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SheeEttin writes “If you’ve been longing to play games from Steam on your Linux machine, you may not have to wait much longer — the Left 4 Dead demo includes some Linux libraries, in particular, one named ’steamclient_linux.so.’ While the game’s full release does not include these libraries, their apparently accidental inclusion in the demo suggests that Steam games will have native Linux clients in the near future. (A job listing at Valve looking for someone whose responsibilities would include ‘Port[ing] Windows-based games to the Linux platform’ would seem to support this.) The libraries also include several strings nonessential to a pure server, including references to forgotten passwords. Hopefully, this indicates that at least some Valve-affiliated games will have native Linux clients.”

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Original post by Soulskill

arcticstoat writes “Game developer Rockstar has revealed that the forthcoming PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will feature the controversial SecuROM 7 DRM system. Unlike some of EA’s recent titles, such as Spore and Mass Effect, GTA IV won’t limit the number of times that you can install the game, although SecuROM will be impossible to remove without leaving ‘some traces′ on your PC. Anyone hoping to avoid SecuROM by downloading the game form Steam will also be disappointed, as Rockstar says that all versions of the game will feature SecuROM, including digital versions online. On the plus side, Rockstar says that it’s ‘working with SecuROM to post information on our support pages regarding how to remove these inactive traces of the program for users who wish to do so.’ Has Rockstar gotten a better balance between draconian DRM and fair copy protection here?”

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Original post by Soulskill

Anonymous Coward writes “SIFO (a major Swedish survey company) has conducted a gaming survey right before the launch of Dreamhack Winter. One of the results being that gaming in bigger than football and hockey combined.”

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Original post by CmdrTaco

dan writes ” Multi Theft Auto is a third-party modification for Rockstar’s hit title Grand Theft Auto San Andreas — and it has become open-source after over four years of closed source development. As a (somewhat) regular player of MTA since the early days of GTAIII, this hit me by surprise somewhat.” (The news is on the project’s front page, from which dan extracts more details, below.)

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Original post by timothy

dan writes ” Multi Theft Auto is a third-party modification for Rockstar’s hit title Grand Theft Auto San Andreas — and it has become open-source after over four years of closed source development. As a (somewhat) regular player of MTA since the early days of GTAIII, this hit me by surprise, somewhat.” (The news is on the project’s front page, from which dan extracts more details, below.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by timothy

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

As far as we’re concerned, sticky tape is mostly just for out-there modding projects, but scientists have confirmed another use for it: X-rays. After hearing word of research in that direction by Soviet scientists in the 1950s, researchers at UCLA peeled scotch tape at 1.18 inches per second in a vacuum chamber and found that X-ray pulses were emitted by the process. A human thumb has already been successfully X-rayed by this technique, and If future investigation proceeds swimmingly, paramedics and aid workers operating off the grid might be able to do X-rays without bulky and dangerous nuclear technologies. We’ll admit it — we never saw scotch tape X-rays coming, but then, neither did you, right?

[Via Switched]

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Original post by Samuel Axon

Filed under: Household

It’s a shame that the amazing always becomes ordinary given enough time and popular exposure. Case in point: the x-ray. Childhood longings to possess such visual power are ultimately replaced by painful memories of leaden-concealed trips to the emergency room. Until this, the X-Ray Light from designer Wonsuk Cho. A whimsical look through the lampshade for eyes eager to see. Unfortunately, these lampshade / lights aren’t yet available to purchase — another dream dashed by cruel reality.

[Via Technabob]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Today, Digium, creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the leading open source telephony platform will be making a major announcement at Astricon later today. Digium hinted to me that a major announcement would be made at Astricon when I visited their Huntsville, Alabama headquarters in August.

I tried to find out what the news will be, but alas Digium couldn’t tell me. So I thought it would be fun to prognosticate what this deal could be.

1) Digium’s Switchvox will be distributed by Dell, which currently carries another Asterisk competitor, Fonality.

2) Digium will be acquired by Adtran, an avid supporter of Digium in the past.

3) HP seeing that competitor Dell is offering IP-PBXs (i.e. Fonality and Nortel) will partner with Digium to offer Digium’s line of IP-PBXs and telephony hardware

4) Now that Adtran, a financial supporter of Digium, offers their own line of IP phones, including the IP706 and IP712, perhaps Digium will offer a bundled IP-PBX package that includes Switchvox and a few Adtran IP phones.

