The idea that a college education is an interim between high school and a career is foolish. I've only completed my Associates' degree up to this point, and i know it's worthless in the current job market. School isn't just a stepping stone in my career. I went to the local community college on grants and scholarships. I took classes that I'm interested in, and I came away with an A.S in Information Science. During my time in school I found other people like myself who enjoyed what they were doing and excelled in their learning experience. I also encountered other people. These people viewed their coursework as a means to an end and plenty struggled with it. Some people struggled until they broke down and quit.
I understand that there are careers out there that require strong backgrounds in the maths and sciences. That should have a prerequisite of rigorous study in those topics. However, jobs outside that domain are better served by individuals with experience. For example, I think a person with years of retail experience is more beneficial in a lower to middle management position at a store than someone who has a degree in management but never manned a register or stocked shelves. There are certain nuances of retail culture that can only be gained with experience. This applies to any other profession as well.
Im currently in the market for a position on an IT support team. I've seen numerous job postings that require a bachelors' degree with a "we train" clause. Or a minimum wage position that requires a degree + x years of experience. C'mon, a high school grad with a mild interest in computers could man a tier 1 support line. I'd expect most BA/BS candidates to scoff at a minimum wage position.
Apple and Samsung employees/execs/lawyers are not viewing eachother's designs. The review is done by a supposedly unbiased third-party who will simply look for any infringement. No one from either camp gets to stare at what im starting to believe is some sort of circuit board porn
One recently released example is L.A Noire. The game is 23.5GB. The game fits on a single Blu-ray. The Xbox360 counterpart fits on 3 DVDs. Im not sure how much was cut from the Xbox version, but i wouldnt expect the visuals to be nearly as good. The Bondi dev team talked about a 40-angle focus on facial features alone,
- Final Fantasy 13 is a whopping 40GB or so. Its a MMO that relies heavily on cut scenes though, so that is to be expected.
- Dead Space 2 is some FPS my brother plays. That weighs in at 12.7GB
- My favorite hack and slash fighter Dynasty Warriors 7 is surprisingly 20.7GB
- Arcade fighters Tekken 6(11.4GB) and Mortal Kombat(9.8GB) bigger than I thought they would be.
Im sure there are plenty of games that are smaller, but thats not to say that developers dont make good use of the disc space they have.
Right now I believe the DVD is a limiting factor for xbox360 games. You wanna bring higher quality content and titles will quickly double or triple the size of a DVD. Its already the case with the PS3 where a typical game is 7-15GB. I've seen a few titles that top 30-40GB.
I dont think the US market is ready to rely on their internet connection to get one game upwards of 20GB. If that becomes the case ISPs would throw a fit as more and more customers use their caps. As a Comcast customer on the east coast I have a data cap of 250GB. When I visit my online statement I see the following message:
Your Comcast High-Speed Internet service has a monthly data usage allowance of 250 gigabytes (GB). If you are wondering whether you are at risk of exceeding this 250GB threshold, you should know that the vast majority - around 99% - of Comcast customers use significantly less than 250GB per month.
I'd assume there are similar limits imposed all around the country where each ISP has their magic number. They already arent happy with the likes of netflix and other content servers. This would only further get their panties in a bunch. Oh, and I wouldnt wanna wait around for 2 days as a 20GB game downloads
Lets draw some parallels here...
I'd say that point n click UI is most like that of the layout for a controller on a classic console. If you follow a standard UI you have certain buttons and menus that users can identify with. For example," _, [ ] and X " sit in the upper left or right hand corner of most application windows. Users expect these buttons(minimize, maximize and close) and use them regularly. Likewise, a classic controller layout like those from Sony and Microsoft includes directional buttons, face buttons and triggers. Game developers use the similarities in control layout to map their action buttons. Multi-platform games have near exact mappings and games within a particular genre use configurations that are similar to one another.
Contrast this to button mappings of a game on the PC platform. Developers have 108 keys and a mouse at their disposal. They can create and mandate some very confusing control layouts. Gesture controlled UI design has just as many, if not more, possibilities. As some users have mentioned, patenting gestures does not help create standards. This just means develops have to think of new ways(read: different buttons) for users to interact with their application.
