59878399
submission
phmadore writes:
Some very clever German Pranksters managed to get one over on a sect of the intelligentsia just the other day. In this 30 minute presentation, Paul von Ribbeck and Gloria Spindle straight-face four new (somewhat credible-sounding) Google products making up the "Google Nest:" Google Trust, Google Hug, Google Bee, and Google Bye. "The way we're seeing it is bad we can't really guarantee that we protect your information but we can do our very best to protect you," says Spindle about eight minutes in. Google is reportedly rather pissed about the whole affair. For me, the discussion-worthy items here are: data insurance and the value of data.
57571493
submission
phmadore writes:
10Gbps cables are what are commonly used in large server centers today, but very soon, according to Ars, 800Gbps cables will be available from Intel.
56609231
submission
phmadore writes:
Windows Phone has been struggling for market share, largely due to a serious lack of developers willing to invest their time in what one might consider a niche market. Statistically speaking, Android has more than 1.1M apps to Windows Phone's pitiful 200,000+. Well, according to unnamed sources informing the Verge , Microsoft may soon integrate/allow Android applications into both Windows and Windows Phone. The irony is so thick here you can cut it with a million dollar bill.
56001939
submission
phmadore writes:
1.4.0 of the most intellectually challenging OSS game out there (IMO), OpenTTD (Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe), is near at hand. Of course, most servers are still running 1.3.3 (the last stable, major version change, from November/December-ish). N-Ice.org typically waits until a stable release has been around for a minute to implement the changes into its online client (which is as yet unavailable as a binary for Linux; it varies only slightly from the official release and non-Windows users are able to interface with it no problem), but there are exciting developments coming down the pipe for OpenTTD.
"The new SSE blitters were also further improved. Not immediately noticeable but useful in the future, are the new string codes to display amounts of cargo in NewGRFs. For our Korean users, the separators in numbers were fixed."
Here is some information on the history of OTTD.
19211056
submission
phmadore writes:
Publishing Perspectives is talking today about the rise of e-book lending, which, one would hope, will lead to a rise in questioning exactly how far one's digital rights extend. Although the articles are mostly talking about the authorized lending programs through Kindle and Nook ("The mechanics are simple: ebook owners sign up and list books that they want to allow others to borrow. When someone borrows one of the ebooks you have listed, you earn a credit. Credits can also be purchased for as little as $1.99 from eBook Fling."), we have to ask ourselves why we are suddenly paying publishers more for less. In the case of iBooks, you can't even transfer your books to another device, let alone another user, but then at least the prices are somewhat controlled. In the case of sites like BooksOnBoard, you've got ridiculously out of control prices with a greatly decreased cost of delivery. It's not all bad, don't get me wrong: Kobo offers competitive that never leave me feeling ripped off or stuck with an inferior product. Still, I can't help but think: digital rights management, sure! Where are my rights, as a consumer, and who is managing them? I wouldn't mind selling the rights back to the publisher or store for in-store credit; I also wouldn't be terribly bothered if they got a reasonable cut off the resale of the product to someone else. What I won't like is if they never allow it or continue to make it impossible for me to sell what's rightfully mine! This is not software we're talking about and copyright has been very clear on it for decades: not only can I legally re-sell a CD, but I can burn a copy and give it to my mother if I please, or even burn a copy and give it to my mother and THEN re-sell it. Anyways, WTF /.?
