Interesting - I hadn't seen that part. Thanks for the update! Your thoughts on HP are interesting - if nothing else, it would help set HP apart from the rest of the pack, and if Apple and HP wanted to go after that "home market", this is a great way to do it (and keep costs down for Apple - let HP work on the "commodity" hardware while they run off and develop the "cool stuff"?).
Who knows. It's all 5-10 years out anyway, so we'll have to let the chips fall where they may (no pun intended).
Unions are outdated. People who join unions are spineless whiners who cannot take a stand for themselves (at least in the US).
Programmers who work for EA are spineless slaves.
I'll be trolled down, but I don't care.
If you don't like your freaking pay or your work conditions, STOP WORKING THERE!
I'm not sure if you realize how odd those two statements are together.
Think about the idea of a union: it's sole purpose is to say "We, the people who provide a service, will not do any work as a group until our demands our met." It's about saying "We don't like our work conditions, so we refuse to work here."
Only instead of just Bob one cubicle down quitting, which just means that Jane is hired instead at the same wage while Bob kicks the pavement and starves, it's Bob and Bill and Mary and Sally and Jane who doesn't even work there saying all at once "We don't like our work conditions, so we refuse to work here, and we're going to sit here outside and tell our fellow professionals not to work for you either until you meet our requests for a work condition."
I'm trying to see how that's "not taking a stand for yourself". I don't state that all unions are good (often, like any other organization, they become grossly inefficient and corrupt), but as opposed to working 80 hours a week without overtime, hardly any vacation and the threat of "Don't like it? Then quit!", then a union can be a very effective means of telling your employer "I don't like the working conditions, so I quit."
So therefore there is a reason why voice actors get paid more: they have a special talent that is difficult to find.
Or, it's because they're willing to band together en masse and refuse to work without what they consider to be their fair pay. Makes you wonder what would happen if game developers - all of them - decided not to work unless they got fair working conditions too?
Seems like something like this happened once before. Hm....
A lot of it depends on what Apple does. Right now, Linux can run on a Mac, so that's not a barrier. Linux will (and I'll go on a limb here) certainly run on the new Intel Macs.
So by "hurt", there's no net change: Linux runs on Macs, and will in the future.
If Apple makes its Macs (say that three times fast) as closed as they are now, then Linux will have nothing to worry about. Linux succeeds, as one developer mentioned, because nothing runs faster than on commodity hardware running with LInux running with Apache. Linux succeeds because of its ability to work very well with open systems. Apple will be a niche player - maybe they'll grow if WINE should run well under OS X with an Intel processor (and I'm hoping so, if for no other reason than I can play Half Life on a Mac finally), but I don't think that Linux will be threatened by a locked hardware base.
If Apple, say 5 years from now, decides that it's going to let the machine hardware become the commodity item and focus on its "special" hardware (iPod, etc) and software (Final Cut Pro, iLife, etc), then Linux will still be unharmed. Even if Apple says "OK, we're still going to sell premium desktop machines at +$300 compared to the competition for quality - but you could always just buy a Dell and pay us $150 for OS 10.7 and we'll be happy, since that still means you'll buy our other software too and you're likely to someday make an official Apple machine your next purchase", Linux will not be "harmed", since Apple can't stop Linux from being made. Linux will proceed along its way.
If by "harmed" you mean market share, then he may have a point. If Apple lets OS X run on standard PC's, then I can see Linux desktop share either becoming stagnent or shifting about.
My personal bet is that if the latter happens (OS X on standard machines), within 10 years we'll see a 50% Windows, 30% OS X, and 15% Linux, 5% other varients in the desktop market - in the server market it may be much as it is now, maybe with OS X and Linux overtaking the bulk of the traditional Unix route.
So, "harm" to Linux? The truth, as you may learn, depends entirely upon a certain point of view. What I've described is just mine. I could be wrong.
Because they're not willing to quit en masse and tell the publisher "pay us more or else no game"?
"Then the publishers will hire scabs!"
