... try getting money other ways, I guess. SCO Unix sucks the butt. If it didnt, and if it were actually a market contender, I can't imagine they'd be grasping at these straws. The buy-out seems like a sensible motive, and sure as heck doesn't consume me with dread the way that a "sco unix is the only unix" world does.
I was on my way toward liking the show during the first season. They looked like they had some potentially interesting story arcs brewing, and also jeffrey combs.
Unfortunately, for season 2 they seemed to be pursuing the nothing ever fucking happens angle. This news about season 3 isn't very promising, and here's why:
Berman is a fucking idiot
Whenever they've had to fall back on the borg plot device on Voyager, it was fucking dumb even compared to Voyager's usual level of fucking dumb
The klingon political episodes were the ever so boringest episodes of TNG.
Combining these elements doesn't seem to be the sort of thing that would improve the show.
With broadband in the sorry state is in today, there's no need for copy protection. How many VIDEOS do you see on gnutella and the like? The bandwidth just isn't there!
Uh, quite a few, actually. In my experience, if I get it into my head that i'd like to see some particular TV show or something of that sort that isn't otherwise available, i'll hop on to a filesharing network. So far, i've had a rather high rate of success in finding what i was looking for.
Even if the bandwidth isn't here today, that is similarly moot - as the bandwidth will very probably be here eventually, if not soon. That's why Valenti wants to put all of these ass-butt notions into play now, before it gets completely out of control.
It really does no service to anyone to argue based on the notion that no one's infringing - because they are. It is far better for everyone involved to base your argument on why these control mechanisms are worse than the infringement.
DMCA is bad. Yes. I agree. Threatening lawsuits against ORBS is bad. Right with you there, the internet functions well as a self-governing system. Also, don't tax transactions on the internet, okay, no problem. But if it involves an annoyance such as spam, please, bring in your law enforcement.
As a sysadmin, I hate spam plenty. As a sysadmin, I employ various mechanisms to employ spam. I don't consider this legislation to be any great cause of celebration.
There's quite a lot of jobs that are fun that don't need to have toys and foosball tables prominently displayed to achieve official FUN status. I used to work for someone who thought that way, and would get boxes of cheap toys and bottles of bubble soap (might as well just pour that straight into the keyboards), and it wasn't fun, it was a gimmick to distract people from her shit management skills and the fact that she ran the department ragged and understaffed for stupid political reasons. It's easier to buy your employees a happy meal than actually create a decent work environment for a hard-working staff.
Now I work for a "straight" company (or three, if you count how many times it'd been bought out). CEO's a jerk, there's plenty of horrid little petty policies bouncing around other departments, but I'm having fun because I'm doing the work i want, have the opportunity to work on interesting projects, and work with a kickass team of ass-kickers and has a boss who knows how to play politics effectively to get us what we need. Decent management and decent coworkers make for a considerably more fun job than just having toys littered about.
Bizarro think this article am making sense!
on
Seanbaby.com
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It understands that comics, The Simpsons, and Nintendo aren't just "entertainment" -- they're the basis of whole sub-cultures affecting and
shaping people's lives
Not to troll or anything, but i'm fairly certain that the assertion that cartoons and an antequated game console system are the foundations of a powerful counterculture is something seanbaby would probably consider explosively retarded.
In other bits-from-a-katz-article-I-don't-get news:
if there's a single trait most people who read Slashdot share -- maybe the only one besides an addiction to software -- it's a love of popular
culture. And yet,
Old fart media execs wondering what they have to do to get young people to consume mainstream media have only to log onto Seanbaby.com to
understand why they never will, and don't really even want to.
Which is it? We love popular culture, but will never consume it? What? Is Simpsons not "mainstream"? What do you think Nintendo is, if not an
old fart corporation? Jesus, Katz. Figure out what the hell you're trying to say. Geeks love to consume popular culture, but are to savvy or
whatever to consume it or want to. Um. Okay.
Just to go OT here... I thought it odd that in fifth element they decided that Freakishly Complex Genetic Structure automatically implied Artifically Engineered Organism...
