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Does this mean that Nintendo has the monopoly on game consoles used as intruments?

There is no excuse for this kind of behavior in the gaming industry, or any other industry for that matter. If I recall, the gaming industry is expected to make more money than Hollywood this year. An industry with these huge revenues can afford to treat their workers humanely. In fact, I believe that it is the developers and artists that make a game successful, that these are the people that should be getting the biggest share of the profits. Not some nitwit CEO or other executive.

There are those that say that working in the gaming industry is a privilege, that there are tons of people out there that would die for your job, that these programmers shouldn't complain. Well, frankly there are tons of people out there that want my job or that want your job. That doesn't mean that they will do it better than you or I do our jobs. And that sure as hell doesn't give my (or your) employer the right to treat me like an animal and work me until I'm burned out.

Employers like EA need to change and they'll eventually be forced to if they keep burning through their talent.

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Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

Ah yes, silly me. I was googling for '"gba sp" "line out"', and '"gba sp" headphones.' It wan't until later that I thought of googling for "adapters."

I'll go back to my hole now. Please ignore the grandparent.

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Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

To get the sound out of a standard GBA all you need to do is plug it into your stereo using a standard stereo mini-jack to RCA type cable, but what about the GBA SP? I've seen custom headphones that you can buy that will plug into the SP's custom port, but where would you get something to convert that to a stereo line out? I haven't seen any of those anywhere.

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Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

Well, I suppose it depends on who's doing the interpreting. The MPAA can afford a powerful legal battle.

According to the Wired article:

However, under the proposed language, viewers would not be allowed to use software or devices to skip commericals or promotional announcements "that would otherwise be performed or displayed before, during or after the performance of the motion picture," like the previews on a DVD.

Dear Senator xxx:

I am writing to express great concern about Bill HR2391 (Intellectual Property Protection Act).

One of the provisions of this bill will make it illegal to skip over commercials or promotional material, for example on a DVD. This is simply outrageous. I am shocked, in disbelief that there even exists a bill with such an absurdity. What I choose to do in the privacy of my own home is nobody else's business.

Do honestly believe that if you were to ask people you represent whether they want a law making it illegal for them to skip commercials, that any less than 99% of them would say NO?

There are other provisions of this bill that are also troubling, in the sense of more government and industry intrusions into our private lives.

Who do you represent, the people who elected you, or the industry lobbyists that are trying to buy your vote? The invasion of big corporations into our private homes is getting totally out of control.

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET THAT YOU REPRESENT THE PEOPLE. PLEASE VOTE AGAINST BILL HR2391.

Thank you.

Sincerely, (me)

iPods sell like hotcakes despite being not free.

Actually, you can get an iPod for free. Well, it isn't free as in time or effort, but it is free as in cost.

Sound too good to be true? Wired has covered it as well as the New York Sun (Using Google cache because Slashdot doesn't like the NY Sun's URL) and Geek.com.

So step right up and get your free iPod right here.

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Free iPod Photo | Free Flat Screens

If you want to develop software yourself, then by all means go for it. Shareware-type software (without spyware or adware) is common, but some is more successful than others.

Software patents are a concern, but it is better to work at fixing the problem than simply worrying about it. Most patent infringement cases have involved large-ish companies. Though it may sound strange, a good policy is not to look for software patents. Previous postings have already mentioned this, but it is meaningful in terms of avoiding "willful infringement" which is much more serious than innocent infringement. Linus Torvalds has said that "no engineer should ever go looking for a patent" and he mentions liability as one of the reasons. Also see this article from an attorney. The best idea is not to be concerned unless you already know about a software patent i.e. compressed GIF images.

May you have the best of luck with your software development. :)

When you spray pesticides on a population, and only one plant is resistant, that plant thrives. To date, the MPAA has not allowed the porno industry to join its ranks; after all, it's responsible for regulating morality for America via PG and PG-13. So if they go after movie swappers, but not PORN movie swappers, won't this have the effect of creating a population of p2p shared movies which are "safe" - that is, just porn?

I love the law of unintended consequences.