Yes - and how long will it take for the "scabs" to get up to snuff and be able to handle all of the tasks of the former programers/artists/testers? What if every employee at EA and Ubisoft all left the same day and said "We'll come back when we're offered a 40 hour work week with overtime of 1.5x an hour over 40 hours and 2x every hour past 60 hours, with paid vacation time between games and a independent mediator for disputes", and the publishers were left looking at their bankroll and deciding if just going scabs are worth it?
The voice actors deserve it not because they're better, but because they're willing to fight and sacrifice what they want *now* for a better deal *later*. It's the way the entertainment industry rose up with the screen actor's guild and the like - and I think the game industry is about to get hit with it big time, and they won't like it.
Then the developers and designers should be paid more, and if their talents are indeed special (such as art design, etc) perhaps they should be paid residuals.
Instead of knocking everybody down to one level, how about we raise the special up?
I know there will be those who simply say "Well, them let them go - they get overpaid for their $300 an hour work anyway", or "Voice acting in games sucks!" or "It's a free market!"
To which I would respond "Yes, it's a free market - and they are free not to work unless they get the pay they demand."
Electronic Arts makes multiple billions of dollars of profit (not revenue - profit) every year, while they treat programmer like dirt. Their response to the voice actors request is something like "But - we don't pay the programmers this much - what's your problem?"
To which the voice actors, which come from a history of which using a guild (or a union, really) has gotten them what they want: pay for their work, and residuals for using their talents to promote someone else's product. As I wrote in a column not too long ago, it's a system that's served Hollywood well.
And yes, with all of the unions about, Hollywood still makes a lot of money. A *ton* of money.
Maybe this is the wakeup call that the game industry needs. Maybe EA and other publishers (sorry to pick on EA, but they're the most egregious example I know), if the voice actors get their way, will be faced with developers saying "Holy fucking shit - where's my piece of the pie then?.
Maybe the big publishing houses will have to break up, or deal with lower profits - or maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
Who knows. Personally, I'm rooting for the voice actors. Overpaid hams? Sure - but they're overpaid hams who know the value of their dollar, and are willing to sacrifice profits now to do better in the future. Maybe they'll lose. But it won't be because they just bend over a desk when the guy with the paycheck wants to ram it up their ass.
I enclose proof of purchase of the iPod, in the form of the original or a photocopy of (check one and enclose the requested documentation): the invoice or receipt that reflects the purchase of the iPod or a cancelled check that reflects the purchase of the iPod or a credit or debit card statement that identifies the transaction as the purchase of the iPod [Underline, circle, or highlight the iPod purchase transaction on your statement. You may cross out, white-out, or otherwise redact the card number and any transactions other than the iPod purchase.] or a check, credit card statement or debit card statement that does not specifically identify the transaction as one for the purchase of the iPod. I declare under penalty of perjury that the transaction reflected on the check or statement was for the purchase of an iPod. [Underline, circle, or highlight the iPod purchase transaction on your statement. You may cross out, white-out, or otherwise redact the card number and any transactions other than the iPod purchase.]
I might be able to get my June or July statement from the bank with my credit slip - but otherwise, I'm out of this one. Too bad - $50 would have gone well to my purchase of a new iPod Photo. I don't need a new battery since I replaced mine about a couple of months ago myself (easier than I thought - the biggest problem was trying to keep my 9 month old son away from the taken apart iPod, who is convinced my iPod and my Game Boy Advance are the tastiest things on the planet.) It took 2 years for my iPod battery to reach that stage, so I guess I'm not too upset about missing on an additional $50 of Apple goodness.
Hm - maybe I'll contact the bank anyway and see what I can figure out....
The MPAA won't go for it right now - their main supporter is out of the loop, and the EFF has links out to its registered members (and why aren't *you* a member?) that the first time someone tries to make one, or sneak it into another bill, we're suppose to be on that congresscritter like white on rice.
But time is running out for them to get the flag in by 2008, so I still expect to see something underhanded put in in the hopes that nobody will see what they're doing. Which is why we need to be eternally vigilant.
