If you insist on using a keyboard, your best bet would be to go with a self-built miniITX system or one of the more powerful nettops paired with a wireless keyboard like this one.
If you already have a PS3 or an Xbox 360, and you're willing to forgo the keyboard, then TVersity would be your best bet. It's free (as in beer), can stream video directly from BBC, Youtube, Hulu, and others...plus, it will automatically transcode (if necessary) any audio, video, or picture file from your computer and stream it to your console. The automatic transcoding alleviates any concerns regarding file formats...for example, you could stream a.mov file to your Xbox 360 with it.
If you want to buy him something gaming-related, get him an NES or an Atari 2600 and a crapton of games for the same amount of money.
Just like my parents made sure to expose me to classic rock from the 60's and 70's, I'm going to make sure I expose my kid to the earlier days of console gaming.
Given that Sprint is still trying to recover from their PR disaster a few years ago, I'd think they would do whatever it takes to get people signing contracts with them.
What's the likelihood that they will recoup enough money to have made this worthwhile? Microsoft has put a HUGE amount of money and effort behind development & advertising for Natal/Kinect...but how many people are really going to buy it?
Look at the Playstation Move...a huge amount of promotion and hype leading up to its release, and then barely a peep about it after hitting the streets. The same thing will likely happen with Kinect. If it really does retail for $150 as has been widely reported, then it will pretty much be DOA.
How can they expect to sell what amounts to a novelty for half the cost of the entire console?
Sure, but touch-screen devices suck for gaming no matter what you are running on them.
Agreed (except for tower defense games...those were made for a finger). I was referring more to the quantity and quality of games available in the Apple app store compared to the Android app store.
And quite honestly, I'd rather play a good retro game than play any more of the iPhone's half-baked "games".
There are some really good ones available for the iPhone. There are a couple of good ones for Android as well (Zenonia, Stranded, Pirates and Traders...), but overall there are definitely more quality titles available for the iPhone.
I do love how there are emulators (and even rom packs, although you can still use "standard" rom files loaded on an SD card) available right from the official Android app store...when people ask me to describe a major difference between the Android and iPhone app stores, I just say "emulators".
I completely agree...the "New Every Two" deal that Verizon has had going for a while has been enough for me to stay with them (as has their extensive coverage where I live.) Still, however small, there is a market for unlocked devices, and being able to use the same phone on more carriers is certainly a good thing for that market.
By proxy, I think this would also help out the second-hand market.
The one advantage iPhones still have over Android phones would be gaming. There are some great emulators available for Android, but other than that, it has nothing on the iPhone when it comes to gaming.
That being said, excluding gaming, it's Android for me all the way.
If nothing else, adding GSM to a portion of their network will at least open up consumer options regarding which phones they want to use. I have a feeling that unlocked phones may become even more commonplace in this country once they can be used on all the major US carriers.
From what I understand, V-Cast has been a major point of contention between Apple and Verizon. At least, that's what the rumors are saying...
That being said, I don't know why Verizon pushes their V-Cast services so hard...out of all the people I know that use Verizon, I don't know anyone that actually uses anything V-Cast has to offer.
Where did I ever say I wanted them banned? Go ahead, go through every single post I've made in this story, and quote me where I said I wanted them banned.
You won't be able to, because I never did. What I said was that I recognize both the legal and illegal uses for bittorrent, but I hold no illusions about bittorrent being used mostly for anything other than illegal file sharing.
That has nothing to do with wanting bittorent to be banned.
The difference is that HTTP is used for many things OTHER than exchanging large files. The torrent protocol by design does nothing BUT exchange large files. Apples to Oranges.
As mentioned in another post, I myself use torrents for legal purposes (both uploading and downloading), so I recognize its legitimate uses...but I also do not maintain any illusion that torrents are primarily used for legal purposes. I don't know what the percentage is, but I'd be very surprised if more than 5% of all torrent traffic involved the legal exchange of data.
Again, just a personal estimate...I don't know what the actual numbers are.
