So...on the one hand, we have a couple of analysts vying for first prize in the unorthodox-opinion contest, because, well, because it's their job to sensationalize things so people talk about their opinions, and on the other, we have the head of one major gaming company that has taken an brilliantly unorthodox strategy (and done very well by it) questioning his competitors' ability to continue to succeed in the market.
C'mon, guys, all that we accomplish by publishing non-news like this is giving both parties exactly what they're looking for in free publicity. Adding together two non-stories doesn't create a story unless there's some really interesting counterpoint, and here all we have is a parallel phrase structure in "questions staying power".
I'm not trying to flame here or anything, I'm just saying that I think we could at least do a little better than this. Analysts and senior figures are always going to try and get themselves into headlines by saying controversial things; is it to much to ask that we don't actively facilitate this behavior?
This is perfect. My major concern (and the FAA's, as well, near as I can tell--crowd control) about cellphone usage on airplanes has always been the idiots around me shouting into their phones over the roar of a jet engine about mindless crap. You get a taste of this whenever a plane gets stuck on the runway for 5 hours (jetblue, anyone?) and apparently no one remembered to bring a book, mp3 player, or any other noninvasive form of entertainment. Having text message access is incredibly convenient for letting people know what your ETA is, for example, in case they're planning on picking you up and it's a 2 hour drive to the airport--that kind of thing--but at the same time isn't acoustically abominable.
So now it makes a difference if I'm using my own computer or not? Or if I'm eating a bagel while logging in? Or if I have a hangover?
Man, I don't know about those circumstances, but I would welcome an online financial transaction system that's good enough to recognize whether or not I'm drunkenly typing in my credit card number after a night on the town. The combination of woot.com and a few too many beers has on more than one occasion proved fatal to both my self-respect and my checking account...as if two Roombas isn't enough as it is!
What about "squirting" device-to-device? I didn't see anything about this in the article, but then again I didn't read it very carefully (this is/., after all...) I can only assume that because the Zune DRM-izes just about every song on your device when sharing, even those that you recorded yourself, EMI songs will probably still suffer from the 3-days/3-plays restriction...though I suppose MS could just argue that lifting the restriction would just encourage piracy.
Still, I don't think it's fair to call this DRM-free until all the digital rights management restrictions have been lifted.
I couldn't find the root "reply to article" button for some reason, so this should be treated like a new thread. Sorry, avalys...
This isn't entirely related to safari slowing down my system, but is a problem that I've consistently had with rendering/. on safari, and was curious as to whether others experience it as well. For some reason, almost every time I click a link in an article page (from someone's post or sig) and then click back to the article page, safari goes down in flames and "unexpectedly quits." This problem is ENTIRELY specific to slashdot, but is very consistent, and I have no idea what could be causing it; I just replaced all my RAM and that didn't solve anything. I'm on a 15" PBG4 1.67Ghz running 10.4.8. Has anyone else had this problem? It's really weird, and it sucks to always open forum links in a new window or new tab.
If someone sends you something in the mail, it is yours, even regardless of what is included in it. This is to prevent people from sending out "valuable" product unsolicited and then demanding payment.
Hahaha...clearly you've never belonged to a BMG music club.
Speaking as a cognitive scientist, I can tell you that dealing with IRBs (internal review boards) for getting experimental approval gives you a different appreciation of the term "ethics" than might be understood by someone trying to live a morally sound lifestyle (for which, btw, I applaud you).
Essentially, in order for an IRB to approve a study to be performed using human subjects, one of two requirements must be met: either there is ABSOLUTELY NO RISK involved on the part of the subject (i.e. simple psychophysical tests of perception and so forth), or the risks must be outweighed by the potential gain in scientific knowledge that the experiment offers (i.e. clinical trials of drugs that, while risky, hold the promise of curing serious illnesses).
All studies require that subjects sign an IRB-approved consent form that enumerates the risks inherent in the experiment (or lack thereof), and IRBs require a submission of experimental intent and aim so that they may weigh the potential risks and benefits of the experiment. Some people would argue that *any* experiment is ethical as long as you can find subjects willing to be a part of them and sign a liability waiver, but the reality of the situation is that before any subject even has the option to sign their life away an IRB must first approve that such a situation would be ethically sound. Without IRB approval, you won't get published, and without being published, you won't get funding. That's the cycle.
