Well, I'm hoping that they can apply Complex Event Processing to actually implement adaptive content, so that the in-game experience changes over time, in response to the actions and accomplishments of the player characters.
One of the biggest yawn factors of MMOs like WoW is the static nature of play. No matter how many times Onyxia is slain, Lady Prestor is still standing there in SW Castle...
If BioWare can make a game that adapts (gradually, of course) to the player accomplishments, it would truly be the next step in MMO evolution.
I recommend that you examine some of the books in this "So you want to..." Amazon blurb if you're looking into further insight into how mass media manipulates the news to their own ends.
In the meantime, I'll be avoiding clicking on Rugbyjock's entries.
Engineering in general is a good choice for those who like science and math. Chemical and Petroleum Engineering are the two highest paid disciplines, but Electrical, Mechanical, Aero, etc. also pay well when you consider you can get a BS in Engineering in four years. Other professional degrees require at least six years to achieve the minimum MS or MBA necessary to have any real career potential, and fields like law and medicine even more.
The real secret to success is twofold: 1) find an engineering degree program that you are passionate about, even Applied Math or Applied Physics, so that you naturally excel at it, and 2) hone your communications skills. Take writing and presentation classes for your electives. Be a good, effective communicator. That will add value to your BSEE or BSAP even without any experience. As an engineering manager, the hardest thing for me to find is an engineer who is technically proficient and also a good communicator.
Other tips: work right out of high school. Seek only jobs related to your field, so that you can start getting practical knowledge right away. Most Universities will have research departments that need engineering work study students, and many companies and federal agencies like Army Corps of Engineers, NASA and NIST seek interns from university engineering programs. Pick a school in a location near large federal research institutions, like USC, CU-Boulder, NMSU, Johns Hopkins, or Princeton.
Also, if you can add an MBA to your BS in Engineering, your career potential will be even greater; your prospective employers will put you on a management track right away.
I can't believe anyone is taking this idea seriously. Hardware that can run basic office applications is very inexpensive, provided you run a modest operating system. If you can afford to equip one employee with a Windows XP or Vista machine, you can afford to equip at least two people running Linux and Open Office.
It's very difficult for me to suspend my skepticism that the researchers applied the proper diligence into their studies when they didn't even notice the misspelling "Demonstation" in the title sequence of their video.
There's a reason why errors like this are a hallmark of crackpot science.
(Granted, the bugly Diablo/Planescape/DaVinciCode font they used makes it nearly impossible to parse anything written in it.)
Funny how those two variants are the second and third hits (to completely unrelated pages) on a google search for jacking off a bobcat in a phone booth. (The first hit is a reference to the CJC case referred to in TFA.)
Now if someone can inform me how to permanently kill that accursed "Windows Update Has Installed Updates" "Restart Now?" "Restart Later?" dialog that pops up every 2 minutes until you actually restart. I don't mind restarting for automatic updates, but jeez, just tell me ONCE willya??
This repetative reminder is highly annoying and infuriatingly distracting when you're in the middle of a 2-hour presentation, or are using the PC to run custom test hardware in the lab and cannot just stop what you're doing and restart.
The best solution I've found to date is to drag the dialog down so that 90% of it is off the bottom of the screen. And that just sucks.
I've got a Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo Edition 1TB Array (2x 500GB drives) and the same damn blinking lights. And it's completely distracting -- hypnotic, even. Even more distracting because the logic behind the blink patterns seems completely inscrutable... and I keep trying to scrute it...
And although I've never done any performance testing on it, it's perfectly fast enough for its intended use on a PVR system, even configured as RAID1 (mirrored), and connected to its host iMac via FW400. I can simultaneously record from the tuner, playback on the host, and playback on a wifi peer as well, with no dropped frames. In practical terms, if it weren't for the blinkinlights, I'd never notice it was there.
This is slashdot and no one has yet brought up Modulation Transfer Function (MTF)?
Where are all the optics geeks?
In short, resolution beyond the limit of single-pixel perception is still necessary to maintain contrast between bright and dark regions of fine-pitched regular patterned areas, and most importantly to prevent aliasing artifacts. Any optics geek will tell you that MTF is at least as important as resolving a single pixel, if not more.
this device is so underwelming - it desperately needs more/better sources of content
Which is why I'm not even considering an Apple TV box for my home theater room. Right now I've got a 17" iMac G5 running EyeTV with a Plextor tuner, and a 1TB HD shared over WAN, residing in a common area off the kitchen. We use it mainly for PVR duty but it also sometimes serves ripped DVDs or recorded media to other computers in the house.
