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Comment Re:Why? (Score 1) 149

I'm not sure why I'm defending Starbucks, but I highly doubt you'd have any trouble ordering a small coffee. Why do you feel like you need to find where it is on the menu before ordering? And I'd assume whatever the clerk mumbled was something like "room for cream?".

Their size names are pretty stupid, but it is good marketing. The fact that people talk about the difference between tall and venti means they are discussing Starbucks, which is good for business. It has become cool to bash Starbucks and how smug their customers are, but it is just a coffee house that mostly serves milkshakes. A black coffee may be a bit more than other places, but the environment is (usually) pretty nice for reading or talking or whatever. You can't lounge around in a comfy chair with a book at most places. And in my experience locally owned coffee shops, while they have better coffee, always close way too early.

Comment Re:Nokia n900 (Score 1) 359

Not that there is anything wrong with only wanting a mobile to make calls, but it is pretty easy to find the value in having a smart phone. In my pocket I have access to the entire internet. I can research anything at any time. For an inquisitive person (or anyone that likes to argue) it is a great tool and helps you learn. I can hold my phone up to a speaker and learn what a song is. I can listen to music, read a book, play a game, make a shopping list that I probably won't lose or leave at home. At work, my little radio won't pick up NPR at times, so I stream the local station through my phone.

It is expensive, but it is rather life changing to have access to the internet at any given time. Being able to do that on the same device as my phone is just a plus. My emails come to my phone as well, but I don't have to look at them right away. It is what you make of it.

Games

Why Are There No Popular Ultima Online-Like MMOs? 480

eldavojohn writes "I have a slightly older friend who played through the glory days of Ultima Online. Yes, their servers are still up and running, but he often waxes nostalgic about certain gameplay functions of UO that he misses. I must say that these aspects make me smile and wonder what it would be like to play in such a world — things like housing, thieving and looting that you don't see in the most popular massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft. So, I've followed him through a few games, including Darkfall and now Mortal Online. And these (seemingly European developed) games are constantly fading into obscurity and never catching hold. We constantly move from one to the next. Does anyone know of a popular three-dimensional game that has UO-like rules and gameplay? Perhaps one that UO players gravitated to after leaving UO? If you think that the very things that have been removed (housing and thieving would be two good topics) caused WoW to become the most popular MMO, why is that? Do UO rules not translate well to a true 3D environment? Are people incapable of planning for corpse looting? Are players really that inept that developers don't want to leave us in control of risk analysis? I'm familiar with the Bartle Test but if anyone could point me to more resources as to why Killer-oriented games have faded out of popularity, I'd be interested."
Science

Fictional Town "Eureka" To Become Real? 337

Zarath writes "The fictional town of Eureka (from the TV series by the same name) is going to potentially become a real life town as the University of Queensland, in Australia, plans to build a multibillion-dollar 'brain city' dedicated to science and research. The city, hoping to hold at least 10,000 people, is looking to attract 4,500 of the brightest scientists from around the world to live and work there. The city is planned to be built west of the city of Brisbane, in Queensland. While not funded by the Department of Defense (like the [city of the] TV series), the potential for such a community is very interesting and exciting."
XBox (Games)

No Online Co-Op For Halo 3 At Launch 128

CVG has the disappointing news, originally reported in the pages of EGM, that online co-op play will not be available when Halo 3 launches this September. In the game the second player would play the part of the Arbiter character, but fans will only be able to complete the campaign cooperatively via LAN or split-screen. Bungie stated the possibility still exists online co-op could be patched in at a later date, but significant hurdles stand in the way of the feature: "'We're not dumb,' says Bungie's Frank O'Conner. 'We know that people want it and we're trying to make it happen. I think the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That's a significant challenge. And there's lots of design things you could do to prevent that from happening, but they would make it not feel like Halo anymore. If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't.'"

Americans Gearing up to Fight Global Warming 1104

TechnoGuyRob writes "Global warming has been one of the most controversial and debated issues in the political and scientific sphere. A recent poll published in the Chicago Sun-Times now shows that 'An overwhelming majority of Americans think they can help reduce global warming and are willing to make the sacrifices that are needed, a new poll shows. After years of controversy, 71 percent of Americans now say they think global warming is real.'" (Jamie adds: and all it took was twelve years of overwhelming scientific consensus.)

Amazon CTO Rips Blogging Authors a New One 115

theodp writes "Following what was characterized as rude treatment of invited guests in a confrontation at Amazon HQ, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels turned to his personal blog to give author Shel Israel a public scolding for suggesting Amazon doesn't 'get' blogging (Amazon's blogging innovations include 'faux' personal blogs and patent-pending plogs). Vogels went on to voice concerns on Israel's blog that blogging could be too distracting for Amazon employees - think the self-proclaimed guy-with-guts challenged CEO Jeff Bezos about the distractions of his space exploration efforts?"

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