In the recent film Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe, they examined a cell sample of a monster and found it only had a single pair of genes, and since our genetic code was largely evolutionary leftovers, this meant that this was an artificially engineered organism. I found that to be a more satisfying line of reasoning than Greater Complexity == Crazy Genius Science
should that be Bruce Campbell instead of Brendan Fraser in that role?
That statement is indeed accurate, but possibly misleading. It's not that there's anything wrong with Brendan Fraser, it's just that Bruce Campbell should be in every roll everywhere.
How, exactly, is it the fault of the Baby Bells and congress that these companies built their network out too thin to be profitable?
Is it the baby bells putting a hex on these companies that makes a business model of building out twenty hardly-used COs for every profitable one not a good plan?
It's all well and good to asy that big business is squashing the little guy. In many cases it's true. However, the "little guy" can also self-destruct based on its own idiocy.
His beef is with DSL providers that he says care more about their bottom line than they do about customers.
Y'know, if these companies were actually paying attention to the bottom line, they might not have built out their network too wide and thin to possibly be profitable, and wouldn't be having these problems now. If anything, they weren't paying *enough* attention to the bottom line before it bit them.
As for blaming the baby bells and such, they didn't make northpoint, covad and rhythms deploy stupidly. It's not the fault of the baby bells that their numbers didn't add up. Northpoint in particular was not only poorly planned, but wildly incompetent during their best days. While the major telcos might have concievably hastened its demise, they didn't make northpoint STUPID, northpoint did that on its own. I don't blame Verizon for not wanting to buy them out after taking a look at them.
The blame also would have to go on the shoulders of bone-headed investors. Laying out a wide-scale network like this would never be profitable in anything under six years at best. After it's all built out and the market rises to fill it, then yes it could concievably be profitable, but not before then. Anyone investing in such a venture should have bothered to make themselves aware of this.
Personally, I've got some lovely DSL which is currently doing fine, and not going anywhere. I get it from a local facilities-based ISP that only builds out COs if they believe the COs to be profitable. So while it's not as wide as the coverage offered by northpoint, rhythms, covad and the like, it's at least a sane business model for stability.
Re:The audience should be challenged
on
Review: Memento
·
· Score: 1
However, no movie theaters in my area seem to be showing the movie in question, so it seems that it would be unlikely for me to have seen it. I could similarly harangue you to "check the listings in my area before you post a useless reply", but that would be equally pointless.
Trouble is, this movie hasn't had a release so much as it's been on tour. This is because it's allegedly being distributed by the filmmaker and not a distribution company... at least right now anyway. In all likelihood, the buzz surrounding this film'll insure it a proper distribution sometime this summer.
This will sound like flamebait, but why are people so obsessed with HDCT? It's a good movie, but it's not the martial arts movie to end all movies.
I walked out of the theatre with the impression that I'd seen the best martial arts movie ever. I must have been toning down my expectations by virtue of seeing it in a chain cineplex, because about a week later I decided to watch my Fong Sai Yuk and Fong Sai Yuk II DVDs, and was reminded that there's a lot out there that kicks CTHD's pants.
Incidentally, if you haven't seen Legend of Fong Sai Yuk, see it. As soon as humanly possible. CTHD's a remarkably good movie, yes. But Fong Sai Yuk's utterly freakin' brilliant.
Of course, this is just one man's opinion. It's just that this opinion happens to be absolutely accurate.
Re:The audience should be challenged
on
Review: Memento
·
· Score: 1
If Hollywood wanted to make me think, they could give me a traditional mystery, with some complex characters and interaction. If they wanted to, instead, intentionally confuse me, they could run the whole thing backwards. It sounds like they tried to do both, and put it in a blender for a while. And I'm not sure if I like that yet.
Of course, you might want to see the movie before determining whether or not you like what they've done.
I went to it expecting to see an exercise in style, but it just wound up being a well-made mystery that used a strange narrative form (imho) perfectly.
