misaochankun - Slashdot User

Submission + - Google Maps now does interactive re-routing (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29, 2007 @01:04PM

An anonymous reader writes: Remember how cool it was the first time you used MapQuest or Google Maps or Google Earth? Once you try the new interactive dragging of routes on Google Maps, you'll find yourself wasting too much time again just playing with it and being amazed at how fast and scalable it is.

Software Missing From Vista's "Official Apps" 288

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 22, 2007 @04:27PM from the big-holes dept.

PetManimal writes "Microsoft has just released a list of 800 applications it says are 'officially supported' on Windows Vista. What's special about this list, however, are the programs that are not included: 'Popular Windows software that is conspicuously missing from Microsoft's list includes Adobe Systems Inc.'s entire line of graphics and multimedia software, Symantec Corp.'s security products, as well as the Mozilla Foundation's open-source Firefox Web browser, Skype Ltd.'s free voice-over-IP software and the OpenOffice.org alternative to Microsoft Office.' Another area in which Vista has found to be lacking is gaming, as discussed earlier on Slashdot."

Ohio University Leads U.S. Colleges in File Sharing 135

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 22, 2007 @03:57PM from the go-buckeyes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Ohio University leads the nation in illegal music download notifications, having received 1,287 RIAA complaints since September, with between ten and 15 notices arriving daily. The University is attempting to deflect criticism with a PR piece, saying open networks required for academic freedom make it difficult to stop illegal file sharing. They also point out that the University's architecture makes it much easier to determine who is actually sharing the files. This makes a complaint more likely, as the RIAA knows who to target. "

A Unique Perspective on a 'Game-Related' Tragedy 378

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 22, 2007 @03:55PM from the for-low-values-of-related dept.

Megnatron writes "Penny Arcade has a letter from the stepmother of one of the kids who was recently charged with killing a homeless man. Her article is an extremely sobering tale of the problems dealing with troubled teen. She explains how, in this situation, the parents did everything they possibly could. And, in a refreshing twist, she absolves the games industry of any blame for the tragedy these kids perpetrated. From her missive: 'Video games DID NOT make this kid who he was, and it's unfortunate that the correlation is there. The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he's done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes me sick that the media is jumping all over this, because that is exactly the result that he wants. The only good thing (if there is such a thing) that has come out of this whole ordeal is that the kid is behind bars. That is exactly where he needs to be.'" Her letter is a passionate, troubling story, but well worth reading.

New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion 126

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 22, 2007 @03:26PM from the robots-getting-smarter dept.

MattSparkes writes "The Mars rover Spirit used to get quite confused when it came upon a rock. Because it could only plan routes of a metre or two it couldn't understand how to navigate around large objects, and frequently used to rock back and forth for hours trying to figure it out. NASA have written new software called D* for the rover Opportunity, which should allow it to autonomously plan routes up to 50 metres long. The new software still won't be able to avoid sand-traps, though."

Comment Full Napster 2.0 story (Score 1) 138

by misaochankun on Wednesday February 01, 2006 @02:23PM (#14617821) Attached to: Napster To Be Acquired by Google?

Napster 2.0 was originally called Duet, then renamed to Pressplay. This was created by the original MP3.com and not the corporate bastard child taking the current name of MP3.com. Roxio had bought the name Napster, then came to MP3.com to use pressplay for the back end. They then ripped it out of the MP3.com group of products and struck out on their own, renaming pressplay to Napster 2.0. The back end was well designed last I saw of it, but I can't vouch for what has been done with it since they moved off on their own. For the LAMP lovers, it did run on Redhat 6.2-9.0, with apache 1.x, MySQL 3.23.x and tons of 'drunken coded' perl and a few other fun languages. No telling what it is now, but you might still see mention of duet and pressplay in urls and in random guts of the programs.

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