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:58:45 -0800 (PST)
From: spatch3
Subject: Opposition to bill HR4077
To: feinstein, boxer

Dear Senators,

I realize it is an ongoing, uphill, losing battle to
continually oppose more egregious and draconian
copyright bills that keep cropping up in both the
house and senate. I believe, as do the courts, that
the DMCA of 1998 has many un-constitutional provisions
in it and bill HR4077, presently going to the Senate,
is no different than the DMCA in this respect.
I strongly encourage you to vote against the bill referred to here:

To enhance criminal enforcement of the copyright laws, to educate the public about the application of copyright law to the Internet, and for other purposes.

Please see the following sites for dissenting voices
about this legislation:

Senate May Ram Copyright Bill

Your Rights Online: Senate May Rush Copyright Legislation

Bad: HR4077 Passed the House


Thank you for your consideration.

Chris


PS: Links to court cases that have struck down or
clarified significant portions of the 1998 DMCA:

Court strikes a good balance in file swapping case

Lexmark loses printer toner cartridges lawsuit; DMCA dives, consumers win big

Lexmark Loss Good for Consumers

United States: Circumvention Provision Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Is Not A New Property Right

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:58:45 -0800 (PST)
From: spatch3
Subject: Opposition to bill HR4077
To: feinstein, boxer

Dear Senators,

I realize it is an ongoing, uphill, losing battle to
continually oppose more egregious and draconian
copyright bills that keep cropping up in both the
house and senate. I believe, as do the courts, that
the DMCA of 1998 has many un-constitutional provisions
in it and bill HR4077, presently going to the Senate,
is no different than the DMCA in this respect.
I strongly encourage you to vote against the bill referred to here:

To enhance criminal enforcement of the copyright laws, to educate the public about the application of copyright law to the Internet, and for other purposes.

Please see the following sites for dissenting voices
about this legislation:

Senate May Ram Copyright Bill

Your Rights Online: Senate May Rush Copyright Legislation

Bad: HR4077 Passed the House


Thank you for your consideration.

Chris


PS: Links to court cases that have struck down or
clarified significant portions of the 1998 DMCA:

Court strikes a good balance in file swapping case

Lexmark loses printer toner cartridges lawsuit; DMCA dives, consumers win big

Lexmark Loss Good for Consumers

United States: Circumvention Provision Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Is Not A New Property Right

And while you're at it, UNDER PENALTY OF FEDERAL LAW, keep your hand off the shift key when you insert that copy-protected CD into your computer!

So when are we going to start seeing news sites pop up that do nothing but cover the news that happens in an online world. Imagine digital reporters and journalists that have characters within the game world that do nothing but observe the events. Reporters that follow the top players and take "pictures" of events, sort of like the Paparazzi . They then report to the "news" sites their coverage.

Note that this would be different from someone who plays the game and then does a write-up of their experiences (1st person). A site like this would have other people, reporters (3rd person), that observe the events and then write about them. This type of alternate-universe news coverage may be a little ways off, but I'm sure we'll see it someday.

--
Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

As soon as I finish StarCraft I'll give something else a try. I suppose my natural evolution will lean towards Warcraft III or WoW since I'm a Blizzard fan. But really, I just don't have much time for games right now, let alone taking up a new game or spending all the time required to attain Level 60!

Sigh. For now I'll just stick to quick, 20 min. StarCraft multiplayer battles.

--
Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

I don'think so. Given that av-firms currently reverse engineer most of the viruses they scan for.

Well, yes, and that's sot of my point. We can all agree that viruses are evil and that they need to be stopped an taken care of as quickly and fully as possible. So it is OK for Anti-virus companies to reverse engineer the viruses (for financial gain) to provide a fix for them.

By the same logic, some people (but not all) can agree that Microsoft is evil and should be stopped as quickly and fully as possible. So by their logic it is OK to reverse engineer Microsoft products for financial gain.

The former is clearly acceptable and a viable and legitimate business model while the latter would get you taken to court by Microsoft's lawyers faster than you could get a virus running an unpatched install of Windows on the Internet. Oh and you'd also lose to Microsoft.