Also, there's nothing excessively confusing about this movie. Like any mystery, it offers pieces and clues that one must eventually piece together to figure out what's going on. There's a lot going on, a lot of questions pop up, the viewer must try to figure out what all is going on, much like any good mystery. However, I wasn't overwhelmed by them. There's never too much going on for the viewer to comprehend. Sure, as scenes open, you don't know how the character got there or what's happening, and it fits, because neither does the character. But, the questions of the immediate situation are answered in the next scene, and other questions are answered as the film progresses.
Sure, i went expecting a novelty film all about the device of the narrative form, but as it turned out, it's also a well written, well executed mystery that handles the device quite suitably, and there's some superb performances in there to boot. It's no more rational to criticize a movie you've not seen solely on the basis of the narrative device than it is to praise any film with a gimmick. I realize it's an elusive concept here, but see the damn movie before you criticize it
It's probably a bootleg DVD, meaning Gainax was in no way compensated for their work.
It's not necessarily a bootleg release, it's just not a U.S. release. There's a difference. This is a hong kong release DVD, and is region 0 (ie, all-region, not region 1) like (as far as I know) any DVDs that come out of hong kong. Just because it's not the north american release doesn't mean it's a bootleg.
I got the chinese release because I wanted to see the movies in relatively good quality, and the release date for this has been pushed back well over a year now. I'll probably order the DVD when manga releases it, because manga does good work. ADV, by contrast, has pretty much been pissing off GAINAX with all the stupid crap it did to the NGE 0:1 DVD (ie, not content to merely provide dubbing, they also altered some of the images to display english rather than japanese text... so even though you can avoid the Worst Voice Acting I've Ever Heard, some of ADV's stupidity bleeds through anyway), so I'd feel no qualms about ordering superior releases of the series from hong kong. And frankly, I doubt GAINAX would much mind ADV not getting my business.
Yeah, the article seems to forget about quite a few geniunely innovative PC games, and seems to be wholly oblivious to just about anything SEGA has done in the recent past.
18 wheeler, Chu chu rocket, Crazy Taxi, Jet (Grind|Set) Radio, Samba De Amigo, Seaman, and Space Channel 5 for example. They've all come out within the past two years, and they're all *highly* creative. In many cases creating almost completely new kinds of gameplay. Almost all of the aformentioned games are highly novel at least, and completely genre-breaking at most.
Sure, most games aren't terribly innovative, but then 90% of everything is crap. There's plenty of innovation and creative energy in game development, if you know where to look for it.
Asking developers to hold off on technical innovation isn't really going to help anything. Crappy game developers will ignore it and continue to put out crap. On the other end of the spectrum, it's true that graphics doesn't trump gameplay, but in some cases, such as in Jet Set Radio, the highly novel gameplay was greatly augmented by a highly innovative graphics engine. So obviously, crappy developers are going to oblige or ignore the restrictions (probably ignore) and still design crappy games, and good game developers are going to oblige or ignore these restrictions (probably ignore) and make fantastic games.
Without a law change of similar magnitude outlawing analogue 'old' technologies this won't happen. I think such an attempt would struggle as people will not obey laws they deem unreasonable
The only problem with this is that in some cases, outlawing the old tech isn't necessary. Take for example the numerous balls in the air with HDTV. They (MPAA, cable carriers) have already gotten laws passed requiring HDTV manufacturers to include copy protection in the hardware level, now they're pushing for complete content control (copy never, copy once, view once, what have you) on all digital TV signal. And, FCC has granted cable providers to not be obligated to provide analog signal with their broadcasts. So, if they get everything they want, the hardware won't display non-approved signal, and the signal won't be viewable by non-approved hardware. So even if you keep your old TV, it won't be able to decode any meaningful signal.
The changes in the laws are quite minor. They probably wouldn't be able to overturn the Betamax decision and make copying for archiving purposes illegal. What they can do is make it so legal copying and archiving are impossible.
Personally, I think that if they do get everything they want (full content control of hardware and signal, plus phasing out all non-digital signal in five years), given the expense required in getting an HDTV, and the fact that it's so tightly controlled, there's a fair chance that a lot of people will simply stop watching TV. So that's not a bad thing, i don't think.
