Or don't have a choice? This sort of technology could be easily abused and inserted covertly into most, if not all, cameras at the bequest of governmental intelligence agencies. This has already happened with ink jet printers which secretly print a serial number, traceable back to the purchaser, on every document printed. Abuse of this kind of technology is a threat to already threaten free speech.
Simply not true. Under US law, you can make something public domain by simply stating that it is so. "I make this work part of the public domain."
At best, this part of copyright code is ambiguous. There is no mechanism in the US copyright code for establishing new works as public domain, unless they are created by the government. The notion of a disclaimer of copyright upon the release of a new work has never been codified. In the past, a work was considered public domain if it was released without a copyright notice. This is no longer the case. The Berne Convention stipulates that any work that qualifies for copyright is covered by copyright the moment it is created. All current US copyright laws, and the laws of all member nations of the associated treaties, have been drafted with this concept in mind.
It is all but impossible to disclaim copyright, which is the core concept of public domain. On the surface what you suggest seems like an adequate substitute for most purposes, but IANAL.
Unfortunately, because of the Berne Convention, creating something as a public domain work is not normally possible. By legal definition, in most countries, items can only enter the public domain after their copyright has expired, which takes decades. Creative Commons has a license that works in the spirit of public domain, but it has never been tested in court. I'm a big fan of the concept of public domain, but the obstacles to its application to new works are almost insurmountable.
I see what you are saying, and agree to a certain extend, but there is something about demoscene code that transcends pure craft. I don't know if it's art, but reading and understanding obscenely clever code can stimulate your emotions, or at the least, fill you with a sense wonder, something most art struggles to achieve.
This is an interesting point and question, I think it's right on the money, I'm not sure why you would post AC. I run a programming website with tons of clever, freely available source code because I so dislike the hording mentality that infests the associated community.
Still, as far the demo scene goes, I think there is a certain amount of pride that prevents the authors from even wanting to see the code of others, because they would rather figure it out for themselves. That's a big part of the pleasure of programming, at least it is for me. If I see some impressive software, I'd much rather create my own version than modify something existing, even if that means reinventing the wheel and experiencing all the pitfalls along the way. That's how we learn.
The current issue of Game Developer (Jan 2008, Thinking With Portals) indicates this marriage is likely.
Before the writing started, we met with Erik [Wolpaw] and discussed our list of narrative constraints. Since at the time we were using some Half-Life art assets, and because we wanted to leave ourselves the option of someday using the portal gun in a Half-Life game, we decided that the story should in some way connect to the Half-Life universe.
The article goes on to describe Apature Labs as:
the scrappy, unethical scientific rival of Half-Life's Black Mesa.
I've not had the chance to play Portal beyond the agonizingly short demo, so sorry if this is already common knowledge.
Personally, I find the portal gun to be highly dangerous technology that could very easily break even the most carefully crafted game. If it did make it into a Half-Life game, it would probably have to be done in a very limited way. The portal concept is so powerful it's difficult to comprehend until you actually confront it in person. I read a huge amount about Portal before I had a chance to play it and I still wasn't prepared for its awesomeness. Anyone who hasn't tried the demo should do so immediately, it is worth the 6GB download. It's really mind bending.
As a game developer and internet fiend, many first-time gaming experiences stand out clearly in my mind.
When I was 7 years old, my father, a Honeywell engineer, brought me into work one day. I don't even know why today, it seems such a random and out of the ordinary experience to me now 30 years later. That single experience had a tremendous influence on my life. He planted me in front of a terminal connected to a mainframe or minicomputer on the premises. First he tried to introduce me to Star Trek, probably because I was such a fan of the show. It was way over my head. So he next turned me loose on Hunt the Wampus. That was perfect. Mapping, or even imagining, a squashed dodecahedron was clearly beyond my abilities but it had enough suspense and humor to keep me hooked. I also spent some time drawing on an amber screen terminal with character graphics.
A couple years later, age 9, the downstairs neighbors babysat me, and the husband had a portable 110 baud terminal that allowed me to play Hunt the Wampus again. The idea that you could play computer games over the phone line was an amazing revelation.