Milgram's original experiments were deemed unethical because of the psychological trauma experienced by the subjects being ordered to up the voltage. They were put in the emotionally distressing situation of having to choose between following the experimenter's (i.e. authority figure's) orders and their own moral code, and this situation has since been deemed unacceptable. The reason for this is that the experiment's potential insights into the frailty of human morality in the face of authority simply weren't interesting or essential enough for the advancement of science to justify the risks of seriously traumatizing the subjects.
As far as I can tell, the reason this experiment is more experimentally justifiable is simply because the "victim" is explicitly virtual--a fact of which subjects are aware--so the situation, as it doesn't involve hurting actual people, isn't as emotionally traumatizing.
This is for people too stupid to hold on to something while they swing it.
While I mostly agree with you about this (I'm the proud owner of a Wii and I have *never* accidentally let go of the wiimote), there's no question that it's a good move by Nintendo because the wii was designed to be played by lots of people. Like so many others, I've been astounded by how gaming n00bs have totally taken to the wii; my gf (who was certain that the wii would be the end of our relationship) now beats me at Wii Sports Golf regularly. Obviously, I've embraced how easy to pick up and play the wii is, and am happily amazed by how many people play it at parties and get really, really into it.
Having said that (and as much as I love watching people have fun with the new toy), I get really nervous about people getting so into it that they forget they're just playing a game, and I can't count the number of times that n00bs at my house have accidentally let go of the controller, while, say, power bowling. This weekend, a wrist strap finally snapped, and though the wiimote went flying, it thankfully missed the tv and bounced harmlessly off the wall.
Class act by Nintendo! Now I can revel in watching my stupid friends play Nintendo without freaking out on the inside about whether I'm about to end up like one of these guys!
Three researchers at Microsoft Research have created an innovative handheld pointing device that works in mid-air. "Soap" -- which resembles a bar of soap -- is based on hardware found in a common wireless optical mouse...
Yeah, most of FPS gamers I know could use some soap...
Disclaimer -- I'm a shameless NES fanboy, as are many of my friends, but I found precious little mention of games from the pre 16-bit era in this this discussion, so here are my two picks:
RBI Baseball - The original and best. Like so many other games of its time, the controls and graphics are quite simple and straightforward, but there is an unbelievable amount of nuance to the batting, pitching, and baserunning. The CPU opponent is weak, but some of the most epic two-player games I've ever witnessed on any system were during RBI. The game has developed quite a cult following: check out this site which in addition to being laden with RBI lore and trivia is complete with its own drinking game. As an added bonus, here's game 6 of the 1986 world series reenacted in RBI baseball, complete with radio commentary. It's awesome!
Super Dodge Ball - Though not nearly as well known as it should be, this game has TONS of replay value and is great for tourney-style round robins. Additionally, it's good for players with unequal amounts of experience and skill, as some teams (i.e. Russia) have tons of life and others (i.e. USA All-Stars) have very little, so you can handicap. There's nothing that tops slamming your opponent so hard with a super throw that he scrolls around the to other side of the screen. Check it out if you haven't already--it's a gem--I've been playing it for fifteen years and I still love it. Also, it bears mention that the SNES version isn't nearly as good as the NES version. I heard there was a GBA remake, but I haven't played it so I can't vouch for its worth.
Whether it "can be understood" is not enough - markers should not be required to try and figure out what a student meant: what they mean should be immediately clear, and that is an important part of the subject.
Sure. But when you say,
ultimately spelling and grammar matters.
I had to do a double-take there. I'm guessing that you mean that sentence to be parsed in such a fashion that together, "spelling and grammar" constitute a (somewhat awkward) singular noun phrase. If you didn't intend it that way, the grammatically correct way to express it (in terms of subject/verb agreement) is
ultimately spelling and grammar matter.