Okay. Super dork warning, but I had a crush on Kitty Pryde when i was a young'n. Nice to see her in the film.
Also, I'm hoping nightcrawler makes it into one of the movies. He's long been one of my favorite x-men, though what with him being Mystique's son, and given Mystique's character being apparently rather young to have an adult offspring (though it's possible, i suppose. Apparent age wouldn't mean much if you're a shapeshifter), it wouldn't seem likely.
Sure, piracy has always existed. But, piracy is not the issue here! What is the issue is finally getting to see DMCA's stupidity in action. With that in place, YES you are watching a DVD you paid for on equipment you bought, but the mere act of 'circumventing' the encryption is illegal, so they no longer have to pretend it's about piracy. It's about them being able to control the market.
Clue implants aren't going to clear up anything so long as the DMCA is in place. Of course, if circumventing encryption is in itself illegal, then crypto export shouldn't be illegal. I mean, why do we need weak crypto if no one can legally break *any* crypto?
of course, this also makes those "jumble" puzzles illegal as well...
We might need to make it more clear that reviews are--of course!--not what concern us (nor could we legally prevent negative reviews--that's patently absurd). It's a web site using our logos next to overly foul, abusive, racist, etc. language or art. For example, we would not allow our logos to be used on a porn site.
Aha! He's going to try to PATENT absurd interpretations of legal documents! WILL THIS TREACHERY NEVER END?
blaming the company for the poor choices of individuals is wrong, no matter how immoral the intentions of the company.
So i'll just go ahead and assume that saying this in reference to Seagrams while Seagrams defends prosecuting Napster for the acts of individual users is an intentional irony
This is bullocks. Sure, someone else also thought to make an excessively mod personal computer, but does Apple have a trademark on swank, or translucent plastic for that matter?
Some important distinctions to note:
The monitor is not gumdrop shaped
The computer is a seperate component from the monitor
Slashdot Mirror
... try getting money other ways, I guess. SCO Unix sucks the butt. If it didnt, and if it were actually a market contender, I can't imagine they'd be grasping at these straws. The buy-out seems like a sensible motive, and sure as heck doesn't consume me with dread the way that a "sco unix is the only unix" world does.
I was on my way toward liking the show during the first season. They looked like they had some potentially interesting story arcs brewing, and also jeffrey combs.
Unfortunately, for season 2 they seemed to be pursuing the nothing ever fucking happens angle. This news about season 3 isn't very promising, and here's why:
Berman is a fucking idiot
Whenever they've had to fall back on the borg plot device on Voyager, it was fucking dumb even compared to Voyager's usual level of fucking dumb
The klingon political episodes were the ever so boringest episodes of TNG.
Combining these elements doesn't seem to be the sort of thing that would improve the show.
So, it's not a UFO. It's just a perfectly ordinary flying object that remains unidentified. This article sure closed the case on this one!
With broadband in the sorry state is in today, there's no need for copy protection. How many VIDEOS do you see on gnutella and the like? The bandwidth just isn't there!
Uh, quite a few, actually. In my experience, if I get it into my head that i'd like to see some particular TV show or something of that sort that isn't otherwise available, i'll hop on to a filesharing network. So far, i've had a rather high rate of success in finding what i was looking for.
Even if the bandwidth isn't here today, that is similarly moot - as the bandwidth will very probably be here eventually, if not soon. That's why Valenti wants to put all of these ass-butt notions into play now, before it gets completely out of control.
It really does no service to anyone to argue based on the notion that no one's infringing - because they are. It is far better for everyone involved to base your argument on why these control mechanisms are worse than the infringement.
DMCA is bad. Yes. I agree. Threatening lawsuits against ORBS is bad. Right with you there, the internet functions well as a self-governing system. Also, don't tax transactions on the internet, okay, no problem. But if it involves an annoyance such as spam, please, bring in your law enforcement.
