actually, looking at the screens of the innards of both systems from a design pov nintendo has done a much better job of KISS. the psp has LOTS of parts, most of them very small and fragile looking. on top of that, many of those parts are moving parts, including plastic gears.
disregarding features and solely comparing the designs of the units themselves, the ds is far simpler and has only two moving parts that i can remember seeing (the flippable screen and the on/off). the flippable screen could break due to hinge wear or the flexible ribbon cable could break (discman's with controls on the top of the lid are known for this problem).
in my experience in real world use (tossed into bookbags, the occasional drop, greasy fingers on discs/cartridges, banged around in a car or in luggage), complex designs with many tiny plastic parts is doomed to failure. the device, not necessarily, though sometimes necessarily the product itself.
i have a feeling the ds will still be kicking many years down the road while the psp will start exhibiting read errors and occasional issues that lead to repairs or replacement... not just for screen repairs, but for drive failures. those gears on the psp for example look like something that could easily get stripped by a stuck disc, or the drive assembly becomes slightly misaligned from a short drop on the carpet (or worse) and no longer tracks discs. i suppose it's that drive assembly that really worries me.
well your printed magazine is wrong. go to arm's website and look it up. arm60 is a 32bit chip, no if's ands or buts about it. it can work in 26bit mode (not 24bit, which by the way you can run a 16bit operating system on a 32bit computer, but that doesn't make the system any less a 32bit computer. you can even run 32bit apps in win3.1 even though it isn't a 32bit os. {ala win3.1 or macos 7}). please read the docs and quit extrapolating... anyway, believe who/what you want.
i assume you are talking about support pricing. pricing differs greatly depending on configuration and level of support. you won't find pricing info on their site, it is something you have to talk to a rep for.
yep, and this is the reason why you will see as/400's (now called iseries eservers) in most banks, because they can't afford downtime. (i used to work in a bank and worked very closely with our as/400's). btw, the service ain't cheap, but when you are in a mission critical situation, it is worth it.
The main processor is an arm60, which IS a 32bit chip. The first link I provided shows this. The second link's references to 16bit refers to the sound dsp and video coprocessors... sorry that second link wasn't more clear, this one is much more detailed.
this sort of thing often happens with product shortages. sometimes a company goofs and directs product to stores they think will sell more machines yet they don't and the stores that are selling them don't have enough on the shelves...
with the computerized ordering systems in most stores these days this type of problem solves itself after a few weeks as the chain will see the buying trends and shuffle product to other stores.
haven't read the article yet, but i wonder if some of the higher speeds from agp on some of the tests is due to the parallel nature of agp versus express. i would imagine that some operations will simply be faster in parallel rather than serial.
as much as i like firefox and mozilla, i still use opera and will continue to use it because it seems faster on my machine, has features and functions and an interface that i'm very comfortable with.
also, opera handles the type of browsing i do that firefox has issues with... loading about 40 tabs at once and going back and forth between them. firefox bogs down when i use it the way i want to use it...
the thing that competitors with microsoft always seem to forget is that microsoft understands that they will likely not waltz into a market and instantly own it. they usually bide their time, learning from mistakes and a few (sometimes many) generations later they start to gain on their competition and before their competitor realizes it, they are now behind ms's lead.
the most important aspect to dealing with microsoft is never rest on your laurels instead just continue to innovate. microsoft wins because they can make more mistakes than most of their competition can afford to.
interestingly, the vinyl music recording standards battle is one of the earliest format wars (discounting early pre-vinyl edison cylinders as their wasn't big industry behind differing designs). the major labels (columbia and rca victor) were trying to promote their differing designs to replace the 78 (ever wonder why their are 33 1/3, 45, 78's etc.?). here's some more links for the curious...
all that being said, i think it is really just the early adopters that get screwed and that is and will always be the risk of being one. in general, history usually shows that some competition in the market usually helps (but when there are too many choices, it can confuse consumers and backfire)...
i used to attach low powered rocket engines from my model rocket sets to lego cars i use to make and shoot them off in the street in front of my house. they would invariably loose control and shoot off the street and sometimes land in such a way that they would melt a little, but it was a blast to watch and had an aire of i'm-not-supposed-to-be-doing-this in it that made it all the more fun.
