being hijacked or blown up or any attempts or any other terrorist activity.

While there hasn't been any plane-related incidents, there has been a few bombings in the past.

In the past decade alone there have been several groups charged for plotting terrorist attacks on Australian land. The most recent was in August 2009 when four men "allegedly connected with the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab" were arrested for planning an attack on an army barracks near Sydney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holsworthy_Barracks_terror_plot

Indian Engineers Modify Kinect To Help the Blind Walk With Confidence 59

Posted by Soulskill on Monday February 06, 2012 @06:59PM from the paging-geordi-laforge dept.

New submitter albinobee writes "The Kinect for Xbox 360 isn't only about gaming; it can also be used to help compensate for impaired vision, as a team of Indian engineers is working to prove. A device called viSparsh, still in its nascent stage, is a motion sensing belt that can help alert the blind to obstacles that lie in their path."

Comment Re:Aussie govt won't lift a finger... (Score 1) 101

by matthobbs05 on Tuesday September 28, 2010 @09:33PM (#33730158) Attached to: Aussie Gov't Won't Help Fight Cyber Attacks

Well said.

Shiny New Space Fence To Monitor Orbiting Junk 76

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 15, 2009 @09:48PM from the good-space-fences-make-good-neighbors dept.

coondoggie writes "Some work has begun on tracking and detecting the overabundance of space junk which has become a growing priority as all manner of satellites, rockets and possible commercial space shots are promised in the coming few years. Today Northrop Grumman said it grabbed $30 million from the US Air Force to start developing the first phase of a global space surveillance ground radar system. The new S-Band Space Fence is part of the Department of Defense's effort to detect and track what are known as resident space objects (RSO), consisting of thousands of pieces of space debris as well as commercial and military satellites. The new Space Fence will replace the current VHF Air Force Space Surveillance System built in 1961."

Comment Re:Ubuntu should be MORE than windows (Score 1) 710

by matthobbs05 on Monday May 11, 2009 @02:01AM (#27902877) Attached to: Shuttleworth Says Ubuntu Can't Just Be Windows

I have a Linux server running without *any* input at all since 1992. It does its simple task exactly as it was meant to.

If a server's running without any input, how do you gain any output?

Comment Re:Pulling i out of thin air? (Score 1) 165

by matthobbs05 on Thursday March 19, 2009 @11:27PM (#27264667) Attached to: Nintendo To Take On Apple With DSi App Store

Here's the way I see it... The name "Wii" sounds like "we", which hints at the idea that the console can be enjoyed by everyone. The two i's in the name represent two people, which also strengthens the idea that it is a console that can be enjoyed by many (i.e. think of the early promo videos from when the Wii was officially named at E3). I'm guessing that Nintendo wanted to bring the DS name in line with the Wii, but instead of adding two i's, only one would be needed since the DS can only be played by one person at a time.

US Financial Quagmire Bringing Out the Scammers 272

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 09, 2008 @09:22PM from the brother-where-is-your-empathy? dept.

coondoggie contributes this snippet from NetworkWorld: "You could probably see this one coming. With all of the confusion and money involved you knew there would be cyber-vultures out there looking to cash in. Well the Federal Trade Commission today issued a warning that indeed such increased phishing activities are taking place. Specifically the FTC said it was urging user caution regarding e-mails that look as if they come from a financial institution that recently acquired a consumer's bank, savings and loan, or mortgage. In many case such emails are only looking to obtain personal information — account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers — to run up bills or commit other crimes in a consumer's name, the FTC stated."

Comment Re:In other words... (Score 1) 87

by matthobbs05 on Sunday September 21, 2008 @10:49PM (#25099285) Attached to: Peter Moore Talks About His Experiences In the Gaming Industry

This [negative profit on console sales] has been a typically accepted practice in the console business for a long time, eventually the hardware costs come down and the console breaks even or makes a small profit. It is the razor/blade model. The hardware is sold at a loss while money is made on the license fees on the games.

I don't think it has been around for too long. From what I can remember, Sony and Microsoft have been the only companies that have been selling consoles at a loss. They also happen to be the only two companies that were well established before entering the gaming industry and have enough funds/resources to allow them to sell for a loss.

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