I agree with your post, and perhaps this is what you meant by tolerating occasional mistakes. I won't mark you down this time:-)
Seconded. You're dead on, xee...I've had my e2c-ns for about seven months now and I can't imagine ever going back to bulky, over-ear headphones or non-IEC earbuds. These headphones simply blew me away, both in terms of noise reduction, which is about as good as the best earplugs I've ever used, and sound quality, which is sick. I listen to lots of jazz but also music of other genres and have had no complaints about a weak low-end, which is an accusation often leveled at earbuds and IECs. In fact, the bass is perfect; it's crystalline (no distortion at all), and it doesn't overwhelm the midrange or treble.
As an added plus, the E2cs come with about 9 different styles of in-ear attachment you can wear depending on your ear size and comfort level; 3 different materials (foam, soft rubber, harder rubber) x 3 sizes each. Finding a perfect fit was really easy, and I now wear these buds for 8+ hours every day with zero discomfort. Also, I listen to my music much more quietly with these headphones than with others I've had previously, as the noise reduction provides for a much quieter soundstage.
They list for $110, I think, but you can do much better than that via Amazon Marketplace or Ebay (mine were $65 on Amazon).
I, for one, am definitely planning on camping out for these suckers the night of the 18th if I have to. Does anyone know whether Best Buy will allow preorders? I know that Gamespot and EB had preorders a few weeks back but they sold out incredibly quickly, and was just wondering whether anyone that's ever camped out for a console before can recommend where to do it (I was thinking Best Buy, but I've heard Walmart is good too...) Suggestions?
While these new machines are very impressive indeed, and I'm glad to see that apple have been listening to customer demand^H^H^H requests for new features by adding firewire back in, I'm really surprised that there's no S-video support. I'm still using my old PowerBook G4 and I use s-video all the time; it's one of the main reasons (aside from the fact that I'm po') that I haven't made the dive and bought a MacBook or a MBP. Does this seem like a big deal to anyone else, or am I the only one who likes outputting to TV with relative ease?
Oh, and here's the spec sheet for the MBPs. Let me know if I just missed it and it's actually there.
Yeah, the same thing almost happened to me when my laptop was stolen. Luckily, I still had my iPod, so I used iPodrip to recover my music. Since then, every month or so I check to see how much music I've bought from iTMS and I burn whatever I have to disc. And I've also bought a kensington lock;-)
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget about the new product-unveiling product!
So...on the one hand, we have a couple of analysts vying for first prize in the unorthodox-opinion contest, because, well, because it's their job to sensationalize things so people talk about their opinions, and on the other, we have the head of one major gaming company that has taken an brilliantly unorthodox strategy (and done very well by it) questioning his competitors' ability to continue to succeed in the market.
C'mon, guys, all that we accomplish by publishing non-news like this is giving both parties exactly what they're looking for in free publicity. Adding together two non-stories doesn't create a story unless there's some really interesting counterpoint, and here all we have is a parallel phrase structure in "questions staying power".
I'm not trying to flame here or anything, I'm just saying that I think we could at least do a little better than this. Analysts and senior figures are always going to try and get themselves into headlines by saying controversial things; is it to much to ask that we don't actively facilitate this behavior?
Let's just hope that Koopa's not involved this time...
This is perfect. My major concern (and the FAA's, as well, near as I can tell--crowd control) about cellphone usage on airplanes has always been the idiots around me shouting into their phones over the roar of a jet engine about mindless crap. You get a taste of this whenever a plane gets stuck on the runway for 5 hours (jetblue, anyone?) and apparently no one remembered to bring a book, mp3 player, or any other noninvasive form of entertainment. Having text message access is incredibly convenient for letting people know what your ETA is, for example, in case they're planning on picking you up and it's a 2 hour drive to the airport--that kind of thing--but at the same time isn't acoustically abominable.
Let's hope this trial is a success!
Man, I don't know about those circumstances, but I would welcome an online financial transaction system that's good enough to recognize whether or not I'm drunkenly typing in my credit card number after a night on the town. The combination of woot.com and a few too many beers has on more than one occasion proved fatal to both my self-respect and my checking account...as if two Roombas isn't enough as it is!
We have no choice but to tag this "stool", as that's certainly what it seems to be!
What about "squirting" device-to-device? I didn't see anything about this in the article, but then again I didn't read it very carefully (this is /., after all...) I can only assume that because the Zune DRM-izes just about every song on your device when sharing, even those that you recorded yourself, EMI songs will probably still suffer from the 3-days/3-plays restriction...though I suppose MS could just argue that lifting the restriction would just encourage piracy.
