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Comment The Dreamcast effect (Score 1) 403

by muel (#43009743) Attached to: Is the Wii U Already Dead?

Easy piracy killed the sales of hardcore games, that's why. MadWorld, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and others undersold after riding waves of pre-release excitement. Casual buyers didn't employ USB drives full of ripped games. Call it the Dreamcast effect.

Comment target audience: met! (Score 2) 101

by muel (#38745236) Attached to: Intel Offers Protection Plan For Overclockers

Who are the folks buying high-end processors? Us! Ppl who know their OC business. This is no loss and all gain for Intel in a product category whose ability to differentiate is practically nil for the target savvy audience. Good on them for throwing us a worthwhile promotional bone.
Yahoo!

YouTube Founders Acquire Delicious 66

Posted by samzenpus from the is-there-a-video-yet? dept.
An anonymous reader sent in a link to the Delicious blog, which reads, "Today, we're pleased to announce that Delicious has been acquired by the founders of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. As creators of the largest online video platform, they have firsthand experience enabling millions of users to share their experiences with the world. They are committed to running and improving Delicious going forward."

Comment "Nav" controller confirmed semi-unnecessary (Score 3, Informative) 145

by muel (#32584412) Attached to: PS Move Launch Date and Price Announced, <em>Portal 2</em> For the PS3

Reps from Zipper Interactive confirmed to me that the standard, Sixaxis controller can be used instead of the new "Nav" controller. The Nav replicates the left side of Sixaxis, anyway -- two shoulder buttons, one joystick, and simple gyroscope/motion sensing. Nav also has the face buttons, but so does the Move Wand, so those are a bit superfluous. If you want to save $30 on games that support the Nav, it's an option.
Microsoft

Submission + - Gates and MS: Not Eye-to-Eye on CO2 Impact (publicola.net)

Submitted by
Sam Machkovech
Sam Machkovech writes: "Bill Gates' speech at last week's TED Conference centered on "moving to zero-carbon energy, and our need to reduce CO2 emissions 80% by 2050." His choice of subject was an abrupt turn from The Gates Foundation's typical humanitarian topics, but he insisted that energy innovation is as crucial to his Foundation's goals. A move by Microsoft today proves that Gates' old company has less interest in that carbon-neutral goal, as MS has begun rallying against a bridge redesign that would result in more bus and transit options for commuters between Seattle and the company's homebase of Redmond, WA."
Security

Microsoft Denies It Built Backdoor Into Windows 7 450

Posted by timothy from the how-are-your-wife's-bruises? dept.
CWmike writes "Microsoft has denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system. 'Microsoft has not and will not put "backdoors" into Windows,' a company spokeswoman said, reacting to a Computerworld story Wednesday. On Monday, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the agency had partnered with the developer during the creation of Windows 7 'to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide.' Thursday's categorical denial by Microsoft was accompanied by further explanation of exactly how the NSA participated in the making of Windows 7. 'The work being discussed here is purely in conjunction with our Security Compliance Management Toolkit,' said the spokeswoman. The company rolled out the Windows 7 version of the toolkit late last month, shortly after it officially launched the operating system."
Government

Submission + - Microsoft denies it built 'backdoor' in Windows 7 (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Microsoft has denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system. "Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a company spokeswoman said, reacting to a Computerworld story Wednesday. On Monday, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the agency had partnered with the developer during the creation of Windows 7 "to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide." Thursday's categorical denial by Microsoft was accompanied by further explanation of exactly how the NSA participated in the making of Windows 7. "The work being discussed here is purely in conjunction with our Security Compliance Management Toolkit," said the spokeswoman. The company rolled out the Windows 7 version of the toolkit late last month, shortly after it officially launched the operating system.

Comment Keep posting this story til it sticks, I guess. (Score 3, Interesting) 485

by Etone (#30159386) Attached to: Respected Developers Begin Fleeing the App Store
/. has posted this same story or variants on it about three or four times in the past week. I guess keep saying it til' it's true.
btw, in regards to the headline: "developers" in this case equals 2. "respected" in this case means "working for a well known company" in the case of Hewitt. "fleeing" means dramaposting and ragequitting.
Science

Dinosaurs Could Hold Basketballs, But Not Dribble 73

Posted by timothy from the always-subject-to-revision dept.
Gre7g writes "Long before the invention of the photocopier, mud was the ideal way to preserve an image of your butt. 'We got lucky with this one [sitting] on a slope,' which brought its hands closer to the ground, said study author Andrew Milner of the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. Full disclosure: My wife did the artistic reconstruction."

Comment We get it's a 366 days issue. Begs the question. (Score 3, Interesting) 785

by muel (#26284621) Attached to: Microsoft Zunes Committing Mass Suicide

The big question is, why the hell does an MP3 player care about the days of the year? For some, it's as simple as having date/time info on the player, but let's not forget, the Zune is also packed with new DRM to ensure people do not abuse the Zune Pass (flat monthly fee introduced in November for unlimited tunes and some TV shows). DRM, again, is epic fail.

Huh. Microsoft has some cool new thing they want ready by the holidays. They rush it, there's a tiny bug, and it costs the company zillions in $ and PR headaches. Familiar, much?
Media

"Iron Man" Release Brings Down Paramount's Servers 283

Posted by kdawson from the super-hero-effect dept.
secmartin writes "Shortly after the release of Iron Man on Blu-ray on October 1, people started complaining of defective discs; the problem turned out to be that all the Blu-ray players downloading additional content brought down Paramount's BD-Live servers, causing delays while loading the disc. Which really makes you wonder what will happen when they decide to shut down this service in a couple of years."

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