Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled

At the 1964 New York World’s Fair, people stood in line for hours to look at a strange sight.

They wanted to see the “Futurama,” a miniaturized replica of a typical 21st century American city that featured moving sidewalks, computer-guided cars zipping along congestion-free highways and resort hotels beneath the sea.

Forty years later, we’re still waiting for those congestion-free highways — along with the jet pack, the paperless office and all those “Star Trek”-like gadgets that were supposed to make 21st-century life so easy.

Daniel Wilson has been waiting as well. He’s looked at the future we imagined for ourselves in pulp comic books, old science magazines and cheesy sci-fi movies from the 1950s, and came up with one question.

Why isn’t the future what it used to be?

“I feel entitled to have all this technology that’s been promised at a certain time,” says Wilson, author of “Where’s My Jetpack?” “I look up and say, ‘Where’s all this stuff?’ ”

Some of that futuristic stuff, it turns out, is already here.

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Man arrested in abortion doctor's killing

Dr. George Tiller, whose Wichita, Kansas, women’s clinic has been the target of anti-abortion protests for years, was shot and killed at his church today, his family said. Sunday afternoon, authorities took a man into custody near Kansas City after stopping a car that matched a description of the killer’s getaway vehicle, according to Johnson County, Kansas, sheriff’s deputies. full story

Street Fighter 4 PC Requirements Announced

In case you plan on playing Street Fighter 4 on your PC, here’s the hardware you’ll need to run the game in its minimalistic as well as maxed out glory:

Minimum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows XP
• CPU: Intel Pentium4 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM: 1GB or higher
• HDD: 10GB of free space or more
• Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce6600 series, ATI Radeon X1600 or higher or higher, VRAM :256MB or higher
• Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
• Input Devices: Mouse, Keyboard

Maximum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows Vista
• CPU: Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM: 2GB or higher
• HDD: 10GB of free space or more
• Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce8600 series or higher, ATI Radeon X 1900 or higher, VRAM :512MB or higher
• Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
• Input Devices: Gamepad :Xbox360 Controller for Windows

Street Fighter 4 releases for the PC on 7th of July 2009. Head on over to our review to see why this game deserves a place in your collection irrespective of platform.

Street Fighter 4 PC Requirements Announced

In case you plan on playing Street Fighter 4 on your PC, here’s the hardware you’ll need to run the game in its minimalistic as well as maxed out glory:

Minimum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows XP
• CPU: Intel Pentium4 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM: 1GB or higher
• HDD: 10GB of free space or more
• Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce6600 series, ATI Radeon X1600 or higher or higher, VRAM :256MB or higher
• Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
• Input Devices: Mouse, Keyboard

Maximum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows Vista
• CPU: Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM: 2GB or higher
• HDD: 10GB of free space or more
• Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce8600 series or higher, ATI Radeon X 1900 or higher, VRAM :512MB or higher
• Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible
• Input Devices: Gamepad :Xbox360 Controller for Windows

Street Fighter 4 releases for the PC on 7th of July 2009. Head on over to our review to see why this game deserves a place in your collection irrespective of platform.

Microsoft tweaks antipiracy tech for Windows 7

With Windows 7, Microsoft is making some subtle changes to the ways it tries to thwart piracy. As has been the case for some time, Microsoft’s strategy hinges on requiring a user to electronically verify their copy of the software, a process known as activation, and then the software also periodically validates that a copy of Windows is genuine.

In Windows Vista, if a user does not activate their software immediately, they get a warning that they still need to do so. The dialog box offers two options, to activate immediately or to do so later. However, the activate later box cannot be checked for 15 seconds.

Microsoft decided this was a bit too annoying. With Windows 7, users can click activate later immediately, but then get a dialog box touting the benefits of activation.

It’s the latest effort by Microsoft to scale back the intrusiveness of its technology while still aiming to deter piracy. With the first service pack to Vista, Microsoft made the software significantly more usable to those whose versions of Windows are determined not to be genuine. Before that, Vista systems entered a nearly unusable “reduced functionality mode” once they were deemed to be non-genuine.

“We think we’ve gotten it to a pretty good place where it strikes an effective balance,” said Alex Kochis, director of product management for Microsoft’s Genuine Windows unit. “We’re committed to the program for the long term because it works.”

Microsoft said in December 2007 that it was seeing Windows Vista pirated at only half the rate of Windows XP. Kochis said that general trend has continued.

With Windows 7, Microsoft is also changing the name of its antipiracy technology, from Windows Genuine Advantage to Windows Activation Technologies. The Windows Genuine name took some beatings in the Windows XP time frame, so probably a good move from a PR standpoint.

The software maker is also adding technology designed to make it easier for businesses to activate multiple machines as well as manage activation for virtual machines.

Source: cnet