I assume the military is not using the machines to play games so the boxes do not encounter a situation where they need to upgrade their firmware.
Except, now the military has 1700+ PS3s and a supercomputer tha'ts going to get slower over time because they can't get replacements.
My PS3 is still 3.15, so yes it runs OtherOS. However there probably aren't many PS3s left capable of doing so, which means the supercomputer doesn't have easily replacable parts. And it costs something like $200+ to replace an out-of-warranty PS3 (to which Sony will helpfully give you the latest firmware).
A lot of this crap could be avoided if Sony just offered OtherOS as an option, or a way to downgrade.
And it's Sony's fault for hyping up the OtherOS feature during E3 and in all their marketing materials to differentiate themselves. If someone bought PS3s for that putpose and they're not making money, tough luck. It's a feature you advertised it could do, and you gripe when I use it?
Sweet irony would be to have the military use the same jailbreaks that Sony's going apeshit over with George Hotz and all the software tools and stuff.
Specifically, the one who pushed "Just In Time" for the manufacturer where I worked way back when.
I believe the originator of the JIT system is... Japan!
I'm not sure exactly how they compensate for the disasters in the model, but many modern business methods have come out of there, including the Toyota system...
There'll be an Android patent license consortium if that's the case similar to what MPEG-LA does. You can license the patents individually from Apple/Microsoft/etc/etc/etc or just pay one entitiy and get all their licenses in one bundle.
Google makes the code available. OEMs will be encouraged to buy the consortium licensing, and life will go on as it always has. Price of the patent licenses will be just a cost of using Android and its ecosystem, nothing more. It's a strong enough ecosystem that could support it anyhow.
In actual fact, it may not be fair in the case of online games which have global servers. US addicts to a new game will have a 3 day head start to amass game experience/money/whatever over their brethren worldwide, and therefore will be forever at an advantage because they may be several levels ahead/ have better equipment in PvP combat etc
In which case, games should be sold for one day only - since if said US person couldn't get to the store for a few days, they're hopelessly screwed in online gameplay. Buying it 3 days later puts you so far behind it's not even worth playing.
After all, there's no difference between someone in the US getting their game 3 days late versus someone in Australia getting the same game 3 days later than the US.
And it should also mean online retaliers should just give up and close shop, because unless they can get you the contents on the same day, they're at a disadvantage if you have to wait 3 days for it to arrive.
One reason is that it makes it harder for someone to steal your code. With HTML5 it is all open source as you end up doing your logic in JavaScript. With flash you get to keep your code locked away from prying eyes in actionscript that is precomplied into a BLOB. Open Source is all very well, but some people actually want to write closed source applications.
Aren't there tons of Flash decompilers out there? Last time I checked 'em out, I used it to grab URLs and stuff from the crap it downloaded. And in any case, I had full reign over the assets in the SWF file.
If you're near an outlet, perhaps the solution is to simply play while tethered to a charger?
Won't help on international flights in cattle class with no seat power, but the old long car ride just means a connection to the cigarette lighter (or 12V power point these days since fewer cars are coming with real lighters).
Then it's 2-4 hours while away from a convenient plug, which is probably adequate.
And heck, you know the third party accessories are going to address this issue in their own ways, too.
In iOS, apps are sandboxed by the kernel. Look up "seatbelt." The kernel is fed a permissions document which dictates what the app is allowed to do.
Basically, MobileSafari gets special privileges which other apps arn't given. Attempts to use the Nitro engine result in success in MobileSafari. Attempts to use the Nitro engine in other iOS apps is likely to just fail or get auto-killed by the kernel. (not sure which one)
That's one protection, but there are others.
Like on Linux, you have root, and users run apps as a user group. But websites have the httpd run under "nobody" to ensure that the attack surface is small, despite the relatively large area of attack (random CGI scripts with unknown vulnerabilities).
No reason iOS can't do the same - the only way to violate the NX bit on iOS is if you agree to run your app with even lower permissions than it would have normally. It's similar to say, Internet Explorer where on Vista/7 IE runs with absolutely no priviledges - it can write to a very specific spot on the filesystem (it's shadowed temporary directory), and then it must call to a helper process in order to move the file somewhere else (that helper process displays the download dialog and everything so websites can't drive-by download).