A year later my next major first was a console experience in the form of an Atari VCS, borrowed, with about 20 games. I spent the most time playing Space Invaders and Asteroids, Asteroids becoming something of an obsession until our house was burgled.
Around the same time, much to my surprise, a brand-new Apple ][+ appeared in the house. It came with Adventure (Colossal Cave), Olympic Decathlon, and a Space Invaders clone. It wasn't long before Sir-Tech's Wizardry, Epyx's Crush, Crumble, and Chomp!, and a host of Automated Simulations' DunjonQuest games such as Rescue at Rigel, Morloc's Tower and Temple of Apshai were occupying my time. That's when I start programming, and the first game I typed in? Hunt the Wampus. I had to type it twice because of a power outage and thus was born my first lesson in the merits of saving often.
In the following years I moved on to Atari computers, BBSs, D&D, and generally immersing myself in geekdom. Funny how I'd end up at Slashdot.
...on Jan. 14 it will pass close by the planet and use Mercury's gravity for a critical assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its ultimate orbit around the planet three years from now.
... I'm dumbfounded. How do they design these complex trajectories?
Actually, Google already has similar tech (although a bit more primitive than this). It's called SketchUp and it is designed for integrating 3D structures of photographed landmarks into Google Earth. In the hands of an expert it is pretty powerful stuff.
I suspect GP was just hedging his bets, but the fact remains, a large number of old games designed for old computers will not run correctly on modern machines that are 20-40 times faster.
Not just lighter in weight. They are more consistently weighted, between fonts, and throughout each set. For the most part, these are superior fonts to the ones they are intended to replace... when antialiased. I'd like to see an example of them without antialiasing. I don't use it when browsing the web, a PDF is not a good way to see these fonts in their natural environment.
Slashdot Mirror
Or don't have a choice? This sort of technology could be easily abused and inserted covertly into most, if not all, cameras at the bequest of governmental intelligence agencies. This has already happened with ink jet printers which secretly print a serial number, traceable back to the purchaser, on every document printed. Abuse of this kind of technology is a threat to already threaten free speech.
Can I get a 50 FOOT TV for time served?
At best, this part of copyright code is ambiguous. There is no mechanism in the US copyright code for establishing new works as public domain, unless they are created by the government. The notion of a disclaimer of copyright upon the release of a new work has never been codified. In the past, a work was considered public domain if it was released without a copyright notice. This is no longer the case. The Berne Convention stipulates that any work that qualifies for copyright is covered by copyright the moment it is created. All current US copyright laws, and the laws of all member nations of the associated treaties, have been drafted with this concept in mind.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html#203
It is all but impossible to disclaim copyright, which is the core concept of public domain. On the surface what you suggest seems like an adequate substitute for most purposes, but IANAL.
Unfortunately, because of the Berne Convention, creating something as a public domain work is not normally possible. By legal definition, in most countries, items can only enter the public domain after their copyright has expired, which takes decades. Creative Commons has a license that works in the spirit of public domain, but it has never been tested in court. I'm a big fan of the concept of public domain, but the obstacles to its application to new works are almost insurmountable.
Same thing happened in the US when the NES came out. What comes around goes around. Or something.
Are you Sirius?
Touché! Well played, sir, well played.
Seriously, I'm surprised the book length is finite.
Pac-Land, 1984
Donkey Kong, 1981
Space Panic, 1980
I see what you are saying, and agree to a certain extend, but there is something about demoscene code that transcends pure craft. I don't know if it's art, but reading and understanding obscenely clever code can stimulate your emotions, or at the least, fill you with a sense wonder, something most art struggles to achieve.
That said, this is what I call programming as art: http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/maze.html
Unfortunately, the Slashdot filter calls it "lame" and "junk", so I can't post it here.
This is an interesting point and question, I think it's right on the money, I'm not sure why you would post AC. I run a programming website with tons of clever, freely available source code because I so dislike the hording mentality that infests the associated community.
