Case in point: Recently got Just Cause 2 for the Xbox 360 because I loved playing the 30 min timed demo, after showing a friend they went out and bought it for their Xbox, a friend of theirs saw it being played and went out an bought an Xbox 360 and the game!
I've been riding bicycles all my life, never owned a car but do have a driving license, got an ebike 3 years ago and it's been great, given me a lot more mobility especially shopping & carrying stuff around because with the assistance of the motor the bike doesn't feel heavy even with a several kilos in the panniers.
The other major benifits of using ebike is you don't need tax, insurance, MOT and the 'fuel' is dirt cheap compared to petrol, especially here in the UK.
Even factoring in buying a new battery every ~2 years it easily works out cheaper than a car.
The obvious downsides are you have to suffer whatever the weather throws at you and the range isn't anywhere near that of a motorbike or car, but if you don't have to go 10's of miles regularly then an ebike is a great money saver.
The electric motor on mine tops out at about 15mph,
The throttle control on my 3 year old Urban Mover UM36 is now derestricted, normally the throttle maxes out at 10mph and the pedal sensor maxes out at 15mph, but now the throttle can get me to 20mph along the flat without pedalling (and no panniers), faster if I pedal whilst the throttle is on maximum.
Sure it's illegal here in the UK but it's so much fun and journeys are shorter than before, took a short while to get used to the increased speed but I'm still safe with it, I make sure I don't ride dangerously because I don't want to get hurt or hurt others.
After your reply I did do a bit of googling to see if I could find the camera you were talking about in the hope that it does exist, but couldn't find anything and neither during my several searches for information at various times on DIY thermal imaging never really turned up much more than people on forums confusing PIR (motion sensors), IR (remote controls/nightvision etc.) & IR long (thermal).
I've wanted to make my own using a readily available & interfacable thermopile array mounted on a couple of servos sat upon a tripod to take thermal image photos but after seeing someone have a go at this - http://hackaday.com/2009/09/25/arduino-thermoscanner/ - it looks like I'd have to source a very good thermopile with a very narrow FOV to get more detail, or save up a few thousand for a proper unit...
Not really. I think what's happening with consumer gear becoming more and more complex and "agile" is that the whole concept of expensive custom hardware is becoming obsolete.
I wish that were true with all electronic gizmos, for example I see there's now a real cheap Hotwheels Radar Gun which I even saw being used on Mythbusters to test a scale bus for the Speed bridge gap jump, but the one gadget I would love to add to my ever-growing collection is a thermal imaging device, unfortunately I don't have several thousand to fork out on such a device.
If they do go ahead with this, will they also make McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC etc. put warnings in their menus/packaging that regular consumption of junk food will (probably) turn you into an unhealthy fat bastard?
$350 to break contract early? now that's just bat-shit insane, do you still have to pay to receive text messages? if I had to then I'd never have a mobile phone, I spend so little on calls/messages I'm practically non-existant to the phone companies.
IPv4 I would think so, my HOSTS file is 600kB from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm (I don't soley rely on it as I also use AdBlock+ with FF), but if everything went IPv6 overnight the blocklists could get into some seriously ludicrus filesizes.
It reminds me more of an episode of "Masters of Science Fiction"; Watchbird
A scientist guy creates flying drones that aid in wars, taking out the enemy - specifically anyone who has intent or is in the process of harming US soldiers.
But the government think the 'birds' will help fight crime at home by autonomously flying around in the sky above cities looking for people committing crime or even thinking about it.
It all goes wrong when the 'birds' stop listening to their masters and start killing people for even minor infractions of the law.
I would want to add an 8-segment sequence flashing red light to the front of my e-car and play the sound of KITT.
And I would want my e-car in the shape of a black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am:D (not the re-incarnation of the recent tv remake, just doesn't look right at all)
I effectively taught myself touchtyping on BBC Micros back in the 80s, back then the keys were 'real' keys and not these crappy membrane things that seem to have taken over the world.