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Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

If major companies start promoting their products on your favorite P2P program, then perhaps the **IA will be less inclined to sue.

Somehow I doubt it. If anything the RIAA or MPAA will then start targeting companies that advertise on the P2P networks. Especially expect to see this if the Induce Act passes. These companies will be a good target simply because they have money which Joe Schmoe file-trader doesn't have. In fact, the **AA might be able to bankroll their lawsuits against Joe Schmoe by suing the larger companies and that way not even take a loss on the hundreds of lawsuits they file against the little guy.

Oh isn't it all just so disgustingly evil?

--
Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

Now, just wait for the authors of the Beagle virus to slap them down with a lawsuit for reverse engineering their software. Something to the effect of:

"You have violated the License Agreement of the Beagle virus through your reverse engineering activities. Your publication illustrating how to do this is a clear violation of the DMCA and induces others to also violate their license agreement. Please Cease and Desist all such activities and prepare to see us in court."

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Not free as in effort, but I'm willing to try it.
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Wired had an article the other day regarding the environmental impacts of another desalination plant, this one in Arizona.

Have you thought about the fact that these big companies are 'bankrolling' the new IP only company because they are just trying to protect themselves?

How very noble of them!

Of course, once they have the power, what is to stop them from using it? Oh, that's right! (litigous bastards) corporations don't sue other corporations over intellectual property.

Wired recently had an article recently about how brand names along just aren't cutting it any more.

Consumers are wising up the quality is more important than name.

Wired recently had an article recently about how brand names along just aren't cutting it any more.

Consumers are wising up the quality is more important than name.

It didn't fly five years ago when this sort of thing was relatively unique, I sure don't see it flying now.

This has the fingerprints of Warstler all over it. Morgan, are you out there?

"Ahh, good times..."

Hatch Wants to Fry Traders' PCs
Orrin Hatch, Software Pirate?

Hatch Wants to Fry Traders' PCs
Orrin Hatch, Software Pirate?

I heard recently about a new Nuclear Thermal design (in http://www.wired.com/). I'm wondering if this is better (higher ISP per unit cost) than an Ion thruster.

Obviously, if you're headed inbound into the solar system, you're destined for more light therefore more available energy. And, going outbound (Pluto-wise), sunlight gets scarce. So, where is the breakeven? Solar panels cost weight, and Ion engines mass a lot for the miniscule thrust they generate. Nuclear thermal (or Nuclear/Ion) combinations also mass a lot but have the added advantage of much higher available thrusts for short bursts if needed.

What about pairing Nuclear thermal with Ion thrusting? Generate a plasma by heating it with a slow fission or plutonium decay reaction, and also generate electricity from the waste heat. Use the electric power to do microwave heating. Or, directly accelerate the plasma ions using a magneto-hydrodynamic MHD setup?

Is anyone actually actively developing anything like this? It seems to me that the fundamental limitations of our current space delivery systems are NOT who can build a better mousetrap, but that all the mousetraps are using cheese (LH2+LOX) instead of peanut butter (NTR, MHD, Ion engines, etc.).

Also, are there any somewhat-better-than-rumors of USAF designs using these that are flying but that people can't talk about?

I like the work the guy has done in the past, but I sometimes I'm dismayed by a little too much self-promotion by academics these days. Recall in his open letter in Wired:

Wired article

Here he mentions the need to conduct fundamental research, which I applaud, but he fails to mention that many, many people are already doing this, and has come across as championing an idea which has already been pursued for decades. If there's one thing I know about life, it's that people with money will almost always do their best to make more of it, and that includes learning how to use the market via financial research. Most mathematically inclined graduate students in Mandelbrot's own university, Yale, go on to financial research.

It reminds me a little of another widely regarded expert, David Gelernter, who has published lots of grandoise nonsense which are devoured readily by people who don't stop to think about what is actually said. For example, in his article about the future ("The Second Coming: A Manifesto"), he says at one point:

"Everything is up for grabs. Everything will change. There is a magnificent sweep of intellectual landscape right in front of us."