As a sysadmin, I hate spam plenty. As a sysadmin, I employ various mechanisms to employ spam. I don't consider this legislation to be any great cause of celebration.
There's quite a lot of jobs that are fun that don't need to have toys and foosball tables prominently displayed to achieve official FUN status. I used to work for someone who thought that way, and would get boxes of cheap toys and bottles of bubble soap (might as well just pour that straight into the keyboards), and it wasn't fun, it was a gimmick to distract people from her shit management skills and the fact that she ran the department ragged and understaffed for stupid political reasons. It's easier to buy your employees a happy meal than actually create a decent work environment for a hard-working staff.
Now I work for a "straight" company (or three, if you count how many times it'd been bought out). CEO's a jerk, there's plenty of horrid little petty policies bouncing around other departments, but I'm having fun because I'm doing the work i want, have the opportunity to work on interesting projects, and work with a kickass team of ass-kickers and has a boss who knows how to play politics effectively to get us what we need. Decent management and decent coworkers make for a considerably more fun job than just having toys littered about.
It understands that comics, The Simpsons, and Nintendo aren't just "entertainment" -- they're the basis of whole sub-cultures affecting and shaping people's lives
Not to troll or anything, but i'm fairly certain that the assertion that cartoons and an antequated game console system are the foundations of a powerful counterculture is something seanbaby would probably consider explosively retarded.
In other bits-from-a-katz-article-I-don't-get news:
if there's a single trait most people who read Slashdot share -- maybe the only one besides an addiction to software -- it's a love of popular culture.
And yet,
Old fart media execs wondering what they have to do to get young people to consume mainstream media have only to log onto Seanbaby.com to understand why they never will, and don't really even want to.
Which is it? We love popular culture, but will never consume it? What? Is Simpsons not "mainstream"? What do you think Nintendo is, if not an old fart corporation? Jesus, Katz. Figure out what the hell you're trying to say. Geeks love to consume popular culture, but are to savvy or whatever to consume it or want to. Um. Okay.
Just to go OT here... I thought it odd that in fifth element they decided that Freakishly Complex Genetic Structure automatically implied Artifically Engineered Organism...
In the recent film Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe, they examined a cell sample of a monster and found it only had a single pair of genes, and since our genetic code was largely evolutionary leftovers, this meant that this was an artificially engineered organism. I found that to be a more satisfying line of reasoning than Greater Complexity == Crazy Genius Science
Well. To quote a reliable source (and to stick a header on this because /. won't let me post all-caps and is ruining the gag:
THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE'S JUST ME.
should that be Bruce Campbell instead of Brendan Fraser in that role?
That statement is indeed accurate, but possibly misleading. It's not that there's anything wrong with Brendan Fraser, it's just that Bruce Campbell should be in every roll everywhere.
How, exactly, is it the fault of the Baby Bells and congress that these companies built their network out too thin to be profitable?
Is it the baby bells putting a hex on these companies that makes a business model of building out twenty hardly-used COs for every profitable one not a good plan?
It's all well and good to asy that big business is squashing the little guy. In many cases it's true. However, the "little guy" can also self-destruct based on its own idiocy.
His beef is with DSL providers that he says care more about their bottom line than they do about customers.
Y'know, if these companies were actually paying attention to the bottom line, they might not have built out their network too wide and thin to possibly be profitable, and wouldn't be having these problems now. If anything, they weren't paying *enough* attention to the bottom line before it bit them.
As for blaming the baby bells and such, they didn't make northpoint, covad and rhythms deploy stupidly. It's not the fault of the baby bells that their numbers didn't add up. Northpoint in particular was not only poorly planned, but wildly incompetent during their best days. While the major telcos might have concievably hastened its demise, they didn't make northpoint STUPID, northpoint did that on its own. I don't blame Verizon for not wanting to buy them out after taking a look at them.
The blame also would have to go on the shoulders of bone-headed investors. Laying out a wide-scale network like this would never be profitable in anything under six years at best. After it's all built out and the market rises to fill it, then yes it could concievably be profitable, but not before then. Anyone investing in such a venture should have bothered to make themselves aware of this.