I'm touch typing this on an Asus Eee and always get a kick out of friends who are unable to type with more than two fingers when they say stuff like "he's even correcting mistakes before I even noticed" when watching me type.
Not much else to say really other than maybe if computers had mobile phone keypads instead of qwerty keyboards then more kids would use computers faster? But saying that I can do 99% of what I need to on a PC without having to stray away from the mouse, it's just that last 1% where keyboards are infinitely faster than a mouse.
Yeah it's Barclays, the only real problems I've had with them over the many years I've been with them was when I tried to cancel my Barclaycard because transactions were appearing on it that I didn't make, took 5 fucking months of pestering them before they finally canceled it.
It's Lloyds I'm pissed off with at the moment, used to hae a cashpoint card with them, no problems and liked the account as I could use it in any cashpoint machine, then last year they phased out the cashpoint cards and gave everyone debit cards, now my card only works in Lloyds cashpoint machines. I asked for an account that would give me a card that would work in any machine but they refused. I don't always want to pay everything by card, I like cold hard cash too - that way it's much easier to control how much you spend/have left because your wallet becomes empty;)
I kinda treat PayPal like that firework that didn't go off, in that each time you make a payment you're running back to that firework to re-light it - one day it'll go off in your face, aka PayPal will burn you.
Slashdot Mirror
WTF has Crytek been smoking?
Game demos sell games!
Case in point: Recently got Just Cause 2 for the Xbox 360 because I loved playing the 30 min timed demo, after showing a friend they went out and bought it for their Xbox, a friend of theirs saw it being played and went out an bought an Xbox 360 and the game!
I'd like to see you try tell a Liger twice...
You forgot The Ewoks cartoon and Droids cartoon.
Looks fantastic, I'd like an all-enclosed bike or motorbike like that, probably the Carver which has been on Top Gear a couple of times and looks a heck of a lot of fun:
:(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb-MIuXTlEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPOkeJCiw9A
Shame they're priced way out of my range
I've been riding bicycles all my life, never owned a car but do have a driving license, got an ebike 3 years ago and it's been great, given me a lot more mobility especially shopping & carrying stuff around because with the assistance of the motor the bike doesn't feel heavy even with a several kilos in the panniers.
The other major benifits of using ebike is you don't need tax, insurance, MOT and the 'fuel' is dirt cheap compared to petrol, especially here in the UK.
Even factoring in buying a new battery every ~2 years it easily works out cheaper than a car.
The obvious downsides are you have to suffer whatever the weather throws at you and the range isn't anywhere near that of a motorbike or car, but if you don't have to go 10's of miles regularly then an ebike is a great money saver.
The electric motor on mine tops out at about 15mph,
The throttle control on my 3 year old Urban Mover UM36 is now derestricted, normally the throttle maxes out at 10mph and the pedal sensor maxes out at 15mph, but now the throttle can get me to 20mph along the flat without pedalling (and no panniers), faster if I pedal whilst the throttle is on maximum.
Sure it's illegal here in the UK but it's so much fun and journeys are shorter than before, took a short while to get used to the increased speed but I'm still safe with it, I make sure I don't ride dangerously because I don't want to get hurt or hurt others.
And also... "oh my god... it's full of bars"
Fixed that for you.
After your reply I did do a bit of googling to see if I could find the camera you were talking about in the hope that it does exist, but couldn't find anything and neither during my several searches for information at various times on DIY thermal imaging never really turned up much more than people on forums confusing PIR (motion sensors), IR (remote controls/nightvision etc.) & IR long (thermal).
I've wanted to make my own using a readily available & interfacable thermopile array mounted on a couple of servos sat upon a tripod to take thermal image photos but after seeing someone have a go at this - http://hackaday.com/2009/09/25/arduino-thermoscanner/ - it looks like I'd have to source a very good thermopile with a very narrow FOV to get more detail, or save up a few thousand for a proper unit...
