At best, this will prevent point and click piracy. With HD-DVD already compromised and Blu Ray on its way, I hate the idea of losing CPU cycles for a copy protection scheme that doesn't even work. If it comes to a point that everyone and their grandmother can pirate high defintion content with the click of an icon, can Microsoft make a Windows Update that removes this "feature".
Early adopters will be tolerant of the hicups of a new technology. They also tend to be more technical astute and will use high quality components. Can you imagine the problems that will occur when HDCP goes mainstream? When a mom buys a low end HDTV, a PS3 and the cheapest HDMI cables that Walmart sells. What's the chance that everything will work together without these issues. When kids are around, doing kid things. So the mom will return the "broken" devices. Because of the number of returns, retailers will not want to stock "defective" merchandise.
If you want something that works, wait until the copy protection schemes are broken and download the pirated copy. It's the reverse situation of the fake Rolex. The illegal copy is better than the original. This entire situation could be fixed by the abandoment of HDCP, but that isn't going to happen. As far as the PS3 goes, I guess it's broken by design.
Why is the United States wasting what little good will it has around the world with intellectual property rights issues? Why is the destruction of public domain a top priority? I would think that a potentially nuclear Iran, the Iraq war and global terrorism would take up the time of the diplomats. Are government officials being bought off with cash or sexual favors from aspiring actresses? If the air conditioning/ home heating industry lobbied for international regulations that every building in the world would have to be maintained at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, it would be crazy. I guess public domain now means "Ready to be taken into the possession of a large corporation".
My guess is that government regulators don't understand what's going on. They receive their money/blowjobs from the content industry and do as they are told.
The Xbox 360 and the Wii have completely different paradigms. The Xbox 360 is about ultra realistic graphics, fast paced driving and brutal violence in which strangers are humiliated through Xbox Live. The Wii is about fun games that often can involve friends and family. One is not better than the other, they are simply very different. Which is better: a car or a sheep? On the other hand, the PS3 and Xbox 360 are trying to fill the same purpose. Unless you feel the SIXAXIS feature of the PS3 is equivalent to the Wiimote's functionality.
Sony thought the console market was theirs. They believed they owned it. They felt that they could abuse the loyalty of the gamer market by winning the high definition video disc market on the backs of their customers. They think that the average Sony customer will work their fingers to the bone to buy their console at its outrageous price. Remember, the PS2 started at a price of $300. Since the PS3 is $600, will the PS4 be $900 or $1200? Oddly enough, in the upper middle class area in which I live, the PS3s are not flying off the shelves.
Consciously or not, your entire post explicitly invokes the "guilt/honour by association" logical fallacy
DailyKos taints the discussion. If a right-wing website made reference to the incident and did their partisan best to defame the blogger, that would taint the discussion as well. I believe that a neutral website would provide more background material to place the feud between the blogger and the radio station in context. My main complaint is that we are given very little information by a group of people who have an axe to grind.
If you record someone for months of heated debate and then take their most controversial one line comments, they'll look like a terrible person. This is aggravated by the fact that the talk radio hosts are paid to be controversial and push the boundaries of good taste. That's what the viewers want. If the Justice Department wants to put together a case against them based on threats, so be it.
The blogger probably should have stuck with a transcript. It would have saved him the trouble with Disney and saved on bandwidth costs. Going after copyrighted audio is one thing, going after a transcript makes you look like you have something to hide. And he could included what was said before and after the controversial statements.
i'm glad to see that when you see "black man" you think "criminal"
I have to make a guess at who their talking about because they don't provide much information. If it was a public figure, the name would have probably have been provided. Why would the radio talk show hosts bother saying something nasty about a guy unless they had a reason to? He could be a principal at a high school who wanted to teach evolution, but the article would probably mention that. I'm making guess based on a lack of information. It is clear that his race was only mentioned to inflame racial outrage in the readers of DailyKos. Why would it be mentioned otherwise?
I think you are the sort of person who attempts to take advantage of racial tensions. If someone disagrees with you, you call them a racist. If you don't like a manager at work, you imply racial bias behind their back. Hopefully you aren't in a position to damage people's reputations and careers.
DailyKos and their allies want the radio station shut down because it's a conservative talk radio station. This is just an excuse. There is a complete lack of context to their comments. They mention that the radio talk show hosts suggest that a black man from Nebraska should be tortured to death. My guess is that a particular criminal performed a horrible act and they want him to pay for the act more severely than the law provides (an emotional response). I don't know because it's not mentioned in the article. Just the race baiting key points of "black man" and "torture/execution".
I'm not saying that the radio station shouldn't be shut down. However, I suggest we should base our discussions on more reasonable sources such as the New York Times, the Washington Post and various British papers (not the Guardian). If Rush Limbaugh said that Nancy Pelosi should be removed from office because she was disloyal to the United States, would you take him at his word?
That said, I believe that websites should be allowed to post copyrighted material when it's in the public interest. If they feel that the copyrighted material is violating the law and constitutes a threat, they should be able to bring their case to the public.
Time to polish your tinfoil hats
on
UFOs In the News
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The record and film industry do not want new technologies to be available to the public. They will fight bitterly until the last, until the new medium is forced on them. And then they will make money on it. Think of home video. The film industry brought the VCR manufacturers all the way to the Supreme Court until they lost. Now the film industry makes significantly more money in home video sales than in the theatres. Technology must be imposed non-consentually on the content providers. The manufacturers need to release their products regardless of the complaints of the content providers.
