thedbtree - Slashdot User

Comment A required security module cannot be activated. (Score 1) 116

by thedbtree on Saturday June 21, 2008 @09:07PM (#23890383) Attached to: EA's (Limited) Creature Creator For Spore Released

I downloaded the trial version of Spore Creature Creator to see what this game is about. I install the game fine but when I fire it up for the first time I get...

"A required security module cannot be activated. This program cannot be executed (5016)."

What the hell is that? Apparently,

"SecuROM has determined that some File Monitor program is running in the background. Please close this program and reboot your PC before you start the application." Page here

Right. File Monitor program? Please elaborate. Are you flagging ZoneAlarm or a virus scanner? Those are the only two programs I can think of that could be monitoring files. Well EA, whatever the problem is, work it out with SecuROM and keep me out of it. You aren't giving me confidence in your final product. If I shell out 55 bucks am I going to be on the phone with you for hours to get this resolved? I hear good things about Pirate Bay...only time will tell.

Sea Creatures to Provide Basis for New Electronics? 57

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 09, 2007 @07:27PM from the it's-zoidbergs-time! dept.

hakaii writes to tell us that the shells of tiny sea creatures may help to lay the foundation for new electronic devices including an improved pollution detector. "Using a chemical process that converts the shells' original silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) into the semiconductor material silicon, researchers have created a new class of gas sensors based on the unique and intricate three-dimensional (3-D) shells produced by microscopic creatures known as diatoms. The converted shells, which retain the 3-D shape and nanoscale detail of the originals, could also be useful as battery electrodes, chemical purifiers - and in other applications requiring complex shapes that nature can produce better than humans."

NASA Backs Quantum Computing Claim 138

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday March 09, 2007 @06:45PM from the but-they-did-not-shoot-the-deputy dept.

narramissic writes "Canadian startup D-Wave's demonstration via Web link of a prototype quantum computer in mid-February was met with skepticism in the academic community, but NASA has confirmed that it did, in fact, build a special chip used in the disputed demonstration. According to an article on ITworld, D-Wave designed the quantum chip and then contracted with NASA to build it."

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