5) Digium will announce this whole open source thing is nonsense, there’s no money in it, and they’re announcing that they are making Asterisk closed source effective immediately. Ok, maybe in some alternate universe!

6) CDW, a major distributor, will be carrying and distributing Digium’s products.

Ok, so what’s your guess? Costco? And remember the clock is ticking. The announcement could be made at any moment.

Tags: Adtran, alabama, Astricon, Digium, fonality, Huntsville, ip-pbx, I𓭂, IP712, voip

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Cellphones

Though it may never live the proper life it should have, Sony Ericsson’s now-canned W707 is alive and well in these spy shots. Of course, being that the Alicia is officially dead, you won′t find any updated specifications or a super-secret release date, but the gallery of images in the read link is a mighty fine look at what could’ve been. It’s never too late, SE…

[Via DailyMobile, thanks Daniel]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Stoked about all those new features you heard about during today’s Stevenote? Dying to get your paws on the improved battery life, smoother UI, and other bug-destroying goodies? Well if you’re a current touch owner, you can download the update right now (for a tidy $9.95, of course). Just follow the read link’s “buy now” button to iTunes, and keep a credit card handy.

Update: If you already have firmware 2.0, this upgrade is free.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals

Had enough Wall-E mods yet? Really, you have? What, you some kind of whiskey-drunk, bunny stuffer? This is Wall-E, the Disney robot sent to save us from ourselves and apparently, beige computers. This latest mod drops a a trio (hey, why not) of DVD drives into Wall-E’s trash compacting belly. Add cardboard, aluminum, toy bulldozer parts, and some fancy Dremeling and this is the result. See him in action after the break.

[Thanks, John]

Continue reading Video: Wall-E’s DVD duplicator mod directive

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Robots

So it’s a full $59 more than we were expecting, but with Wall-E’s tremendous success at the box office, we have a feeling Disney can get away with it. The Ultimate Wall-E remote control robot is now up for pre-order, promising kids and adults-longing-to-be-kids alike hours upon hours of fun. For those who missed this creature frolicking on video, here are the highlights: he can chat with his owner, dance, play music, dazzle you with those eyes and even sense / avoid obstacles. Unfortunately, all $249 will buy you is a place in line, as this fellow isn′t expect to ship until October 16th.

[Thanks, Toadlet]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Unless you’ve been squarely camped out under an atypically large boulder the past few months, you aren’t apt to be taken aback by this news. Sure enough, handset sales declined 22-percent in Q1 2008, though the industry did move some 31 million mobiles during the post-holiday quarter. It was noted, however, that smartphones comprised 17-percent of all mobile sales, which marks a 10-percent increase from the prior quarter. When taking a look at the top five handset manufacturers, you’ll find Motorola shakily perched at the top (27-percent), while RIM slipped past Sanyo to grab the five spot with 5-percent. Check the read link for all the gory details.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Unless you’ve been squarely camped out under an atypically large boulder the past few months, you aren’t apt to be taken aback by this news. Sure enough, handset sales declined 22-percent in Q1 2008, though the industry did move some 31 million mobiles during the post-holiday quarter. It was noted, however, that smartphones comprised 17-percent of all mobile sales, which marks a 10-percent increase from the prior quarter. When taking a look at the top five handset manufacturers, you’ll find Motorola shakily perched at the top (27-percent), while RIM slipped past Sanyo to grab the five spot with 5-percent. Check the read link for all the gory details.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

It’s been a controversial decision, but it looks like the OLPC XO has completed its transition from revolutionary education project to just another tiny Windows laptop with a useless keyboard — albeit one with a pleasantly whimsical design. Yep, it’s official: Microsoft and OLPC just put out a joint press release saying that XP-loaded XOs will be available starting in August or September, with some countries to get the machines as soon as next month. Users will get all the regular functionality of XP — it’s basically the same build as on the Eee and other ultraportables — but Microsoft’s spent over a year developing specialized drivers for the XO’s various features like e-book mode, the writing pad, and camera. (We’re pretty certain that doesn’t include mesh networking, but WiFi is supported.) XP is too big for the built-in 1GB flash chip, so it′ll come preloaded on a 2GB SD card, leaving just about 1.5GB free total for apps and media. It seems like Microsoft is thrilled about this partnership, but it’s a not going to make NickNeg’s search for new vision at the top any easier. As for Sugar? You’ll still be able to get it, but we have a sinking feeling about its future. Demo video after the break.

Continue reading OLPC XO officially gets Windows XP, children of the world to be assimilated

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Original post by Nilay Patel