This is a legal issue, not a technical one. Replacing lawyers with engineers wouldn't do anything here.
The government isn't trying to engineer a new "cookie" paradigm or anything, they're investigating the legalities of a federally-owned website tracking users. Cookies have been used by websites forever, but there may be a difference between your browsing history and preferences being recorded by bestbuy.com versus whitehouse.gov, at least in the eyes of the law. That is what the article is talking about.
Beyond stability, also consider the category of the release, "Long-Term Support." Not nessicarily "most stable," but "most usable for the next five years," is what is being prioritized. If you remember back to last year, there was debate over whether it was right to put Firefox 3 Alpha in the 8.04 LTS. The few holdouts still using Firefox 2 seem to mostly be people who dislike the awesome bar; even Mozilla's dropped support for Firefox 2 last year. Imagine if Canonical had kept with the "more stable" version of Firefox, they'd have to support FF 2 until 2013. While stability is important in an LTS, it is also foward-looking, trying to predict the future of open-source software a few years down the road.
It depends. Usually, you have to obey the laws of the state you're in, not where you reside.
In your example, it wouldn't be illegal, unless the state you lived in enacted a law specifically saying "No citizen under the age of 21 of this state is allowed to drink alcohol, even when in another state."
It shows you don't live in the US, by the way, because all 50 states have had the drinking age set at 21 for a few decades now.
The pertinent part of the law is "intent." If you made it widely known (told all your friends, published on your blog, or so on) that you were traveling to Germany to drink that alcohol, then maybe a prosecutor might have something to go on. Of course, I don't know how bored your country would have to be to go after 20 year olds drinking too-alcoholic alcohol.
Likewise, talking about the original point, if someone went overseas and just happened to "have relations" with an (by US standards) under-aged person, that would be a different situation than someone who purposely paid money to a sex-tourism agency, promising to hook that person up with under-aged prostitutes in foreign countries.
I wouldn't call it a "wtf"; some users want would appreciate the accuracy of a standalone GPS, while others will be satiated by a simple $4.99 Tom-Tom app.
Similarly, some people get by just fine with their phone's built-in camera, while other people find it unacceptable and carry around a separate, dedicated camera.
Honestly, when did the humble RSS feed or - heaven forfend - an actual webpage become an unacceptable way of disseminating information?
You should realize that Twitter is both- more specifically, you can see it as an index of RSS feeds.
That's kinda like being puzzled that Myspace became more popular than Geocities. The latter has more freedom in what you can display, and how you can display it, but Myspace makes it easier for the average person to find their friends and all that other Web 2.0 goodness.
The chargers will be usable only for data-enabled phones... Data-enabled phones are expected to account for almost half of all new mobile handset purchases in 2010.
New data-enabled phones will come with a standardized charger
What's up with this? Is there something about MicroUSB that requires a phone with a data plan?
The only thin I can think of is that this is a a way out for manufacturers, so that they can keep costs down on bargain phones by manufacturing them with cheaper chargers and connectors.
There's a difference between "bullets being affected by wind" and that Panzerfaust you described. Most of the time in an FPS, a bullet isn't going affected by gravity or wind until you get to the ranges where a sniper rifle is needed. At that point, I've noticed most games set in a fairly modern era ("future tech magic" can explain super-accurate guns) do model stuff like bullet drop and wind.
Also, consider the audience of RtCW. They want an FPS where you shoot Nazi-mutant things. The devs wanted to include a rocket launcher weapon, and a Panzerfaust was probably the closest thing to that you could find in that time period.
Red Orchestra, for example, instead features a Panzerfaust that works realistically, and you have take into consideration the arc of the projectile and the size, distance, and movement of the enemy tank for anything outside of point-blank range.
Gaming physics have reached the level you're seeking for. It just depends on what developers think their players want in a weapon.
However, that isn't really relevant. If you had instead said, "AT&T clearly stated on Adam Savage's signed contract it's...." then there'd actually something to argue about.