I don't know why Microsoft is bending over for the media companies. They should just publically state that any mandated copy protection will hurt the ability of corporations to develop their own proprietary software. I'm sure there is at least a dozen companies which will gladly provide written statements about how the copy protection hurts their business. Microsoft then gives the media companies the middle finger. Pirates rape the media companies in innovative ways by releasing the content in manners not approved by the owners. The media companies are forced to create new media delivery methods to match consumer demands. This increases their revenues which were stagnant because of media executives who couldn't innovate their way out of a paper bag. The consumer benefits from new options in the market. Everyone benefits from the rape.
I don't believe piracy for profit should be legal. However, I don't believe that non-profit piracy is that bad. Many people would never purchase the movie or television show. Many people later purchase the legal version of the pirated product. For example, let's say a Slashdot reader named Jim missed out on the first 8 episodes of Heroes. He had heard it was a really good show, but didn't want to watch number nine first. Let's say that Jim downloaded the episodes in non-approved manner and watched them. Now Jim is a loyal Heroes watcher. Or let's say that Jim downloads technical books, finds which ones he likes and then purchases them online. Does Jim contribute to the media companies bottom line or does he hurt the media companies bottom line?
First, the PS3 is not the most powerful game machine on the planet. Both Nvidia and ATI are releasing a new generation of very powerful video cards. The 8800 is already out. Any computer with a high end next generation PC Video card is going to be able to curb stomp the PS3. A significant performance gap between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 is far from proven.
Second, the Wii is not that cheap. $249 is not that far off from the $339 for an Xbox 360 Core system with a memory unit. I would prefer a Premium myself, but to each their own. Anyone buying a Wii is buying it because that's the console they want, not because they're cheap. Gameplay is important, but I like decent graphics with my gameplay. We don't know whether the current heavy demand for the Wii is in the general gamer populace or from Zelda fanatics. I'm not trying to be derogatory, it's just that Zelda lovers REALLY love Zelda. 75% of Wii purchasers also bought Zelda.
Third, the Xbox 360 is about to pass the 10 million mark in consoles sold. Whether it happens before Christmas (once the sales figures are calculated) or soon after, it will happen. The Dreamcast sold a total of 10.6 million consoles.
Fourth, the demand for the PS3 has plummeted. Look on eBay right now and look at PS3s for sale. It has dropped down to $100 above MSRP. That's with a crippling shortage. Sony has placed an incredible burden on companies that develop games exclusively for the PS3. Every month, more games drop their exclusivity and are brought over to the Xbox 360.
The Xbox 360 may come in third. Japanese sales are awful. But Japan is third behind the Europe and the U.S. in console sales (remember only 128 million Japanese). As well, many Japanese may opt for the Nintendo DS this generation and forgoe a console. The Japanese live in tight quarters and have long commute times, making a portable the optimal choice. The Xbox 360 is pricey, but the other consoles are pricey for what your getting. The Wii is based on the Gamecube architecture and really should cost about $199 with a game. And nobody wants to pay $599 for a game console. So Microsoft should drop the price of a Premium Xbox 360 to $299 with a game. It would be a much more appropriate price.
1. What is the Device Manager and how do you access it?
2. What are the differences between IDE and SATA?
3. What is the process of installing Windows XP on a blank hard drive?
4. What is Safe Mode?
5. What does RAID stand for?
6. Why should a PC tech wear an anti-static wristband?
7. How do you reinstall a printer driver?
8. What is POST?
9. How do you access "msconfig" and why would you use "msconfig"?
10. How do you change the screen resolution?
Anyone who wants to be a PC tech should be able to answer at least 8 of these questions. You can train them, but they must have some basic knowledge. For entry level tech guidelines, I would consult an A+ certification guide. In fact, you should buy (at company expense) an A+ certification guide and use questions from there. After you hire one of the applicants, give them the guide as a reference for their job. You did say they were entry level after all.
I don't hate children because I think a social project will fail. Throwing technology or money at a problem rarely solves it. Carefully spending money and implementing technology MAY solve a problem. A First World family can purchase a desktop and an Internet connection for a low cost. If desperate, there are computers with an Internet connection in most libraries. How many people take advantage of MIT's online courses to educate themselves? Certainly there are a few, but is it a majority of the populace? Most people in the first world would rather look up Britney Spears' birthday in Wikipedia than read through some undergraduate math courses. Access is not the same as use. If you can do something, it doesn't mean you will do something.
For most people education is about how much it will add to your weekly paycheck. In order to maintain your skills, you need to use them. In the Third World, there isn't the infrastructure to make use of highly educated people. This means that people with university degrees tend to emigrate to the First World. Hati has an emigration rate of about 90% among those with university degrees.
Only if you invest your weekly paycheck. I don't understand why copyrights have to last longer than 20 years. If have a successful song or book, invest the money. If you want to continue making money by making music or writing, create new material. Otherwise, there's always demand for new MacDonald's employees.
Patents expire. Does that mean that no one can make money on patents? Ignore patent trolls and American lawyers for a moment. Think of a company that files a patent and makes the product described by a patent. They have a monopoly for a set period of time, allowing them to sell a product that no one else has. Because the patent will expire, the company needs to continue innovating. Competitors will have access to the patent eventually and will be able to release different (often better) products based on the technology. If the patent system wasn't profitable, no one would file patents.
