Thursday, May 15, 2003

The Moon Goes Dark -- 8:01 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

Full moon tonight, but with a bonus: the first lunar eclipse in several years starts shortly after 11pm Eastern. Here in western Michigan skies are cloudy, but if you have clear skies tonight don't miss the eclipse! Here are the details for your viewing pleasure.

Torvalds Responds to SCO -- 10:26 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Linuxworld posted Linus Torvalds' response to the news that SCO was stopping their Linux distribution. Here's a snip:

I suspect they noticed that as long as they distribute Linux, they are themselves bound by the GPL. Which (among other things) clearly states that you can't limit recipients rights, including the right to further distribute it (without any limitations further down the chain either).

Thanks Linux Today.

Carmack E3 Chat -- 10:22 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Gamespy posted a summary of a presentation by id's John Carmack at this year's E3. Most of it covers various design aspects of DOOM 3. He does, however, briefly mention his work in real-world rocketry. Here's a snip for your chewing pleasure:

Carmack is a purist. He doesn't incorporate graphical gimmicks for any one particular effect on any one piece of hardware. He extolled the value of "universalness and consistency" across hardware, and the technology he wanted to design was built on similar principles. Current technology renders different types of surfaces differently, and it renders light sources differently based on whether they're dynamic or static. Not so in DOOM 3: "Lights and surfaces are all treated as first-class citizens," he said, meaning they were rendered by the same processes. "It's not about being spectacular," he explained. "It's about being consistent."

Thanks Blue's News.

Jedi Academy Trailer -- 10:12 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Lucasarts posted a QuickTime trailer of their forthcoming Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy game. You can check it out at the official site. All the trailers for the games Lucasarts is showing off at E3 are available on the various official sites.

Raven's James Monroe updated his .plan with the note that the trailer is actually from an earlier build of the game. Whatever the case, it looks very cool. I want this game.

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

On The Road Again -- 9:32 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

The former Qbemobile has officially been replaced by a new Qbemobile. Our old '91 Grand Prix bit the dust on the way out of town last Friday (actually the power steering froze up and blew the serpentine belt), so I subjected myself to car dealerships and salesmen for several days trying to find a decent deal. My brother-in-law works at a dealership down in Indiana and had just what I was looking for: a 2000 Buick Century, local trade, one owner, certified, warranty, decent price. We drove down and picked it up today. It's nice to get rid of that rental car: after driving a Mitsubishi Galant for a week, I can safely say that I'll never buy one.

Half-Life 2 Trailer -- 8:44 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

IGN posted the trailer for Half-Life 2 in QuickTime format. You can really see some of the physics stuff and the facial animation stuff they put into the game. Quite impressive. It looks like it's going to be a good Christmas to be a shooter fan. Thanks Blue's News.

DOOM ]|[ Trailer Mirror -- 5:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

PlanetQuake3.net has a list of mirrors for the DOOM ]|[ trailer that is being shown off at E3. It is a 31.4M zip file of a DivX AVI. What are you waiting for? Thanks Blue's News.

Update! I just finished downloading the trailer. Very cool--well worth the download.

NWN: Hordes of the Underdark Announced -- 5:04 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Bioware has officially announced the name for the second expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights. Until now, it has been known simply as "XP2." It will be called Hordes of the Underdark. There have been no further details announced yet other than the name itself. I'd imagine that we'll hear more as E3 continues.

SCO Steps Up Threats -- 4:53 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

SCO announced that it was suspending Linux development and sent this threatening letter to "commercial Linux user(s)." This is some of the most amazingly blantant FUD I've ever had the displeasure of reading. It also puts them in a unique bind. They may very well be admitting that SCO might sue users of SCO Linux for using an infringing product. Idiots. It's enough to make me wonder if this is some elaborate and very late April Fool's joke. Thanks Slashdot.

Actually, this could work to Linux' advantage. If SCO loses, there will be legal precedent that Linux does not infringe on any patents. Whatever the case I just hope SCO gets hoisted on their own petard.

J.t.Qbe comments: It looks like SCO has stopped distributing its own version of Linux. Some interesting stuff over at OSNews.

RIAA Sends False Infringement Notices -- 9:40 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Well, it looks like the RIAA has screwed up again. They weren't content just to send false accusations to Penn State, they apparently have sent out two dozen false accusations. Their response?

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Oh, sure. Somebody has to sue these jerks back to the stone age. It is beyond me why Speakeasy and others seem content to accept a half-arsed apology. They threaten to cut off legitimate websites and then everybody just rolls over and plays dead.

iLoo Is a Fake . . . No It's Not -- 9:29 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Microsoft announced that the iLoo Internet-enabled toilet was a hoax, but now has backtracked saying that it was a legitimate product that was cancelled. If you ask me, the whole thing smells funny.

Past Two Days' News

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