Well, that's nice. What's it mean? Perhaps I shouldn't fault the researchers, since getting your name out there seems to be the only way to attract lots of research funds, but every once in a while, it'd be nice to see someone slightly in touch with reality talk about what they want to do and why.

The Mac platform has a pretty good shareware community that is helped by sites like MacUpdate and VersionTracker. The Mac, having a smaller percentage of the market, has the benefit (for shareware developers at least) of having more holes that shareware developers can fill. So if you have a great idea and can turn it into a great app, then you have a good chance of finding success in the Mac market. Watson, Konfabulator, and NetNewsWire are a few great shareware apps on the Mac. Unfortunately Apple might decide to fill the same holes that your app might fill as was the case with Watson and now Konfabulator.

I have found a small amount of success myself with my Shareware app, HyperSpell. But its nothing I could ever quit my day job over. Mainly its something to do in my spare time and it filled a hole that I wanted filled. The biggest problem most shareware developers face is just getting people to know that their app exists (marketing).

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Not free as in effort, but I'm willing to try it.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo

Nope. The iPod made its way to the top by being *simple*. No useless features. No features that *sort-of* work. No features that make the thing a pain-in-the-butt to deal with. It did 1 thing and did that 1 thing well, simply, and trouble-free. Now it does a couple things well, simply, and trouble-free.

Well, I'd say that's one of the reasons. I think another significant reason was iTunes. That bit of software made it easy to "Rip, Mix, Upload to my damn iPod". Plus you could buy songs online without any hassle. It's a combination of having the player and the software and the content in a neat integrated package. That's something that no other MP3 player manufacturer offers.

This isn't because Apple can't figure out how to do these things-- you just won't see it in a commercially available product until Apple feels it has it all worked out into a simple interface. And when I say simple, I mean like the scroll-wheel design for the interface, or the fact that there's only 1 in/out port (the dock connector). Apple likes their designs to be fool-proof.

Yeah, well, Apple didn't design the iPod. They bought the entire product design and concept from PortalPlayer. Read the history on Wired. The PortalPlayer guy specifically mentions a "Napster like service" as a critical element in the success of the player.

Is this it?

This (or something similar) is already used for storing acetylene in welding tanks, I don't see why it wasn't already used for Hydrogen.

A few years ago a friend of mine who works at a European government's mapping division was having a very close look at some of Microsoft's maps for just this reason. I notice there are no maps of this country on the MS map website.

Microsoft who have also been borrowing radio station's playlists so it would be no surprise if Microsoft were borrowing supposed "public" information without the owners permission.

The accomplishment will be included in the 2006 Guinness World Records book, set for release this time next year, as follows:

"On 27 March 2004, NASA's unmanned Hyper-X (X-43A) airplane reached Mach 6.83, almost seven times the speed of sound. The X-43A was boosted to an altitude of 29,000 m (95,000 ft) by a Pegasus rocket launched from beneath a B52-B aircraft. The revolutionary 'scramjet' aircraft then burned its engine for around 11 seconds during flight over the Pacific Ocean."

...

The X-43A flight easily set a world speed record for an air-breathing engine aircraft. The previous known record was held by a ramjet-powered missile, which achieved slightly more than Mach 5. A ramjet operates by subsonic combustion of fuel in a stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft itself, as opposed to a normal jet engine, in which the compressor section (the fan blades) compresses the air. A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) is a ramjet engine in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic.

The highest speed attained by a rocket-powered airplane, NASA's X-15 aircraft, was Mach 6.7. The fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3. The X-43A more than doubled the top speed of the jet-powered SR-71.

If successful it would be a great accomplishment. However, according to this Wired article
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65671, 00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3,
NASA is "phasing out its hypersonic engine program to free up funding for President Bush's 'Vision for Space Exploration,' which calls on NASA to focus its energy on sending humans to the moon and Mars."

Therefore,
"As of now, next week's X-43A flight is the final flight in the $230 million program."