Personally, I've got some lovely DSL which is currently doing fine, and not going anywhere. I get it from a local facilities-based ISP that only builds out COs if they believe the COs to be profitable. So while it's not as wide as the coverage offered by northpoint, rhythms, covad and the like, it's at least a sane business model for stability.
However, no movie theaters in my area seem to be showing the movie in question, so it seems that it would be unlikely for me to have seen it. I could similarly harangue you to "check the listings in my area before you post a useless reply", but that would be equally pointless.
Trouble is, this movie hasn't had a release so much as it's been on tour. This is because it's allegedly being distributed by the filmmaker and not a distribution company... at least right now anyway. In all likelihood, the buzz surrounding this film'll insure it a proper distribution sometime this summer.
This will sound like flamebait, but why are people so obsessed with HDCT? It's a good movie, but it's not the martial arts movie to end all movies.
I walked out of the theatre with the impression that I'd seen the best martial arts movie ever. I must have been toning down my expectations by virtue of seeing it in a chain cineplex, because about a week later I decided to watch my Fong Sai Yuk and Fong Sai Yuk II DVDs, and was reminded that there's a lot out there that kicks CTHD's pants.
Incidentally, if you haven't seen Legend of Fong Sai Yuk, see it. As soon as humanly possible. CTHD's a remarkably good movie, yes. But Fong Sai Yuk's utterly freakin' brilliant.
Of course, this is just one man's opinion. It's just that this opinion happens to be absolutely accurate.
If Hollywood wanted to make me think, they could give me a traditional mystery, with some complex characters and interaction.
If they wanted to, instead, intentionally confuse me, they could run the whole thing backwards.
It sounds like they tried to do both, and put it in a blender for a while. And I'm not sure if I like that yet.
Of course, you might want to see the movie before determining whether or not you like what they've done.
I went to it expecting to see an exercise in style, but it just wound up being a well-made mystery that used a strange narrative form (imho) perfectly.
Also, there's nothing excessively confusing about this movie. Like any mystery, it offers pieces and clues that one must eventually piece together to figure out what's going on. There's a lot going on, a lot of questions pop up, the viewer must try to figure out what all is going on, much like any good mystery. However, I wasn't overwhelmed by them. There's never too much going on for the viewer to comprehend. Sure, as scenes open, you don't know how the character got there or what's happening, and it fits, because neither does the character. But, the questions of the immediate situation are answered in the next scene, and other questions are answered as the film progresses.
Sure, i went expecting a novelty film all about the device of the narrative form, but as it turned out, it's also a well written, well executed mystery that handles the device quite suitably, and there's some superb performances in there to boot. It's no more rational to criticize a movie you've not seen solely on the basis of the narrative device than it is to praise any film with a gimmick. I realize it's an elusive concept here, but see the damn movie before you criticize it
It's probably a bootleg DVD, meaning Gainax was in no way compensated for their work.
It's not necessarily a bootleg release, it's just not a U.S. release. There's a difference. This is a hong kong release DVD, and is region 0 (ie, all-region, not region 1) like (as far as I know) any DVDs that come out of hong kong. Just because it's not the north american release doesn't mean it's a bootleg.
I got the chinese release because I wanted to see the movies in relatively good quality, and the release date for this has been pushed back well over a year now. I'll probably order the DVD when manga releases it, because manga does good work. ADV, by contrast, has pretty much been pissing off GAINAX with all the stupid crap it did to the NGE 0:1 DVD (ie, not content to merely provide dubbing, they also altered some of the images to display english rather than japanese text... so even though you can avoid the Worst Voice Acting I've Ever Heard, some of ADV's stupidity bleeds through anyway), so I'd feel no qualms about ordering superior releases of the series from hong kong. And frankly, I doubt GAINAX would much mind ADV not getting my business.
I saw a marquee said "THE FLY GODS MUST BE CRAZY ALIENS"
And I couldn't really disagree with that
Yeah, the article seems to forget about quite a few geniunely innovative PC games, and seems to be wholly oblivious to just about anything SEGA has done in the recent past.
