Saturday, September 4, 1999

.gif wars heating up -- 2:54 pm CST, Update by The Master

#1, pardon the pun :-)

The whole Unisys .gif controversy (reported earlier here) is heating up, with a new site online dedicating to Burning Gifs Day. The whole .gif deal is the result of an incredibly stupid software patent, and is beginning to cause a stir in the internet community. I know I will abandon all gifs on all of my sites if Unisys ever threatens a cease and desist. It'll make for ugly sites, but I ain't paying those greedy *bleeps* any of my money so they can keep themselves profitable.

A.T. adds: I read somewhere (can't remember where) that they were going to be going after people who make graphics-creating software that is using the LZH (sp?) compression without a license. Webmasters should be safe. However, I would just as soon use PNG anyway because it can do the transparent backgrounds in full 24-bit color.

Software patents -- 2:45 pm CST, Update by The Master

<rant>SOFTWARE PATENTS ARE DEVILSPAWN!</rant>

Read this artice on the possible effects of software patents on Linux. FWIW, software patents are ridiculous, since damn near EVERY piece of software is based on algoritms, which should NEVER be patentable. But, hey, I'm not a profit minded lawyer, so what do I know?

Need to get that patent on rendering pixels so I can get a piece of the action. No, better yet! I need to copyright the word "pixels", or ever better, "micro"! :-)

Slow day -- 2:40 pm CST, Update by The Master

It's been a really slow news day. The only thing I've seen is this interview on Thresh's Firingsquad with Scott Sellers of 3dfx. I'm totally shocked by this article. 3dfx should be ashamed of itself. They seem to think that nobody can play in their 3d turf, and anyone who has a good idea outside of 3dfx is totally off the curve. Let me tell ya 3dfx, you're gonna lose the war unless you start INNOVATING, and your T-Buffer ain't it. T-Buffer=Accumulation buffer. Nothing new, highend 3d cards have had that for years.

Friday, September 3, 1999

UT Update -- 8:56 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

CliffyB reports on the UT messageboards that UT is "Almost there." Stop me if you've heard that before. Thanks sCary.

Microsoft Responds -- 8:46 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

In response to the allegation that all versions of Windows have an NSA "back door", Microsoft has responded, calling the allegation "inaccurate and unfounded".

Big Brother Is Watching You! -- 10:56 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Someone has found out that every current version of Windows (95/98/NT/2K) has a "back door" built-in for the NSA, the federal governments "spying" branch. Nothing like a built-in invasion of your privacy. I can't wait until crackers get their hands on this! I saw this on Slashdot.

NHL 2000 Screenshots -- 10:25 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

NHL-Online has scored 36 new screenshots from EA's in-stores-soon NHL 2000. The shots are pretty cool, even though the person taking them was playing with the Colorado Nordilanche (blech!). This may be my next game purchase . . .

One thing I noticed from these screenshots that they've added since NHL '99 is expressions on the players faces (smiling after scoring a goal, grimacing when giving up a goal). You can see that most clearly in this screenshot. Actually, it's a little eerie.

Another thing I noticed that they didn't fix was goalie masks. Some goalies like Buffalo's Dominik Hasek and Detroit's Chris Osgood wear the older kind of goalie mask, basically a regular player's helmet with a cage on the front. As you can see from this screenshot, Hasek has the newer, fancier kind of mask. It's a small point, I'll grant you. It would seem that if they could put time into getting expression on players' faces, they could get the right mask on Ozzie and the Dominator.

Past Two Days' News

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