Where's the point in all this? PC games can have some very confusing control sets. However They havent failed yet. Many gamers prefer them over consoles with a more limited set of controls. I think the confusion over gesture UI will fade and with time more people will learn to accept the nuances
American Airlines has announced that it is testing an in-flight video system that allows passengers to wirelessly stream movies and TV shows from an onboard library to their laptop computers and other electronic devices.
This gives me the impression that, atleast on this flight, passengers are not required to turn off their gadgets
Nowadays laptops come with a few different radios onboard. Theres nothing stopping a clever person from adding their own radio or maybe adding jamming functionality. In this highly unlikely scenario communications and possibly more important functions can be disrupted.
Aside from the occasional must-have exclusive title, Its the large studios that make games that everyone wants to play. They know this, so they publish for anything and everything with a controller. To do this, they'll include enough game content to satisfy the lowest common denominator. A recent title that felt this sting is Rockstar's new baby "LA Noire." According to an interview with Bondi Games developers the title fit on 6 discs at one point. It has been compressed to 3 discs, so I wonder what was left on the cutting room floor aside from things mentioned in that article.
Im not a content developer, nor do I play one on slashdot. I'd imagine that the methods to put discs on differ between platforms, and the storage medium affects things like compression. More storage means more content, right?
Cluster people be damned, but anyone who bought their PS3 specifically for that purpose probably still has it running under 3.21 or maybe a CFW 3.55. I've read about a few mods that return linux support. It screwed the gamer+tinkerer that was bothered moreso by lost PSN access than loss of OtherOS. I reiterate though, anyone who wanted their cluster would have read the release notes where it stated clearly that OtherOS would be lost and chosen not to update.
On the topic of removable storage, I always read about disgruntled employees. That's no accident just poor QA on the part of the manufacturer.
I wont argue with you about Sony's recent PSN issues and exposing a bunch of data. That was a huge blunder and they deserve to be raked over the coals for it. However, they werent the first to fall victim to a data breach and they wont be the last. Im thankful that i only ever gave them a yahoo email, some bogus address infos and disposable VISA numbers. As per my evil MS rant, if I were to buy retail copies of MS products I've lost I'd probably be a bit over $1500. Sony hasnt taken that much out of my pocket yet. As far as the linux debacle is concerned, we gotta be honest with ourselves and admit that only the/. crowd lost on that. Should they remove features after sale? No, but its not going to impact their target audience all that much either. Im a bit more pissed off that users are now required to update to the latest firmware before playing offline games. I cant really comment on the whole rootkit incident because i've only read about it. Then again, think about all the nasty little surprises we've heard about with removable storage. Sony wasn't first there and they wont be the last.
Maybe it's because im typing this so early on a Saturday(forgive me. havent slept) but when I think of $evil_corp Sony isnt exactly #1. Somewhere in the top 10, but certainly not #1.
On the topic of PC gaming, yes, all you need is a beige box with some peripherals. However, just as you said that big studios program for the console first and think about PC later you gotta think those same studios are writing their games for Windows first. Max and linux ports are an afterthough if they're given attention at all. Indie games are great, I wont argue. Mainstream devs will always produce games for he largest target market and that happens to be Windows PC right now.
Don't give me that shit about being 'a different part of Sony
Am i supposed to buy a Xbox360? I mean, MS has screwed me numerous times in the PC market. A few OEM products failed to reinstall after a PC repair. Neither MS nor the manufacturer could give me an explanation or solution. I have legit copies of Windows Vista Business and Windows 7 Professional purchased through the MSDNAA. I've lost access to that account(not a current student) and the product keys stored with it. No help there either
Should I avoid getting a xbox360? Where does that leave me if i wanna play games from this generation? PC? nope....I'd be giving into to Microsoft again. Oh, and Nintendo Wii is a joke.
I guess my point is that you can differentiate one product or service from another in regards to a big corporation. Do you think the guys tasked with improving the Windows user experience care about Xbox users? I doubt it, unless they're pushing for more seamless integration. Even then, theres another guy whose the "integration specialist"
atleast not from a developer whose job is to design and write the game mechanics; not count the money.
I dont know any devs personally, but i'd expect them to be on the payroll/contract for a game. That sort of stuff should be built into the budget for a game. They get paid if the game sells 100,000 copies or the game breaks record sales.
