Then what did he think it was going to be used for?
Big files, probably. If he wanted it to be used chiefly for big illegal files, he wouldn't have made the system require a centralized tracker that can be shut down and it would've had at least some semblance of anonimity.
As it stands, BitTorrent is no better at distributing copyright infringing content than HTTP is when it comes to evading the copyright holder.
1. Drivers, drivers, drivers. Not enough hardware makers are bothering with drivers for Linux. Kudos to all the Linux folks writing drivers, but Linux is always at least a step or two behind. However, this problem may be solved if the project that allows Windows drivers to work under Linux is successful.
Frankly, I don't want most hardware makers to be writing lots of Linux drivers. I want them to build their stuff to use documented protocols (USB/Firewire/IDE/etc.) correctly so that their hardware Just Works everywhere. That way, I can pick up a piece of new hardware and have it run without any obnoxious CD loading, file downloading or kernel module installation whatsoever.
That's the sort of ease-of-use we should be encouraging.
I mean, seriously, how cool would it be to have an 80GB solid-state HD in a few years???
That would be pretty cool (and silent!), I'll admit. But by then I'll have a hard time justifying it when I can get an 800GB+ platter-based HD for the same price.
Its been awhile since I watched the original triology of SW on LD....original versions. I could swear it says Episode IV at the beginning of the first movie??
The original theatrical run didn't have "Episode IV" in the opening crawl; that was added for home video and subsequent theatrical re-releases. Most people aren't concerned with it whatsoever, but perhaps it should've been seen as an omen of things to come.
The rest of the Special Editions are not too bad though.
I could do without Luke screaming as he's falling from the platform in "Empire", though. It's completely pointless and out of character. Except for the two Han scenes in the original, that's the third most irksome thing about Lucas' "adjustments".
I knew that he'd never release the original movies on DVD, so I've been copying my "Definitive Collection" laserdiscs onto DVD via my PC.
This has been done, and a nicely transferred version is floating around the internet already - complete with high resolution covers and a "bonus" DVD full of extra material. The quality isn't ideal (the transfer is for 1 single-layer DVD per film) but it's widescreen, better than VHS and the best version of the originals we're likely to get.
The best way to learn how to program is to sit down in front of a computer with a reference handy and dive in!
IME, it's best to have a problem to solve, too. Back in my carefree days, that usually involved trying to program a neat game I didn't have. Nowdays, it seems most of my toy programs involve organizing all the data I've accumulated on my hard drives.
What tradition? PS2 and Atari 7800 are the only ones to do it and it certainly wasn't traditional enough to save the Atari.
And the Gameboy Color. And the Gameboy Advance. The Genesis/Megadrive went for backwards compatibility with an add-on, but the Master System wasn't popular enough in the US for it to matter. It might've helped the 7800, had Atari bothered to release it prior to the NES's arrival and subsequent success.
The key is providing an upgrade path, and Sony and Nintendo have been doing a good job of that thus far.
The 7800 was mostly backwards compatible with the 2600, but the 5200 was not. Of course, by the time the 7800 actually arrived, that wasn't much of a selling point anymore.
Why would you want to have backwards compatability anyways?
The general console-buying populace has traditionally gone for new consoles that can play the games of older, popular ones. Since the Playstation 1 was popular, the Playstation 2's backwards compatibility gave it a huge starting library - and instant success. The GBA is a huge hit for similar reasons.
Losing backwards compatibility means starting a console's library all over again from scratch. That, among other things, is what cost Nintendo a lot of market share moving from the NES to the (incompatible) SNES. Though in the X-Box's case, the market share is relatively small so there isn't as much to lose.
But until 7zip makes an implementation that runs on some platform other than Windows, I won't be using it for anything. The source code is open, to be sure, but it has so many Windows API calls and hooks that there's simply no way to compile and run it anywhere else without a total rewrite.
