Content and news by Geek Girl

The French government isn’t shy about trying to promote local culture, and apparently they’ve decided that video games should be a decent part of that culture. The government has decided that it will now offer tax credits to local companies that produce video games “with a cultural dimension.” They claim they need to do this to help keep video game production in France, but if there isn’t demand for local video game production, then why should the French government subsidize it? If there is demand, then won’t the market take care of it without French taxpayer money?

Source: Techdirt

Ok granted, this isn’t technically tech news, but anything this important needs to be told.

It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.

It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs. Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks.

Source: New Scientist

Sweden is to become the first country to establish diplomatic representation in the virtual reality world of Second Life.

“We are planning to establish a Swedish embassy in Second Life primarily as an information portal for Sweden,” Swedish Institute (SI) director Olle Wästberg stated.

The embassy would not provide passports or visas but would instruct visitors how to obtain such documents in the real world and act as a link to web-based information about the Scandinavian country. “Second Life allows us to inform people about Sweden and broaden the opportunity for contact with Sweden easily and cheaply,” Wästberg said.

Source: The Local

Google intends to scan every book ever published, and to make the full texts searchable, in the same way that Web sites can be searched on the company’s engine at google.com. At the books site, which is up and running in a beta (or testing) version, at books.google.com, you can enter a word or phrase—say, Ahab and whale—and the search returns a list of works in which the terms appear, in this case nearly eight hundred titles, including numerous editions of Herman Melville’s novel. Clicking on “Moby-Dick, or The Whale” calls up Chapter 28, in which Ahab is introduced. You can scroll through the chapter, search for other terms that appear in the book, and compare it with other editions. Google won’t say how many books are in its database, but the site’s value as a research tool is apparent; on it you can find a history of Urdu newspapers, an 1892 edition of Jane Austen’s letters, several guides to writing haiku, and a Harvard alumni directory from 1919.

Source: Disinformation

A lot has happened on Atys. With new funds, new motivation and a lot of success Ryzom is being developed further, to satisfy your demands on a high quality MMORPG.

Plenty of bugs have been resolved and many new great features have gone online. Furthermore we want to reward faithful customers, the longer you play, the less you pay. From now on you can play Ryzom from 9,90 Euros/month, saving more than 30%!

We look forward to see you soon, once again part of the Ryzom community. Plenty of new missions, new adventures and new players are waiting for you!
Your Ryzom Team
http://ryzom.com

Right before the New Year, a hacker reported that he’d cracked the DRM used on HD DVD, illustrating the futility of devoting resources to develop copy-protection schemes. Now, the same hacker says he’s cracked the DRM on Blu-ray discs using the same method.

As with the HD DVD discs, there’s supposed to be a dynamic element to the Blu-ray DRM that allows for decryption keys to be updated to react to cracks, and it also uses Self-Protecting Digital Content technology, which can effectively render “bad” playback devices useless as well as change playback methods if one’s found to be weak or flawed. That sounds awfully complex and expensive to develop and implement, with the payback of doing little more than causing compatibility problems for legitimate customers.

All this will do is create a cat-and-mouse game between hackers and the companies supporting the DRM for content owners, and our money’s on the hackers in the long run. This is yet another example of how content companies are misallocating their resources: instead of spending time and effort working on new business models and forgetting about pointless, useless, DRM, they’d rather continue to spend money pursuing ways to frustrate their customers and maintain a business model that’s ill-suited for the modern market.

Source: TechDirt

In a press release Bethesda Softworks announced their choice of the Xbox 360 for their Elder Scrolls expansion entitled Shivering Isles.

The Windows version of Shivering Isles will be available at retail and is co-published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games, while the Xbox 360 version is currently planned for release through Xbox Live® online entertainment network by Bethesda Softworks.

In a press release Friday January 19th, CEO of BitPass Matthew Graves stated they’re calling it quits.

