Is there any new information here? It is common knowledge that the WiFi will only be utilized for those things when the Zune ships. Not sure where anybody ever got the idea that it would connect to the internet as per posts on/. weeks ago it seemed pretty obvious. However, the one point of value that I suppose Engadget and the poster have in going into this again is that those that were not quick enough to put 2 and 2 together now know the facts straight from the horses mouth.
I'd have to take anything that security solution companies say with a grain of salt. I am sure that most of these companies are a bit pertubed with MS getting into an area that they consider to be traditionally theirs.
The new steps in Vista will make the product more secure. In that, it might also make it harder for these third party programs to be as integrated with it.
The is room for improvement I think, but on the bright side I really like the aspect that you don't have to purchase a new Dell to get the service.
That allows people to move away from their Dell product without penalizing the environment for it. Now, it would be great if they offered to pick up non-Dell computers too when you make a purhase and want to get rid of the old stuff. Hopefully more companies will take initiative in this.
The main problem that I forsee is that it seems to me like os many different companies are pursuing their own form of what will be the successor to flash. What kind of implementation will this have, and is it going to negatively affect the customer by increasing the number of devices that are incompatible?
That is a strange and complex plant. There are really some fascinating plants out there though... though I have to admit that is in the top ten that I know of.
Now if only we can genetically modify them to attack other Dodder plants.
So you're saying that gamers are so out of shape that its going to put the hurting on you to play tennis for an hour?
See, in my opinion that is one of the greatest benefits that the Nintendo has. Imgine the marketing campaigns that they will be able to use and tell parents that their children will... now get this *actually get a work-out* while playing. Now, its not going to be the same thing, but it is still better than being totally dormant.
I am looking forward to playing some tennis, etc with my wife. I can't convince her to play traditional games, but if there is some physical activity involved she might consider playing every now and then.
Some statements here try to push liberals as being the scientific backbone of the country and conservatives as monkeys that hang on trees and believe every wild thing that comes along.
I am a moderate (try to stick to the middle)... but that just isn't true. I have some conservative aspects to me, but that doesn't mean that I don't hold science as the premier authority on what is and what is not.
In fact, I am much less religious than most that are quite liberal. Everybody has beliefs, even when they try to convince society that they don't really. That said, when I approach any situation I true to determine the truth in it and what is accurate. Many people that I know that are quite far left are just as guilty of believing without thinking. If I took evolution or ID and believed either without thoroughly disecting them, then I've just followed my belief instead of something that I know to be a fact.
People do it every day... whether to the right or to the left. Lets start a new party. The party that uses their brains to accurately determine the truth of what is and what is not.
This is merely a marketing ploy. Lets be realistic, the fine print will actually keep this occuring in almost any instance.
I am also betting that there will be additional fine print about the identity theft... as it occurs so frequently. Plus, you will have to follow their guidelines. Which will probably include industry best practice information... which if you were willing to follow that, in most instances you wouldn't have a problem with identity theft anyways.
Oh, and btw, as others have said... many credit cards offer programs to protect your information from potential online predetors. My credit card company (which shall go un-named) has a function that allows you to create a temporary credit card number and put a max available balance on it.
So if I make a purchase for $9 from an online merchant, I put $10 on a temporary card # and if a hacker gets in he/she would have a max of about $1 on that. That puts me in a great position because I don't have to run around trying to fix my credit. On the other hand, it benefits my credit card company and lowers their risk.
Are pretty much all credit card companies offering this feature now?
I know it is a completely different thing, but the EFF put a bunch of custom chips on boards (60+) and could crack the "then" nearly uncrackable DES crypto in a matter of 5 days.
That said, anybody want to bet the NSA is going to be the first people on the list when these things become practical in another couple years?
I have to admit, the idea is certainly cool, but there are some experiences that I would just as soon forget. Along with that, giving others the ability to catalog and disect my life as they wish isn't necessary a fun thought.
I remember back some years ago when the occasional person would try to document their life or wear around a camera so that people could see what they were doing as they went through-out the day. The idea seemed cool, but I wouldn't want to be on the sending end of that data.