There are several different options when buying a game console for Christmas. The Xbox and Gamecube have been all but discontinued because of the next generation game consoles. The PS3 is in such short supply that getting one is unlikely. There are more Wiis, but devoted Nintendo fans will snatch them up as soon as they hit stores. The average parent won't be monitoring the stores for new shipments. This leaves the Xbox 360 and the PS2. The high and low cost consoles. The console-educated consumer will buy the console that has the experience that they want. The console-uneducated consumer (most parents) will buy whichever falls into their price range. If the parents have plenty of money, they'll buy a 360. If they want to save money during Christmas, the PS2 is the good choice. If there were more Wiis available, things might be different.
If you compare the price of a 360 and a PS2, the 360 looks too expensive. There is no way that Microsoft can close that gap. However if they bring the price of the 360 closer, more customers will be spend the extra money for the newer console. Sony wants gamers to use the PS2 until they can bring down the manufacturing costs of the PS3 and lower the price. Microsoft has to win over as many gamers as possible before the PS3 comes down in price.
Sony and Microsoft have comparable products. Nintendo is going it's own way. If you want a traditional console with high definition graphics, you'll be choosing an Xbox 360 or a PS3. If you want Nintendo's motion sensing game console, you'll buy a Wii. I consider the purchase of a Wii to be independent of the purchase of either of the other systems. If you can afford a PS3, you can certainly afford to purchase a Wii as well. Because of the Wii's unique control scheme most of it's games will be Wii exclusive. If you want those games, you'll need to buy a Wii. Most of the games on the other two consoles will be ported to both. So someone who wants to buy an Xbox 360 could change their mind and buy a PS3. And vice versa.
It remains to be seen how well the Nintendo Wii will sell once there is sufficient supply. Three quarters of the people who purchased the Wii also purchased Zelda. Did they purchase a Wii because they want a Wii or because they wanted Zelda? The comment I have about non-gamers picking up the Wii is: The Lord of the Rings movies were very popular among non-nerds, but does that mean that those same non-nerds will play D&D every week? People may play the Wii at someone's house and think it's fun, it doesn't mean that they'll go out and purchase one. High definition televisions are coming down in price which will drive people to want high definition content for them. I think the Wii will do fine, I'll just be a devil's advocate to the Nintendo fanboys. Honestly, I don't think the Wii will be third, it will be competing for first with the Xbox 360. The PS3 will be in last place because it has equivalent graphics to the Xbox 360 for a higher price. 1UP has an article called "PS3: What the Cell is Going On?" (with examples), but I can't directly link to it.
Nintendo and Microsoft's consoles are currently profitable per unit (Microsoft's manufacturing costs have decreased dramatically). Sony is in a bad way with the PS3. Short supply with huge losses per unit. If Sony cuts the price, it's competitors can easily match and exceed that cut. A price war between Microsoft and Nintendo would be an unprecedented disaster for Sony. Imagine the reaction of the Big 3 American auto makers if Toyota and Honda had a price war in the U.S.
Second, we would have the same storage just smaller size. Why have a flash memory MP3 player instead of a hard drive MP3 player? Smaller size. I think anyone who has read anything in the Cyber Punk genre knows about implanted memory. Having a few terabytes of internal memory may start to be common place. Have Wikipedia in the head.
And yes pissing off the MPAA would be reason enough to make a player that stored all of the world's video.
No I don't have proof, but having the most prominent retail website in the world hawk your product is worth a lot of cash. The $100 special gets reported by multiple media sources, "1000 Xbox 360s sell out in 9 minutes", "Demand for Xbox 360s brings down Amazon's website". If Sony wants the headlines of people going crazy about the PS3, why wouldn't Microsoft want the same? Does anyone believe that 10 minutes of poor connectivity will hurt a website's reputation? Server problems yes, super cheap deals no. "Oh no, too many people are coming to our website for the great, great deals!" People are going to associate Amazon's name with amazing one time sales, which is only going to help them. Both Microsoft and Amazon have benefited from this sale.
But.. if this was another one of Sony's screwups, they'd be vilified as being "evil" here on/. at this time. Or if it was Nintendo, people would be claiming that Nintendo's screwups just make things more fun or some such nonsense.. =P
I'm being lenient with Microsoft, because the HD download service is not the main function of the Xbox 360. A laptop battery is critical to the functioning of a laptop. When it fails in a manner that can take down an aircraft, people start to complain.
I would make the suggestion that the Xbox 360's small hard drive cripples it's ability to store movies/television shows for any significant length of time. I would prefer a 300 or 400 GB hard drive (3 and half inches of course). That would allow people to store every MP3 that they have and Microsoft could charge for DivX capabilities. It would also make the video download service more viable. When Microsoft moves the Xbox 360 to a 65 nm manufacturing process, I hope they increase the size of the hard drive.
The Wii and the PS3 will both have web browsers. If a web browser works great on a game console, great. But if it doesn't work well, you didn't buy it for the web browser anyway. So if the PS3's web browser sucks, I'll give them a pass.
