So... quick miniature movie review. I may sit down to do a longer one soon but for now this is where it's at.

Star Trek Into Darkness.

So... first thing. We already know this is a reboot. This is not your mother and father's Star Trek. This is not a TV series, this is not shiny happy utopian-future. Things in the background are different, character motivations are different, some characters actually GET to have motivations now instead of being setpieces. Go with it.

Second thing. Yes, they brought back a villain. Yes, it's exactly who you think it is. Yes, the reveal happens pretty early and no, you won't care. Again: things are different. The federation has gone in a different direction because they got the #$%#$ scared out of them twice and pulled a Brave Sir Robin when Kirk was still in diapers, and have proceeded to go all Sir Lancelot The Homicidally Brave since the destruction of Vulcan.

The Klingon scene is brief but it's good to see them get screen time and it's good to realize they can be a creditable villain again.

Yes, there are shout-outs to fans in this movie. Nods to what has gone before and nods to what is different. You know what? I don't really care. This was a GREAT movie. I enjoyed the heck out of every minute of it. I enjoyed the realization that this isn't going to be the same Trek we've seen before, and I enjoyed the idea that this might, actually, have some chance to start the series getting back to TV where it really belongs.

Go see the movie. Set aside the worries, set aside the "but that's not canon", set aside the differences. Enjoy it for what it is.

Second star to the right, straight on til morning.

Here's an interesting theory on why Microsoft's kernel isn't updated as often as the Linux kernel family is:

See, component owners are generally openly hostile to outside patches: if you're a dev, accepting an outside patch makes your lead angry (due to the need to maintain this patch and to justify in in shiproom the unplanned design change), makes test angry (because test is on the hook for making sure the change doesn't break anything, and you just made work for them), and PM is angry (due to the schedule implications of code churn). There's just no incentive to accept changes from outside your own team. You can always find a reason to say "no", and you have very little incentive to say "yes".

There's also little incentive to create changes in the first place. On linux-kernel, if you improve the performance of directory traversal by a consistent 5%, you're praised and thanked. Here, if you do that and you're not on the object manager team, then even if you do get your code past the Ob owners and into the tree, your own management doesn't care.

Now, this might be inherent to business - after all, Linux doesn't have companies demanding that patches don't break their entire business model.

Story submitted by user Laromicas:

A new version of this glide wrapper is out.
nGlide is a freeware Glide wrapper for Windows and DOS games. It allows you to play 3Dfx games on modern GeForce/Radeon graphics cards. Some of them are Diablo 2, Need for Speed 2-5, Carmageddon 2, Tomb Raider, Turok. All three API versions are supported, Glide 2.1 (glide.dll), Glide 2.4 (glide2x.dll) and Glide 3.0 (glide3x.dll). Glide wrapper also supports high resolution modes.
More information in its web. Link

He's not really gone. Just making movies spookier in a different way.

But alas... RIP Ray Harryhausen, 92 years old.

This is just too juicy an analogy not to explore.

But maybe Microsoft can turn it around, if the analogy works. And if they don't insult customers further by trying to force us into "what they think we want" rather than giving us what we actually want.

Here are some indie game developers with their own take, plus a little trickery.

I'm amazed this idea came from a Republican - the thought is to make grade-appropriate science fiction mandatory reading in schools.

I agree. Let's stimulate some young minds!

Ever wondered what happens when you rely on "the cloud" too much? One reporter recently found out:

A few minutes into my Google-less existence, I realized how dependent I had become. I couldn’t finish my work or my taxes, because my notes and expenses were stored in Google Drive, and I didn’t know what else I should work on because my Google calendar had disappeared. I couldn’t publicly gripe about what I was going through, because my Blogger no longer existed. My Picasa albums were gone. I’d lost my contacts and calling plan through Google Voice; otherwise I would have called friends to cry.

... Sure, it had occurred to me when I had moved my work and memories into the “cloud” that I was relying on other people to keep them safe on their servers. But I figured a company with $50 billion in revenues and the modest aim to “organize the world’s information” had to run a tight ship. Anyway, it seemed implicit that in allowing Google to use my data, I could rely on Google to hold on to it—and to give it back.

In reality, I discovered, Google assumes no responsibility over user data nor is it required by law to do so. In the same notice informing me that it had disabled my account, Google told me for the first time that it reserves the right to “terminate your account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.”

Emphasis added.

Moral of the story: don't rely on "the cloud" for your storage. It can easily turn on you.

This is an absolutely brilliant and nigh-exhaustive rendition of the list of EA's crimes against gaming.

You owe it to yourself to read it. EA's done the gaming world an amazing amount of hurt, and even I'd forgotten a lot of this.

Word from the sales arena isn't good - Windows 8 is apparently responsible for a massive drop in PC sales.

The problem? Touchscreens are not just inwieldy in a desk environment, they add to costs of a PC.

All signs so far point to Windows 8 being a flop.

"Unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only didn't provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market," IDC Vice President Bob O'Donnell said.

The newest version of Windows is designed to work well with touch-sensitive screens, but the displays add to the cost of a PC. Together, the changes and higher prices "have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices," O'Donnell said.