Not only will resolution impact usability, but something with a 4" screen will probably resort to a chiclet keyboard or touch screen. Who is going to use Office '10 in any productive capacity with those limitations?
what niche would this fill that isnt already handled by current smartphones, tablets or IMT devices?
I considered buying a Nokia N810 once upon a time, but I went with something from Archos instead, because i only needed web browsing and multimedia. This was a time before iDevices or Android devices became a PC in your pocket.
Thats just the thing though. If I fix a computer for a family member or friend i'll usually ask for a small fee or a favor in return. I help my parents and my girlfriend with their computer issues free of charge, but I rarely have to. My parents are cautious about what they do and theyre interested in learning how things work when i do need to help them. If they run into a problem in the future theyre likely to run basic scans and whatnot for themselves. My girlfriend is tech-savvy to begin with.
Seriously though Im probably one of the shady-ish people because some people say I over charge, but atleast im fair. If you're a family friend/aquaintence i'll do a diagnostic for free. If the problem is as simple as running a few software tools i'll give explicit directions and ask if you'd like to do it. If youre not comfortable doing it i will for a fee. If it's a hardware issue i'll tell you what you need to replace and assess the difficulty. Again, i give explicit directions. If youre uncomfortable I'll do it.
Here's the catch....my time is money. I've been raised by contractors to think that way and im not gonna change now.
I do own a nokia featurephone. My point is that no distinction between developers will most likely leave more work to the third-party yet nokia's name will be attached. I thought atleast that much was clear in what i said....
"There will be no distinction between a Nokia developer or third-party developer." becomes "Develop it yourselves you lazy bastards, but dont forget to put our name on it too"
Facebook already has millions of mobile numbers from its users. Just about everyone I know updates their facebook via sms or mobile app. In fact, the app on the HTC phone that my brother uses didnt even beat around the bush. When he connected the first time he created the account from his phone using what i suppose is his phone#@carrier address
That was sort of addressed in transition from Vista to 7. Vista would throw up a UAC prompt if you looked at your monitor the wrong way. Windows 7 only does so when you sneeze
Slashdot Mirror
The idea that a college education is an interim between high school and a career is foolish. I've only completed my Associates' degree up to this point, and i know it's worthless in the current job market. School isn't just a stepping stone in my career. I went to the local community college on grants and scholarships. I took classes that I'm interested in, and I came away with an A.S in Information Science. During my time in school I found other people like myself who enjoyed what they were doing and excelled in their learning experience. I also encountered other people. These people viewed their coursework as a means to an end and plenty struggled with it. Some people struggled until they broke down and quit.
I understand that there are careers out there that require strong backgrounds in the maths and sciences. That should have a prerequisite of rigorous study in those topics. However, jobs outside that domain are better served by individuals with experience. For example, I think a person with years of retail experience is more beneficial in a lower to middle management position at a store than someone who has a degree in management but never manned a register or stocked shelves. There are certain nuances of retail culture that can only be gained with experience. This applies to any other profession as well.
Im currently in the market for a position on an IT support team. I've seen numerous job postings that require a bachelors' degree with a "we train" clause. Or a minimum wage position that requires a degree + x years of experience. C'mon, a high school grad with a mild interest in computers could man a tier 1 support line. I'd expect most BA/BS candidates to scoff at a minimum wage position.
Apple and Samsung employees/execs/lawyers are not viewing eachother's designs. The review is done by a supposedly unbiased third-party who will simply look for any infringement. No one from either camp gets to stare at what im starting to believe is some sort of circuit board porn
One recently released example is L.A Noire. The game is 23.5GB. The game fits on a single Blu-ray. The Xbox360 counterpart fits on 3 DVDs. Im not sure how much was cut from the Xbox version, but i wouldnt expect the visuals to be nearly as good. The Bondi dev team talked about a 40-angle focus on facial features alone,
- Final Fantasy 13 is a whopping 40GB or so. Its a MMO that relies heavily on cut scenes though, so that is to be expected.
- Dead Space 2 is some FPS my brother plays. That weighs in at 12.7GB
- My favorite hack and slash fighter Dynasty Warriors 7 is surprisingly 20.7GB
- Arcade fighters Tekken 6(11.4GB) and Mortal Kombat(9.8GB) bigger than I thought they would be.