Still, as far the demo scene goes, I think there is a certain amount of pride that prevents the authors from even wanting to see the code of others, because they would rather figure it out for themselves. That's a big part of the pleasure of programming, at least it is for me. If I see some impressive software, I'd much rather create my own version than modify something existing, even if that means reinventing the wheel and experiencing all the pitfalls along the way. That's how we learn.
The article goes on to describe Apature Labs as:
I've not had the chance to play Portal beyond the agonizingly short demo, so sorry if this is already common knowledge.
Personally, I find the portal gun to be highly dangerous technology that could very easily break even the most carefully crafted game. If it did make it into a Half-Life game, it would probably have to be done in a very limited way. The portal concept is so powerful it's difficult to comprehend until you actually confront it in person. I read a huge amount about Portal before I had a chance to play it and I still wasn't prepared for its awesomeness. Anyone who hasn't tried the demo should do so immediately, it is worth the 6GB download. It's really mind bending.
article excerpt: Exclusive: Inside The Making Of Portal
Portal: First Slice (demo) is free to nVidia owners via Steam
As a game developer and internet fiend, many first-time gaming experiences stand out clearly in my mind.
When I was 7 years old, my father, a Honeywell engineer, brought me into work one day. I don't even know why today, it seems such a random and out of the ordinary experience to me now 30 years later. That single experience had a tremendous influence on my life. He planted me in front of a terminal connected to a mainframe or minicomputer on the premises. First he tried to introduce me to Star Trek, probably because I was such a fan of the show. It was way over my head. So he next turned me loose on Hunt the Wampus. That was perfect. Mapping, or even imagining, a squashed dodecahedron was clearly beyond my abilities but it had enough suspense and humor to keep me hooked. I also spent some time drawing on an amber screen terminal with character graphics.
A couple years later, age 9, the downstairs neighbors babysat me, and the husband had a portable 110 baud terminal that allowed me to play Hunt the Wampus again. The idea that you could play computer games over the phone line was an amazing revelation.
A year later my next major first was a console experience in the form of an Atari VCS, borrowed, with about 20 games. I spent the most time playing Space Invaders and Asteroids, Asteroids becoming something of an obsession until our house was burgled.
Around the same time, much to my surprise, a brand-new Apple ][+ appeared in the house. It came with Adventure (Colossal Cave), Olympic Decathlon, and a Space Invaders clone. It wasn't long before Sir-Tech's Wizardry, Epyx's Crush, Crumble, and Chomp!, and a host of Automated Simulations' DunjonQuest games such as Rescue at Rigel, Morloc's Tower and Temple of Apshai were occupying my time. That's when I start programming, and the first game I typed in? Hunt the Wampus. I had to type it twice because of a power outage and thus was born my first lesson in the merits of saving often.
In the following years I moved on to Atari computers, BBSs, D&D, and generally immersing myself in geekdom. Funny how I'd end up at Slashdot.
I wish it was so I could mod this "Dumbass".
What the hell are you talking about?
I nominate darwinawards.com for allowing itself to be linked on Slashdot. That server is toast.
It's more likely than you think.
What is this? 1986?
Actually, Google already has similar tech (although a bit more primitive than this). It's called SketchUp and it is designed for integrating 3D structures of photographed landmarks into Google Earth. In the hands of an expert it is pretty powerful stuff.
I suspect GP was just hedging his bets, but the fact remains, a large number of old games designed for old computers will not run correctly on modern machines that are 20-40 times faster.
Orlando has a better music scene than New York? Pull the other one.
The Wiimote can track four points at a time. His system only requires two points so it should be able to support a second player as it is.
You mean like this?
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/19/diy-nintendo-wii-classic-controller-clip-holds-your-wiimote-so/
Here's the kicker:
http://blogs.ign.com/Mid90sMatt/2007/02/13/46669/
I just don't get Nintendo sometimes.
Not just lighter in weight. They are more consistently weighted, between fonts, and throughout each set. For the most part, these are superior fonts to the ones they are intended to replace ... when antialiased. I'd like to see an example of them without antialiasing. I don't use it when browsing the web, a PDF is not a good way to see these fonts in their natural environment.