Still, I don't think it's fair to call this DRM-free until all the digital rights management restrictions have been lifted.
No way is it gonna be a flop at the stores! Haven't you heard Justin Timberlake's new song?
I know what MY girlfriend's getting for her birthday...
my teraflop in a box!
I couldn't find the root "reply to article" button for some reason, so this should be treated like a new thread. Sorry, avalys... This isn't entirely related to safari slowing down my system, but is a problem that I've consistently had with rendering /. on safari, and was curious as to whether others experience it as well. For some reason, almost every time I click a link in an article page (from someone's post or sig) and then click back to the article page, safari goes down in flames and "unexpectedly quits." This problem is ENTIRELY specific to slashdot, but is very consistent, and I have no idea what could be causing it; I just replaced all my RAM and that didn't solve anything. I'm on a 15" PBG4 1.67Ghz running 10.4.8. Has anyone else had this problem? It's really weird, and it sucks to always open forum links in a new window or new tab.
...right after I get back from my ski trip to hell :-)
Hahaha...clearly you've never belonged to a BMG music club.
Speaking as a cognitive scientist, I can tell you that dealing with IRBs (internal review boards) for getting experimental approval gives you a different appreciation of the term "ethics" than might be understood by someone trying to live a morally sound lifestyle (for which, btw, I applaud you).
Essentially, in order for an IRB to approve a study to be performed using human subjects, one of two requirements must be met: either there is ABSOLUTELY NO RISK involved on the part of the subject (i.e. simple psychophysical tests of perception and so forth), or the risks must be outweighed by the potential gain in scientific knowledge that the experiment offers (i.e. clinical trials of drugs that, while risky, hold the promise of curing serious illnesses).
All studies require that subjects sign an IRB-approved consent form that enumerates the risks inherent in the experiment (or lack thereof), and IRBs require a submission of experimental intent and aim so that they may weigh the potential risks and benefits of the experiment. Some people would argue that *any* experiment is ethical as long as you can find subjects willing to be a part of them and sign a liability waiver, but the reality of the situation is that before any subject even has the option to sign their life away an IRB must first approve that such a situation would be ethically sound. Without IRB approval, you won't get published, and without being published, you won't get funding. That's the cycle.
Milgram's original experiments were deemed unethical because of the psychological trauma experienced by the subjects being ordered to up the voltage. They were put in the emotionally distressing situation of having to choose between following the experimenter's (i.e. authority figure's) orders and their own moral code, and this situation has since been deemed unacceptable. The reason for this is that the experiment's potential insights into the frailty of human morality in the face of authority simply weren't interesting or essential enough for the advancement of science to justify the risks of seriously traumatizing the subjects.
As far as I can tell, the reason this experiment is more experimentally justifiable is simply because the "victim" is explicitly virtual--a fact of which subjects are aware--so the situation, as it doesn't involve hurting actual people, isn't as emotionally traumatizing.
Alright, who can tell me which of those things DON'T have a nice rubber or tape grip on them?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Bueller?
While I mostly agree with you about this (I'm the proud owner of a Wii and I have *never* accidentally let go of the wiimote), there's no question that it's a good move by Nintendo because the wii was designed to be played by lots of people. Like so many others, I've been astounded by how gaming n00bs have totally taken to the wii; my gf (who was certain that the wii would be the end of our relationship) now beats me at Wii Sports Golf regularly. Obviously, I've embraced how easy to pick up and play the wii is, and am happily amazed by how many people play it at parties and get really, really into it.
Having said that (and as much as I love watching people have fun with the new toy), I get really nervous about people getting so into it that they forget they're just playing a game, and I can't count the number of times that n00bs at my house have accidentally let go of the controller, while, say, power bowling. This weekend, a wrist strap finally snapped, and though the wiimote went flying, it thankfully missed the tv and bounced harmlessly off the wall.
Class act by Nintendo! Now I can revel in watching my stupid friends play Nintendo without freaking out on the inside about whether I'm about to end up like one of these guys!
Yeah, most of FPS gamers I know could use some soap...