Im sure there are plenty of games that are smaller, but thats not to say that developers dont make good use of the disc space they have.
I dont think the US market is ready to rely on their internet connection to get one game upwards of 20GB. If that becomes the case ISPs would throw a fit as more and more customers use their caps. As a Comcast customer on the east coast I have a data cap of 250GB. When I visit my online statement I see the following message:
Your Comcast High-Speed Internet service has a monthly data usage allowance of 250 gigabytes (GB). If you are wondering whether you are at risk of exceeding this 250GB threshold, you should know that the vast majority - around 99% - of Comcast customers use significantly less than 250GB per month.
I'd assume there are similar limits imposed all around the country where each ISP has their magic number. They already arent happy with the likes of netflix and other content servers. This would only further get their panties in a bunch. Oh, and I wouldnt wanna wait around for 2 days as a 20GB game downloads
is the article a series of books?
tl;dr
Yellow Dog Linux ftw!
Lets draw some parallels here... I'd say that point n click UI is most like that of the layout for a controller on a classic console. If you follow a standard UI you have certain buttons and menus that users can identify with. For example," _, [ ] and X " sit in the upper left or right hand corner of most application windows. Users expect these buttons(minimize, maximize and close) and use them regularly. Likewise, a classic controller layout like those from Sony and Microsoft includes directional buttons, face buttons and triggers. Game developers use the similarities in control layout to map their action buttons. Multi-platform games have near exact mappings and games within a particular genre use configurations that are similar to one another.
Contrast this to button mappings of a game on the PC platform. Developers have 108 keys and a mouse at their disposal. They can create and mandate some very confusing control layouts. Gesture controlled UI design has just as many, if not more, possibilities. As some users have mentioned, patenting gestures does not help create standards. This just means develops have to think of new ways(read: different buttons) for users to interact with their application.
Where's the point in all this? PC games can have some very confusing control sets. However They havent failed yet. Many gamers prefer them over consoles with a more limited set of controls. I think the confusion over gesture UI will fade and with time more people will learn to accept the nuances
Human Atrocities Developed from Stem Cells
surely I can think of a few.
American Airlines has announced that it is testing an in-flight video system that allows passengers to wirelessly stream movies and TV shows from an onboard library to their laptop computers and other electronic devices.
This gives me the impression that, atleast on this flight, passengers are not required to turn off their gadgets
Nowadays laptops come with a few different radios onboard. Theres nothing stopping a clever person from adding their own radio or maybe adding jamming functionality. In this highly unlikely scenario communications and possibly more important functions can be disrupted.
Aside from the occasional must-have exclusive title, Its the large studios that make games that everyone wants to play. They know this, so they publish for anything and everything with a controller. To do this, they'll include enough game content to satisfy the lowest common denominator. A recent title that felt this sting is Rockstar's new baby "LA Noire." According to an interview with Bondi Games developers the title fit on 6 discs at one point. It has been compressed to 3 discs, so I wonder what was left on the cutting room floor aside from things mentioned in that article.
Im not a content developer, nor do I play one on slashdot. I'd imagine that the methods to put discs on differ between platforms, and the storage medium affects things like compression. More storage means more content, right?
Cluster people be damned, but anyone who bought their PS3 specifically for that purpose probably still has it running under 3.21 or maybe a CFW 3.55. I've read about a few mods that return linux support. It screwed the gamer+tinkerer that was bothered moreso by lost PSN access than loss of OtherOS. I reiterate though, anyone who wanted their cluster would have read the release notes where it stated clearly that OtherOS would be lost and chosen not to update. On the topic of removable storage, I always read about disgruntled employees. That's no accident just poor QA on the part of the manufacturer.
I wont argue with you about Sony's recent PSN issues and exposing a bunch of data. That was a huge blunder and they deserve to be raked over the coals for it. However, they werent the first to fall victim to a data breach and they wont be the last. Im thankful that i only ever gave them a yahoo email, some bogus address infos and disposable VISA numbers. As per my evil MS rant, if I were to buy retail copies of MS products I've lost I'd probably be a bit over $1500. Sony hasnt taken that much out of my pocket yet. As far as the linux debacle is concerned, we gotta be honest with ourselves and admit that only the /. crowd lost on that. Should they remove features after sale? No, but its not going to impact their target audience all that much either. Im a bit more pissed off that users are now required to update to the latest firmware before playing offline games. I cant really comment on the whole rootkit incident because i've only read about it. Then again, think about all the nasty little surprises we've heard about with removable storage. Sony wasn't first there and they wont be the last.