I've been waiting for format wars to resolve before investing in high-def A/V equipment for the home theater, which is still mainly SD. If I put an Apple TV in the media room, I won't be able to take advantage of the PVR recordings and ripped DVDs residing on the 1 TB server. I'm far better off spending an extra couple hundred $$ and buying a Mac Mini for the media room, to run EyeTV and VLC for the home theater video.
Apple TV is dumbed down and DRMed to the point where I have no interest in it.
It constantly boils off, and excess gas (ullage) escapes thru the vent - that's the low level of vapor you see.
When they intermittently "top it off" the additional volume of liquid oxygen displaces the gaseous oxygen at a higher rate, so the vapor plume is more intense.
From Spaceflight Now:
"At about a minute-and-a-half out of launch, we shift from communicating to the vehicle through the land lines to communicating through the Range RF (radio frequency). And it is possible we were just not picking up the Range RF signal. So that's what I know so far," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development.
LC - Launch Control (the smartsexy voice reading the countdown sequence instructions) LCC - Launch Control Center (aka Mission Control)
some other TLAs overheard
SB - Strongback (the scaffold holding the vehicle until approx t minus 4 minutes) MD - Mission Director (responsible for mission-level and enterprise-level decisions, probably Elon Musk himself) RSO - Range Safety Officer (responsible for making sure all is clear downrange for a few miles) GSO - Ground Safety Officer (responsible for making sure the immediate vicinity of the rocket is clear) FSO - Flight Safety Officer (part of the Kwaj range; these guys have their finger on the destruct button) FTSO - Flight Termination System Officer (SpaceX person responsible for verifying the command destruct receiver, ordnance, batteries, etc, are functional)
and some guesses AVI - Air Vehicle Instrumentation (?) (flight engineer monitoring ground telemetry)
I'd try to gather evidence and report it to the police if I felt they'd do anything worthwhile.
Someone in the vicinity of my office (in a Chatsworth CA industrial park) was broadcasting a wireless network titled "Free Public WiFi" for the past couple of weeks, and since I'm using OS X, it appeared under my AirPort status menu as a peer-to-peer network. These come and go, and I routinely ignore them. That is -- until I saw this ComputerWorld article on Slashdot.
It could have been a coworker, or someone in an adjacent building, or someone parked on the street... the signal strength was 5 bars on a WinXP notebook one cubicle away. It could have been an intentional scammer, or a victim of a scammer's trojan, implanted via a public hotspot. So I forwarded the ComputerWorld URL to everyone in the office, summarized the scam and the risks, and asked folks to run their spyware/adware scrubbers if they had used a public hotspot recently.
And I created my own peer-to-peer network "Free Public WiFi is a CON!"
Within hours, the "Free Public WiFi" was gone. No telling who it was or what their intentions, but at least it's gone.
Slashdot Mirror
One of the biggest yawn factors of MMOs like WoW is the static nature of play. No matter how many times Onyxia is slain, Lady Prestor is still standing there in SW Castle...
If BioWare can make a game that adapts (gradually, of course) to the player accomplishments, it would truly be the next step in MMO evolution.
In the meantime, I'll be avoiding clicking on Rugbyjock's entries.
The real secret to success is twofold: 1) find an engineering degree program that you are passionate about, even Applied Math or Applied Physics, so that you naturally excel at it, and 2) hone your communications skills. Take writing and presentation classes for your electives. Be a good, effective communicator. That will add value to your BSEE or BSAP even without any experience. As an engineering manager, the hardest thing for me to find is an engineer who is technically proficient and also a good communicator.
Other tips: work right out of high school. Seek only jobs related to your field, so that you can start getting practical knowledge right away. Most Universities will have research departments that need engineering work study students, and many companies and federal agencies like Army Corps of Engineers, NASA and NIST seek interns from university engineering programs. Pick a school in a location near large federal research institutions, like USC, CU-Boulder, NMSU, Johns Hopkins, or Princeton.
Also, if you can add an MBA to your BS in Engineering, your career potential will be even greater; your prospective employers will put you on a management track right away.
I, for one, will need to spawn more Overlords.
I can't believe anyone is taking this idea seriously. Hardware that can run basic office applications is very inexpensive, provided you run a modest operating system. If you can afford to equip one employee with a Windows XP or Vista machine, you can afford to equip at least two people running Linux and Open Office.
There's a reason why errors like this are a hallmark of crackpot science.
(Granted, the bugly Diablo/Planescape/DaVinciCode font they used makes it nearly impossible to parse anything written in it.)
You know, the rest of us have access to http://www.google.com/, too.
Somehow I doubt this coworker of yours exists beyond the confines of your imagination.
I was not aware that the service would restart at reboot.
What if I wanted to keep automatic updates and just eliminate the nag part?
