Author: kenmay

Microsoft Creates a Docker-Like Container For Windows

angry tapir writes Hoping to build on the success of Docker-based Linux containers, Microsoft has developed a container technology to run on its Windows Server operating system. The Windows Server Container can be used to package an application so it can be easily moved across different servers. It uses a similar approach to Docker’s, in that all the containers running on a single server all share the same operating system kernel, making them smaller and more responsive than standard virtual machines. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Microsoft Creates a Docker-Like Container For Windows

ESA Rebukes EFF’s Request To Exempt Abandoned Games From Some DMCA Rules

eldavojohn writes It’s 2015 and the EFF is still submitting requests to alter or exempt certain applications of the draconian DMCA. One such request concerns abandoned games that utilized or required online servers for matchmaking or play (PDF warning) and the attempts taken to archive those games. A given examples is Madden ’09, which had its servers shut down a mere one and a half years after release. Another is Gamespy and the EA & Nintendo titles that were not migrated to other servers. I’m sure everyone can come up with a once cherished game that required online play that is now abandoned and lost to the ages. While the EFF is asking for exemptions for museums and archivists, the ESA appears to take the stance that it’s hacking and all hacking is bad. In prior comments (PDF warning), the ESA has called reverse engineering a proprietary game protocol “a classic wolf in sheep’s clothing” as if allowing this evil hacking will loose Sodom & Gomorrah upon the industry. Fellow gamers, these years now that feel like the golden age of online gaming will be the dark ages of games as historians of the future try to recreate what online play was like now for many titles. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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ESA Rebukes EFF’s Request To Exempt Abandoned Games From Some DMCA Rules

A Face Transplant Removed This Deadly Bundle of Blood Vessels

This 3D scan shows a tangle of abnormal blood vessels beneath a patient’s skin. Their presence caused speech and vision problems, and were in danger of rupturing—which could have ended his life. Now, they’ve been removed during the course of a full face transplant. Read more…

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A Face Transplant Removed This Deadly Bundle of Blood Vessels

Vertical videos are here to stay thanks to apps like Snapchat

If you despise vertical or portrait video as much as some of us do, bad news: according to recent comments from ad agencies and media executives, you’ll be seeing a lot more of them. The awkward format has been in our crosshairs since the iPhone 4 came out in 2010 and we felt the need to explain how to fix it . It’s used by cellphone-wielders who are either too lazy to turn their phone 90 degrees or are just unaware that they should . The result is video that’s okay on smartphones but horrible on computer screens or TVs due to unsightly vertical bars. In addition, Snapchat and new livestreaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat will soon make the format seem normal for many users. For instance, Daily Mail North America ‘s CEO Jon Steinberg recently said that “we need to move even more aggressively to develop vertical content, (because) vertical video ads have up to 9x more completed views than horizontal video ads.” As to why that might be, he added that “the whole notion of turning your phone on its side to watch a video is awkward and a bit of a hassle.” As a result, the Daily Mail will create free vertical ads for companies with a “reasonable media buy” on its Snapchat Discover channel. Another kick to the head of horizontal video is from Periscope and Meerkat . The popular new livestream video feeds from the apps are only available in vertical mode to make them more convenient for one-handed viewing. Neither app supports horizontal (landscape) video at all, but Periscope’s CEO thinks most users would stick with portrait video even if it added the capability. Critics say the vertical format limits the artistic possibilities of video and doesn’t match how our vision works. However, ad agency creative director Tom Westerlin told Digiday that those people might as well get over it now. “Haters are gonna hate. People love to talk shit. That’s great, good for them. It basically just fuels the buzz around the future of (new video formats).” Filed under: Cellphones , HD Comments Source: Digiday , Medium

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Vertical videos are here to stay thanks to apps like Snapchat

Deeply strange black swallower fish and other odd animals

The black swallower ( Chiasmodon niger ), capable of eating 10 times its weight, is only one of the curious animals introduced to visitors at the American Museum of Natural History’s new Life At The Limits exhibition. Read the rest

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Deeply strange black swallower fish and other odd animals