The problem with statistics is that they only answer one question, and inferences have to be made to their origin.
In this case, the only answer you get is that "80% of people visiting Slashdot are using Windows", not that they WANT to use Windows, or have the ability to use an OS of their choice.
I'm sure a large amount of users are browsing from their work computers, with the standard Windows 2000/XP image everyone else in the office has.
It looks like "Languages" check mark refers to the inclusion of MUI Language Pack support. According to MSDN, this is for dynamically switching the language of the user interface.
So, you can choose what language you want to use when you install the system independent of which edition you have (well, except maybe Home Basic, but that's a different situation entirely), but only with Ultimate you can change the language on the fly.
So they're offering you a discount if you purchase before any reviews of the OS are released. Maybe they did learn from Vista...
The idea of preorders has been around in the gaming world for quite a while. Also, the Windows 7 Beta/RC has been officially downloadable for a few months now, so people have had quite a good opportunity to get an idea of whether they like it or not.
If I recall correctly, the reason Ubuntu doesn't come with a compiler by default was because Mark Shuttleworth thought that the average computer user shouldn't have to deal with compiling a program. By having a large base of potential users without the know-how or capability to compile a program from source, people developing programs for Linux-based systems would be encouraged to release binaries.
While I'm sure the more experienced of you may cringe at this, Ubuntu is designed to be a Linux distribution approachable for newbs from the outset. If you disagree with this, you can very easily do "apt-get install gcc", or simply try another distro.
The point is that people are more likely to trust giving their SSN to their bank, than to a wireless carrier. In fact, I remember there being a story on/. a month or so ago about how some hacker got info on tons of T-Mobile subscribers, including SSNs. This is a worry in addition to the potential of your info being sold by unscrupulous call-center employees.
That's kind of a poor analogy for the topic at hand. You don't know if a friend has a telegraph machine or not.
Facebook requires you to sign up by using an email address (initially, you had to us a college-issued email account). Therefore, a person's being on Facebook proves that he or she, at least at the time the account was created, had a working email address.
A person's not regularly checking an inbox is another issue.
Interestingly enough, your link is rather on topic. Players who just can't get past The End either get sent back a few areas so they can collect ammo & supplies, or they just eventually win by default.
I guess Konami recognized a good amount of players would have given up because the battle was too hard, so they included a "cop-out", allowing players who tried for a while but still couldn't get past this battle could still continue the game.
Just think about it, custom-made drugs to make it seem like you are flying, fighting a dragon, more epic than any video game imaginable, all while being perfectly controlled with little to no side effects.
There are a lot of drugs out there that don't get a user physically addicted, but the user instead develops a psychological addiction. The high they get is so good that, compared to normal life, they think they can't be happy without it.
We already have clinics up and running for curing internet addiction, and we just have LCDs & CRTs. When we develop total-immersion technology, why would people bother ever returning to their cold, lonely, boring real lives, except when they run out of money to fuel their digital lives?
For an example (yeah, I know it's fictional, but still), look at Cypher from The Matrix. The fake digital world was so much better than the real world, he sold out his crewmates in order to forget the real world even existed.
So, what do you find lacking from L4D then? Just because the game exists on the 360 it doesn't necessitate the PC version be worse, or that a lack of such guarantees it would be better.
A better example they could have used would be the Chaos gems from the Sonic series. Optional items won in bonus levels, they didn't serve much of an ingame purpose (until you collected all of them, but Super Sonic was kind of a gimick), but adorned your the main menu screen as a kind of trophey case.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a legal issue, not a technical one. Replacing lawyers with engineers wouldn't do anything here.
The government isn't trying to engineer a new "cookie" paradigm or anything, they're investigating the legalities of a federally-owned website tracking users.
Cookies have been used by websites forever, but there may be a difference between your browsing history and preferences being recorded by bestbuy.com versus whitehouse.gov, at least in the eyes of the law. That is what the article is talking about.