of course i used to also put firecrackers in some of my other toys and straight out blew them up. come to think of it, i was pretty harsh to all of my toys in general. which brings up a point i like to make with my girlfriend whenever i'm wandering the toy isle of a store. many of the toys around today are cooler looking than the ones i had as a kid, however the build quality of most of them is crap and wouldn't stand up to much abuse. i know if i had any of these toys they'd be gone in a week...
dark star had other amazing firsts, like first beach ball playing an alien, first john carpenter film, first movie ending with a guy riding a surfboard into the atmosphere of a planet, among others (it also was the movie that inspired the alien series)...
also try robot monster. boring, confusing, stupid...
wood was interesting in that he didn't seem to understand that what he was making was crap (until later on perhaps). many people have made bad movies, many of them were one time directors, writers, actors, etc. wood kept doing it.
there are many movies that are far worse than wood's, but his are strangely enjoyable in their own craptacular way.
yeah, but the funny thing about your 'facts' is that you are still wrong...
Michael K. Powell is Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Powell was nominated by President William J. Clinton to a Republican seat on the Commission, and was sworn in on November 3, 1997. He was designated chairman by President George W. Bush on January 22, 2001.
he was nominated and put into a seat on the commision, NOT head of the commision by clinton. bush put him into the head of the commision by appointing him chairman.
what clinton did was essentially put him on the board, bush made him chairman of the board. is there a difference? hell yes.
oh and btw, here's my link that backs up the facts.
Slashdot Mirror
which will likely cost a bundle to get a spare if it is anything like sony's other proprietary batteries (phones, walkmans, camcorders, etc.)...
actually, looking at the screens of the innards of both systems from a design pov nintendo has done a much better job of KISS. the psp has LOTS of parts, most of them very small and fragile looking. on top of that, many of those parts are moving parts, including plastic gears.
;P
disregarding features and solely comparing the designs of the units themselves, the ds is far simpler and has only two moving parts that i can remember seeing (the flippable screen and the on/off). the flippable screen could break due to hinge wear or the flexible ribbon cable could break (discman's with controls on the top of the lid are known for this problem).
in my experience in real world use (tossed into bookbags, the occasional drop, greasy fingers on discs/cartridges, banged around in a car or in luggage), complex designs with many tiny plastic parts is doomed to failure. the device, not necessarily, though sometimes necessarily the product itself.
i have a feeling the ds will still be kicking many years down the road while the psp will start exhibiting read errors and occasional issues that lead to repairs or replacement... not just for screen repairs, but for drive failures. those gears on the psp for example look like something that could easily get stripped by a stuck disc, or the drive assembly becomes slightly misaligned from a short drop on the carpet (or worse) and no longer tracks discs. i suppose it's that drive assembly that really worries me.
but then again, who the hell knows...
maybe we need to do a turing test across to the unknown to make sure he is in fact dead...
well your printed magazine is wrong. go to arm's website and look it up. arm60 is a 32bit chip, no if's ands or buts about it. it can work in 26bit mode (not 24bit, which by the way you can run a 16bit operating system on a 32bit computer, but that doesn't make the system any less a 32bit computer. you can even run 32bit apps in win3.1 even though it isn't a 32bit os. {ala win3.1 or macos 7}). please read the docs and quit extrapolating... anyway, believe who/what you want.
i assume you are talking about support pricing. pricing differs greatly depending on configuration and level of support. you won't find pricing info on their site, it is something you have to talk to a rep for.
yep, and this is the reason why you will see as/400's (now called iseries eservers) in most banks, because they can't afford downtime. (i used to work in a bank and worked very closely with our as/400's). btw, the service ain't cheap, but when you are in a mission critical situation, it is worth it.
