Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Circumvention, AOLandfill, Scoffing
Excuse me, is this the service entrance? We just posted about Microsoft blocking gamers with mod-chipped X-boxes from the Microsoft-run online gaming service; now NiteStar writes "Xbox-Scene.com just reported that a group of Xbox hackers named Team Assembly managed to change the serial number and MAC address of the xbox. After the change they managed to get onto Xbox Live (with mod-chip disabled) with a previously banned xbox ..."
Not so fast, mister. The Raindog writes "Since NVIDIA announced its GeForce FX graphics chip, the web has been flooded with a slew of previews and articles that do little more than regurgitate what must have been NVIDIA's official press kit. Slashdot had coverage a few days ago, but since then, a new take on NVIDIA's latest chip has surfaced without all the PR-inspired hype. As it turns out, the GeForce FX's features aren't all that remarkable next to ATI's Radeon 9700 Pro, which has been available for months now."
I liked the old .sig about a black hole that would blot out the sun. Matthew Davis writes "CNN.com ran a story about Jim McKenna and John Lieberman back in October requesting everyone to send the CD mailers they receive to them. When they reach 1 million CDs they'll hand deliver them to AOL. In a recent article by SiliconValley.com they quote Nicholas Graham, a spokesman for AOL stating, "If they reach their goal ... I'd be happy to give them directions and greet them at the door ... We would make a contribution ourselves to put them over the top" Does that mean they're putting Jim and John's address on the top of the CD mailing list?"
Now if only these were CD-RWs ... and they can keep sending me the nice, reusable cases, just no more paper sleeves, thanks.
Still teasing, Stephen. foolish_child writes "Not sure if you noticed, but in the newest paperback pressing of Cryptonomicon (1 November 2002, I think) there is a chapter from Quicksilver at the back. I spotted it in the railway station in Amsterdam, so maybe it's a European edition. I have been checking to see if it was also online but have seen no sign of it - hence the heads up. I'm sure someone will scan it in soon - it is SUPERB! (read it waiting for a train) - Enoch the Red, emissary of the Royal Society, landing in 1700's Boston looking for . . someone. Scary thing is how good his research is as usual - I've just been reading up on Leibnitz and Newton and Co. and . . . you've probably seen it already but I wanted to share :)"
This new edition of Cryptonomicon is probably in a bookstore near you already, and the book proper is (only) several months away.
One small step for BanKind. An anonymous reader writes "It seems CapitalOne's website works with Mozilla, as of this November, 2002. This is good news because many people have CapitalOne credit cards, and previously the site required Microsoft's Intarweb Explorer. This just shows how simply speaking up by e-mailing large companies can evoke change. For more info see here ." Update: 12/03 22:00 GMT by T : Note that this information renders moot the question posed here about Cap One.
Modded xboxes aren't welcome on their servers for the same reason modded games (cheats) aren't welcome on other game servers.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
Yeah, the same features implemented under ATI are documented but guess what...They will WORK for Nvidia, and they DON'T NOW for ATI.....
ATI support is about the worst I've ever had the misfortune to need to deal with. The actually make M$ support look forthcoming and really eager to please. 4 rev's of ATI's so called catalyst drivers and things are actually sort of stable, but a slew of games won't run under the 9700pro, for example M$ CFS3 does not recognize the driver set up. If you are thinking about buying a video card I suggest as someone who has a Radeon 9700pro and a nvidia 460, I'd get a cheap GF3 or 4200 and wait and see the NV30. Unless you have money to just burn, ATI has dissapointed again, and they've not corrected any of this All in One Wonder driver issues either....
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Umm... no.
MACs are supposed to be unique. With most network devices (not just Xboxen) you can force the device to use a specific address that you make up (possibly causing a problem if the MAC is already in use in your broadcast domain) but real use of this ability is pretty rare.
In any event the first few bits or a MAC are assigned per manufacturer (many manufacturers have more than one) and then they are supposed to go through the rest of the bits assigning a unique set to each device they make.
At least that's how it is supposed to be.
A pity you didn't read the original article.
It would have saved you from looking stupid, since it states that they will be scratching each CD so they can't be used again.
They scratch them when they get the cds to prevent them from being sent out again.
My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
Since you made a point of putting it in the article, what did the headline read before?
It said "Slashdot: bla"
Username taken, please choose another one.
"If you want it stopped, hit them where it hurts - put a return-to-sender sticker on them, make AOL pay for the postage"
As has been repeated ad nauseum both here and on their website, AOL CDs (like almost all other mailed advertisements) are sent via Standard Mail (not First Class). There is no Return to Sender bit in Standard Mail (unlike First Class).
Besides, if they were sent First Class, the return postage has already been paid in the price of the stamp. It wouldn't hurt their wallet one way or the other.
Nvidia makes the NIC, but the mac is in the eeprom and is provided by microsoft.
It seems the GeforceFx previews made some mistakes when comparing the relative merits of the NV30 and 9700.
For a good read check out this comparison of the new chips. Even this gets a few things wrong
The vertex shader 1024 instructions limit of the 9700 is mostly misreported.
The Geforce vertex shader is more powerful, supporting dynamic branching, but the 9700 can do a static branching per primitive with instruction lengths of 65,026. I'm sure such shaders will be equally unwieldy for gaming on both cards.
It seems some of the reviewers only looked only at what NVidia told them and what DX9 exposes and not what the 9700's actual silicon supports.
The reviewers barely understand the full capabilities of the 9700 months after its release. I'm sure the FX will provide similar surprises (good and bad) when they actually get their hands on one.