18 wheeler, Chu chu rocket, Crazy Taxi, Jet (Grind|Set) Radio, Samba De Amigo, Seaman, and Space Channel 5 for example. They've all come out within the past two years, and they're all *highly* creative. In many cases creating almost completely new kinds of gameplay. Almost all of the aformentioned games are highly novel at least, and completely genre-breaking at most.
Sure, most games aren't terribly innovative, but then 90% of everything is crap. There's plenty of innovation and creative energy in game development, if you know where to look for it.
Asking developers to hold off on technical innovation isn't really going to help anything. Crappy game developers will ignore it and continue to put out crap. On the other end of the spectrum, it's true that graphics doesn't trump gameplay, but in some cases, such as in Jet Set Radio, the highly novel gameplay was greatly augmented by a highly innovative graphics engine. So obviously, crappy developers are going to oblige or ignore the restrictions (probably ignore) and still design crappy games, and good game developers are going to oblige or ignore these restrictions (probably ignore) and make fantastic games.
Without a law change of similar magnitude outlawing analogue 'old' technologies this won't happen. I think such an attempt would struggle as people will not obey laws they deem unreasonable
The only problem with this is that in some cases, outlawing the old tech isn't necessary. Take for example the numerous balls in the air with HDTV. They (MPAA, cable carriers) have already gotten laws passed requiring HDTV manufacturers to include copy protection in the hardware level, now they're pushing for complete content control (copy never, copy once, view once, what have you) on all digital TV signal. And, FCC has granted cable providers to not be obligated to provide analog signal with their broadcasts. So, if they get everything they want, the hardware won't display non-approved signal, and the signal won't be viewable by non-approved hardware. So even if you keep your old TV, it won't be able to decode any meaningful signal.
The changes in the laws are quite minor. They probably wouldn't be able to overturn the Betamax decision and make copying for archiving purposes illegal. What they can do is make it so legal copying and archiving are impossible.
Personally, I think that if they do get everything they want (full content control of hardware and signal, plus phasing out all non-digital signal in five years), given the expense required in getting an HDTV, and the fact that it's so tightly controlled, there's a fair chance that a lot of people will simply stop watching TV. So that's not a bad thing, i don't think.
Okay. Super dork warning, but I had a crush on Kitty Pryde when i was a young'n. Nice to see her in the film.
Also, I'm hoping nightcrawler makes it into one of the movies. He's long been one of my favorite x-men, though what with him being Mystique's son, and given Mystique's character being apparently rather young to have an adult offspring (though it's possible, i suppose. Apparent age wouldn't mean much if you're a shapeshifter), it wouldn't seem likely.
Oh well. One can hope.
Sure, piracy has always existed. But, piracy is not the issue here! What is the issue is finally getting to see DMCA's stupidity in action. With that in place, YES you are watching a DVD you paid for on equipment you bought, but the mere act of 'circumventing' the encryption is illegal, so they no longer have to pretend it's about piracy. It's about them being able to control the market.
Clue implants aren't going to clear up anything so long as the DMCA is in place. Of course, if circumventing encryption is in itself illegal, then crypto export shouldn't be illegal. I mean, why do we need weak crypto if no one can legally break *any* crypto?
of course, this also makes those "jumble" puzzles illegal as well...
Aha! He's going to try to PATENT absurd interpretations of legal documents! WILL THIS TREACHERY NEVER END?
blaming the company for the poor choices of individuals is wrong, no matter how immoral the intentions of the company.
So i'll just go ahead and assume that saying this in reference to Seagrams while Seagrams defends prosecuting Napster for the acts of individual users is an intentional irony
This is bullocks. Sure, someone else also thought to make an excessively mod personal computer, but does Apple have a trademark on swank, or translucent plastic for that matter?
Some important distinctions to note:
The monitor is not gumdrop shaped
The computer is a seperate component from the monitor
The mouse appears to be usable
'Course the other question is, how well will it handle overclocking?