Beyond stability, also consider the category of the release, "Long-Term Support." Not nessicarily "most stable," but "most usable for the next five years," is what is being prioritized.
If you remember back to last year, there was debate over whether it was right to put Firefox 3 Alpha in the 8.04 LTS. The few holdouts still using Firefox 2 seem to mostly be people who dislike the awesome bar; even Mozilla's dropped support for Firefox 2 last year. Imagine if Canonical had kept with the "more stable" version of Firefox, they'd have to support FF 2 until 2013.
While stability is important in an LTS, it is also foward-looking, trying to predict the future of open-source software a few years down the road.
Usually, you'd have some type of agreement with the bank that, if your money goes missing (hackers, bank robbery, whatever), you're covered.
I'm pretty sure Google's policy is, "Oops. Well, you have backups, right?"
It depends. Usually, you have to obey the laws of the state you're in, not where you reside.
In your example, it wouldn't be illegal, unless the state you lived in enacted a law specifically saying "No citizen under the age of 21 of this state is allowed to drink alcohol, even when in another state."
It shows you don't live in the US, by the way, because all 50 states have had the drinking age set at 21 for a few decades now.
The pertinent part of the law is "intent."
If you made it widely known (told all your friends, published on your blog, or so on) that you were traveling to Germany to drink that alcohol, then maybe a prosecutor might have something to go on. Of course, I don't know how bored your country would have to be to go after 20 year olds drinking too-alcoholic alcohol.
Likewise, talking about the original point, if someone went overseas and just happened to "have relations" with an (by US standards) under-aged person, that would be a different situation than someone who purposely paid money to a sex-tourism agency, promising to hook that person up with under-aged prostitutes in foreign countries.
I wouldn't call it a "wtf"; some users want would appreciate the accuracy of a standalone GPS, while others will be satiated by a simple $4.99 Tom-Tom app.
Similarly, some people get by just fine with their phone's built-in camera, while other people find it unacceptable and carry around a separate, dedicated camera.
Honestly, when did the humble RSS feed or - heaven forfend - an actual webpage become an unacceptable way of disseminating information?
You should realize that Twitter is both- more specifically, you can see it as an index of RSS feeds.
That's kinda like being puzzled that Myspace became more popular than Geocities. The latter has more freedom in what you can display, and how you can display it, but Myspace makes it easier for the average person to find their friends and all that other Web 2.0 goodness.
Even the most virulent of scumbags deserve their day in court.
The chargers will be usable only for data-enabled phones... Data-enabled phones are expected to account for almost half of all new mobile handset purchases in 2010.
New data-enabled phones will come with a standardized charger
What's up with this? Is there something about MicroUSB that requires a phone with a data plan?
The only thin I can think of is that this is a a way out for manufacturers, so that they can keep costs down on bargain phones by manufacturing them with cheaper chargers and connectors.
There's a difference between "bullets being affected by wind" and that Panzerfaust you described.
Most of the time in an FPS, a bullet isn't going affected by gravity or wind until you get to the ranges where a sniper rifle is needed. At that point, I've noticed most games set in a fairly modern era ("future tech magic" can explain super-accurate guns) do model stuff like bullet drop and wind.
Also, consider the audience of RtCW. They want an FPS where you shoot Nazi-mutant things. The devs wanted to include a rocket launcher weapon, and a Panzerfaust was probably the closest thing to that you could find in that time period.
Red Orchestra, for example, instead features a Panzerfaust that works realistically, and you have take into consideration the arc of the projectile and the size, distance, and movement of the enemy tank for anything outside of point-blank range.
Gaming physics have reached the level you're seeking for. It just depends on what developers think their players want in a weapon.
Ever hear of All Points Bulletin?
Way to be behind the curve, AC.
However, that isn't really relevant. If you had instead said, "AT&T clearly stated on Adam Savage's signed contract it's...." then there'd actually something to argue about.
