Comment Re:Samsung? (Score 1) 148
Meh.
Comment Sugar, or calories? (Score 1) 77
Sugar's a great source of empty calories, and the summary reads a lot like they've tracked the overall "free sugar" intake, but haven't bothered to compare it with overall calorie consumption. So, sure, eating lots of empty calories is bad (duh), but I'm not sure if that demonstrates that sugar, per se, is bad, or 'free sugar' is just the quickest trip to being a diabetic lardass.
Submission + - Microsoft: SolarWinds Hackers have struck again at the US and others
ytene writes: According to a report filed by CNN, the attackers behind one of the worst data breaches of all time have launched a new global attack on more than 150 government agencies, think tanks and other organizations.
This iteration of the attack was initiated when more than 3,000 email accounts were targeted, through what seems to be a compromise of a "Constant Contact email marketing account used by the US Agency for International Development".
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, theorizes that this new assault is part of a Russian campaign plan for massive cyber attacks against the US and is part of a process of testing the new administration.
What do you think President Biden should do with respect to raising these attacks with foreign counter-parts in countries like Russia, China and North Korea? But what do you think will actually happen?
This iteration of the attack was initiated when more than 3,000 email accounts were targeted, through what seems to be a compromise of a "Constant Contact email marketing account used by the US Agency for International Development".
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, theorizes that this new assault is part of a Russian campaign plan for massive cyber attacks against the US and is part of a process of testing the new administration.
What do you think President Biden should do with respect to raising these attacks with foreign counter-parts in countries like Russia, China and North Korea? But what do you think will actually happen?
Comment Re:Boo ads (Score 1) 134
Ha-ha! Witty!
No, I read between the lines a little bit because this is Slashdot, and the only thing more safely assumed than the copyright = theft opinion of many of the hoi polloi would be their generally poor communication skills. And, actually, that's not what I assumed you were arguing, and said as much. I even thought I was pretty plain about this.
The reason I bring up the copyright limits of 200 years ago is that the 15-years with one extension arrangement popped up not all that long ago as being generally optimal for 'fostering creativity'. In addition to being far, far shorter than modern copyright laws, that limit is still sufficiently long that it would keep all four titles out of the public domain. If you're all about copyright as a long-term means of enriching the larger society, then that seems a relevant point, though I admit made it poorly.
Also, your grasp of hyperbole and irony are excellent. Do keep up the good work!
I suppose I am unnecessarily insulting, but this hardly the first of these copyright arguments I've seen around here, and they all seem to go in roughly the same direction. I'm pretty sure I understand you just fine. It's you who seems to be having difficulty understanding me, and I'll freely grant that may be my fault.
No, I read between the lines a little bit because this is Slashdot, and the only thing more safely assumed than the copyright = theft opinion of many of the hoi polloi would be their generally poor communication skills. And, actually, that's not what I assumed you were arguing, and said as much. I even thought I was pretty plain about this.
The reason I bring up the copyright limits of 200 years ago is that the 15-years with one extension arrangement popped up not all that long ago as being generally optimal for 'fostering creativity'. In addition to being far, far shorter than modern copyright laws, that limit is still sufficiently long that it would keep all four titles out of the public domain. If you're all about copyright as a long-term means of enriching the larger society, then that seems a relevant point, though I admit made it poorly.
Also, your grasp of hyperbole and irony are excellent. Do keep up the good work!
I suppose I am unnecessarily insulting, but this hardly the first of these copyright arguments I've seen around here, and they all seem to go in roughly the same direction. I'm pretty sure I understand you just fine. It's you who seems to be having difficulty understanding me, and I'll freely grant that may be my fault.
Companies Offer AAA Games For 'Free' 134
Both Ubisoft and EA are offering up free games to cash-conscious gamers this week. For the low, low cost of nothing you can play titles like Command and Conquer Gold, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and Far Cry. The catch? Well, EA's offering is totally gratis; 1995's C&C Gold is a gift to gamers for supporting the series for all these years. The Ubisoft games, though, are only "free". They're available from Fileplanet in ad-supported format.
Should We Spam Proxies to China? 282
Frequent Slashdot Contributor Bennett Haselton is back with a story about fighting censorship with spam. He starts "Is it OK to send unsolicited e-mail to users in China, Iran, and other
censored countries, telling them
about new proxy sites for getting around Internet censorship? I hasten to
add that I have NOT done this,
am not planning on doing it and would not have any idea how to go about it
anyway.
Between the various companies that offer proxy services, I don't know
of anyone who is doing it (no, not even people who swore me to secrecy
about it).
But I think the question involves ethical issues that would not apply to
most discussions of spam." Hit that big link below to read the rest of his words.