I'll defend the legal use of torrents, because I do it every single day; I use a torrent to distribute my own music for free (I've taken my fair share over the years, I felt like I should give something in return), and it's been extremely useful (in the three weeks since I put up the torrent, it's been downloaded approximately 160 times, based on the amount of data I've uploaded in uTorrent...not bad for someone who is literally a bedroom musician with zero promotion.)
That being said, I'm not under any misguided thinking; I know full well that torrents are generally used for infringing content, despite their capability as a legal file distribution tool.
My monitor gets used as a computer monitor as well as a gaming monitor (when both of us want to play a console game, my wife gets the big screen:p) Do I think that should dictate the direction of the entire industry? No, I don't...but assuming that everyone who buys a 16:9 monitor does so blindly isn't right.
I got lucky...all of the schools I went to had a HUGE geek/nerd population. There were almost as many geeks/nerds n my high school as the Abercrombie-wearing "popular" kids.
In my case, there were people that I was good friends with, but they moved away (either to live elsewhere, or to go off to college.) Out of the 186 people I'm friends with on Facebook, about 70 of them are people that I used to be friends with in K-12.
I'm the first to admit that I use the hell out of Facebook. Keeping in contact with old classmates, helping organize LAN parties with friends, posting about new articles on my site, doing the general "ZOMG it smells like snow outside!!!" type of things...but I never really saw the appeal of Places.
If really wanted people to know where I was, wouldn't I just post about it? Or is this something that some people just get, and others don't...? Also, how could Facebook patent it? They were hardly the first to offer this type of location service...
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If you insist on using a keyboard, your best bet would be to go with a self-built miniITX system or one of the more powerful nettops paired with a wireless keyboard like this one.
If you already have a PS3 or an Xbox 360, and you're willing to forgo the keyboard, then TVersity would be your best bet. It's free (as in beer), can stream video directly from BBC, Youtube, Hulu, and others...plus, it will automatically transcode (if necessary) any audio, video, or picture file from your computer and stream it to your console. The automatic transcoding alleviates any concerns regarding file formats...for example, you could stream a .mov file to your Xbox 360 with it.
Again, I'm not questioning the technology, just what they are doing with it. If I want to be active, I'll go outside; I play video games to be lazy.
If you want to buy him something gaming-related, get him an NES or an Atari 2600 and a crapton of games for the same amount of money.
Just like my parents made sure to expose me to classic rock from the 60's and 70's, I'm going to make sure I expose my kid to the earlier days of console gaming.
It's a dang cheap way to get your stuff on your bigger screens, provided you're willing to jump through the necessary hoops.
Roku Box or WDTV, anyone? No hoops to jump through there...or, if you have an Xbox 360 or PS3, TVersity is a FANTASTIC solution.
Given that Sprint is still trying to recover from their PR disaster a few years ago, I'd think they would do whatever it takes to get people signing contracts with them.
Please note that I'm not criticizing the technology...I'm criticizing what Microsoft is deciding to do with it at the moment.
What's the likelihood that they will recoup enough money to have made this worthwhile? Microsoft has put a HUGE amount of money and effort behind development & advertising for Natal/Kinect...but how many people are really going to buy it?
Look at the Playstation Move...a huge amount of promotion and hype leading up to its release, and then barely a peep about it after hitting the streets. The same thing will likely happen with Kinect. If it really does retail for $150 as has been widely reported, then it will pretty much be DOA.
How can they expect to sell what amounts to a novelty for half the cost of the entire console?
If you predict something even remotely likely for long enough, it's bound to come true.
You mean like Iraq having weapons of mass destru-
**NO CARRIER**
Sure, but touch-screen devices suck for gaming no matter what you are running on them.
Agreed (except for tower defense games...those were made for a finger). I was referring more to the quantity and quality of games available in the Apple app store compared to the Android app store.
And quite honestly, I'd rather play a good retro game than play any more of the iPhone's half-baked "games".
There are some really good ones available for the iPhone. There are a couple of good ones for Android as well (Zenonia, Stranded, Pirates and Traders...), but overall there are definitely more quality titles available for the iPhone.
I do love how there are emulators (and even rom packs, although you can still use "standard" rom files loaded on an SD card) available right from the official Android app store...when people ask me to describe a major difference between the Android and iPhone app stores, I just say "emulators".
