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Submission + - After a year of police action, dark net black markets see 37% annual growth (dailydot.com)

Submitted by Patrick O'Neill
Patrick O'Neill writes: Even as police around the world continue to pressure and take down numerous dark net markets, the industry grew 37% by product listings in the last year. Two of the biggest markets ever are gone--Silk Road 2.0 fell to US police and Evolution stole its customers' cash--but, as usual, new markets have filled in the void with haste. This is the fourth straight year of big growth here since the creation of Silk Road in 2011.
Graphics

Submission + - HTC buys S3 Graphics (forbes.com)

Submitted by
jones_supa
jones_supa writes: "The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has bought the graphics department of VIA Technologies, S3 Graphics. This $300 million dollar deal brings HTC the ownership of new patents and graphics visualization technologies. In addition to its traditional markets in PCs and game consoles, S3 Graphics’ texture compression technology is increasingly being applied to smartphones and tablets, HTC says."
Books

Submission + - Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism? (larrysanger.org) 1

Submitted by
Larry Sanger
Larry Sanger writes: "Geeks are supposed to be, if anything, intellectual. But it recently occurred to me that a lot of Internet geeks and digerati have sounded many puzzlingly anti-intellectual notes over the past decade, and especially lately. The Peter Thiel-inspired claim that "college is a waste of time" is just the latest example. I have encountered (and argued against) five common opinions, widely held by geeks, that seem headed down a slippery slope. J'accuse: "at the bottom of the slippery slope, you seem to be opposed to knowledge wherever it occurs, in books, in experts, in institutions, even in your own mind." So, am I right? Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism?"
Games

Submission + - Why people watch instead of play Starcraft (jeffhuang.com)

Submitted by generalepsilon
generalepsilon writes: Researchers from the University of Washington have found a key reason why Starcraft is a popular spectator sport, especially in Korea. In a paper published last week, they theorize that Starcraft incorporates 'information asymmetry', where the players and spectators each have different pieces of information, which transforms into entertainment. Sometimes spectators know something the players don't: they watch in suspense as players walk their armies into traps or a dropship sneaks behind the mineral line. Other times, players know something the spectators yearn to find out, such as 'cheese' (spectacular build orders that attempt to outplay an opponent early in the game). Rather than giving as much information as possible to spectators, it may be more crucial for game designers to decide which information to give to spectators, and when to reveal this information.

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