I wonder what it would cost to build computers without the annoying shit installed.
Apparently, thirty bucks
The problem with statistics is that they only answer one question, and inferences have to be made to their origin.
In this case, the only answer you get is that "80% of people visiting Slashdot are using Windows", not that they WANT to use Windows, or have the ability to use an OS of their choice.
I'm sure a large amount of users are browsing from their work computers, with the standard Windows 2000/XP image everyone else in the office has.
It looks like "Languages" check mark refers to the inclusion of MUI Language Pack support. According to MSDN, this is for dynamically switching the language of the user interface.
So, you can choose what language you want to use when you install the system independent of which edition you have (well, except maybe Home Basic, but that's a different situation entirely), but only with Ultimate you can change the language on the fly.
So they're offering you a discount if you purchase before any reviews of the OS are released. Maybe they did learn from Vista...
The idea of preorders has been around in the gaming world for quite a while. Also, the Windows 7 Beta/RC has been officially downloadable for a few months now, so people have had quite a good opportunity to get an idea of whether they like it or not.
If I recall correctly, the reason Ubuntu doesn't come with a compiler by default was because Mark Shuttleworth thought that the average computer user shouldn't have to deal with compiling a program.
By having a large base of potential users without the know-how or capability to compile a program from source, people developing programs for Linux-based systems would be encouraged to release binaries.
While I'm sure the more experienced of you may cringe at this, Ubuntu is designed to be a Linux distribution approachable for newbs from the outset. If you disagree with this, you can very easily do "apt-get install gcc", or simply try another distro.
The point is that people are more likely to trust giving their SSN to their bank, than to a wireless carrier. /. a month or so ago about how some hacker got info on tons of T-Mobile subscribers, including SSNs. This is a worry in addition to the potential of your info being sold by unscrupulous call-center employees.
In fact, I remember there being a story on
Where the hell do you live? Every "No Parking" sign I've seen features the standard crossed out letter "P".
That's kind of a poor analogy for the topic at hand. You don't know if a friend has a telegraph machine or not.
Facebook requires you to sign up by using an email address (initially, you had to us a college-issued email account). Therefore, a person's being on Facebook proves that he or she, at least at the time the account was created, had a working email address.
A person's not regularly checking an inbox is another issue.
Interestingly enough, your link is rather on topic. Players who just can't get past The End either get sent back a few areas so they can collect ammo & supplies, or they just eventually win by default.
I guess Konami recognized a good amount of players would have given up because the battle was too hard, so they included a "cop-out", allowing players who tried for a while but still couldn't get past this battle could still continue the game.
Ever heard of Red Flag Linux? I'd expect them to they eventually made it compatible, or even have it pre-installed.
Just think about it, custom-made drugs to make it seem like you are flying, fighting a dragon, more epic than any video game imaginable, all while being perfectly controlled with little to no side effects.
There are a lot of drugs out there that don't get a user physically addicted, but the user instead develops a psychological addiction. The high they get is so good that, compared to normal life, they think they can't be happy without it.
We already have clinics up and running for curing internet addiction, and we just have LCDs & CRTs. When we develop total-immersion technology, why would people bother ever returning to their cold, lonely, boring real lives, except when they run out of money to fuel their digital lives?
For an example (yeah, I know it's fictional, but still), look at Cypher from The Matrix. The fake digital world was so much better than the real world, he sold out his crewmates in order to forget the real world even existed.
So, what do you find lacking from L4D then? Just because the game exists on the 360 it doesn't necessitate the PC version be worse, or that a lack of such guarantees it would be better.
A better example they could have used would be the Chaos gems from the Sonic series. Optional items won in bonus levels, they didn't serve much of an ingame purpose (until you collected all of them, but Super Sonic was kind of a gimick), but adorned your the main menu screen as a kind of trophey case.
I also have a laptop in case I want to browse the web while watching TV
I assume trying both on the 52" via split-screen is a no-go?