I completely agree...the "New Every Two" deal that Verizon has had going for a while has been enough for me to stay with them (as has their extensive coverage where I live.) Still, however small, there is a market for unlocked devices, and being able to use the same phone on more carriers is certainly a good thing for that market.
By proxy, I think this would also help out the second-hand market.
The one advantage iPhones still have over Android phones would be gaming. There are some great emulators available for Android, but other than that, it has nothing on the iPhone when it comes to gaming.
That being said, excluding gaming, it's Android for me all the way.
If nothing else, adding GSM to a portion of their network will at least open up consumer options regarding which phones they want to use. I have a feeling that unlocked phones may become even more commonplace in this country once they can be used on all the major US carriers.
From what I understand, V-Cast has been a major point of contention between Apple and Verizon. At least, that's what the rumors are saying...
That being said, I don't know why Verizon pushes their V-Cast services so hard...out of all the people I know that use Verizon, I don't know anyone that actually uses anything V-Cast has to offer.
Where did I ever say I wanted them banned? Go ahead, go through every single post I've made in this story, and quote me where I said I wanted them banned.
You won't be able to, because I never did. What I said was that I recognize both the legal and illegal uses for bittorrent, but I hold no illusions about bittorrent being used mostly for anything other than illegal file sharing.
That has nothing to do with wanting bittorent to be banned.
Unless your account (or their servers) get hacked, it would only show up if you put it on there yourself...
Aside from being able to back up everything, it would be interesting to do this and read some early correspondence on the service.
Just go with the classic Kensington Expert Mouse. Hard to beat.
The difference is that HTTP is used for many things OTHER than exchanging large files. The torrent protocol by design does nothing BUT exchange large files. Apples to Oranges.
As mentioned in another post, I myself use torrents for legal purposes (both uploading and downloading), so I recognize its legitimate uses...but I also do not maintain any illusion that torrents are primarily used for legal purposes. I don't know what the percentage is, but I'd be very surprised if more than 5% of all torrent traffic involved the legal exchange of data.
Again, just a personal estimate...I don't know what the actual numbers are.
Indeed!
I'll defend the legal use of torrents, because I do it every single day; I use a torrent to distribute my own music for free (I've taken my fair share over the years, I felt like I should give something in return), and it's been extremely useful (in the three weeks since I put up the torrent, it's been downloaded approximately 160 times, based on the amount of data I've uploaded in uTorrent...not bad for someone who is literally a bedroom musician with zero promotion.)
That being said, I'm not under any misguided thinking; I know full well that torrents are generally used for infringing content, despite their capability as a legal file distribution tool.
My monitor gets used as a computer monitor as well as a gaming monitor (when both of us want to play a console game, my wife gets the big screen :p) Do I think that should dictate the direction of the entire industry? No, I don't...but assuming that everyone who buys a 16:9 monitor does so blindly isn't right.
Absolutes rarely are.
I got lucky...all of the schools I went to had a HUGE geek/nerd population. There were almost as many geeks/nerds n my high school as the Abercrombie-wearing "popular" kids.
"I'm goin' left!" "::sigh:: but you're turning it to the right."
I love ATHF.
Or, it could be that some people don't like dealing with horizontal bars when viewing 1080p content.
We're not all cheapskate consumers, you know...some of us just buy ::gasp:: what serves our purposes.
http://www.len.ro/2010/10/why-am-i-loosing-screen-height-on-each-new-laptop/
Maybe because you haven't tightened it enough?
In my case, there were people that I was good friends with, but they moved away (either to live elsewhere, or to go off to college.) Out of the 186 people I'm friends with on Facebook, about 70 of them are people that I used to be friends with in K-12.
I'm the first to admit that I use the hell out of Facebook. Keeping in contact with old classmates, helping organize LAN parties with friends, posting about new articles on my site, doing the general "ZOMG it smells like snow outside!!!" type of things...but I never really saw the appeal of Places.
If really wanted people to know where I was, wouldn't I just post about it? Or is this something that some people just get, and others don't...? Also, how could Facebook patent it? They were hardly the first to offer this type of location service...