Not really. I think what's happening with consumer gear becoming more and more complex and "agile" is that the whole concept of expensive custom hardware is becoming obsolete.
I wish that were true with all electronic gizmos, for example I see there's now a real cheap Hotwheels Radar Gun which I even saw being used on Mythbusters to test a scale bus for the Speed bridge gap jump, but the one gadget I would love to add to my ever-growing collection is a thermal imaging device, unfortunately I don't have several thousand to fork out on such a device.
There's already a female version on the market: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qsWy9r_EuA
That's not how you play a Theremin, this is how you play a Theremin! (NSFW)
I'll always remember the quote of a fellow IRCer back when Napster was like a free version of iTunes:
"Napster's great, you can download all the tracks you were too embarrassed to buy in the shops"
I love his character on American Dad and I suspect he does too because it's so outrageous and different from any character he's ever played before.
If they do go ahead with this, will they also make McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC etc. put warnings in their menus/packaging that regular consumption of junk food will (probably) turn you into an unhealthy fat bastard?
$350 to break contract early? now that's just bat-shit insane, do you still have to pay to receive text messages? if I had to then I'd never have a mobile phone, I spend so little on calls/messages I'm practically non-existant to the phone companies.
IPv4 I would think so, my HOSTS file is 600kB from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm (I don't soley rely on it as I also use AdBlock+ with FF), but if everything went IPv6 overnight the blocklists could get into some seriously ludicrus filesizes.
I went to one of those, I got lucky and ended up with Windows 95. Best night of my life!
*insert joke about W95 always going down on you*
It reminds me more of an episode of "Masters of Science Fiction"; Watchbird
A scientist guy creates flying drones that aid in wars, taking out the enemy - specifically anyone who has intent or is in the process of harming US soldiers.
But the government think the 'birds' will help fight crime at home by autonomously flying around in the sky above cities looking for people committing crime or even thinking about it.
It all goes wrong when the 'birds' stop listening to their masters and start killing people for even minor infractions of the law.
Rhinestones.... bling for rednecks.
I would want to add an 8-segment sequence flashing red light to the front of my e-car and play the sound of KITT.
:D (not the re-incarnation of the recent tv remake, just doesn't look right at all)
And I would want my e-car in the shape of a black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
I effectively taught myself touchtyping on BBC Micros back in the 80s, back then the keys were 'real' keys and not these crappy membrane things that seem to have taken over the world.
I'm touch typing this on an Asus Eee and always get a kick out of friends who are unable to type with more than two fingers when they say stuff like "he's even correcting mistakes before I even noticed" when watching me type.
Not much else to say really other than maybe if computers had mobile phone keypads instead of qwerty keyboards then more kids would use computers faster? But saying that I can do 99% of what I need to on a PC without having to stray away from the mouse, it's just that last 1% where keyboards are infinitely faster than a mouse.
Also, the new /. appearance is very confusing. Why would you put a separation line *before* the link to the comments?
That's intentional?! I thought it was a layout screwup!
Yeah it's Barclays, the only real problems I've had with them over the many years I've been with them was when I tried to cancel my Barclaycard because transactions were appearing on it that I didn't make, took 5 fucking months of pestering them before they finally canceled it.
;)
It's Lloyds I'm pissed off with at the moment, used to hae a cashpoint card with them, no problems and liked the account as I could use it in any cashpoint machine, then last year they phased out the cashpoint cards and gave everyone debit cards, now my card only works in Lloyds cashpoint machines. I asked for an account that would give me a card that would work in any machine but they refused. I don't always want to pay everything by card, I like cold hard cash too - that way it's much easier to control how much you spend/have left because your wallet becomes empty
I kinda treat PayPal like that firework that didn't go off, in that each time you make a payment you're running back to that firework to re-light it - one day it'll go off in your face, aka PayPal will burn you.
eBay have a stranglehold on the online payment situation, they've banned the use of Google Checkout.