If people complain about current "invasion of privacy" issues, then they shouldn't jump into line to strap anything to themselves that record every aspect of their life. Sure I can see the benefit of being able to turn on something to capture a moment... but we already have that with the current line of digital cameras. The only thing that I could wish for is to make them smaller so that I can carry it around better.
average consumer. Lets face it, most of us aren't going to see anything along these lines for quite some time. So while I give a nod at the excitement surrounding the technical research going on here, it isn't going to do much for me having to run bloated software on my work computer. And we certainly aren't going to see a "Beowulf full of these" anytime soon.
That said, I think that the benefit these will have on the scientific community (as well as servers, etc potentially) will be quite high and some time in a dozen or so years there will be practical products developed from this technology.
For some reason when I saw this initially I wondered if they might have some kind of potential use in artificial intelligence. For one the processing power available, but perhaps the ability to leverage the various cores will bring about some efficiencies that make it more practical.
Microsoft... I know you guys love Halo. Heck, so do I. However, I don't know if the answer to that is to develop a whole bunch of different split offs from the main Halo in an attempt to suc every last penny out that the brand is worth. Why?
Dilution. You don't like other people lituing your brans, so don't make the mistake of doing it yourself by over using it. We could perhaps use a new Halo more often, but don't have more than one split off from it. Even that makes me cringe a little. Bad things happen when companies dilute their brands (among them is that we, the customers, end up getting poor quality products).
As others have stated, this concept really isnt all that new. One of the main problems with it is having the clout to make all the little shops, etc set up on the net to play ball. That really isn't an easy thing to do and the primary reason why ventures like this in the past have failed.
There is still also a barrier to overcome in convinving people that their data is safe online.. and they are especially fearful of any service that claims to be acceptable at any store. Why? Because in the publics mind that equates to lower security.
I believe that eventually something along these lines will happen. However, it is going to take a whole lot of push for a company like this to stick it to Google and their plans for Google Checkout.
First off, more breakthroughs than ever are being made these days. Our technological advances are being made at an almost "silly" rate. We have made so many more in the past century than in the millenium that preceeded it. Why? Better education, greater body of knowledge, and of course computing doesn't hurt. So yes, there are alot of breakthroughts taking place.
However, the term is also used as marketing hype. It still has a buzz to it after all these years of being misused, so I don't think companies will stop using it as a marketing scheme.
In reference to IBM in the article... they certainly use the term "breakthrough", and much of what they do deserves recognition as such as they have pushed the envelope with their R&D. Of course Intel has also done a fantastic job. Some of what these companies do isn't necessary ground breaking work, as it has been done before. So I find it difficult to determine if the term should be used still since the work has been done before, but the difference is that when one of these large companies does it, it is so much more likely to succeed.
Great idea, mod a troll and make a silly comment... it'll make you seem intelligent in front of all the/.ers? What more could you wish for.
Fact of the matter is, if you can't create a product with high end design elements at that price, it isn't going to sell that well. I haven't seen an angle of this that I am been impressed with yet.
So clearly I haven't seen one of these in action. I was basing my impressions on images provided. However, I'd bet that the product is going to fail, and the only point you made that will be relevant is the last one. Which was mine. For $300 you'd better have a great looking, functional product.
I hate to say this, but the reader looks horrible. First off, the quality seems low. It certainly isn't stylish, and you aren't going to see people pulling them out in public to show off their gear (like iPods were back a few years ago). The material also looks poor.
Hrm, so no color screen.. and the pics don't show much backlighting. So no really good things to say so far. At first glance I'd say it's a flop.
Seriously, we already had to worry about things falling in while the doctor had us splayed open... now we have to worry about things falling out.
Hrmm, 30 seconds to perform a surgery? Oh no, even better.. we're going to tell the guy to hold on for 10 minutes while we gain enough altitude to drop again. Super. Just pony up the extra bucks and pay Bigelow to throw a couple docs and a patient up in one of his balloons.
Good replies guys, that added a little more for me to think about. I hadn't thought of Google using their regular search algorithm in froogle, but that is almost exactly what seemed to be occuring. I certainly hope that they will refine that so that we can find results that are very relevant, instead of just "kinda sorta".