A spare external hard drive for backing up data isn't a bad choice for home use. They're large enough now, and can be fast enough when using USB2.0/Firewire to make the process largely painless. And, most importantly, they can be kept turned off most of the time - which prevents accidental or malicious destruction of data. Of course, then one has to consider the possibility of fire or some other disaster taking out your house as well as your drives. In those cases, one has to weight the risks against the cost of protecting against them and the value of your data.
But I consider an external drive or two to be good enough, at least for the stuff I have.
Sorry, but Ogg already took that name for another codec. Expect Ogg Buyukkokten to arrive soon and deliver amazing, patent-free chocolate cake compression over TCP/IP.
How are you suppose to use the arrow keys with your third and pinky fingers? I would get a cramp.
One can use the dedicated arrow keys, but it's *much* easier to hold down the "Fn" key and use the arrows left of the "enter" key (under the ";", "[" , "'" and "/" keys). It's slightly counterintuitive at first, but it's very nice not having to move my fingers all the way past the right shift key to reach the arrows.
Disney already has a worldwide distribution deal with Studio Ghibli which consists a lot of sitting on the material instead of releasing it.
Disney is already distributing virtually every Ghibli movie ever made in Japan. Porco Rosso, Nausicaa and Ocean Waves(?) have already been dubbed and are due for an R1 release in 2004. Totoro might also be pending, since Fox lost the rights at the end of 2003.
The great thing about doing this (going back to generic set sales) for Lego is that it drastically reduces their costs while also directing focus back where it belongs - on the open-ended nature of the toy. Instead of directing a kid to build Hogwarts or something, let them build whatever their imagination comes up with...
If the sets were built with generic pieces, a kid could build Hogwarts from the directions. Then, he could tear it down and build a bunch of completely different things that look nothing like the picture on the box. The first yellow castle set I got back in the late 70s was like this - packed with plenty of plain pieces and only a handful of specialized ones.
Then, as early as the mid-80s, Lego started using specialized "castle wall" pieces that weren't useful for anything other than assembling medieval-looking buildings. It was a downward trend, though I didn't realize it at the time.
I don't give a rat's ass about iPod killing and whatnot. I just want a portable that plays my mp3s/oggs, and my collection of both is quite large. This one does it, so iRiver gets my cash.
pkzip files have always had genuine data encryption (the sort that isn't viewable with a hex editor), but that encryption has traditionally been quite weak. I'm unsure if the new schemes are any better, but I doubt many people use that aspect of pkzip files anyway.
My latest Athlon64 box in an Antec Sonata case is only slightly louder than my TiVo. Though I still prefer to sleep with it turned off, it's a far cry from the old jet engine Athlon I used to have.
The trouble is, Apple is selling lossy tracks for about the same price as buying the actual CD. So, in effect, I'm paying the same for less audio, with no artwork and I have to provide my own storage for it. The upside is convenience, but I'd be happier if I could have my one-click audio purchasing and still have lossless audio.
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Big files, probably. If he wanted it to be used chiefly for big illegal files, he wouldn't have made the system require a centralized tracker that can be shut down and it would've had at least some semblance of anonimity.
As it stands, BitTorrent is no better at distributing copyright infringing content than HTTP is when it comes to evading the copyright holder.
Frankly, I don't want most hardware makers to be writing lots of Linux drivers. I want them to build their stuff to use documented protocols (USB/Firewire/IDE/etc.) correctly so that their hardware Just Works everywhere. That way, I can pick up a piece of new hardware and have it run without any obnoxious CD loading, file downloading or kernel module installation whatsoever.
That's the sort of ease-of-use we should be encouraging.
That would be pretty cool (and silent!), I'll admit. But by then I'll have a hard time justifying it when I can get an 800GB+ platter-based HD for the same price.
The original theatrical run didn't have "Episode IV" in the opening crawl; that was added for home video and subsequent theatrical re-releases. Most people aren't concerned with it whatsoever, but perhaps it should've been seen as an omen of things to come.
I could do without Luke screaming as he's falling from the platform in "Empire", though. It's completely pointless and out of character. Except for the two Han scenes in the original, that's the third most irksome thing about Lucas' "adjustments".