Nintendo hasn't tried to sell the Wii as anything other than a game console. Sony has been desperately trying to convince people that the Blu Ray drive is worth the high price of the PS3. I have a feeling that there is a lot of internal pressure for Sony not to offer video downloads because of the need to push the Blu Ray format. Sony is a member of both the RIAA and MPAA which cuts down on innovation and makes them the enemy of most Slashdotters.
There will be bugs for a while. Microsoft will attempt to iron out those bugs. Microsoft has the advantage that this is an added feature. People buy the Xbox 360 as a game system, it won't be a big deal if the video download service takes a while to get up and running. Of course people who have paid for downloads that haven't worked will be pissed.
I don't think it's such a big deal if sites with child porn are censored. I don't think that it is a big deal if the sites are nearly child porn. Ok, you can't masturbate to the images of adult women who are dressed up to look like children. Big loss.
I am much more concerned about who gets to decide what "hate speech" is. This is pre-emptive screening, before you get to a court battle. Who gets to decide what sites are hateful? Are activist groups able to get their people into the committees? What about sites that are critical of illegal immigration? Websites that claim to cure homosexuality? What about those critical of Islamic extremism? Israel? Scientology? What about a site that condemns the Catholic Church for being soft on priest pedophiles?
The evolution of society depends on ideas that are initially unpopular. Freedom is the ability to act without the permission of others. A society needs to show that your activities harm others before they should ban it. Oppression comes from the banning of political free speech, not from allowing it.
If a hateful person harms an innocent person, that criminal should be charged with a criminal offence regardless of their political ideology. If you are attempting to sow fear throughout a community, you should be charged with a terrorism offence. If a member of the Klu Klux Klan burns a cross on a black family's lawn, it's the same thing as someone calling in a bomb threat. I believe in the death penalty and I have no problem with the execution of neo-Nazis for killing blacks, Jews, etc.. I just don't believe they should be punished for what they believe.
It is well know that Hitler played ET on an Atari 2600. The Schlieffen Plan was previously known as the ColecoVision Congo Bongo Strategy (damned historians rewriting history). God knows the impact of the Gizmondo's Momma Can I Mow the Lawn on the German mentality.
I was in a movie theatre waiting to see the new James Bond film. It was a Saturday night and it was packed. I had bought my ticket half an hour before the movie started because it was going to sell out. Everyone was talking and it was pretty noisy in the room and it was 60% full. There were ads playing on the screen while everyone was waiting, but it was pre-trailer time and the ads were ignored. When the Gears of War trailer came on the screen and the music started, everyone shutup and watched it. When it was over, people began speaking again.
This holiday season is a best case scenario for Microsoft. They have solved all of the their production problems and have an ample supply. Both Sony and Nintendo are dealing with supply issues (Nintendo less than Sony) and quality control (Nintendo less than Sony). Using Gamespot's reviews, there are 4 games rated between 9.0 and 9.6 and 35 games between 8.0 and 8.9 on the Xbox 360. There are 6 games rated between 8.0 and 8.9 on the Playstation 3. There are 7 games rated between 8.0 and 8.9 on the Wii (don't yell at me, Gamespot rated Zelda 8.8, I've seen it rated higher on other sites). There will be other games released, but right now the Xbox 360 has the better selection of games for next gen consoles. If Microsoft can't dominate this holiday season, then they are going to rank third place this generation.
Does anyone know if the Wii is having backward compatibility issues? I don't want to pick up a Gamecube, but I would like to play Resident Evil 4 (I don't have a PS2 either). If I remember correctly, the Wii is supposed to be backward compatible with the Gamecube.
If High Definition televisions remain terribly expensive and the public remains unconvinced of the benefits of HD, the Wii will have a big advantage over the Xbox 360 and PS3. If HD sets drop rapidly in price and people buy them in droves, the Wii will be in big trouble. Consumers with HD will want a HD experience.
I think it was a mistake for Nintendo to exclude 720p functionality for the Wii. There is a generation switch in televisions between standard def and high def, it would better for the Wii to play both sides of the fence. It would narrow the graphics chasm between it and its competitors.
Both Nintendo and Microsoft will benefit from Sony's shortage fiasco. Let's face it, your not getting a PS3 anytime soon. I must admit that I was surprised to hear that the Wii sold out. Honestly I thought demand was a lot of hot air from Nintendo fan boys and it didn't exist for most of the gamer community. I was wrong. This Christmas it will come down to: do you prefer Gears of War or Zelda?
The advantages of the Wii tend to be double-edged. The innovative controller will attract some people and repel others. Some people want the same type of controller that they had with their Gamecube/Xbox/PS2. Some people (myself included) will need to test it out first. An inexpensive price means lackluster graphics. I understand why some people don't want to pay more money for superior graphics, but a lot of people do. The family friendly nature of Nintendo draws many people to their console, but many gamers want a larger selection of games with brutal violence. The Wii will have some Mature games, but not as many as its rivals.
The Wii may be the dominant console. It's just not written in stone. The PS3 and Xbox 360 have their own advantages and drawbacks that I won't get into right now. If the adoption of high definition television sets is lower than expected, the Wii will be in a very good position.
It was almost as if Microsoft said "Let's throw millions of dollars at a market and see if we can get a piece of it." The fact that it was trying to enter a market that is already flooded with similar products doesn't help. The fact that the Zune is incompatible with Microsoft's music files doesn't help.
