Can Complexity Theory Explain Egypt's Crisis? [Egypt]

Civilization, goes an old maxim, is four meals away from barbarism ? once the food deliveries stop, so does law and order. That could mean trouble for the political uprising in Egypt. It may also be what triggered it. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/FV9k_Ak389A/can-complexity-theory-explain-egypts-crisis

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Effing Meteors is a cataclysmic world-destroying physics Time Waster

effingmeteors
Remember Effing Hail? Well, Effing Meteors belongs to the same genre, but with a couple of interesting twists.

You're looking at a side-view of a planet, complete with its layers of atmosphere. Above the planet, in space, there are meteors. These are hurtling towards the planet, but they're often not large enough to survive entering through the atmosphere, so they burn along the way.

Your job is to destroy the planet; or more specifically, destroy all living organisms on a given planet. You can do this because your cursor generates a gravity field. So you click one meteorite and hold; soon, that single meteorite starts attracting other meteorites in its vicinity and grows into something larger - a planetoid. Now when you smash that into the planet's surface, it does survive the atmosphere and generates quite a shock - perhaps even enough to destroy the population of that planet.

Once you destroy a planet, it simply "revolves", revealing a new planet. Each planet is different: Some planets shoot back; and there's a planet with dinosaurs that run away from you, and then flying saucers enter the picture and it all gets a bit hard to explain.

Bottom line: This is a really fun game, with innovative graphics. And sometimes you can win a level by simply doing nothing!

Effing Meteors is a cataclysmic world-destroying physics Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/31/effing-meteors-is-a-cataclysmic-world-destroying-physics-time-waster/

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In Praise Of Piracy

I've had to think a lot about digital rights management lately. Not that I wanted to. But I recently did some eye-opening contract software development for a DRM-heavy media app, just as our government up here in the Great White North introduced a new and extremely DRM-friendly copyright law, and links to Don't Make Me Steal started popping up all over the Internet. You probably don't realize, unless you actually work on a software project laden with DRM, just how much Sisyphean effort goes into it. I estimate fully a quarter of the developer-hours that went into the app in question were devoted to building or dealing with the DRM, meaning a quarter of the total effort did not go into crafting a killer app. Similarly, the countless hours and dollars Sony spent on CD rootkits and impressively inept PS3 encryption did not go into building better products. All this effort lavished on restriction rather than creation reminds me of the great Ryszard Kapu?ci?ski's depiction of the Soviet economy:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/PT2bG8WHe9E/

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Haoshi?s Merry-Go-Round Clock

I like unusual clocks, but I still like to be able to tell time with a quick glance – even if it means I have to learn a pattern of lights or something.  The Haoshi’s Merry-Go-Round Carousel Clock from A+R Store certainly is described by “unusual”, but I’m not sure that I’d ever be able [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/02/03/haoshis-merry-go-round-clock/

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Tasty Static is a fun SkyRoads re-make -- Time Waster

tastystatic
First off, let me preface this time waster by saying it requires a download. That's right - this is not a Flash game, and you have to run it from your own computer. But it is free and available for Windows, OS X and Linux, and this is Download Squad after all.

Last week I wrote about a time waster called Flyde, saying it really reminded me of an old game I used to play as a kid, but couldn't remember its name. Commenter TnS was the first to point out I'm talking about SkyRoads. Of course, I immediately went to Wikipedia to read all about this old favorite of mine, and that's where I found a modern re-make: Tasty Static.

Tasty Static is fast. Just like SkyRoads, you drive a race car along a track that hangs in space, and you must constantly jump and move left and right to keep the track under your vehicle. Press UP to accelerate, LEFT and RIGHT to turn, and SPACE to jump. If you're chicken, you can also press DOWN to slow down. You know you shouldn't, though.

By default, the resolution is just 640x480, but it's not like you're missing out on a lot of detail. The graphics can be described as rudimentary at best - there are just enough pixels on the screen for you to see the road and the obstacles. But hey, that's what retro is all about, right?

Tasty Static is a fun SkyRoads re-make -- Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/12/tasty-static-is-a-fun-skyroads-re-make-time-waster/

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The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:15PM EST!

We're back! Sure, that horrible, flashy Engadget Show with its fancy "cameras" and "special guests" came between us last week, but nothing can keep us apart today. There's plenty to talk about, of course, and we even have a special guest of our own: Chris Ziegler, fresh from Google's Android event this week. We should get started around 5:15PM EST -- you can place your bets on the actual start time in the comments below.

P.S. And don't forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone clients as well, if you're out and about and you can't join in on the Flash-based fun below.

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:15PM EST!

The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:15PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/m6uSHNhu4-Y/

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Tango Takes Face-To-Face Video Calling Beyond The iPhone With 8 Million Downloads

One of the best built-in features of the iPhone 4 is FaceTime, the video calling feature that lets you see who you are talking to by using the cameras on both phones. But it only works over WiFi and if both callers own an iPhone 4. Perhaps those limitations are why an app called Tango is the seventh most popular social networking app right now (iTunes link). Tango lets you make video calls not just on iPhones but also on Android phones, and it works over 3G data networks as well. It works on both the iPhone 4 and the 3GS, and even iPod Touches. It's been growing like crazy on both iOS and Android devices, adding one million downloads every two weeks. In the past three months, it's grown from about 1 million downloads to 8 million (see chart. Of those, 7.2 million became registered users, and 42 percent (or about 3 million) have made a video call in the last 30 days.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/g4aYkdut1Ak/

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T-Mobile's upcoming HSPA WWAN offerings get leaked, comical codenames revealed

It's been a hot minute since the folks at T-Mobile have introduced a new USB WWAN modem, but if the document above is to be believed, that could be changing in short order. As the Jet ages, it looks like a few others -- codenamed Kitty Hawk, Washington and Wayne -- could be swooping in to take things from here. The former is rumored to hit shelves in March, offering HSPA+ speeds of 21Mbps and the ability to solve most of the world's problems. As for Washington? That'll be T-Mob's first USB modem to offer HSPA+ speeds approaching 42Mbps, and if all goes well, this guy will also splash down next month. Moving on, there's a pair of Waynes that'll serve as the carrier's first mobile hotspots, enabling five WiFi-enabled devices to mooch off of a 21Mbps (Lil' Wayne) or 42Mbps (Big Wayne) connection. Here's hoping T-Mobile does the smart thing and sticks with the codenames -- the marketing exec in us just knows it's the right thing to do.

T-Mobile's upcoming HSPA+ WWAN offerings get leaked, comical codenames revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/FnL1XzbXqKo/

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The World's Fastest Handsfree Typist Is a Quadriplegic [Video]

This is so cool. Hank Torres is paralyzed from the shoulder down but with the use of Swype and a head tracking device he was able to set the Guinness World Record for fastest hands free typing. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/R-36hLppfwU/the-worlds-fasted-hands-free-typer-is-a-quadriplegic

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