Disclaimer -- I'm a shameless NES fanboy, as are many of my friends, but I found precious little mention of games from the pre 16-bit era in this this discussion, so here are my two picks:
RBI Baseball - The original and best. Like so many other games of its time, the controls and graphics are quite simple and straightforward, but there is an unbelievable amount of nuance to the batting, pitching, and baserunning. The CPU opponent is weak, but some of the most epic two-player games I've ever witnessed on any system were during RBI. The game has developed quite a cult following: check out this site which in addition to being laden with RBI lore and trivia is complete with its own drinking game. As an added bonus, here's game 6 of the 1986 world series reenacted in RBI baseball, complete with radio commentary. It's awesome!
Super Dodge Ball - Though not nearly as well known as it should be, this game has TONS of replay value and is great for tourney-style round robins. Additionally, it's good for players with unequal amounts of experience and skill, as some teams (i.e. Russia) have tons of life and others (i.e. USA All-Stars) have very little, so you can handicap. There's nothing that tops slamming your opponent so hard with a super throw that he scrolls around the to other side of the screen. Check it out if you haven't already--it's a gem--I've been playing it for fifteen years and I still love it. Also, it bears mention that the SNES version isn't nearly as good as the NES version. I heard there was a GBA remake, but I haven't played it so I can't vouch for its worth.
Sure. But when you say,
ultimately spelling and grammar matters.
I had to do a double-take there. I'm guessing that you mean that sentence to be parsed in such a fashion that together, "spelling and grammar" constitute a (somewhat awkward) singular noun phrase. If you didn't intend it that way, the grammatically correct way to express it (in terms of subject/verb agreement) is
ultimately spelling and grammar matter.
I agree with your post, and perhaps this is what you meant by tolerating occasional mistakes. I won't mark you down this time
Seconded. You're dead on, xee...I've had my e2c-ns for about seven months now and I can't imagine ever going back to bulky, over-ear headphones or non-IEC earbuds. These headphones simply blew me away, both in terms of noise reduction, which is about as good as the best earplugs I've ever used, and sound quality, which is sick. I listen to lots of jazz but also music of other genres and have had no complaints about a weak low-end, which is an accusation often leveled at earbuds and IECs. In fact, the bass is perfect; it's crystalline (no distortion at all), and it doesn't overwhelm the midrange or treble.
As an added plus, the E2cs come with about 9 different styles of in-ear attachment you can wear depending on your ear size and comfort level; 3 different materials (foam, soft rubber, harder rubber) x 3 sizes each. Finding a perfect fit was really easy, and I now wear these buds for 8+ hours every day with zero discomfort. Also, I listen to my music much more quietly with these headphones than with others I've had previously, as the noise reduction provides for a much quieter soundstage.
They list for $110, I think, but you can do much better than that via Amazon Marketplace or Ebay (mine were $65 on Amazon).
uh...42?
Which walmart? I'd imagine that city walmarts will get more than rural ones.
I, for one, am definitely planning on camping out for these suckers the night of the 18th if I have to. Does anyone know whether Best Buy will allow preorders? I know that Gamespot and EB had preorders a few weeks back but they sold out incredibly quickly, and was just wondering whether anyone that's ever camped out for a console before can recommend where to do it (I was thinking Best Buy, but I've heard Walmart is good too...) Suggestions?
While these new machines are very impressive indeed, and I'm glad to see that apple have been listening to customer demand^H^H^H requests for new features by adding firewire back in, I'm really surprised that there's no S-video support. I'm still using my old PowerBook G4 and I use s-video all the time; it's one of the main reasons (aside from the fact that I'm po') that I haven't made the dive and bought a MacBook or a MBP. Does this seem like a big deal to anyone else, or am I the only one who likes outputting to TV with relative ease?
Oh, and here's the spec sheet for the MBPs. Let me know if I just missed it and it's actually there.
THIS guy write 1 line of post to "what?" some types of slashdotters.
Yeah, the same thing almost happened to me when my laptop was stolen. Luckily, I still had my iPod, so I used iPodrip to recover my music. Since then, every month or so I check to see how much music I've bought from iTMS and I burn whatever I have to disc. And I've also bought a kensington lock ;-)
And yes, I know that this is discussed in TFA, I'm just curious as to what you guys think (IANAL).