Defense in depth - apps run as user apps would under a traditional Unix security model. Apps that are particularly vulnerable run with even less priviledges. A bug in the Nitro JIT or a Webkit vulnerability aided by Nitro is a pretty big attack surface. Run it on a low-priviledge account with little to no access and it's a lot more secure.
And iOS apps are by no means secure with the default sandboxing - see "jailbreakme.com" - it used TWO exploits to work - first was a PDF reader vulnerability to get it to execute code, the second was a local root exploit so it can break out of the sandbox.
The problem is not using ARM instructions. The problem is where those ARM instructions are. The iPhone presumably uses something like the NX bit to segregate data from code. Because of the way a JIT works, it needs to be able to execute code in the data area of memory. Allowing every app to do this would effectively eliminate the additional security that the NX bit provides.
I believe this to be the case. It may also explain why IOS 4.3 is 3GS and later, excluding the iPhone 3G. I believe the ARMv7 architecture introduces the NX bit into the platform, something that the ARM11 used in the original iPhone and iPhone 3G don't have. The 3GS uses a Cortex A8 and the iPhone 4 is a Cortex A8 derivative CPU, which means they have NX support. This would mean that no, IOS 4.3 will not run on the iPhone 3G.
The other thing is, IOS 4.3 probably also runs Safari in an even more locked down user account - there's root, and mobile (apps run under this user account). Safari may be set to run under an even stricter sandbox that's chroot and has no permissions anywhere else or even alter any files via standard permissions, a la nobody. Apps won't have access to that since there's probably little the account can actually do. This way the attack surface via Safari is minimal as the native code can't really run amok without finding a local root kernel exploit.
Credit card processors are pretty slimey, so much so that even Paypal looks good. It's just like cellphone carriers - they're all pretty horrible, adding competition just results in the new guy ending up as bad as the incumbents.
Honestly, it won't be long until we start hearing of the same things that Paypal does, except it's being done vy Visa instead. The only thing possibly keeping sellers honest is that payers get the seller's Visa number.
And the iPad comes with a 30% tax on developers and services like Netflix which they or users have to pay.
Sigh. People keep spouting such untruths that it's increditble.
The 30% tax applies only on on-device subscriptions. How they generalize "I subscribe to service on my iDevice" to "I subscribe to service" is... incredible.
If you subscribe to Netflix via the iDevice app then yes, Apple takes their 30% cut, as Apple brought you a subscriber. Think of it as a referral fee.
If you subscribe to Netflix via the web, then use the iDevice app to access your account, Apple gets nothing because they didn't bring a subscriber to you.
Put another way, the only way you can pay for stuff (goods or services) on an iDevice is via Apple's payment service, and Apple will take a 30% cut via that mechanism. If you get the user to pay for a good or service outside of the iDevice, then Apple won't get their cut.
I had a friend many years ago who worked construction. He said that they always used newspaper to clean the windows because it did not leave dust. I have tried this and found it to be true, but I always wondered about the ink. Still, it seemed to work and any ink residue was not noticeable, but the lack of lint most definitely was.
They DO sell unprinted newsprint paper you know. It's the same stuff as packing paper (what packers would wrap around fragile items to protect them).
it comes in rolls and sheets, in the same off-white color newspapers are. It's newspaper alright, but before the news is printed on them.
And newsprint ink never dries, so even old newspapers have ink that'll run.
I like the idea of eliminating or at least reducing our dependence on foreign oil for political purposes. I'm not so sure I like the idea of replacing our petroleum-based transportation with what will essentially be coal-based transportation. I personally don't think there's much we can do about global warming, and I'll admit I'm not 100% convinced that we're even causing it. That being said, from the perspective of a AGW fanatic, wouldn't this switch from gas to coal be undesirable?
How about we ask the other question - is it easier to clean up millions of cars, or thousands of coal plants? Or, put another way, is it easier to mandate that all cars have some sort of emissions control mechanism or to have all coal power plants do same? Or is it easier to control the emissions of millions of tailpipes or thousands of smokestacks?