Now if someone can inform me how to permanently kill that accursed "Windows Update Has Installed Updates" "Restart Now?" "Restart Later?" dialog that pops up every 2 minutes until you actually restart. I don't mind restarting for automatic updates, but jeez, just tell me ONCE willya??
This repetative reminder is highly annoying and infuriatingly distracting when you're in the middle of a 2-hour presentation, or are using the PC to run custom test hardware in the lab and cannot just stop what you're doing and restart.
The best solution I've found to date is to drag the dialog down so that 90% of it is off the bottom of the screen. And that just sucks.
And although I've never done any performance testing on it, it's perfectly fast enough for its intended use on a PVR system, even configured as RAID1 (mirrored), and connected to its host iMac via FW400. I can simultaneously record from the tuner, playback on the host, and playback on a wifi peer as well, with no dropped frames. In practical terms, if it weren't for the blinkinlights, I'd never notice it was there.
Which is the way it should be.
Where are all the optics geeks?
In short, resolution beyond the limit of single-pixel perception is still necessary to maintain contrast between bright and dark regions of fine-pitched regular patterned areas, and most importantly to prevent aliasing artifacts. Any optics geek will tell you that MTF is at least as important as resolving a single pixel, if not more.
Which is why I'm not even considering an Apple TV box for my home theater room. Right now I've got a 17" iMac G5 running EyeTV with a Plextor tuner, and a 1TB HD shared over WAN, residing in a common area off the kitchen. We use it mainly for PVR duty but it also sometimes serves ripped DVDs or recorded media to other computers in the house.
I've been waiting for format wars to resolve before investing in high-def A/V equipment for the home theater, which is still mainly SD. If I put an Apple TV in the media room, I won't be able to take advantage of the PVR recordings and ripped DVDs residing on the 1 TB server. I'm far better off spending an extra couple hundred $$ and buying a Mac Mini for the media room, to run EyeTV and VLC for the home theater video.
Apple TV is dumbed down and DRMed to the point where I have no interest in it.
The main benefit is to allow prospective renters to inspect the place without the owner or property manager being present.
However, after this, we will probably have to rethink this and perhaps use a lockbox or leave a key with another tenant.
When they intermittently "top it off" the additional volume of liquid oxygen displaces the gaseous oxygen at a higher rate, so the vapor plume is more intense.
LC - Launch Control (the smartsexy voice reading the countdown sequence instructions)
LCC - Launch Control Center (aka Mission Control)
some other TLAs overheard
SB - Strongback (the scaffold holding the vehicle until approx t minus 4 minutes)
MD - Mission Director (responsible for mission-level and enterprise-level decisions, probably Elon Musk himself)
RSO - Range Safety Officer (responsible for making sure all is clear downrange for a few miles)
GSO - Ground Safety Officer (responsible for making sure the immediate vicinity of the rocket is clear)
FSO - Flight Safety Officer (part of the Kwaj range; these guys have their finger on the destruct button)
FTSO - Flight Termination System Officer (SpaceX person responsible for verifying the command destruct receiver, ordnance, batteries, etc, are functional)
and some guesses
AVI - Air Vehicle Instrumentation (?) (flight engineer monitoring ground telemetry)
any others I've forgotten?
That is Omelek Island, part of the Kwajelein Atoll. It's a US Military launch site and frequently leased out to small commercial launches.
We can expect an announcement in 15 to 30 minutes if they intend to recycle for today or stand down.
All stations are reporting ready.
As someone who has done this before, I can tell you, every stomach in the LCC is twitching in nervous anticipation about now.
But good luck to you anyhow - given Elon's unorthodoxy, you may actually find something.
Mark T minus 25 minutes
Someone in the vicinity of my office (in a Chatsworth CA industrial park) was broadcasting a wireless network titled "Free Public WiFi" for the past couple of weeks, and since I'm using OS X, it appeared under my AirPort status menu as a peer-to-peer network. These come and go, and I routinely ignore them. That is -- until I saw this ComputerWorld article on Slashdot.
It could have been a coworker, or someone in an adjacent building, or someone parked on the street... the signal strength was 5 bars on a WinXP notebook one cubicle away. It could have been an intentional scammer, or a victim of a scammer's trojan, implanted via a public hotspot. So I forwarded the ComputerWorld URL to everyone in the office, summarized the scam and the risks, and asked folks to run their spyware/adware scrubbers if they had used a public hotspot recently.
And I created my own peer-to-peer network "Free Public WiFi is a CON!"
Within hours, the "Free Public WiFi" was gone. No telling who it was or what their intentions, but at least it's gone.
Frankly, most of my fantasies about Raquel Welch involved me swimming around in Raquel Welch.
Well, that gives you a clue to the answer to their question.
Because more games targeted at adolescents are churned out for Windows platforms than for Mac OS X.