Also, very interesting about Google advertising and conflict of interest in search returns that they had. There has to be a better way to do it. Perhaps to display exact pricing, but those that pay for advertising get their names highlighted and get use of Google Checkout. Or something along those lines. There has to be some benefit to advertising... while still allowing the search results to accurately display pricing and ratings (depending on which you refine your search).
At least for me. Whenever I tried to use it the results I got weren't that great at all. By searching a few other sites I was often able to find cheaper prices than those found on Froogle. I'm not sure what the reason for that was, but it just didn't seem to find me the best prices.
Plus, on top of that it's search wasn't accurate enough. For instance, if I searched for "television" and "LCD" then it would throw in a bunch of peripheral items that I would then have to search through. Doing a search for that now seems to be a bit more accurate than last I checked though, perhaps they are making it more accurate.
Either way, combining it with the regular search engine would be a great idea in my opinion. That'll make it more efficient to do searches.
Unless your job is OSS cheer leader, it isn't your job to push software on people that they didn't ask for. Or at least, to install it without asking them.
You need to inform them of their choices, and then if they wish to proceed, then install it.
Unless they tell you to though, stop trying to convert people... this isn't a religion, and you're supposed to be a professional.
The difference here just might be that Sony is selling a product WITHOUT ANY cars or courses to run them on. So you could basically buy the product and be able to sit there and look at how pretty the GUI is.
So I think that your analogy to MS about expansions, consumeable, etc misses the point. Because when those games shipped, the reality of the situation is that you could at least use them.
Now, if Sony was going ot ship their product for $10 and charge that for the cars, then by all means. However, if they plan on charging the full price of game for a version that doesn't include cars or courses then that is rediculous.
Slashdot Mirror
Is there any new information here? It is common knowledge that the WiFi will only be utilized for those things when the Zune ships. Not sure where anybody ever got the idea that it would connect to the internet as per posts on /. weeks ago it seemed pretty obvious. However, the one point of value that I suppose Engadget and the poster have in going into this again is that those that were not quick enough to put 2 and 2 together now know the facts straight from the horses mouth.
Justin
http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/
I'd have to take anything that security solution companies say with a grain of salt. I am sure that most of these companies are a bit pertubed with MS getting into an area that they consider to be traditionally theirs.
The new steps in Vista will make the product more secure. In that, it might also make it harder for these third party programs to be as integrated with it.
Justin
http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/
The is room for improvement I think, but on the bright side I really like the aspect that you don't have to purchase a new Dell to get the service.
That allows people to move away from their Dell product without penalizing the environment for it. Now, it would be great if they offered to pick up non-Dell computers too when you make a purhase and want to get rid of the old stuff. Hopefully more companies will take initiative in this.
Justin
http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/
The main problem that I forsee is that it seems to me like os many different companies are pursuing their own form of what will be the successor to flash. What kind of implementation will this have, and is it going to negatively affect the customer by increasing the number of devices that are incompatible?
That is a strange and complex plant. There are really some fascinating plants out there though... though I have to admit that is in the top ten that I know of.
Now if only we can genetically modify them to attack other Dodder plants.
So you're saying that gamers are so out of shape that its going to put the hurting on you to play tennis for an hour?
See, in my opinion that is one of the greatest benefits that the Nintendo has. Imgine the marketing campaigns that they will be able to use and tell parents that their children will... now get this *actually get a work-out* while playing. Now, its not going to be the same thing, but it is still better than being totally dormant.
I am looking forward to playing some tennis, etc with my wife. I can't convince her to play traditional games, but if there is some physical activity involved she might consider playing every now and then.
Some statements here try to push liberals as being the scientific backbone of the country and conservatives as monkeys that hang on trees and believe every wild thing that comes along.
I am a moderate (try to stick to the middle)... but that just isn't true. I have some conservative aspects to me, but that doesn't mean that I don't hold science as the premier authority on what is and what is not.