The main processor is an arm60, which IS a 32bit chip. The first link I provided shows this. The second link's references to 16bit refers to the sound dsp and video coprocessors... sorry that second link wasn't more clear, this one is much more detailed.
not to pick nits, but the 3do was 32bit... link, link for a more comprehensive list of 'bit-ness'...
this sort of thing often happens with product shortages. sometimes a company goofs and directs product to stores they think will sell more machines yet they don't and the stores that are selling them don't have enough on the shelves...
with the computerized ordering systems in most stores these days this type of problem solves itself after a few weeks as the chain will see the buying trends and shuffle product to other stores.
haven't read the article yet, but i wonder if some of the higher speeds from agp on some of the tests is due to the parallel nature of agp versus express. i would imagine that some operations will simply be faster in parallel rather than serial.
as much as i like firefox and mozilla, i still use opera and will continue to use it because it seems faster on my machine, has features and functions and an interface that i'm very comfortable with.
also, opera handles the type of browsing i do that firefox has issues with... loading about 40 tabs at once and going back and forth between them. firefox bogs down when i use it the way i want to use it...
the thing that competitors with microsoft always seem to forget is that microsoft understands that they will likely not waltz into a market and instantly own it. they usually bide their time, learning from mistakes and a few (sometimes many) generations later they start to gain on their competition and before their competitor realizes it, they are now behind ms's lead.
the most important aspect to dealing with microsoft is never rest on your laurels instead just continue to innovate. microsoft wins because they can make more mistakes than most of their competition can afford to.
or more recently vhs and beta.
interestingly, the vinyl music recording standards battle is one of the earliest format wars (discounting early pre-vinyl edison cylinders as their wasn't big industry behind differing designs). the major labels (columbia and rca victor) were trying to promote their differing designs to replace the 78 (ever wonder why their are 33 1/3, 45, 78's etc.?). here's some more links for the curious...
all that being said, i think it is really just the early adopters that get screwed and that is and will always be the risk of being one. in general, history usually shows that some competition in the market usually helps (but when there are too many choices, it can confuse consumers and backfire)...
seems like a recursive problem. if dell started ordering from amd, it would give amd the cash reserves to build more facility for more production...
god i loved that catalog. used to read that thing like a xmas wishlist when i was in school...
argh, shoulda proof read. lose not loose. ;p
i used to attach low powered rocket engines from my model rocket sets to lego cars i use to make and shoot them off in the street in front of my house. they would invariably loose control and shoot off the street and sometimes land in such a way that they would melt a little, but it was a blast to watch and had an aire of i'm-not-supposed-to-be-doing-this in it that made it all the more fun.
of course i used to also put firecrackers in some of my other toys and straight out blew them up. come to think of it, i was pretty harsh to all of my toys in general. which brings up a point i like to make with my girlfriend whenever i'm wandering the toy isle of a store. many of the toys around today are cooler looking than the ones i had as a kid, however the build quality of most of them is crap and wouldn't stand up to much abuse. i know if i had any of these toys they'd be gone in a week...
btw, here's a site for rubik's geeks that like to take apart their cubes and build even more interesting designs... the site has lots of cool pix too.
Yeah good point, let's all give up and go home.
my fave vidblog is this one that chronicles the daily show with jon stewart...
dark star had other amazing firsts, like first beach ball playing an alien, first john carpenter film, first movie ending with a guy riding a surfboard into the atmosphere of a planet, among others (it also was the movie that inspired the alien series)...
yeah but if this is like any other microsoft payout, they are going to pay them in copies of windows and office, not cash. ;p
these pipes are clean.
also try robot monster. boring, confusing, stupid...
wood was interesting in that he didn't seem to understand that what he was making was crap (until later on perhaps). many people have made bad movies, many of them were one time directors, writers, actors, etc. wood kept doing it.
there are many movies that are far worse than wood's, but his are strangely enjoyable in their own craptacular way.
yeah, but the funny thing about your 'facts' is that you are still wrong...
Michael K. Powell is Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Powell was nominated by President William J. Clinton to a Republican seat on the Commission, and was sworn in on November 3, 1997. He was designated chairman by President George W. Bush on January 22, 2001.
he was nominated and put into a seat on the commision, NOT head of the commision by clinton. bush put him into the head of the commision by appointing him chairman.
what clinton did was essentially put him on the board, bush made him chairman of the board. is there a difference? hell yes.
oh and btw, here's my link that backs up the facts.