Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 29th Mar 2010 12:59 UTC, submitted by NiceGuyEddie
The PlayStation 3 Slim already had an ability penalty of -35 Geekiness because of its lack of the "Install Other OS" option, and now the regular PlayStation 3 will follow in its footsteps. A PS3 firmware update, scheduled to land April 1, will disable this option on regular PS3s as well. This, dear readers, is what we in the business call a "testicle move", especially since only a few weeks ago, Sony bold-facedly claimed the feature would not be removed.
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RE[4]: "Court room, here I come!"
by Thom_Holwerda on Mon 29th Mar 2010 15:39
in reply to "RE[3]: "Court room, here I come!""
Member since:2005-06-29
I would risk a guess that for 99% of the PS3 users, they use it to play game, PSN, watch movie, and do other multimedia stuff that the PS3 can do.
That's not the point. It was advertised as a feature, and as such, removing it like this is a major dick move that should NOT be allowed. I hope Sony gets sued into oblivion over this.
Removing functionality like this is insane. It's sad that we in the west have forgotten what freedom and ownership of goods is all about. The people who founded the democracies we live in would shake their heads if they knew what's going on in today's world.
RE[5]: "Court room, here I come!"
by tylerdurden on Mon 29th Mar 2010 15:43
in reply to "RE[4]: "Court room, here I come!""
Member since:2009-03-17
RE[5]: "Court room, here I come!"
by Odwalla on Tue 30th Mar 2010 00:28
in reply to "RE[4]: "Court room, here I come!""
Member since:2006-02-01
RE[4]: "Court room, here I come!"
by umccullough on Mon 29th Mar 2010 17:24
in reply to "RE[3]: "Court room, here I come!""
Member since:2006-01-26
Hey, big organization using PS3 as cluster probably have some kind of special contract with Sony. I'm sure they don't use plain old Firmware like we do.
And you'd be wrong. The most appealing reason that PS3s are chosen for clusters is because they are cheaper than purchasing CellBE-based servers such as those made by IBM. This is largely due to Sony's subsidized console pricing, where for many years they were losing money on every console sale with the assumption that they would make it up in game licensing, etc.
PS3 clusters are built with standard retail machines. In order to purchase these directly from Sony with a special contract negotiation, it would actually cost more. At that point, you're better off using a CellBE blade server where you can access all the cores without any funny limitations, and get better power/performance ratios.
RE[5]: "Court room, here I come!"
by truckweb on Mon 29th Mar 2010 18:04
in reply to "RE[4]: "Court room, here I come!""
Member since:2005-07-06
And you'd be wrong. The most appealing reason that PS3s are chosen for clusters is because they are cheaper than purchasing CellBE-based servers such as those made by IBM. This is largely due to Sony's subsidized console pricing, where for many years they were losing money on every console sale with the assumption that they would make it up in game licensing, etc.
PS3 clusters are built with standard retail machines. In order to purchase these directly from Sony with a special contract negotiation, it would actually cost more. At that point, you're better off using a CellBE blade server where you can access all the cores without any funny limitations, and get better power/performance ratios.
PS3 clusters are built with standard retail machines. In order to purchase these directly from Sony with a special contract negotiation, it would actually cost more. At that point, you're better off using a CellBE blade server where you can access all the cores without any funny limitations, and get better power/performance ratios.
There you go, maybe Sony is tired of loosing money to people running PS3 as Linux PC or in cluster and probably never buying a single game. Maybe those prople should invest in a CellBE Server, even if it cost more. I would define that as "improper" use of the PS3.
I do make a difference between Joe User who play with Linux once in a while on their PS3 and also play game.
But Cell developer, or enterprise users, who use the machine only for apps and number crunching, should buy a real CellBE Server.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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2005-07-06
Hey, big organization using PS3 as cluster probably have some kind of special contract with Sony. I'm sure they don't use plain old Firmware like we do.
This move by Sony is impacting "ordinary" people, geek, who liked to run Linux on a PS3. And that amount to how many users? Do we have stats on this?
I would risk a guess that for 99% of the PS3 users, they use it to play game, PSN, watch movie, and do other multimedia stuff that the PS3 can do.