Short of requiring all vehicles go through some sort of emissions and efficiency inspection annually (and have everyone complain about the cost of emissions checks, how the efficiency ratings screw the sportiness of cars, etc), it'll be pretty damn hard to ensure that all those vehicles are working at peak efficiency.
The HTTPS site is for subscribers only - it's a backup in case/. gets so bogged down the regular HTTP bank is unusable. The admins use the HTTPS server, so subs can access the same servers the admins use. That was a few years ago, but I'd guess it's still true today.
Then maybe we can get things like Europe, where charging for incoming calls is looked upon like the insanity it is. Fair data and SMS rates, etc. Fucking crooks.
Charging for incoming calls in Europe doesn't happen because all cellphones in Europe are identifiable, so callers know when they call a cellphone. The reason for this is obvious - the caller pays for the call.
If you can get everyone to change their phone numbers (a new area code to signal "cellphone"). It's one of the reasons why texting is really popular in Europe - people end up too cheap to call cellphones.
It also means that telemarketers will reign supreme on cellphones because it doesn't cost you anything anymore - since they're paying the bill, they're gonna call. It'll be in your interest to answer so you can charge them for the call, and if you don't, they'll just ring it all day.
SMS rates - I agree though. I should be able to block ALL SMS to my account. I don't care for texting, so I should block it if I'm going to be charged for it. Sorry, my friends can call or send an email.
Actually, before buying my NEXUS ONE, I looked up quite a few comparison's on youtube. They were pretty much matched, but it some tests the Nexus was faster. In one particular test, by the time the iPhone4 loaded the homepage of the review sites, on the Nexus it was already loaded and a flash video playing. The difference still was just around 1 second, which is not the end of the world of course, but noticeable enough. I concluded that for web browsing, the Nexus is as good or slightly better as the iPhone. And remember, I'm talking about the Nexus One that came out 4 months before the iPhone4. So I do believe there might be something to this... and yeah, I've been a very happy Nexus owner since then. It's longevity is superb - still can't find anything that tops it. I mean yeah, there are better and faster phones out there right now, but I couldn't find a single compelling feature that would prompt me to buy a new phone for the foreseeable future.
No big surprise really. The Nexus One's CPU is 25% faster than the iPhone4's (1GHz vs. 800MHz). The iPhone hardware has always been underpowered compared the Android.
Personally, my reading of GPLv2 tells me that simply including GPLv2 header files does not mean that your application must also be GPLv2 (otherwise a large part of the embedded market simply wouldn't exist). So I'm marking this one down as FUD.
The license for Linux is GPLv2 WITH EXCEPTION. Tehcnically, including a GPLv2'd header requires the product including it be GPL'd.
However, Linus, in the licensing, makes it absolutely clear that the kernel is GPLv2'd, however using bits in order to create an application that runs on top of the kernel is not considered derivative. Otherwise wriring an application on top of Linux using the headers will make the application GPLv2'd as well.
Thus using the headers for the C library doesn't make the C library GPLv2'd (because of the exception for applicatoins running on top of Linux). I suppose the real question is since the usermode headers are stripped down versions of the real kernel headers, if Google's tool makes a mistake, then there's likely a chance of it happening. But I doubt anyone will be pissed off enough to do something like that (it's Android - I'm sure people are willing to overlook license violations because it's better than the evil Fruit Overlord).
It's the same reason tools like bison also are GPL-with-exception - the code they generate is not covered by the GPL due to the exception. Otherwise the code emitted also is technically GPL'd.
Embedded products are safe. Binary blobs don't use kernel headers - they use their own headers that define common types and such for the binary part, and have wrapper source code that incorporates the Linux headers and adjusts interfaces.
The more hassle it is to play catchup, the less people who'll use firmware hacks for piracy. Sony don't have to win, they just have to put up a fight.
It depends. Some hacked firmware requires starting from a hacked firmware, so you have to install a patched one, then upgrade. As long as you can install the old revision, you're set.
Others you just install the hacked one as a regular update, in which case you do it as a regular firmware update.