This is not to say that Microsoft should stay out of consumer electronics. The Xbox 360 has a good chance of being the dominant console this generation (outside of Japan). The Zune just happens to be a waste of time and money.
Slashdot Mirror
At best, this will prevent point and click piracy. With HD-DVD already compromised and Blu Ray on its way, I hate the idea of losing CPU cycles for a copy protection scheme that doesn't even work. If it comes to a point that everyone and their grandmother can pirate high defintion content with the click of an icon, can Microsoft make a Windows Update that removes this "feature".
Early adopters will be tolerant of the hicups of a new technology. They also tend to be more technical astute and will use high quality components. Can you imagine the problems that will occur when HDCP goes mainstream? When a mom buys a low end HDTV, a PS3 and the cheapest HDMI cables that Walmart sells. What's the chance that everything will work together without these issues. When kids are around, doing kid things. So the mom will return the "broken" devices. Because of the number of returns, retailers will not want to stock "defective" merchandise.
If you want something that works, wait until the copy protection schemes are broken and download the pirated copy. It's the reverse situation of the fake Rolex. The illegal copy is better than the original. This entire situation could be fixed by the abandoment of HDCP, but that isn't going to happen. As far as the PS3 goes, I guess it's broken by design.
Why is the United States wasting what little good will it has around the world with intellectual property rights issues? Why is the destruction of public domain a top priority? I would think that a potentially nuclear Iran, the Iraq war and global terrorism would take up the time of the diplomats. Are government officials being bought off with cash or sexual favors from aspiring actresses? If the air conditioning/ home heating industry lobbied for international regulations that every building in the world would have to be maintained at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, it would be crazy. I guess public domain now means "Ready to be taken into the possession of a large corporation".
My guess is that government regulators don't understand what's going on. They receive their money/blowjobs from the content industry and do as they are told.
The Xbox 360 and the Wii have completely different paradigms. The Xbox 360 is about ultra realistic graphics, fast paced driving and brutal violence in which strangers are humiliated through Xbox Live. The Wii is about fun games that often can involve friends and family. One is not better than the other, they are simply very different. Which is better: a car or a sheep? On the other hand, the PS3 and Xbox 360 are trying to fill the same purpose. Unless you feel the SIXAXIS feature of the PS3 is equivalent to the Wiimote's functionality.
Sony thought the console market was theirs. They believed they owned it. They felt that they could abuse the loyalty of the gamer market by winning the high definition video disc market on the backs of their customers. They think that the average Sony customer will work their fingers to the bone to buy their console at its outrageous price. Remember, the PS2 started at a price of $300. Since the PS3 is $600, will the PS4 be $900 or $1200? Oddly enough, in the upper middle class area in which I live, the PS3s are not flying off the shelves.
DailyKos taints the discussion. If a right-wing website made reference to the incident and did their partisan best to defame the blogger, that would taint the discussion as well. I believe that a neutral website would provide more background material to place the feud between the blogger and the radio station in context. My main complaint is that we are given very little information by a group of people who have an axe to grind.
If you record someone for months of heated debate and then take their most controversial one line comments, they'll look like a terrible person. This is aggravated by the fact that the talk radio hosts are paid to be controversial and push the boundaries of good taste. That's what the viewers want. If the Justice Department wants to put together a case against them based on threats, so be it.
The blogger probably should have stuck with a transcript. It would have saved him the trouble with Disney and saved on bandwidth costs. Going after copyrighted audio is one thing, going after a transcript makes you look like you have something to hide. And he could included what was said before and after the controversial statements.
I have to make a guess at who their talking about because they don't provide much information. If it was a public figure, the name would have probably have been provided. Why would the radio talk show hosts bother saying something nasty about a guy unless they had a reason to? He could be a principal at a high school who wanted to teach evolution, but the article would probably mention that. I'm making guess based on a lack of information. It is clear that his race was only mentioned to inflame racial outrage in the readers of DailyKos. Why would it be mentioned otherwise?
I think you are the sort of person who attempts to take advantage of racial tensions. If someone disagrees with you, you call them a racist. If you don't like a manager at work, you imply racial bias behind their back. Hopefully you aren't in a position to damage people's reputations and careers.
DailyKos and their allies want the radio station shut down because it's a conservative talk radio station. This is just an excuse. There is a complete lack of context to their comments. They mention that the radio talk show hosts suggest that a black man from Nebraska should be tortured to death. My guess is that a particular criminal performed a horrible act and they want him to pay for the act more severely than the law provides (an emotional response). I don't know because it's not mentioned in the article. Just the race baiting key points of "black man" and "torture/execution".
I'm not saying that the radio station shouldn't be shut down. However, I suggest we should base our discussions on more reasonable sources such as the New York Times, the Washington Post and various British papers (not the Guardian). If Rush Limbaugh said that Nancy Pelosi should be removed from office because she was disloyal to the United States, would you take him at his word?
That said, I believe that websites should be allowed to post copyrighted material when it's in the public interest. If they feel that the copyrighted material is violating the law and constitutes a threat, they should be able to bring their case to the public.
Shiny headgear keeps the mind probes at bay.
The record and film industry do not want new technologies to be available to the public. They will fight bitterly until the last, until the new medium is forced on them. And then they will make money on it. Think of home video. The film industry brought the VCR manufacturers all the way to the Supreme Court until they lost. Now the film industry makes significantly more money in home video sales than in the theatres. Technology must be imposed non-consentually on the content providers. The manufacturers need to release their products regardless of the complaints of the content providers.