Dear Valued Bitpass Buyer,
We want to thank you for your past business, however due to circumstances beyond our control, we are discontinuing our operations. We have partnered with Digital River to provide operational support during the period prior to shut down. As of today, January 19, 2007, all Bitpass Buyers with US dollar denominated accounts are being notified that they will have seven (7) days to spend any amounts that currently exist in their Bitpass Account. During this seven day period, US Buyers will not be able to further fund their account. On January 26, all US Bitpass Buyer accounts will be closed and Digital River will begin the process of refunding all unspent monies to the accountholder. All account records and materials will be retained for 60 days and available upon request.
Again we would like to thank you for your business and support.
Matthew Graves
Chief Operating Officer
Bitpass Inc.

kthnxbye

Just because something CAN be done, doesn’t necessarily mean it SHOULD be done. Take a watch pierced to your wrist for example.
ModBlog has a wristwatch piercing that is both an interesting idea, and one crazy application. Ouch!

I must admit I actually have my doubts about the authenticity of this in that, if you were going to actually attach something like this to your skin, wouldn’t you choose a model that is more streamlined, fits the curve of your skin and wouldn’t be ripped off the first time you put a coat on. *shudder*

I mean seriously, if you’re going to do it, why not just implant LEDs under your skin and have yourself an internal digital watch?….*waits to see this appear suddenly and misses out on millions in patents…*

June 11 2007 we’ll know whether or not an AOL phisher will be facing 101 years in prison for his crimes. Jeffrey Brett Goodin, was convicted Friday of operating a sophisticated phishing scheme that involved sending e-mails posing as AOL’s billing department to trick people into giving up their credit card information. He then used the credit card data to make purchases.

The Goodin conviction is the first by a jury under the Can-Spam Act of 2003/ Goodin was convicted on multiple counts in addition to the Can-Spam conviction, including wire fraud, unauthorized use of credit cards, misuse of the AOL trademark and attempted witness harassment, prosecutors said.

In an anticipated move, the founders of Skype have unveiled a peer-to-peer television service that will be, you heard it here: free.

“Joost” is the official release name, and will be ready to compete with YouTube and IPTV services sometime mid-2007. With Kazaa and Skype already under their belt, Joost could be the hat-trick for controversial yet successful ventures.

One of the world’s most popular websites for finding music, movies and software for illegal download could buy its own “island” in a bid to avoid copyright laws.

The controversial website – http://www.thepiratebay.org – is currently based in Sweden. It was shut down by police in May 2006 but reopened using servers in the Netherlands before returning to Sweden in June 2006.

On Friday, those behind the Pirate Bay established a new website – http://www.buysealand.com. This hosts discussion forums and aims to secure donations in order to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform 10 kilometres from the eastern coast of Britain.

“It’s not only about Pirate Bay, it’s more about having a nation with no copyright laws,” says one of those behind the site, who gave his name only as Peter.

Source: New Scientist Tech

Please forgive my attempt at pirate speak, I’ll leave that for Sept 19 – Talk Like a Pirate Day

Recently, videos popped up on YouTube that appear to show a demo of a Ghostbusters video game. The footage was credited to Zootfly, a developer probably best known for their work on Panzer Elite Action.

Source: Destructoid

Video game consoles sold well during the holiday season, but the biggest splash wasn’t made by any of the hot new boxes on the market. Sony’s Playstation 2 — an old timer compared to the Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3 — outsold all of the competition. Supply glitches affecting the newest consoles and the PS2’s lower price point were likely contributing factors.

Americans bought 1.4 million PlayStation 2s during the period. That was more than the Xbox 360, which sold 1.1 million units; the Nintendo Wii, which sold 604,000; and the PlayStation 3, which sold 491,000.

Source: Linux Insider

Asus announces leather-bound W6Fp laptop.

Source: Engadget

Asus may not be ready to provide many specs on its new Lamborghini laptop just yet, but the company’s more than happy to spill the details on another of its latest rock solid, heart touching laptops, the W6Fp. As with its Lambo brethren, the W6Fp comes wrapped in leather for your typing pleasure, along with what look to be nearly desktop-sized keys for some additional comfort. Specs-wise, you’ll get a 13.3-inch WXGA display, a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600 processor, Intel 945GM Express integrated graphics, 1GB of memory (up to 1.5GB), a 120GB hard drive, DVD super multi drive, and, of course, Windows Vista (Home Premium edition by default). Rounding out the laptop are built in Bluetooth and WiFi, and a battery that’ll give you just 2.7 hours of juice on a charge, although you can nearly double that if you pop in the extra “bulk battery” included with the system. Look for this one to hit Japan at the end of the month for about 249,800 Yen, or just over $2,000.