And people will jump through all sorts of hoops to pirate - as long as there's a HOWTO, they'll do it. You'll be surprised how technically adept people can be for the promise of free games. (Good and bad - because they'll install all sorts of crap - like OpenSSH with default passwords (many jailbroken iOS devices were vulnerable), but hey.)
That only works until they have all their holes plugged. See Xbox, homebrew on Xbox1 was extremely popular, homebrew on Xbox360 has a far harder time, as it doesn't work at all with modern Xbox360 and even with older models requires hardware modifications and that is with a console that has been on the market for five years. Sony will certainly have learned their lessons with PS3 and PSP and won't make the same mistakes again. So I wouldn't count to much on hackers breaking the security of whatever comes next, as past successes where in large parts based on the developers not really putting any real effort into the security, not on all security being breakable.
Actually, homebrew on the Xbox360 is officially supported - Microsoft provides the tools and everything. To run it on a real Xbox360 requires $99/year, but it's homebrew.
In fact, it's quite popular leading to the same problem that the Apple App Store and the Google Android Marketplace has - there's just so much stuff it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Sure it's not the full thing (it doesn't do leaderboards, Live networking or gamerscore) but it's still a supported mechanism, and games can be sold too. The only approval process is that of your peers.
That's pretty much why there's very few people working on native homebrew - why do it when Microsoft provides a supported mechanism?
Hell, an interesting thing I've not heard covered was about the criminal element. If the same thing happened in North America, besides widespread panic we'd have tons of looting and rioting and everything basically run amok.
Yet in Japan it seems everyone is still calm, peaceful and there's still an orderly society, as if nothing really happened.
And I'm guessing it appears stores are still open to pick up necessities - here the shelves would be cleared of everything within the hour as everyone starts hoarding.
Am I the only one who gets absolutely frustrated that people are still proposing the possibility of time-travel?
We can time-travel today. Relativity says so. And we compensate for it already, too.
The downside is that we can only go in one direction - forward. There's two ways to do it - get really close to a gravity well (GPS satellites intentionally "run fast" because of this - time ticks slower the further away you get from a gravity well), or really, just move (though you have to go really, really, really fast if you want to go forward in time at any reasonable pace).
Travelling backwards in time, though, is quite infeasible theoretically. Imagine you can open a portal to which you can transfer something (matter or energy, doesn't matter since they're equivalent). You're going to end up transferring a lot of "stuff" inadvertently - so even if you wanted to kill yourself in the past by shooting a bullet through the portal, you've got everything else that's being sent across the portal as well - subatomic particles that spawn into existence (what happens if one of the pair goes through and the other doesn't?). There will be so many violations of existing fundamental physics laws (conservation of mass/energy, momentum, etc) that things just go weird. (You have to account for the possibility that whatever you send across will not ever go through the portal again and thus end up existing in the past the whole time - basically a "free" cloning mechanism.
I always thought satellites used circular polarizations (clockwise and anticlockwise) rather than horizontal/vertical because having the signal reflect off a surface has a very nasty tendency to twist the signal about. And circular polarizations make the orientation of the LNB less of an issue...
The LNB does two things - besides downconverting the signal, it also amplifies it since the receiver box can be far away. Incidentally, the LNB is an active device, but it gets its power (and polarization switching) from a DC signal produced by the receiver - switch polarities and the LNB switches polarizations.
I believe MIT had released a restaurant type game where yes, you do end up in the credits (you can either be a waiter or a customer). But that's it. I'm not sure what became of it though - I tried it briefly but never could find anyone online.
What's next? They have us play a new Kinect game where we act out the scenes displayed so they can crowd-source their motion capture too? Hint: I only consider working for free if a project is open source -- All others must pay.
Related, Microsoft released YooStar 2 which, well, uses a Kinect to film you doing scenes in movies (the previous version used the Live Vision camera), so...
Slashdot Mirror
Except, now the military has 1700+ PS3s and a supercomputer tha'ts going to get slower over time because they can't get replacements.
My PS3 is still 3.15, so yes it runs OtherOS. However there probably aren't many PS3s left capable of doing so, which means the supercomputer doesn't have easily replacable parts. And it costs something like $200+ to replace an out-of-warranty PS3 (to which Sony will helpfully give you the latest firmware).