Maybe it's because im typing this so early on a Saturday(forgive me. havent slept) but when I think of $evil_corp Sony isnt exactly #1. Somewhere in the top 10, but certainly not #1.
On the topic of PC gaming, yes, all you need is a beige box with some peripherals. However, just as you said that big studios program for the console first and think about PC later you gotta think those same studios are writing their games for Windows first. Max and linux ports are an afterthough if they're given attention at all. Indie games are great, I wont argue. Mainstream devs will always produce games for he largest target market and that happens to be Windows PC right now.
Don't give me that shit about being 'a different part of Sony
Am i supposed to buy a Xbox360? I mean, MS has screwed me numerous times in the PC market. A few OEM products failed to reinstall after a PC repair. Neither MS nor the manufacturer could give me an explanation or solution. I have legit copies of Windows Vista Business and Windows 7 Professional purchased through the MSDNAA. I've lost access to that account(not a current student) and the product keys stored with it. No help there either
Should I avoid getting a xbox360? Where does that leave me if i wanna play games from this generation? PC? nope....I'd be giving into to Microsoft again. Oh, and Nintendo Wii is a joke.
I guess my point is that you can differentiate one product or service from another in regards to a big corporation. Do you think the guys tasked with improving the Windows user experience care about Xbox users? I doubt it, unless they're pushing for more seamless integration. Even then, theres another guy whose the "integration specialist"
atleast not from a developer whose job is to design and write the game mechanics; not count the money.
I dont know any devs personally, but i'd expect them to be on the payroll/contract for a game. That sort of stuff should be built into the budget for a game. They get paid if the game sells 100,000 copies or the game breaks record sales.
Valve is the corporation's name. Steam is the name of their distribution network.
Your second point kind of overshadows your first
Not only will resolution impact usability, but something with a 4" screen will probably resort to a chiclet keyboard or touch screen. Who is going to use Office '10 in any productive capacity with those limitations?
what niche would this fill that isnt already handled by current smartphones, tablets or IMT devices?
I considered buying a Nokia N810 once upon a time, but I went with something from Archos instead, because i only needed web browsing and multimedia. This was a time before iDevices or Android devices became a PC in your pocket.
Thats just the thing though. If I fix a computer for a family member or friend i'll usually ask for a small fee or a favor in return. I help my parents and my girlfriend with their computer issues free of charge, but I rarely have to. My parents are cautious about what they do and theyre interested in learning how things work when i do need to help them. If they run into a problem in the future theyre likely to run basic scans and whatnot for themselves. My girlfriend is tech-savvy to begin with.
make friends with one. Its as simple as that!
Seriously though Im probably one of the shady-ish people because some people say I over charge, but atleast im fair. If you're a family friend/aquaintence i'll do a diagnostic for free. If the problem is as simple as running a few software tools i'll give explicit directions and ask if you'd like to do it. If youre not comfortable doing it i will for a fee. If it's a hardware issue i'll tell you what you need to replace and assess the difficulty. Again, i give explicit directions. If youre uncomfortable I'll do it.
Here's the catch....my time is money. I've been raised by contractors to think that way and im not gonna change now.
I do own a nokia featurephone. My point is that no distinction between developers will most likely leave more work to the third-party yet nokia's name will be attached. I thought atleast that much was clear in what i said....
you think to much....
Youre supposed to read, be convinced, and go buy the game at launch
"There will be no distinction between a Nokia developer or third-party developer." becomes "Develop it yourselves you lazy bastards, but dont forget to put our name on it too"
Facebook already has millions of mobile numbers from its users. Just about everyone I know updates their facebook via sms or mobile app. In fact, the app on the HTC phone that my brother uses didnt even beat around the bush. When he connected the first time he created the account from his phone using what i suppose is his phone#@carrier address
That was sort of addressed in transition from Vista to 7. Vista would throw up a UAC prompt if you looked at your monitor the wrong way. Windows 7 only does so when you sneeze