This has been done, and a nicely transferred version is floating around the internet already - complete with high resolution covers and a "bonus" DVD full of extra material. The quality isn't ideal (the transfer is for 1 single-layer DVD per film) but it's widescreen, better than VHS and the best version of the originals we're likely to get.
IME, it's best to have a problem to solve, too. Back in my carefree days, that usually involved trying to program a neat game I didn't have. Nowdays, it seems most of my toy programs involve organizing all the data I've accumulated on my hard drives.
And the Gameboy Color. And the Gameboy Advance. The Genesis/Megadrive went for backwards compatibility with an add-on, but the Master System wasn't popular enough in the US for it to matter. It might've helped the 7800, had Atari bothered to release it prior to the NES's arrival and subsequent success.
The key is providing an upgrade path, and Sony and Nintendo have been doing a good job of that thus far.
The 7800 was mostly backwards compatible with the 2600, but the 5200 was not. Of course, by the time the 7800 actually arrived, that wasn't much of a selling point anymore.
The general console-buying populace has traditionally gone for new consoles that can play the games of older, popular ones. Since the Playstation 1 was popular, the Playstation 2's backwards compatibility gave it a huge starting library - and instant success. The GBA is a huge hit for similar reasons.
Losing backwards compatibility means starting a console's library all over again from scratch. That, among other things, is what cost Nintendo a lot of market share moving from the NES to the (incompatible) SNES. Though in the X-Box's case, the market share is relatively small so there isn't as much to lose.
The article is about the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for the year 2003. Both of those predate last year, naturally.
But until 7zip makes an implementation that runs on some platform other than Windows, I won't be using it for anything. The source code is open, to be sure, but it has so many Windows API calls and hooks that there's simply no way to compile and run it anywhere else without a total rewrite.
I'm just waiting for George Lucas to have Alderaan shoot first in the next special edition.
But I consider an external drive or two to be good enough, at least for the stuff I have.
Sorry, but Ogg already took that name for another codec. Expect Ogg Buyukkokten to arrive soon and deliver amazing, patent-free chocolate cake compression over TCP/IP.
One can use the dedicated arrow keys, but it's *much* easier to hold down the "Fn" key and use the arrows left of the "enter" key (under the ";", "[" , "'" and "/" keys). It's slightly counterintuitive at first, but it's very nice not having to move my fingers all the way past the right shift key to reach the arrows.
In the theatrical category, I'd like to nominate "Star Trek V", "Alien 3", "Highlander 2" and the "Matrix" sequels.
A great idea. I'm sure he'll have all the martian secrets aired out in no time.
Look for it here.
(Just try not to /. them too much)
Disney is already distributing virtually every Ghibli movie ever made in Japan. Porco Rosso, Nausicaa and Ocean Waves(?) have already been dubbed and are due for an R1 release in 2004. Totoro might also be pending, since Fox lost the rights at the end of 2003.
If the sets were built with generic pieces, a kid could build Hogwarts from the directions. Then, he could tear it down and build a bunch of completely different things that look nothing like the picture on the box. The first yellow castle set I got back in the late 70s was like this - packed with plenty of plain pieces and only a handful of specialized ones.
Then, as early as the mid-80s, Lego started using specialized "castle wall" pieces that weren't useful for anything other than assembling medieval-looking buildings. It was a downward trend, though I didn't realize it at the time.
Gimme.
pkzip files have always had genuine data encryption (the sort that isn't viewable with a hex editor), but that encryption has traditionally been quite weak. I'm unsure if the new schemes are any better, but I doubt many people use that aspect of pkzip files anyway.
My latest Athlon64 box in an Antec Sonata case is only slightly louder than my TiVo. Though I still prefer to sleep with it turned off, it's a far cry from the old jet engine Athlon I used to have.
The trouble is, Apple is selling lossy tracks for about the same price as buying the actual CD. So, in effect, I'm paying the same for less audio, with no artwork and I have to provide my own storage for it. The upside is convenience, but I'd be happier if I could have my one-click audio purchasing and still have lossless audio.