I don't know why Microsoft is bending over for the media companies. They should just publically state that any mandated copy protection will hurt the ability of corporations to develop their own proprietary software. I'm sure there is at least a dozen companies which will gladly provide written statements about how the copy protection hurts their business. Microsoft then gives the media companies the middle finger. Pirates rape the media companies in innovative ways by releasing the content in manners not approved by the owners. The media companies are forced to create new media delivery methods to match consumer demands. This increases their revenues which were stagnant because of media executives who couldn't innovate their way out of a paper bag. The consumer benefits from new options in the market. Everyone benefits from the rape.
I don't believe piracy for profit should be legal. However, I don't believe that non-profit piracy is that bad. Many people would never purchase the movie or television show. Many people later purchase the legal version of the pirated product. For example, let's say a Slashdot reader named Jim missed out on the first 8 episodes of Heroes. He had heard it was a really good show, but didn't want to watch number nine first. Let's say that Jim downloaded the episodes in non-approved manner and watched them. Now Jim is a loyal Heroes watcher. Or let's say that Jim downloads technical books, finds which ones he likes and then purchases them online. Does Jim contribute to the media companies bottom line or does he hurt the media companies bottom line?
First, the PS3 is not the most powerful game machine on the planet. Both Nvidia and ATI are releasing a new generation of very powerful video cards. The 8800 is already out. Any computer with a high end next generation PC Video card is going to be able to curb stomp the PS3. A significant performance gap between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 is far from proven.
Second, the Wii is not that cheap. $249 is not that far off from the $339 for an Xbox 360 Core system with a memory unit. I would prefer a Premium myself, but to each their own. Anyone buying a Wii is buying it because that's the console they want, not because they're cheap. Gameplay is important, but I like decent graphics with my gameplay. We don't know whether the current heavy demand for the Wii is in the general gamer populace or from Zelda fanatics. I'm not trying to be derogatory, it's just that Zelda lovers REALLY love Zelda. 75% of Wii purchasers also bought Zelda.
Third, the Xbox 360 is about to pass the 10 million mark in consoles sold. Whether it happens before Christmas (once the sales figures are calculated) or soon after, it will happen. The Dreamcast sold a total of 10.6 million consoles.
Fourth, the demand for the PS3 has plummeted. Look on eBay right now and look at PS3s for sale. It has dropped down to $100 above MSRP. That's with a crippling shortage. Sony has placed an incredible burden on companies that develop games exclusively for the PS3. Every month, more games drop their exclusivity and are brought over to the Xbox 360.
The Xbox 360 may come in third. Japanese sales are awful. But Japan is third behind the Europe and the U.S. in console sales (remember only 128 million Japanese). As well, many Japanese may opt for the Nintendo DS this generation and forgoe a console. The Japanese live in tight quarters and have long commute times, making a portable the optimal choice. The Xbox 360 is pricey, but the other consoles are pricey for what your getting. The Wii is based on the Gamecube architecture and really should cost about $199 with a game. And nobody wants to pay $599 for a game console. So Microsoft should drop the price of a Premium Xbox 360 to $299 with a game. It would be a much more appropriate price.
1. What is the Device Manager and how do you access it? 2. What are the differences between IDE and SATA? 3. What is the process of installing Windows XP on a blank hard drive? 4. What is Safe Mode? 5. What does RAID stand for? 6. Why should a PC tech wear an anti-static wristband? 7. How do you reinstall a printer driver? 8. What is POST? 9. How do you access "msconfig" and why would you use "msconfig"? 10. How do you change the screen resolution?
Anyone who wants to be a PC tech should be able to answer at least 8 of these questions. You can train them, but they must have some basic knowledge. For entry level tech guidelines, I would consult an A+ certification guide. In fact, you should buy (at company expense) an A+ certification guide and use questions from there. After you hire one of the applicants, give them the guide as a reference for their job. You did say they were entry level after all.
I don't hate children because I think a social project will fail. Throwing technology or money at a problem rarely solves it. Carefully spending money and implementing technology MAY solve a problem. A First World family can purchase a desktop and an Internet connection for a low cost. If desperate, there are computers with an Internet connection in most libraries. How many people take advantage of MIT's online courses to educate themselves? Certainly there are a few, but is it a majority of the populace? Most people in the first world would rather look up Britney Spears' birthday in Wikipedia than read through some undergraduate math courses. Access is not the same as use. If you can do something, it doesn't mean you will do something.
For most people education is about how much it will add to your weekly paycheck. In order to maintain your skills, you need to use them. In the Third World, there isn't the infrastructure to make use of highly educated people. This means that people with university degrees tend to emigrate to the First World. Hati has an emigration rate of about 90% among those with university degrees.
Only if you invest your weekly paycheck. I don't understand why copyrights have to last longer than 20 years. If have a successful song or book, invest the money. If you want to continue making money by making music or writing, create new material. Otherwise, there's always demand for new MacDonald's employees.
Patents expire. Does that mean that no one can make money on patents? Ignore patent trolls and American lawyers for a moment. Think of a company that files a patent and makes the product described by a patent. They have a monopoly for a set period of time, allowing them to sell a product that no one else has. Because the patent will expire, the company needs to continue innovating. Competitors will have access to the patent eventually and will be able to release different (often better) products based on the technology. If the patent system wasn't profitable, no one would file patents.
