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Comment Come on, folks. look and read the whole thing (Score 1) 381

by tigerknight (#38162508) Attached to: Dell's Misleading Graphics Card Buying Advice

Is nobody else seeing the words 'images shown are for demonstrative purposes only'? It's the same as putting two cars side by side and putting a wind-up toy handle on one. Obviously it's not really a toy car (and obviously a 'low end' graphics card will not display a desktop in any washed out way), but it illustrates the point of marketing that one has more power/better quality than the other.

Comment Of course! The answer is to SUE them. Argh (Score 1) 287

by tigerknight (#35512516) Attached to: Advocacy Group For the Blind Slams Google Apps

This concept of entitlement just pisses me off. Google should not be REQUIRED to make a product that the blind can use, nobody should! This is equivalent to walking into a regular restaurant (full of common/average consumers) and demanding vegan/gluten-free/insert-super-picky-niche-here menu items. You should NOT have the right to call the cops in and force them to make the food you desire.

What the blind (or anybody who has a need for a product) should do is create a voice for themselves as a demanding consumer for a product that doesn't exist and let the industry trip over itself and fight each other to make the dominant/superior product! Make your time/money/effort/usage the product that companies WANT you to give them rather than cramming it down their throat and complaining when they don't swallow well enough for your satisfaction because you're an Apple/Google/Microsoft/XYZ brand fanboy and they 'don't fulfill your needs'.

Stop demanding that others enable you to do something and figure a way to make it happen yourself. Show off your own Rube Goldberg solution of self empowerment with pride and pretty soon someone will come along with a tool that you inspired them to create to simplify your efforts and improve your life.
Games

Avataritis — On the Abundance of Customizable Game Characters 78

Posted by Soulskill from the forty-nine-precisely-placed-freckles dept.
Martyn Zachary writes "The Slowdown has posted a new critique, 'Avataritis,' that attempts to portray the utilization of character customization as a pandemic, emotional response on behalf of publishers and developers to finding the easiest, most efficient solution to the very unique dilemma presented by the enlarging, widening player base of video games. 'No mechanisms are in place stopping developers from writing and designing heterogeneous yet fully structured, narrative-based computer games with carefully constructed and immutable, unchangeable characters.' The article discusses the emergence and role of gender criticism and research in relation to the recent proliferation of the customizable avatar. The story also dissects the very act of character creation, subsequently aiming to clarify several semantic distortions related to the terminology utilized in character creation, and in turn breaking apart the concepts of relatability and understandability, wholly differentiating the two. The overarching analysis is finally related to examples from the gaming marketplace, where many continue to corroborate apparent falsehoods and misunderstandings in relation to the utilization of the avatar. Ultimately, the writer hopes to dissuade readers, developers and players from believing that written narratives are going away as customization and emergent content are entering video games with full force."

Comment Bull shit (Score 1) 429

by tigerknight (#29319273) Attached to: Pain-Free Animals Could Take Suffering Out of Farming

This is total bull. Just because something can't experience pain doesn't mean that you are not treating it poorly. Talk about the ultimate exploitation. As a caretaker for another species YOU would know it's being mistreated/handled even if IT was not able to perceive it.

This also assumes that pain is the only factor in whether an animal is 'happy/content' or not. Squalid conditions or inhumane treatment are still going to cause stress, discomfort, and overall unpleasant/undesirable results in a creature even if it can't feel something as selective as pain.

Computers Key To Air France Crash 911

Posted by kdawson from the who-or-what-do-you-trust dept.
Michael_Curator writes "It's no secret that commercial airplanes are heavily computerized, but as the mystery of Air France Flight 447 unfolds, we need to come to grips with the fact that in many cases, airline pilots' hands are tied when it comes to responding effectively to an emergency situation. Boeing planes allow pilots to take over from computers during emergency situations, Airbus planes do not. It's not a design flaw — it's a philosophical divide. It's essentially a question of what do you trust most: a human being's ingenuity or a computer's infinitely faster access and reaction to information. It's not surprising that an American company errs on the side of individual freedom while a European company is more inclined to favor an approach that relies on systems. As passengers, we should have the right to ask whether we're putting our lives in the hands of a computer rather than the battle-tested pilot sitting up front, and we should have right to deplane if we don't like the answer."
Communications

NSA Overstepped the Law On Wiretaps 164

Posted by Soulskill from the can-i-hear-you-now dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that legal and operational problems surrounding the NSA's surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees, and a secret national security court, and that the NSA had been engaged in 'overcollection' of domestic communications of Americans. The practice has been described as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional. The Justice Department has acknowledged that there had been problems with the NSA surveillance operation, but said they had been resolved. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the intelligence community, did not address specific aspects of the surveillance problems, but said in a statement that 'when inadvertent mistakes are made, we take it very seriously and work immediately to correct them.' The intelligence officials said the problems had grown out of changes enacted by Congress last July to the law that regulates the government's wiretapping powers, as well as the challenges posed by enacting a new framework for collecting intelligence on terrorism and spying suspects. Joe Klein at Time Magazine says the bad news is that 'the NSA apparently has been overstepping the law,' but the good news is that 'one of the safeguards in the [FISA Reform] law is a review procedure that seems to have the ability to catch the NSA when it's overstepping — and that the illegal activities have been exposed, and quickly.'"
Microsoft

Antitrust Regulators To Monitor Windows 7, But Not Later Releases 105

Posted by Soulskill from the got-my-eye-on-you-pal dept.
CWmike writes "Gregg Keizer reports that federal and state regulators have struck a deal with Microsoft under which any version of Windows released after May 2011 will not be subject to the scrutiny mandated by a 2002 antitrust settlement. As previously promised, however, Windows 7 will be put under the microscope. Yesterday, the DOJ filed documents (PDF) with US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly asking that she extend her oversight by at least 18 months, until May 12, 2011. Although Microsoft has consented to the extension — and acknowledged that the regulators can later ask for another 18 months — Kollar-Kotelly must approve the request."
Image

Swedish Museum Puts Pirate Bay Server On Display 128

Posted by samzenpus from the truly-a-piece-of-history dept.
The Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology has put the server from The Pirate Bay on display. The server was confiscated in a police raid last year. The museum bought the server for 2,000 kronor ($240) from a member of the Bureau of Piracy, a Swedish group seeking the decriminalization of filesharing. "This is an object of contemporary society and a museum collects such items, and it is a part of our mission as a museum not to avoid complicated questions," curator Nils Olander said. The display is 98% complete and the museum staff has been waiting on a seeder since Thursday.

Predator C Avenger Makes First Flights 304

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the video-game-warfare dept.
stoolpigeon writes "General Atomics' new unmanned combat aerial vehicle, the Predator C Avenger, has been making test flights. This new Predator has a stealthy design, 20-hour endurance, is jet powered and has an internal weapons bay. A number of photos have just become available. 'The aircraft was designed so the wings can be folded for storage in hangars or aircraft carrier operations if a naval customer is found. Cassidy, a retired admiral, has talked about a possible Navy role for Predator C since 2002. The Navy was interested in the Predator B's capabilities, but didn't want to introduce any new propeller-driven aircraft onto carrier decks. The UAV also comes with a tailhook, suggesting that carrier-related trials are planned. The inner section of the cranked wing is deep, providing structural strength for carrier landings and generous fuel volume while maintaining a dry, folding outer wing. Right now, the US Air Force and Royal Air Force are considered the most likely users.'"

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