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Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

Submitted by CmdrTaco
CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!

Comment Re:WTH is this? (Score 1) 28

by Roblimo (#51354069) Attached to: Pet Wearables? But Seriously, Folks... (Video)

2 30-second preroll ads? Barf. I've always considered 15 seconds -- or "skip ad after 5 seconds" -- the maximum that should be inflicted on readers/viewers. I'll check with our ad and tech people, see what's happening. I know a lot of publishers consider 30 seconds okay, but 2X30 seconds? Not good, but obviously not under the control of anyone who actually works on the site. Sigh.
GUI

Video Pet Wearables? But Seriously, Folks... (Video) 28

Posted by Roblimo from the my-dog-salivates-when-she-hears-the-virtual-bell dept.
It sounds like a joke at first, but Risto Lähdesmäki, CEO of user interface design firm Idean (corporate motto: Life is too short for crappy UX), pointed us at DogTelligent and several other companies that are making pet wearables that seem to have real, practical uses. But Risto and his design crew work primarily on wearables and interface design for humans, and since their client list ranges from Sony and Samsung to Volkswagen and Rolls Royce, Risto is in a great position to spot future trends in the (maybe too) hot wearables market.
Security

Video Do the Risks of BYOD Outweigh the Benefits? (Video) 82

Posted by Roblimo from the security-is-often-an-afterthought-if-it-is-thought-about-at-all dept.
Steve Hasselbach is a Senior Solutions Architect (AKA Marketing Guy -- but he's also a serious techie) for Peak 10, a datacenter company. In his work he deals with his clients' security problems, and often shakes his head at how security unconscious so many businesses are, even after endless publicity about corporate IT security holes costing companies millions of dollars.

He says, "...it doesn’t shock me anymore, but you’d be so shocked and surprised at how noncompliant this country is in terms of businesses around things like healthcare data and all that." In this interview, Steve talks about how (surprise!) the current BYOD trend is making things worse, but isn't necessarily responsible for the worst security holes, and offers benefits that might outweigh the increased security risks it brings.. (Note: The transcript contains material not included in the video.)
Linux Business

Video GNU/Linux Desktops with No User Knowledge Needed (Video) 85

Posted by Roblimo from the just-sign-here-and-we'll-take-care-of-everything dept.
Joey Amanchukwu is co-founder and CEO of Transforia, a company that leases computers pre-loaded with Red Hat Enterprise Linux -- a distro choice that may have been made at least partly because Joey used to sell for Red Hat.

There have been other companies that tried to sell Linux desktops and laptops on a "don't worry about a thing; we'll administer them for you, no problem" basis. Not a lot (maybe none) of those companies have survived, as far as we know. Will Transforia manage to make it big? Or at least become profitable? We'll see.
Medicine

Video Alfred Poor Talks About Health Wearables at CES (Video) 22

Posted by Roblimo from the hup-two-three-four-five-six-seven dept.
The biggest shift in wearables that Alfred Poor saw at CES was from consumer wearables to wearables designed to serve corporate goals, especially cutting health care costs. He says that when it comes to fitness and other health-related wearables, "consumer is the past and business is the future."

Comment Re:Why is everyone wearing headphones? (Score 1) 90

by Roblimo (#51258639) Attached to: Which do You Prefer: Mobile Web Apps or Mobile Websites? (Video)

So read the transcript and don't watch the video. Some people like them, some don't. You know this site is for sale, right? What if the new owner starts sending goon squads out to force you to watch videos? What will you do THEN, I ask you?

Seriously - if you think of the videos as an easy, low-cost way to produce verbatim text interviews, they make sense for that alone, with the video itself as a free bonus. I have friends, including some very smart people, who are dyslexic enough that it's easier for them to watch someone talk than to read the same thing. At the other extreme, you have speedreaders -- including me -- who process text faster than anyone can talk. So videos + transcripts = the best compromise and way to reach both groups end everybody in between.

And we realize that complaining, valid or not, is a big Slashdot sport, too. :)

Comment Re:Why is everyone wearing headphones? (Score 4, Informative) 90

by Roblimo (#51257683) Attached to: Which do You Prefer: Mobile Web Apps or Mobile Websites? (Video)

Some people watch videos, some don't. We mark all videos as videos to keep you from watching them by mistake, and provide transcripts if you want the information in them but would rather read than view.

We *could* transmit videos directly to your brain using our subdural trans-pyschic information refabulizer, but we have decided not to do this. For now.
Handhelds

Video Which do You Prefer: Mobile Web Apps or Mobile Websites? (Video) 90

Posted by Roblimo from the using-mobile-apps-to-suck-up-bandwidth-and-your-device's-memory dept.
On December 28, 2015, Larry Seltzer wrote an article for Ars Technica provocatively titled (by Ars editors), The App-ocalypse: Can Web standards make mobile apps obsolete? A link to this article was posted on Slashdot, where it provoked a spirited discussion. In this video conversation, we talked to Larry about mobile aps vs. Web standards. Not surprisingly, he had some interesting things to say.
Input Devices

Video Api.ai CEO Ilya Gelfenbeyn Talks About Conversational Voice Interfaces (Video) 32

Posted by Roblimo from the why-wear-your-fingers-out-when-you-can-talk? dept.
Api.ai makes an Android voice-controlled utility called Assistant. I have it on my Android phone. It is one of many simiar apps, and I have been trying them a little at a time. Are any of them as good as Siri? Let's just say, "Quality varies."

And Android voice assistants aren't the point of this interview, anyway. It's more about the process of developing interactive, voice-based IO systems. This whole voice/response thing is an area that's going to take off any year now -- and has been in that state for several decades -- but may finally be going somewhere, spurred by intense competition between the many companies working in this field, including Ilya's.

Comment Re:Video schmideo (Score 1) 41

by Roblimo (#51237637) Attached to: FOSS Force is a FOSS News and Commentary Site (Video)

We understand that running 3 videos/week out of a total of 100+ stories/week is an affront to your dignity, but autoplay? Are you sure? It is NOT supposed to autoplay, and it doesn't autoplay for me in Linux or Windows, Chrome or Firefox. Hmm... I didn't try Explorer. Nope. No autoplay in Explorer, either. Could you please tell us what browser and OS you're running?

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