A lot of this crap could be avoided if Sony just offered OtherOS as an option, or a way to downgrade.
And it's Sony's fault for hyping up the OtherOS feature during E3 and in all their marketing materials to differentiate themselves. If someone bought PS3s for that putpose and they're not making money, tough luck. It's a feature you advertised it could do, and you gripe when I use it?
Sweet irony would be to have the military use the same jailbreaks that Sony's going apeshit over with George Hotz and all the software tools and stuff.
I believe the originator of the JIT system is... Japan!
I'm not sure exactly how they compensate for the disasters in the model, but many modern business methods have come out of there, including the Toyota system...
There are aircraft supplemental oxygen systems - either cannulas or masks, so breathing at altitude isn't an issue.
No, the big issue is that LSA aircraft is they're not IFR equipped, and above FL180, it's IFR-only.
There'll be an Android patent license consortium if that's the case similar to what MPEG-LA does. You can license the patents individually from Apple/Microsoft/etc/etc/etc or just pay one entitiy and get all their licenses in one bundle.
Google makes the code available. OEMs will be encouraged to buy the consortium licensing, and life will go on as it always has. Price of the patent licenses will be just a cost of using Android and its ecosystem, nothing more. It's a strong enough ecosystem that could support it anyhow.
In which case, games should be sold for one day only - since if said US person couldn't get to the store for a few days, they're hopelessly screwed in online gameplay. Buying it 3 days later puts you so far behind it's not even worth playing.
After all, there's no difference between someone in the US getting their game 3 days late versus someone in Australia getting the same game 3 days later than the US.
And it should also mean online retaliers should just give up and close shop, because unless they can get you the contents on the same day, they're at a disadvantage if you have to wait 3 days for it to arrive.
Aren't there tons of Flash decompilers out there? Last time I checked 'em out, I used it to grab URLs and stuff from the crap it downloaded. And in any case, I had full reign over the assets in the SWF file.
If you're near an outlet, perhaps the solution is to simply play while tethered to a charger?
Won't help on international flights in cattle class with no seat power, but the old long car ride just means a connection to the cigarette lighter (or 12V power point these days since fewer cars are coming with real lighters).
Then it's 2-4 hours while away from a convenient plug, which is probably adequate.
And heck, you know the third party accessories are going to address this issue in their own ways, too.
Less that, more "battery fires" that have plagued many devices in the past. Especially Apple, but that could be due to sheer numbers.
That's one protection, but there are others.
Like on Linux, you have root, and users run apps as a user group. But websites have the httpd run under "nobody" to ensure that the attack surface is small, despite the relatively large area of attack (random CGI scripts with unknown vulnerabilities).
No reason iOS can't do the same - the only way to violate the NX bit on iOS is if you agree to run your app with even lower permissions than it would have normally. It's similar to say, Internet Explorer where on Vista/7 IE runs with absolutely no priviledges - it can write to a very specific spot on the filesystem (it's shadowed temporary directory), and then it must call to a helper process in order to move the file somewhere else (that helper process displays the download dialog and everything so websites can't drive-by download).
Defense in depth - apps run as user apps would under a traditional Unix security model. Apps that are particularly vulnerable run with even less priviledges. A bug in the Nitro JIT or a Webkit vulnerability aided by Nitro is a pretty big attack surface. Run it on a low-priviledge account with little to no access and it's a lot more secure.
And iOS apps are by no means secure with the default sandboxing - see "jailbreakme.com" - it used TWO exploits to work - first was a PDF reader vulnerability to get it to execute code, the second was a local root exploit so it can break out of the sandbox.
I believe this to be the case. It may also explain why IOS 4.3 is 3GS and later, excluding the iPhone 3G. I believe the ARMv7 architecture introduces the NX bit into the platform, something that the ARM11 used in the original iPhone and iPhone 3G don't have. The 3GS uses a Cortex A8 and the iPhone 4 is a Cortex A8 derivative CPU, which means they have NX support. This would mean that no, IOS 4.3 will not run on the iPhone 3G.