I can't help but wonder if these priorities are correct as I'm not quite sure what we intend to do after we reach the moon and Mars.

From the article:

The final flight in the Hyper-X program is scheduled to take place in October, when another X-43A aircraft will attempt to fly at Mach 10 -- ten times the speed of sound -- or 7,200 mph.

So if 10x the speed of sound is 7,200 mph, then the speed of sound is roughly 720 mph.

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Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo | It really works!

And it won't until I get mine. ;)

Free iPod Photo | Free Flat Screens | It really works!

it'd need to have a complete software re-write.

Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. The idea is that ATMs are already accurate, scalable and speedy and widely available. Also, wouldn't it be great to use the huge network that ATMs already use to report the votes?

Basically my position/idea is that ATMs already do a good job at what they do and there are thousands of them. If we could use that existing infrastructure for electronic voting then it would be great. It does open electronic voting up to a lot of other problems, but it sure would be convenient. ;)

Not free as in effort, but I'm willing to try it.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo

Well, yes, exactly, but taking it a bit further. Why not use the nation-wide ATM banking network for electronic voting? Instead of going to a polling place to vote, just go to your bank. This could introduce a bunch of other problems (as well as introduce a lot more conspiracy theories), but they could be solved and with this solution the infrastructure is already in place (with thousands of ATMs nation-wide). Only the ATM software would need to be modified to handle voting.

With this kind of voting maybe you could limit it to just bank ATMs as opposed to the ATMs at a gas station or convenience store. Also, make each bank go through a certification process to make sure that their ATM software is up to par AND that they have people on location to help and collect the printed ballot (since all ATMs can already print a receipt just have the voting software print a receipt and have the voter deposit it into a ballot box.
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Not free as in effort, but I'm willing to try it.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo

If we can make ATMs that work well then we should be able to make voting machines that work just as well. In fact, why don't we get the people that Make ATMs to make voting machines as well. Let's see, do ATMs stand up to his four criteria?

• Accuracy - Yep.
• Anonymity - No, but we could modify them.
• Scalability - Yep, there's bazillions of these things.
• Speed - Yep.

Let's take that a bit further, why not turn ATMs into voting machines? They're already part of a large, secure, nation-wide network, they're built for security, and there's bazillions of them. Wouldn't it be great to just go to your bank to vote? That would eliminate the need to go to a polling place and should reduce the lines tremendously.

Sure there might be other problems with this approach, but banks already have years of experience securing and relying on ATMs.

I think these guys should really demand some kind of profit sharing or a percentage of each game's revenues. Of course this probably won't work for the average code-monkey, but at least the lead engineers and game designers should have enough sway to be able to get it. The big game companies are making millions off of their backs so they should at least get some of it.

I imagine that behemoths like EA wouldn't give their workers this, but some of the senior developers should demand it. I've always been impressed with the OmniGroup's policy: (though they're not a game company)

Bonuses: We pay bonuses when our revenues and profitability allow it. Some years, it's a lot of money, and when we have an unprofitable year, it's not.

They seem to be a company that recognizes that their developers are important.

--
Sounds like a scam, but it works.
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo |

• Try these:
• 
  
  • Telegraph | News | Four killed in Japan's worst nuclear power accident
    
    
  • New Scientist: Japan's nuclear safety "dangerously weak"
    
    
  • Wired News: Nuclear 'Glitches' in Japan
    
    
  • Japan Economic Institute: EXPLOSIVE FIRE BLASTS JAPAN'S NUCLEAR POWER PLANS - No. 16, April 1997
    
    
  • More search results
    
    

• • Corrosion and pollution in Japan: Maps and data
    
    
  • More search results
    

Apple's Airport Express has been the perfect solution to play music from my computer. It would be nice if you could play more than just stuff from iTunes, but it's a really great product and great for vacations too.

I'd love to see something like this that you could use to broadcast Video too, but for that I'll have to wait I guess.

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Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo | It really works!

To go a little further down that road...