Do Patents Stop Companies From Creating 'Perfect' Products? 292
Chris M writes "In a recent CNET article, the mobile phone editor writes about what he thinks would make a perfect phone. Unfortunately, as someone in the comments section points out, much of the technology that is used in this concept phone belongs to separate companies. 'I'm sorry to be the Devil's Advocate here, but most of those feautres are patented to separate companies. It would require almost all the major manufacturers [working together] to do this, which is highly unlikely.' Do you think patents are stopping companies from creating 'perfect' devices, or are there other factors at work?"
Russia Claims IP Rights In Manufacture of AK-47 502
Daniel Dvorkin writes "In the latest example of over-the-top intellectual property demands, Russia wants licensing fees for the production of AK-47s. According to first deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov, the unlicensed production of Kalashnikovs (which have been around in very nearly their current form for 60 years) in ex-Soviet Bloc countries is 'intellectual piracy.' A giant but declining power starts demanding royalties on commonly used methods and materials that are widely understood, well known, and by any reasonable standard have long been in the public domain — does this sound familiar?" Wikipedia notes that the Izhevsk Machine Tool Factory in Russia obtained a patent on the manufacture of the AK-47 in 1999.
FF XII Re-make, New RPG Announced By Square/Enix 77
Yesterday was Square/Enix's annual media party, and there were a couple of interesting announcements. Game|Life's Chris Kohler was there, and reports on the most interesting announcement: a Final Fantasy XII re-envisioning entitled International: Zodiac Job System. The title will feature the same story, a further-refined combat system, and a series of 12 separate license boards. Each board corresponds to a traditional FF 'job', like Monk or Red Mage; at the moment there is no plan to release it in the states. Other announcements include word that Star Ocean will get the remake treatment, with the first two games coming to the PSP sometime in the future. They are also working on a next-gen Star Ocean 4; no details about that. Crystal Chronicles for the DS drops in August in Japan, no US release date was given. Finally, screenshots and videos of The Last Remnant capped off the event; we talked about the game earlier this week when it was announced.
HP Stops Selling Printers, Starts Selling Prints 346
An anonymous reader writes "HP has launched a new line of business printers but there's a big catch — you won't be able to buy one. For the first time in history, the company will make customers purchase printing services, rather than the product itself. At its biggest printer launch since the LaserJet in 1984, HP's new business-class Edgeline printers will only be available through a managed services contract. Pricing will be per page, depending on the quality of the printout. Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now."
BBC Ponders Another Games Industry Crash 219
weirdguy writes with a link to a BBC article that poses the same question asked by journalists every couple of years: is the games industry headed for another crash? "Yes, gamers are snapping up the new generation of games consoles — Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, and Sony's Playstation 3 [PS3], but at huge cost to the industry. Hardware makers are losing hundreds of dollars on every console sold, and games publishers face an "increasingly difficult environment, as rising development costs and small user bases [mean] that return on investment in next generation games development is unlikely to be achieved before 2008," according to media analysts Screen Digest. More importantly, though, the video games publishers are facing a revolution of their business model."
Yellowstone Supervolcano Making Strange Rumblings 411
Frosty Piss writes "Supervolcanoes can sleep for centuries or millennia before producing incredibly massive eruptions that can drop ash across an entire continent. One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world lies beneath Yellowstone National Park. Significant activity continues beneath the surface. And the activity has been increasing lately, scientists have discovered. In addition, the nearby Teton Range of mountains is somehow getting shorter. The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Journal of Geophysical Research, suggest that a slow and gradual movement of a volcano over time can shape a landscape more than a violent eruption."
Five Things You Can't Discuss about Linux 662
gondwannabe writes "Here are Five Things You Aren't Allowed to Discuss About Linux. With considerable chutzpa, an insightful Rob Enderle takes on what he considers five dogmas in the OSS community and explains why they're wrong. Examples: Linux is secure, "communes" actually work in the long haul, and that Linux is "pro-developer."
Ten DS Games That Should Be Made 94
marcellizot writes "Even though the DS is already blessed with a large and varied library of great titles, its hard not to wish for the games that should be, and the games that probably will never be. Nintendo's little white pandora's box of quirky interfaces seems destined to forever remain pregnant with possibility, no matter how creative the developers get. To vent their desires, Pocket Gamer has assembled a canon of forgotten gaming heroes and oddball fancies that would make a good fit for Nintendo's dual-screened play thing."
Submission + - US Not Getting Money's Worth from ISS
greysky writes: "On the 45th anniversary of his first trip into space, astronaut John Glenn says the U.S. is not getting it's money's worth out of the International Space Station. From the article: "Diverting money from the orbiting research outpost to President Bush's goal of sending astronauts back to the moon and eventually on to Mars is preventing some scientific experiments on the space station"."
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