The other thing is, IOS 4.3 probably also runs Safari in an even more locked down user account - there's root, and mobile (apps run under this user account). Safari may be set to run under an even stricter sandbox that's chroot and has no permissions anywhere else or even alter any files via standard permissions, a la nobody. Apps won't have access to that since there's probably little the account can actually do. This way the attack surface via Safari is minimal as the native code can't really run amok without finding a local root kernel exploit.
I don't see how Visa will fix things up, either.
Credit card processors are pretty slimey, so much so that even Paypal looks good. It's just like cellphone carriers - they're all pretty horrible, adding competition just results in the new guy ending up as bad as the incumbents.
Honestly, it won't be long until we start hearing of the same things that Paypal does, except it's being done vy Visa instead. The only thing possibly keeping sellers honest is that payers get the seller's Visa number.
Sigh. People keep spouting such untruths that it's increditble.
The 30% tax applies only on on-device subscriptions. How they generalize "I subscribe to service on my iDevice" to "I subscribe to service" is... incredible.
If you subscribe to Netflix via the iDevice app then yes, Apple takes their 30% cut, as Apple brought you a subscriber. Think of it as a referral fee.
If you subscribe to Netflix via the web, then use the iDevice app to access your account, Apple gets nothing because they didn't bring a subscriber to you.
Put another way, the only way you can pay for stuff (goods or services) on an iDevice is via Apple's payment service, and Apple will take a 30% cut via that mechanism. If you get the user to pay for a good or service outside of the iDevice, then Apple won't get their cut.
They DO sell unprinted newsprint paper you know. It's the same stuff as packing paper (what packers would wrap around fragile items to protect them).
it comes in rolls and sheets, in the same off-white color newspapers are. It's newspaper alright, but before the news is printed on them.
And newsprint ink never dries, so even old newspapers have ink that'll run.
How about we ask the other question - is it easier to clean up millions of cars, or thousands of coal plants? Or, put another way, is it easier to mandate that all cars have some sort of emissions control mechanism or to have all coal power plants do same? Or is it easier to control the emissions of millions of tailpipes or thousands of smokestacks?
Short of requiring all vehicles go through some sort of emissions and efficiency inspection annually (and have everyone complain about the cost of emissions checks, how the efficiency ratings screw the sportiness of cars, etc), it'll be pretty damn hard to ensure that all those vehicles are working at peak efficiency.
The HTTPS site is for subscribers only - it's a backup in case /. gets so bogged down the regular HTTP bank is unusable. The admins use the HTTPS server, so subs can access the same servers the admins use. That was a few years ago, but I'd guess it's still true today.
http://news.slashdot.org/story/07/10/22/145209/Slashdots-Setup-Part-2--Software
Charging for incoming calls in Europe doesn't happen because all cellphones in Europe are identifiable, so callers know when they call a cellphone. The reason for this is obvious - the caller pays for the call.
If you can get everyone to change their phone numbers (a new area code to signal "cellphone"). It's one of the reasons why texting is really popular in Europe - people end up too cheap to call cellphones.
It also means that telemarketers will reign supreme on cellphones because it doesn't cost you anything anymore - since they're paying the bill, they're gonna call. It'll be in your interest to answer so you can charge them for the call, and if you don't, they'll just ring it all day.
SMS rates - I agree though. I should be able to block ALL SMS to my account. I don't care for texting, so I should block it if I'm going to be charged for it. Sorry, my friends can call or send an email.
No big surprise really. The Nexus One's CPU is 25% faster than the iPhone4's (1GHz vs. 800MHz). The iPhone hardware has always been underpowered compared the Android.
You can already, though I haven't tried it on 4.
Just use the following URL:
Do it in a new tab and that tab will act like a new Firefox window (in a tab) with its own tabs and your plugins.
It works because Firefox is really just a XUL runtime...
The license for Linux is GPLv2 WITH EXCEPTION. Tehcnically, including a GPLv2'd header requires the product including it be GPL'd.
However, Linus, in the licensing, makes it absolutely clear that the kernel is GPLv2'd, however using bits in order to create an application that runs on top of the kernel is not considered derivative. Otherwise wriring an application on top of Linux using the headers will make the application GPLv2'd as well.