SCO claims Linux is "legally scary" because no Linux vendor will provide indemnification.
Linux vendors then provide indemnification (effectively saying SCO is full of it).
SCO then says, "See Linux has legal problems, otherwise why would you need indemnification?"

If we then follow SCO's logic...

Microsoft's products must have legal problems, otherwise why do they need to indemnify their customers?

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Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo | It really works!

This is a re-direct to another site. These aren't Gmail invites.

And now for my shameless plug:

Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo | It really works!

There's absolutely no incentive for people to create, maintain, and verify useful metadata.

This article in Wired describes the incentives in some detail.

Does this mean I will get triple the toothing nookie?

"I think it would be extremely naive of us, Mr. President, to imagine that these new developments are going to cause any change in Chinese savant-expansionist policy. I mean, we must be... increasingly on the alert to prevent them from taking over other savant technology, in order to create savants more prodigiously than we do, thus, knocking us out with superior savants!

Mr. President, we must not allow... a mega-savant gap!"

Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo | It really works!

WebMonkey has an introduction (thankfully Flash-free) to the related subject of "toy" cameras.

From the article:

The three-year road map will help show that Bluetooth has staying power, Foley said.

Under the road map, the SIG plans to complete the Bluetooth Version 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) specification by the end of this year, increasing the data rate to 3Mbit/sec., up from 1Mbit/sec. in the current Version 1.2, Foley said. Products are expected to appear with the EDR as early as June 2005, he said. The newer-version products will also be backward-compatible with older versions.

So it will go from 1 Mbit/sec. to 3Mbit/sec which isn't too bad considering its uses. I mean, really, how much bandwidth does your keyboard and mouse need? Or your cell phone earpiece? I don't think anyone needs to show that Bluetooth has "staying power." It targets a particular market and particular applications and does its job very well. You don't need 1Gbit/sec of bandwidth (which you'll get with UWB) to use your keyboard, mouse, or earpiece.

I think the most interesting thing is the multicasting to seven other devices. That should allow a lot of fun and interesting applications.

Free iPod Photo | Free Flat Screens | It really works!

I could obfuscate code so bad that it would crash the compiler, impregnate the linker and produce a fat binary.

Free iPod Photo | Free Flat Screens | It really works!

From what I understand (I'm not an expert but I've read a little), the people who these scammers appeal to often aren't the people who are simply greedy. They're the people who've been told that they need a $100,000 payment on their home within a month or they and their kids will be kicked out of the home that's been in their family for generations

Let's see then. Here are some victims found by a Google search (top links chosen)

• awprofessional.com wrote: In July 2001, the Times of London reported that a former mayor of Northampton fell for the 419 scam, and ended up in Johannesburg, South Africa with a gun to his head.. Not certain, but more likely to be greed than desperation.
• In the same URL, And in 1999, a Romanian businessman, Danut Mircea Tetrescu, was kidnapped and held for a half-million dollar ransom.. Hmm, "Romanian businessman". More likely greed?
• In the same URL we also have Kjetil Moe, a Norwegian millionaire who had fallen for the 419 scam. Definitely greed.
• El Reg writes of a woman who stole $2.1m from the law firm of which she was an employee (a bookkeeper). The Reg analyses it for us: greed and stupidity in equal measure.
• Wired wrote 2+ years ago of two losses of $78k and $74k, but no actual explanation of the motives of the victims.
• This dude writes that he was taken in out of folly.
• Finally a more professional website offers a summary,

  From earlier sections you might have picked up the impression that only seniors are deceived by offers of instant wealth. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true that seniors are targeted for sweepstakes offers the mechanics of telemarketing and investment fraud are simply enhanced and modified for attacking various targets of opportunity.

  This particular scam targets middle class, middle age, business and professional men who would never be as easily deceived by a lottery scam. Estimates put the losses from these "Nigerian Advance Fee" operations at over $1 million "every single day" in the U.S. alone.

lol, though it's like taking candy from a baby, I hate to break it to you but he did never actually say that (for both 64k and 640k, which is the actual hoax statement), at least according to Wired News.

It's inherently difficult to get reliable information about an event that consisted of the destruction of all recorded information .