Apple releases OS X 10.10.3 with new Photos app, emoji, and more

Apple has just released the final version of OS X 10.10.3, the latest major update for OS X Yosemite. The update was first available to the public as a beta build back in early March , and it follows a little over three months after OS X 10.10.2 . You can view the full release notes on Apple’s site here . The star of this update is the new Photos app, an OS X version of the photo viewing and editing app included with iOS. It primarily functions as a replacement for iPhoto, the basic photo app included with the iLife suite for years before becoming available for free for all new Macs. It also replaces Aperture, Apple’s pro photo editing app—though it doesn’t actually attempt to replicate Aperture’s functionality. Neither iPhoto nor Aperture will receive further updates from Apple after today. Photos will be installed automatically when you update to 10.10.3; it appears to be a core part of OS X rather than an optional Mac App Store download. We looked at an early Photos beta back in February and came away mostly impressed by its features and speed, at least relative to iPhoto. Those of you with existing iPhoto and Aperture libraries will be able to import them into Photos after you install OS X 10.10.3. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple releases OS X 10.10.3 with new Photos app, emoji, and more

Facebook Launches Standalone Messenger App for Browsers

Facebook released a new standalone version of its Messenger app today. While the app still requires a Facebook account to use, it’s separate from the rest of Facebook to hopefully help keep you from being distracted by everything else on Facebook. Read more…

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Facebook Launches Standalone Messenger App for Browsers

Price of WoW gold plummets in first day of “official” trading

Just over a day after Blizzard introduced the first official method for converting dollars into World of Warcraft gold, the real-world price for the in-game currency has already plummeted 27 percent from the initial position set by Blizzard. For most of World of Warcraft ‘s history, the only way to buy in-game gold with real currency was to go through one of many gray market third-party services (which technically goes against Blizzard’s terms of service for the game). That was true until yesterday, when Blizzard introduced a $20 game time token that can be sold for gold at the in-game auction house on North American servers (European servers will get the feature at a later date). While the real world price of those tokens is fixed at $20, the gold price is “determined dynamically based on supply and demand,” as Blizzard puts it. To start the market off, Blizzard set the price of a $20 token at 30,000 gold. That gold price increased incrementally for a few hours before plummeting precipitously starting yesterday evening in the US. As of this writing, just over 24 hours after the markets opened, that initial price has fallen over 27 percent to 21,739 gold, according to an API-based tracking site . Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Price of WoW gold plummets in first day of “official” trading

Next Windows Server offer new even smaller “Nano Server” footprint

Microsoft is adding even more features to Windows Server to diversify and strengthen its support for virtualization and containerization on its platform. The next Windows Server will include an even more stripped down, lightweight install mode called Nano Server. Windows Server already has a shrunk install option, Server Core, that omits various features to reduce the memory and disk footprint, and to shrink its exposure to security flaws. Nano Server strips back the operating system further still, dropping things like the GUI stack, 32-bit Win32 support, local logins, and remote desktop support. Nano Server is designed for two kinds of workload; cloud apps built on runtimes such as .NET, Java, Node.js, or Python, and cloud infrastructure, such as hosting Hyper-V virtual machines. Compared to the full Server install, Microsoft claims that Nano Server shrinks the disk footprint by 93 percent, the number of critical security bulletins by 92 percent, and the number of reboots by 80 percent. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Next Windows Server offer new even smaller “Nano Server” footprint

YouTube planning subscription service for ad-free videos

According to an e-mail sent to YouTube content creators, the video platform is looking to launch a subscription-based service that will permit viewers to bypass pre-roll ads on videos. It’s unclear how much the subscription will cost per month, but Bloomberg reports that revenue from the feature will be shared with content creators, as a supplement to advertising revenue from viewers who choose not to pay for the subscription service. An anonymous source told Bloomberg that the service could launch as early as this year. Venture Beat noted that an update to the terms of service for YouTube program partners said that the company would share 55 percent of its revenue with creators. What an individual creator gets back from that pool would be based on “a percentage of the monthly views or watchtime of all or a subset of participating content in the relevant subscription offering (as determined by YouTube).” Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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YouTube planning subscription service for ad-free videos