Thus using the headers for the C library doesn't make the C library GPLv2'd (because of the exception for applicatoins running on top of Linux). I suppose the real question is since the usermode headers are stripped down versions of the real kernel headers, if Google's tool makes a mistake, then there's likely a chance of it happening. But I doubt anyone will be pissed off enough to do something like that (it's Android - I'm sure people are willing to overlook license violations because it's better than the evil Fruit Overlord).
It's the same reason tools like bison also are GPL-with-exception - the code they generate is not covered by the GPL due to the exception. Otherwise the code emitted also is technically GPL'd.
Embedded products are safe. Binary blobs don't use kernel headers - they use their own headers that define common types and such for the binary part, and have wrapper source code that incorporates the Linux headers and adjusts interfaces.
It depends. Some hacked firmware requires starting from a hacked firmware, so you have to install a patched one, then upgrade. As long as you can install the old revision, you're set.
Others you just install the hacked one as a regular update, in which case you do it as a regular firmware update.
And people will jump through all sorts of hoops to pirate - as long as there's a HOWTO, they'll do it. You'll be surprised how technically adept people can be for the promise of free games. (Good and bad - because they'll install all sorts of crap - like OpenSSH with default passwords (many jailbroken iOS devices were vulnerable), but hey.)
Actually, homebrew on the Xbox360 is officially supported - Microsoft provides the tools and everything. To run it on a real Xbox360 requires $99/year, but it's homebrew.
In fact, it's quite popular leading to the same problem that the Apple App Store and the Google Android Marketplace has - there's just so much stuff it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
XNA
Microsoft XNA site
Sure it's not the full thing (it doesn't do leaderboards, Live networking or gamerscore) but it's still a supported mechanism, and games can be sold too. The only approval process is that of your peers.
That's pretty much why there's very few people working on native homebrew - why do it when Microsoft provides a supported mechanism?
Hell, an interesting thing I've not heard covered was about the criminal element. If the same thing happened in North America, besides widespread panic we'd have tons of looting and rioting and everything basically run amok.
Yet in Japan it seems everyone is still calm, peaceful and there's still an orderly society, as if nothing really happened.
And I'm guessing it appears stores are still open to pick up necessities - here the shelves would be cleared of everything within the hour as everyone starts hoarding.
Is it really that orderly over there?
We can time-travel today. Relativity says so. And we compensate for it already, too.
The downside is that we can only go in one direction - forward. There's two ways to do it - get really close to a gravity well (GPS satellites intentionally "run fast" because of this - time ticks slower the further away you get from a gravity well), or really, just move (though you have to go really, really, really fast if you want to go forward in time at any reasonable pace).
Travelling backwards in time, though, is quite infeasible theoretically. Imagine you can open a portal to which you can transfer something (matter or energy, doesn't matter since they're equivalent). You're going to end up transferring a lot of "stuff" inadvertently - so even if you wanted to kill yourself in the past by shooting a bullet through the portal, you've got everything else that's being sent across the portal as well - subatomic particles that spawn into existence (what happens if one of the pair goes through and the other doesn't?). There will be so many violations of existing fundamental physics laws (conservation of mass/energy, momentum, etc) that things just go weird. (You have to account for the possibility that whatever you send across will not ever go through the portal again and thus end up existing in the past the whole time - basically a "free" cloning mechanism.
I always thought satellites used circular polarizations (clockwise and anticlockwise) rather than horizontal/vertical because having the signal reflect off a surface has a very nasty tendency to twist the signal about. And circular polarizations make the orientation of the LNB less of an issue...
The LNB does two things - besides downconverting the signal, it also amplifies it since the receiver box can be far away. Incidentally, the LNB is an active device, but it gets its power (and polarization switching) from a DC signal produced by the receiver - switch polarities and the LNB switches polarizations.
I believe MIT had released a restaurant type game where yes, you do end up in the credits (you can either be a waiter or a customer). But that's it. I'm not sure what became of it though - I tried it briefly but never could find anyone online.
Related, Microsoft released YooStar 2 which, well, uses a Kinect to film you doing scenes in movies (the previous version used the Live Vision camera), so...