May
24, 2001
-
Gallery
of CSS Descramblers -
"On January 20, 2000, United States District Judge
Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York
issued a preliminary injunction in Universal City Studios
et al. v. Reimerdes et al., prohibiting the defendants
from distributing computer code for reading encrypted DVDs.
The defendants had been sued under 17 USC 1201(a)(2), also
known as section 1201(a)(2) of the
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act..."
May 29,
2001 -
BATTLE
BOTS! - Competing in BattleBots is a thrilling
challenge that you'll never forget. It combines skill,
strategy and creativity in a contest of survival and
supremacy. Face-off against real rocket scientists,
Hollywood special effects artists, garage tinkerers,
machine shop gurus, and the kid next store. The
competition is open to anyone with a good idea and the
tenacity to transform that idea into robot terror...
May
17, 2001 -
Linux
takes Hollywood by storm - By Simon Avery,
WSJ Interactive Edition, An ugly green ogre named
Shrek may make an impression when he arrives in theaters
nationwide Friday. He might also spook some people in the
computer industry. The ornery, mud-loving creature morphs
into a romantic hero through some of the richest digital
animation yet created. Producer DreamWorks SKG gives
considerable credit for the performance to another
transformation -- animators' use of the free Linux
operating system instead of software from the likes of
Microsoft Corp. and Silicon Graphics Inc...
May
24, 2001 -
Playing
God - FEED.MAG, Mark Van de Walle on Black
& White's revolutionary artificial intelligence.
WHEN YOU GO to the message boards for the new game Black
& White, released by Lionhead Studios earlier this
month, the most popular topic around seems to be crap. In
post after post, the flight, trajectory, and eventual
resting place of vast quantities of virtual crap is
discussed in loving detail. Villagers are pelted with
crap; fields are fertilized with crap; crap is produced
and promptly eaten. There's evil crap and good crap. The
arrival of both is occasionally greeted with dancing from
local villagers. On other occasions, crap is desired but
difficult to come by. Players' avatars, in the form of
cows, tigers, and apes (known collectively in Black &
White-speak as "creatures"), work mightily to
generate it, and get nothing but gas and maybe some
embarrassed looks...
May
17, 2001 -
Report
shows that games are a central part of American life
- By Trey Walker, GameSpot PC, The IDSA releases
the results of a survey showing just how much Americans
play games. The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA),
a trade organization representing computer and video game
companies, today released the results of its sixth annual
consumer survey. According to the IDSA, computer and video
games have become a central part of American life. The
survey found that the typical family uses its console or
computer to play games for an average of 10 to 11 hours
per week, which is about an hour more than last year's
figures. The average American household has two console
game players and two and a half computer game players. In
addition, the survey found that Americans are playing more
Internet games, with 24 percent of game players now
playing games online, which is a 5 percent increase over
last year. Games are also played on a wide range of
platforms. Around 32 percent of Americans play games on
handheld systems, 5 percent on personal digital
assistants, and 12 percent on cell phones...