Acclaim Games is pleased to announce the start of Closed Beta testing for 2Moons, a totally brutal Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) that is FREE to download and play on a PC. With the tagline “No mercy for the weak, no pity for the dying, no tears for the slain”, 2Moons was designed exclusively for Adult gamers age 17 and over, featuring extreme fantasy violence, profanity, an epic story, and heart-pumping action.

Since Closed Beta email registration began in August 2006, without any marketing, over 100,000 gamers have already signed up to participate via the official 2Moons website at http://www.2MoonsGame.com.

These Closed Beta testers will be given an exclusive & confidential first look at the game, and are asked to report bugs and issues, and to make suggestions to the development team.

2Moons was designed to be easy for any player to get into and enjoy right away. Featuring elements of traditional role-playing games and arcade-style fighting action, 2Moons will appeal to a broad range of players who seek a thrilling, action-packed gaming experience in an exciting story. The game story is set in an aggressive, dangerous, and visually stunning world and was written by writer Henry Jones.

2Moons Site *note you will be prompted to install something upon visiting this site. Do so at your own risk.

Stray Bullet Games has begun an exciting new era with the development of a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. The new project is based on an original intellectual property conceived in-house, and while the concept phase is ongoing we are actively developing a proof of concept prototype.

With this new project, Stray Bullet is committed to creating a fully-realized, ongoing online conflict that combines furious action with tactical and strategic game play. In the game to come characters, guilds, and global factions will engage in meaningful, exciting, and fun mass combat. To realize this vision the team is drawing upon our experience, the lessons learned developing and supporting Shadowbane, and is looking outside the MMO genre to strategy and tactical games for inspiration.

Stray Bullet Games

Paul Thurrott’s most recent edition of “Windows Weekly” states that a new Xbox360 is slated for release late 2007 with the ability to use IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) along with a larger hard drive.

But does it make coffee?

While camera phones and broadband have made busting perverts and criminals a new hobby, there’s also a growing interest in documenting less severe social transgressions, posting them online, and then letting the Internet community heap their righteous scorn upon them. Sites are springing up that focus on busting bad drivers, dog-owners who fail to pick up dog poop, or even obnoxious cellphone users. The new trend represents “a return to shame as a check on social behavior,” according to one academic, who suggests that shame became a less powerful social force as we spent more time isolating ourselves in cars or impersonal cities and suburbs.

The bad drivers, dog poop leavers, and cellphone chatters aren’t amused; one targeted crappy driver — clearly new to this whole Internet thing — complains that “you can just go online and say whatever you want whether it’s factual or not.” Of course the social shame concept only works if people in your community (and the jerk who annoyed you) visit the website in question and care about what you think. Cyber-shame is most effective when you’re part of a social system. For instance it’s successful at Yahoo, where employees post photos of poor campus parking to shame people to action, but less effective in a social vaccuum. Posting pictures of dog poop to a niche blog in the hopes of enacting social justice might make you feel good, but if you really want someone to stop annoying you, you may just have to — god forbid — actually walk up and talk to them.

Via Techdirt

The Hybrid Storage Alliance exists to promote and educated industry enablers and influencers about the benefits and advantages of Hybrid HDDs.

A new breed of hard disk drives has emerged enabled by dramatic shifts in two industry vectors which intersect in the realm of storage solutions. First, falling unit prices of non-volatile memory (or Flash) has facilitated its usage as a viable storage option while offering intrinsic benefits of faster system and application response time. Secondly, Microsoft’s integration of SuperFetch in Windows Vista enhances user experience when paired with this new type of hard disk drive. Hybrid hard disk drives meld the benefits of Flash technology with the high capacity and cost advantages realized by hard disk drive technology.

Features and benefits include increased power efficiency resulting in extended battery life. Because a hybrid solution will power down the drive spindle motor and operate out of the solid state cache for longer periods of time, the power consumption required by the drive is greatly reduced. O.S. and Applications launch from the solid state flash enabling a very fast system response time for users who don’t like the boot and resume time wait of today’s laptop PCs. Mobility and speed drive the need for a more durable drive and because hybrid drives actually spin down and the mechanical components stop moving, the drive operates at a higher shock tolerance mode.

With industry leaders such as Fujitsu, Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital involved, this alliance could actually produce something worthwhile!

Hybrid Storage Alliance