MattyCobb - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Ok, start the flames (Score 1) 592

by MattyCobb on Saturday October 13, 2007 @08:11PM (#20969803) Attached to: Consumer Group Demands XP for Vista Victims

The bad thing about Vista is the number of FUD and silly articles it continues to generate. Some would say if you don't like it, don't use it, and move on... clearly they are not in the majority. As for what people rant about? Same thing as XP, but people forget so quickly. It gets put on PCs that run it like crap (just like those XP rigs with 128mb of ram back when XP was new) and like/dislike of the new look. People also talk about how it is infested with DRM though I have never figured out what that actually means. I guess the ability to play DRM protected content is now = to DRM. None of my media is protected by such junk and I am on Vista. But yeah that sums up Vista. Lots of whining, not much reason :( I keep hoping it will pass, but no luck so far.

Remote Control To Prevent Aircraft Hijacking 544

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday March 07, 2007 @06:43PM from the fly-by-really-long-wire dept.

Snad writes "The UK's Evening Standard is reporting that Boeing plans to roll out aircraft remote control systems in a bid to eliminate the threat of terrorist hijackings, and prevent any repetition of the events of September 11 2001. 'Scientists at aircraft giant Boeing are testing the tamper-proof autopilot system which uses state-of-the-art computer and satellite technology. It will be activated by the pilot flicking a simple switch or by pressure sensors fitted to the cockpit door that will respond to any excessive force as terrorists try to break into the flight deck. Once triggered, no one on board will be able to deactivate the system. Currently, all autopilots are manually switched on and off at the discretion of pilots. A threatened airliner could be flown to a secure military base or a commercial airport, where it would touch down using existing landing aids known as 'autoland function'.'"

German Past Haunts Gamers' Future 134

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 08, 2007 @05:40PM from the doomed-to-repeat-it dept.

Wired has up a very thoughtful article examining the current anti-violent gaming trends in Germany, and reflecting on their connection to WWII. Article author Bruce Gain discusses some of the history of post-Nazi Germany, and points out how violent games rile politics in that country by reminding it of its past. Says Gain: "Some German officials link these games to an increase in violence among the young and cite at least one instance where a gamer applied the lessons learned from a first-person shooter to a real-life murderous rampage. Remove the connection, they argue, and you prevent further violence. Germany has a lot of gamers, but the violence found in many of these games is widely criticized there. It has some of the strictest video-game censorship laws in the Western world. For example, laws prohibit the sale of Counter-Strike and other titles with blood-depicting graphics switched on. But for many politicians, the laws don't go far enough."

FAA To Free Aircraft Hobbled By IP Laws 106

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 08, 2007 @05:25PM from the maintain-it-but-we-won't-tell-you-how dept.

smellsofbikes writes "The FAA is attempting to develop a legal process that will allow them to release data about vintage aircraft designs that have obviously been abandoned. Existing laws restrict the FAA's ability to release this data because it is deemed to be intellectual property even though the owner of record has long since ceased to exist. This is fundamentally the same problem that copyright laws impose on people looking for out-of-print books. But in the case of vintage aircraft, the owners are legally required to maintain them to manufacturer specifications that the owners cannot legally obtain: an expensive and potentially lethal dilemma. If the FAA, notoriously hidebound and conservative, is willing to find a solution to this IP Catch-22, maybe the idea will catch on in other places."

Is Gaming Really a Spectator Sport? 105

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 08, 2007 @05:02PM from the look-at-all-the-fragging dept.

njkid1 passed us a link to a GameDaily article on the upcoming DirecTV Championship Game series. There's big prize money at stake, dozens of teams are flocking to the banner of the event, and promoters are talking the event up as something that can't be missed. All of this begs the question: Is competitive gaming a spectator sport? Is the culture of videogaming conducive to mass-market entertainment? Will Counter-Strike matches draw enough of a crowd to maintain advertiser interest at future events? What's your read on this new entry into American gamer culture?

DICE '07 Underway in Las Vegas 16

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 08, 2007 @04:21PM from the speeches-gladhanding-and-booze-oh-my dept.

The annual AIAS DICE summit is underway in Las Vegas, with games industry movers and shakers congregating to exchange ideas, network, and play a little golf. The event kicked off with a keynote from Sony executive Yair Landau, Doug Lowenstein's final address to the games industry, and a Q&A session with Sony's Phil Harrison. In and amongst the speeches there was a small droplet of news: Sony Online Entertainment's next MMOG will be a spy caper. Code named 'Vista' (because they pushed it back a year, har), the title will put players in 'tuxedos instead of tunics' fighting over secretive information in the modern era.

Yahoo Pipes 94

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 08, 2007 @04:07PM from the let-the-tubes-jokes-begin dept.

ahab_2001 writes "Yahoo has introduced a new product called Pipes. It seems to be a GUI-based interface for building applications that aggregate RSS feeds and other services, creating Web-based apps from various sources, and publishing those apps. Sounds very cool. TechCrunch has a decent write-up, and Tim O'Reilly is all over it. The site was down for a few hours and is just back up. Has anybody tried this?" From the TechCrunch article: "Pipes is... akin to a shell scripting environment for the web rather than just a simple conduit between applications."

Canonical and Linspire Make a Deal 282

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 08, 2007 @03:28PM from the consolidating dept.

Nate writes "Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, has teamed up with Linspire to share technologies between the two distros. When Freespire 2.0 arrives in April, it will use Ubuntu as its base, moving off of the current Debian. Ubuntu users will get access to proprietary software (DVD players, media codecs) via Linspire's newly opened Click 'N Run. Check out the press release and the obligatory FAQ."

Indonesia Stops Sharing Avian Virus Samples 243

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 08, 2007 @02:48PM from the intellectual-property-flu dept.

dankrabach writes "Indonesia has apparently decided to play the IP game, with the world's health at stake. The country, one of the hardest-hit by avian flu, has stopped submitting virus samples to the World Health Organization, and is negotiating to sell them to an American drug company that makes the vaccine. They feel slighted when they give away such samples, but then cannot afford the patented vaccines. Logical to me, given the rules of the game; however, can't we come up with some GPL'ish license to free any product based on this data?"

Slashdot Top Deals