There are several different options when buying a game console for Christmas. The Xbox and Gamecube have been all but discontinued because of the next generation game consoles. The PS3 is in such short supply that getting one is unlikely. There are more Wiis, but devoted Nintendo fans will snatch them up as soon as they hit stores. The average parent won't be monitoring the stores for new shipments. This leaves the Xbox 360 and the PS2. The high and low cost consoles. The console-educated consumer will buy the console that has the experience that they want. The console-uneducated consumer (most parents) will buy whichever falls into their price range. If the parents have plenty of money, they'll buy a 360. If they want to save money during Christmas, the PS2 is the good choice. If there were more Wiis available, things might be different.
If you compare the price of a 360 and a PS2, the 360 looks too expensive. There is no way that Microsoft can close that gap. However if they bring the price of the 360 closer, more customers will be spend the extra money for the newer console. Sony wants gamers to use the PS2 until they can bring down the manufacturing costs of the PS3 and lower the price. Microsoft has to win over as many gamers as possible before the PS3 comes down in price.
Sony and Microsoft have comparable products. Nintendo is going it's own way. If you want a traditional console with high definition graphics, you'll be choosing an Xbox 360 or a PS3. If you want Nintendo's motion sensing game console, you'll buy a Wii. I consider the purchase of a Wii to be independent of the purchase of either of the other systems. If you can afford a PS3, you can certainly afford to purchase a Wii as well. Because of the Wii's unique control scheme most of it's games will be Wii exclusive. If you want those games, you'll need to buy a Wii. Most of the games on the other two consoles will be ported to both. So someone who wants to buy an Xbox 360 could change their mind and buy a PS3. And vice versa.
It remains to be seen how well the Nintendo Wii will sell once there is sufficient supply. Three quarters of the people who purchased the Wii also purchased Zelda. Did they purchase a Wii because they want a Wii or because they wanted Zelda? The comment I have about non-gamers picking up the Wii is: The Lord of the Rings movies were very popular among non-nerds, but does that mean that those same non-nerds will play D&D every week? People may play the Wii at someone's house and think it's fun, it doesn't mean that they'll go out and purchase one. High definition televisions are coming down in price which will drive people to want high definition content for them. I think the Wii will do fine, I'll just be a devil's advocate to the Nintendo fanboys. Honestly, I don't think the Wii will be third, it will be competing for first with the Xbox 360. The PS3 will be in last place because it has equivalent graphics to the Xbox 360 for a higher price. 1UP has an article called "PS3: What the Cell is Going On?" (with examples), but I can't directly link to it.
Nintendo and Microsoft's consoles are currently profitable per unit (Microsoft's manufacturing costs have decreased dramatically). Sony is in a bad way with the PS3. Short supply with huge losses per unit. If Sony cuts the price, it's competitors can easily match and exceed that cut. A price war between Microsoft and Nintendo would be an unprecedented disaster for Sony. Imagine the reaction of the Big 3 American auto makers if Toyota and Honda had a price war in the U.S.
Second, we would have the same storage just smaller size. Why have a flash memory MP3 player instead of a hard drive MP3 player? Smaller size. I think anyone who has read anything in the Cyber Punk genre knows about implanted memory. Having a few terabytes of internal memory may start to be common place. Have Wikipedia in the head.
And yes pissing off the MPAA would be reason enough to make a player that stored all of the world's video.
No I don't have proof, but having the most prominent retail website in the world hawk your product is worth a lot of cash. The $100 special gets reported by multiple media sources, "1000 Xbox 360s sell out in 9 minutes", "Demand for Xbox 360s brings down Amazon's website". If Sony wants the headlines of people going crazy about the PS3, why wouldn't Microsoft want the same? Does anyone believe that 10 minutes of poor connectivity will hurt a website's reputation? Server problems yes, super cheap deals no. "Oh no, too many people are coming to our website for the great, great deals!" People are going to associate Amazon's name with amazing one time sales, which is only going to help them. Both Microsoft and Amazon have benefited from this sale.
I'm being lenient with Microsoft, because the HD download service is not the main function of the Xbox 360. A laptop battery is critical to the functioning of a laptop. When it fails in a manner that can take down an aircraft, people start to complain.
I would make the suggestion that the Xbox 360's small hard drive cripples it's ability to store movies/television shows for any significant length of time. I would prefer a 300 or 400 GB hard drive (3 and half inches of course). That would allow people to store every MP3 that they have and Microsoft could charge for DivX capabilities. It would also make the video download service more viable. When Microsoft moves the Xbox 360 to a 65 nm manufacturing process, I hope they increase the size of the hard drive.
The Wii and the PS3 will both have web browsers. If a web browser works great on a game console, great. But if it doesn't work well, you didn't buy it for the web browser anyway. So if the PS3's web browser sucks, I'll give them a pass.
Nintendo hasn't tried to sell the Wii as anything other than a game console. Sony has been desperately trying to convince people that the Blu Ray drive is worth the high price of the PS3. I have a feeling that there is a lot of internal pressure for Sony not to offer video downloads because of the need to push the Blu Ray format. Sony is a member of both the RIAA and MPAA which cuts down on innovation and makes them the enemy of most Slashdotters.