In fact, I am much less religious than most that are quite liberal. Everybody has beliefs, even when they try to convince society that they don't really. That said, when I approach any situation I true to determine the truth in it and what is accurate. Many people that I know that are quite far left are just as guilty of believing without thinking. If I took evolution or ID and believed either without thoroughly disecting them, then I've just followed my belief instead of something that I know to be a fact.
People do it every day... whether to the right or to the left. Lets start a new party. The party that uses their brains to accurately determine the truth of what is and what is not.
This is merely a marketing ploy. Lets be realistic, the fine print will actually keep this occuring in almost any instance.
I am also betting that there will be additional fine print about the identity theft... as it occurs so frequently. Plus, you will have to follow their guidelines. Which will probably include industry best practice information... which if you were willing to follow that, in most instances you wouldn't have a problem with identity theft anyways.
Oh, and btw, as others have said... many credit cards offer programs to protect your information from potential online predetors. My credit card company (which shall go un-named) has a function that allows you to create a temporary credit card number and put a max available balance on it.
So if I make a purchase for $9 from an online merchant, I put $10 on a temporary card # and if a hacker gets in he/she would have a max of about $1 on that. That puts me in a great position because I don't have to run around trying to fix my credit. On the other hand, it benefits my credit card company and lowers their risk.
Are pretty much all credit card companies offering this feature now?
I guess that means they really aren't passing on those cost savings on to us huh?
Disturbing, but it makes complete sense.
Having all the cores on one board like this rather reminds me of EFF's Deep Crack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFF_DES_cracker
I know it is a completely different thing, but the EFF put a bunch of custom chips on boards (60+) and could crack the "then" nearly uncrackable DES crypto in a matter of 5 days.
That said, anybody want to bet the NSA is going to be the first people on the list when these things become practical in another couple years?
I have to admit, the idea is certainly cool, but there are some experiences that I would just as soon forget. Along with that, giving others the ability to catalog and disect my life as they wish isn't necessary a fun thought.
I remember back some years ago when the occasional person would try to document their life or wear around a camera so that people could see what they were doing as they went through-out the day. The idea seemed cool, but I wouldn't want to be on the sending end of that data.
If people complain about current "invasion of privacy" issues, then they shouldn't jump into line to strap anything to themselves that record every aspect of their life. Sure I can see the benefit of being able to turn on something to capture a moment... but we already have that with the current line of digital cameras. The only thing that I could wish for is to make them smaller so that I can carry it around better.
average consumer. Lets face it, most of us aren't going to see anything along these lines for quite some time. So while I give a nod at the excitement surrounding the technical research going on here, it isn't going to do much for me having to run bloated software on my work computer. And we certainly aren't going to see a "Beowulf full of these" anytime soon.
That said, I think that the benefit these will have on the scientific community (as well as servers, etc potentially) will be quite high and some time in a dozen or so years there will be practical products developed from this technology.
For some reason when I saw this initially I wondered if they might have some kind of potential use in artificial intelligence. For one the processing power available, but perhaps the ability to leverage the various cores will bring about some efficiencies that make it more practical.
Whoops, somebody slipped.
It's a common mistake... and it makes me feel special, because even my computer is faster than that.
Who needs R&D anyways?
Anyhow, we'll just send them the Wiki article on Teraflops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teraflop
Microsoft... I know you guys love Halo. Heck, so do I. However, I don't know if the answer to that is to develop a whole bunch of different split offs from the main Halo in an attempt to suc every last penny out that the brand is worth. Why?
Dilution. You don't like other people lituing your brans, so don't make the mistake of doing it yourself by over using it. We could perhaps use a new Halo more often, but don't have more than one split off from it. Even that makes me cringe a little. Bad things happen when companies dilute their brands (among them is that we, the customers, end up getting poor quality products).
As others have stated, this concept really isnt all that new. One of the main problems with it is having the clout to make all the little shops, etc set up on the net to play ball. That really isn't an easy thing to do and the primary reason why ventures like this in the past have failed.
There is still also a barrier to overcome in convinving people that their data is safe online.. and they are especially fearful of any service that claims to be acceptable at any store. Why? Because in the publics mind that equates to lower security.
I believe that eventually something along these lines will happen. However, it is going to take a whole lot of push for a company like this to stick it to Google and their plans for Google Checkout.
