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Jenny Hogan says, imagine movies and computer games in which you get to smell, taste and perhaps even feel things. That’s the tantalising prospect raised by a patent on a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain – granted to none other than the entertainment giant Sony.

The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating “sensory experiences” ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims. Read more.

Alexander Prohorenko says, IPC is one of the most important features of the UNIX systems. It allows two processes to communicate with each other. In this article we’ll work with two System V IPC functions, semaphores and shared memory. System V IPC originated in SVR2, but has implementations by numerous vendors. It’s also available in SVR4.

IPC is a complex concept. The term includes various mechanisms of data exchange between processes started on one system. IPC lets you avoid creating a huge application with a big set of the diversified functions in favor of using separate, small applications that can exchange data with each other. While this is more of a traditional Unix approach, using separate applications allows multiprocessor systems to execute applications in separate threads to reduce the time of performing specific tasks. Read more.

Bruce Potter says, selecting an operating system for use in your enterprise can be a complicated decision. Licensing costs, supported software, hardware options, reliability, and current administration capabilities all are part of the equation. Security is also a concern, but sometimes it’s difficult to determine what “security” really means with respect to selecting an operating system. Further, the major operating system choices have a great deal of marketing hype with respect to security, but it’s hard to cut through the hype and make a decision that’s best for your environment.

Ultimately, the choice you make in operating systems for your enterprise is a choice you’ll have to live with for years. Migrating from one operating system to another can be an expensive proposition. So it’s best to make your choice in an educated manner. Security, while maybe not your highest priority, is an aspect of the operating system that will certainly have long-term ramifications. This article provides one view of operating system security that I hope will help you in your decision. While I have my own opinion on what OS you should choose—I’ll just tell you upfront that I’m a FreeBSD zealot—I’m going to try not to let my opinions get in the way of the facts at hand. Read more.

Metagame Staff says, Tim Batow is the Vegas $10K Champion!

Coming into Sunday, Curve Sentinels was the talk of the tournament. It placed four players in the Top 8 and another in ninth, but by the time the finals rolled around, the machines were gone. Only Batow’s My Beloved and Adam Prosak’s Teen Titans still stood.

There was nothing predictable about Batow’s path to victory. After starting the tournament 6-0, he won a must-win 10th round match to make it to Sunday’s single elimination rounds. In the quarterfinals, Batow avenged his first loss, defeating Jeremy Borchardt and Medium Brotherhood. In the semis, he took out the last of the Sentinels, piloted by Cesar de Leon. Then it was down to him and Prosak.

Fittingly, the final went the full three games, after Prosak narrowly missed ending the tournament in two. In the end, Flame Trap was the deal-breaker, with Bane Ubu and Dick Grayson ◊ Nightwing serving the final blows. For his efforts, Batow receives $2,500 and ten Pro Circuit points, not to mention some bragging rights. Congratulations to Tim Batow, the 2005 Vegas $10K Champion. Read more.

Tim Batow says, the reason Mono-League didnt do very well is because My Beloved is practically strictly better. The only advantages Mono League has are Merlyn’s Cosmic ability, Flying Fortress, Lazarus Pit, and 3 Drop Ubu.

My Beloved’s advantages clearly outshine Mono-Leagues, and you dont bend over to Kaboom, nor have to run the ‘Terrapeable’ Kyle Abbot. Beloved gives you Alfred, the best two drop in the game (Spoiler), and the best combat Oriented 4-Drop in the game (Cassandra Cain, excluding Tooth).

Beloved is simply a very good Aggro-Control deck; it is the “New Common Enemy.” While it does have Loyalty issues, it is less reliant than Common Enemy on getting its teamup online, and can function perfectly fine without it. It is practically immune to Foiled/Kaboom (ditch Beloveds/Stronghold to Ras-6), and provides amazing counter abilities in Babel, Fizzle, and Utility Belt. The deck isnt very difficult to wield, but is very difficult to play against. While its drops are smaller than Common Enemy’s, they have better abilities, and Ras-8 will end up winning more games than Surfer.

I played Mono League for about a month after the PCLA 15k (I placed 2nd in the DC side with it before I had to drop to catch my plane flight), and decided it really didnt have enough going for it. You are forced to run 8 horrible 2-drops to support Ubu and Demons Head, and lose any games you do not hit a 2-drop. The deck was also incredibly reliant on having Odd initiatives for Bane and Lady Shiva. I decided to make the switch to My Beloved and practically played mono-Gotham with the few things I liked from mono-League (Their late game, Bane, Babel, Stronghold, and Initiate). Read more.