There will be bugs for a while. Microsoft will attempt to iron out those bugs. Microsoft has the advantage that this is an added feature. People buy the Xbox 360 as a game system, it won't be a big deal if the video download service takes a while to get up and running. Of course people who have paid for downloads that haven't worked will be pissed.
I don't think it's such a big deal if sites with child porn are censored. I don't think that it is a big deal if the sites are nearly child porn. Ok, you can't masturbate to the images of adult women who are dressed up to look like children. Big loss.
I am much more concerned about who gets to decide what "hate speech" is. This is pre-emptive screening, before you get to a court battle. Who gets to decide what sites are hateful? Are activist groups able to get their people into the committees? What about sites that are critical of illegal immigration? Websites that claim to cure homosexuality? What about those critical of Islamic extremism? Israel? Scientology? What about a site that condemns the Catholic Church for being soft on priest pedophiles?
The evolution of society depends on ideas that are initially unpopular. Freedom is the ability to act without the permission of others. A society needs to show that your activities harm others before they should ban it. Oppression comes from the banning of political free speech, not from allowing it.
If a hateful person harms an innocent person, that criminal should be charged with a criminal offence regardless of their political ideology. If you are attempting to sow fear throughout a community, you should be charged with a terrorism offence. If a member of the Klu Klux Klan burns a cross on a black family's lawn, it's the same thing as someone calling in a bomb threat. I believe in the death penalty and I have no problem with the execution of neo-Nazis for killing blacks, Jews, etc.. I just don't believe they should be punished for what they believe.
It is well know that Hitler played ET on an Atari 2600. The Schlieffen Plan was previously known as the ColecoVision Congo Bongo Strategy (damned historians rewriting history). God knows the impact of the Gizmondo's Momma Can I Mow the Lawn on the German mentality.
I was in a movie theatre waiting to see the new James Bond film. It was a Saturday night and it was packed. I had bought my ticket half an hour before the movie started because it was going to sell out. Everyone was talking and it was pretty noisy in the room and it was 60% full. There were ads playing on the screen while everyone was waiting, but it was pre-trailer time and the ads were ignored. When the Gears of War trailer came on the screen and the music started, everyone shutup and watched it. When it was over, people began speaking again.
This holiday season is a best case scenario for Microsoft. They have solved all of the their production problems and have an ample supply. Both Sony and Nintendo are dealing with supply issues (Nintendo less than Sony) and quality control (Nintendo less than Sony). Using Gamespot's reviews, there are 4 games rated between 9.0 and 9.6 and 35 games between 8.0 and 8.9 on the Xbox 360. There are 6 games rated between 8.0 and 8.9 on the Playstation 3. There are 7 games rated between 8.0 and 8.9 on the Wii (don't yell at me, Gamespot rated Zelda 8.8, I've seen it rated higher on other sites). There will be other games released, but right now the Xbox 360 has the better selection of games for next gen consoles. If Microsoft can't dominate this holiday season, then they are going to rank third place this generation.
Does anyone know if the Wii is having backward compatibility issues? I don't want to pick up a Gamecube, but I would like to play Resident Evil 4 (I don't have a PS2 either). If I remember correctly, the Wii is supposed to be backward compatible with the Gamecube.
If High Definition televisions remain terribly expensive and the public remains unconvinced of the benefits of HD, the Wii will have a big advantage over the Xbox 360 and PS3. If HD sets drop rapidly in price and people buy them in droves, the Wii will be in big trouble. Consumers with HD will want a HD experience.
I think it was a mistake for Nintendo to exclude 720p functionality for the Wii. There is a generation switch in televisions between standard def and high def, it would better for the Wii to play both sides of the fence. It would narrow the graphics chasm between it and its competitors.
Both Nintendo and Microsoft will benefit from Sony's shortage fiasco. Let's face it, your not getting a PS3 anytime soon. I must admit that I was surprised to hear that the Wii sold out. Honestly I thought demand was a lot of hot air from Nintendo fan boys and it didn't exist for most of the gamer community. I was wrong. This Christmas it will come down to: do you prefer Gears of War or Zelda?
I said a "has a good chance", not "will".
The advantages of the Wii tend to be double-edged. The innovative controller will attract some people and repel others. Some people want the same type of controller that they had with their Gamecube/Xbox/PS2. Some people (myself included) will need to test it out first. An inexpensive price means lackluster graphics. I understand why some people don't want to pay more money for superior graphics, but a lot of people do. The family friendly nature of Nintendo draws many people to their console, but many gamers want a larger selection of games with brutal violence. The Wii will have some Mature games, but not as many as its rivals.
The Wii may be the dominant console. It's just not written in stone. The PS3 and Xbox 360 have their own advantages and drawbacks that I won't get into right now. If the adoption of high definition television sets is lower than expected, the Wii will be in a very good position.
It was almost as if Microsoft said "Let's throw millions of dollars at a market and see if we can get a piece of it." The fact that it was trying to enter a market that is already flooded with similar products doesn't help. The fact that the Zune is incompatible with Microsoft's music files doesn't help.
This is not to say that Microsoft should stay out of consumer electronics. The Xbox 360 has a good chance of being the dominant console this generation (outside of Japan). The Zune just happens to be a waste of time and money.