There are two sides to this...
First off, more breakthroughs than ever are being made these days. Our technological advances are being made at an almost "silly" rate. We have made so many more in the past century than in the millenium that preceeded it. Why? Better education, greater body of knowledge, and of course computing doesn't hurt. So yes, there are alot of breakthroughts taking place.
However, the term is also used as marketing hype. It still has a buzz to it after all these years of being misused, so I don't think companies will stop using it as a marketing scheme.
In reference to IBM in the article... they certainly use the term "breakthrough", and much of what they do deserves recognition as such as they have pushed the envelope with their R&D. Of course Intel has also done a fantastic job. Some of what these companies do isn't necessary ground breaking work, as it has been done before. So I find it difficult to determine if the term should be used still since the work has been done before, but the difference is that when one of these large companies does it, it is so much more likely to succeed.
Great idea, mod a troll and make a silly comment... it'll make you seem intelligent in front of all the /.ers? What more could you wish for.
Fact of the matter is, if you can't create a product with high end design elements at that price, it isn't going to sell that well. I haven't seen an angle of this that I am been impressed with yet.
So clearly I haven't seen one of these in action. I was basing my impressions on images provided. However, I'd bet that the product is going to fail, and the only point you made that will be relevant is the last one. Which was mine. For $300 you'd better have a great looking, functional product.
I hate to say this, but the reader looks horrible. First off, the quality seems low. It certainly isn't stylish, and you aren't going to see people pulling them out in public to show off their gear (like iPods were back a few years ago). The material also looks poor.
Hrm, so no color screen.. and the pics don't show much backlighting. So no really good things to say so far. At first glance I'd say it's a flop.
Seriously, we already had to worry about things falling in while the doctor had us splayed open... now we have to worry about things falling out.
Hrmm, 30 seconds to perform a surgery? Oh no, even better.. we're going to tell the guy to hold on for 10 minutes while we gain enough altitude to drop again. Super. Just pony up the extra bucks and pay Bigelow to throw a couple docs and a patient up in one of his balloons.
Good replies guys, that added a little more for me to think about. I hadn't thought of Google using their regular search algorithm in froogle, but that is almost exactly what seemed to be occuring. I certainly hope that they will refine that so that we can find results that are very relevant, instead of just "kinda sorta".
Also, very interesting about Google advertising and conflict of interest in search returns that they had. There has to be a better way to do it. Perhaps to display exact pricing, but those that pay for advertising get their names highlighted and get use of Google Checkout. Or something along those lines. There has to be some benefit to advertising... while still allowing the search results to accurately display pricing and ratings (depending on which you refine your search).
Anyways, interesting reading your points.
At least for me. Whenever I tried to use it the results I got weren't that great at all. By searching a few other sites I was often able to find cheaper prices than those found on Froogle. I'm not sure what the reason for that was, but it just didn't seem to find me the best prices.
Plus, on top of that it's search wasn't accurate enough. For instance, if I searched for "television" and "LCD" then it would throw in a bunch of peripheral items that I would then have to search through. Doing a search for that now seems to be a bit more accurate than last I checked though, perhaps they are making it more accurate.
Either way, combining it with the regular search engine would be a great idea in my opinion. That'll make it more efficient to do searches.
Unless your job is OSS cheer leader, it isn't your job to push software on people that they didn't ask for. Or at least, to install it without asking them.
You need to inform them of their choices, and then if they wish to proceed, then install it.
Unless they tell you to though, stop trying to convert people... this isn't a religion, and you're supposed to be a professional.
You really brought your A game...
Somebody make this chap a moderator or something.
The difference here just might be that Sony is selling a product WITHOUT ANY cars or courses to run them on. So you could basically buy the product and be able to sit there and look at how pretty the GUI is.
So I think that your analogy to MS about expansions, consumeable, etc misses the point. Because when those games shipped, the reality of the situation is that you could at least use them.
Now, if Sony was going ot ship their product for $10 and charge that for the cars, then by all means. However, if they plan on charging the full price of game for a version that doesn't include cars or courses then that is rediculous.