What surprises me about the MPAA is that they've learned from history. "What?" They've learned from history?"
Sure. For the last few hundred years of progress, there's been large companies that have a near oligarchy of power on some product (entertainment, in this case). Then some technology comes along, breaks up the big guys, sets up several little guys, and then the conglomeration effect builds again until, like a neutron hitting a uranium atom, the system is split apart, new creative energy is unleashed, and it's back to a maelstrom of competition until the reaction settles down.
The MPAA I think knows this, so they're fighting the technology as hard as they can. If people can time shift and get rid of commercials, big companies will make less money, and with the Internet spreading, people can make their own shows - think podcasting with video. LIke early radio, 99% will be crap, but there will be that 1% of really good stuff that turns people away from traditional TV. When that happens more and more often, the MPAA's contributers will be financially out of it, and the next cycle will begin.
The MPAA is just trying to protect itself. Granted, in a stupid fashion, because history shows that you can be one of the new movers and shakers in a new technological - it's just likely you won't because you'll be fighting the technology instead.
Hm - maybe the MPAA *doesn't* get it after all.
Of course, this is all just my opinion. I could be wrong.
The deadline expires tonight. Then, it will take a few weeks to decide on a punishment (if any). Then a few more weeks to decide if the decision is the right one. Then another month to decide if the decision of the decision was a good one. Then submit it for a committee vote. Wait - who had the decision? I thought you had it? Where did it go? What were we deciding upon? I don't know. Let's hold a meeting and see if we can decide on it. What's for lunch? I don't know you - you decide.
Er, bad note and I'm a horrible person, but I meant to write "Apple/Sirius iPod hybrid" instead of "bastard child". I hate it when my coworkers interrupt me in the middle of a post....;).
Evidently Sirius will be teaming up with Mr. Adam Curry who helped to make podcasting famous (and could arguably be the "inventor" of podcasting).
This kind of a system may benefit both Sirius and Apple. Rather than trying to make some sort of Apple/Sirius bastard child, perform an Audible like system: subscribers to Sirius could get satellite shows and download them as podcasts as well automatically through iTunes, or do a "Sirius Lite" with delayed Podcast versions of shows available for a monthly fee (again, like Audible).
Apple sells more iPods (especially if they do it as an exclusive), Sirius would get more subscribers (heck, I've no interest in a satellite radio system, but I'd pay a small monthly service fee for good radio/music shows I could auto-sync to my iPod - key word "good"), and consumers - eh, I'll let individuals decide if its good for them or not.
Personally, this is the part of the "next generation" console battle I'm curious about. A big deal was made about how badly Doom 3 performed when it was ported to OS X, of which there are two main reasons used to explain the issue:
Video card drives Porting from the Intel to the PPC architecture
Basically, because the system was optimized for the x86 processor line, several "hacks" had to be used to get it comperable to the PPC. That's not saying "Intel good, G5 bad", just "different". Like translating between Japanese and English but still missing the localizations and other important issues, so it's not quite exactly the same - but "close enough".
Microsoft has done rather well using PC development ability and bringing them into the console side. Look at how many companies who had hardly done anything on a console were coming out with "PC/Xbox" versions of the games. Same processor, same API - just the controllers were different (and of course, on the Xbox, not nearly the OS load and a single resolution to support).
Now, things are different. On all three systems, it uses an IBM Power variant - not quite a G5, as each have been optimized in different ways, but all share some core technologies. So for a PC developer the API is the same, but now the processor is completely different. Close enough to the Mac line that there may be difficulties making a PC/Xbox 360 game - or at least the same difficulty level as going Xbox 360 -> PC as there would be going Xbox 360 -> OS X - easier in some ways, since the development boxen are modified G5 systems.
It will be curious to see if this has any impact at all upon Mac based gaming. My gut says "no, not really", but with a majority of game developers going to PPC based architectures, it does make you wonder a bit.
You're probably more correct than I am - I decided to take the more conservative belief "just in case" Nokia didn't mean for their agreement to extend that far.
Nokia also believes that a party should not enjoy use of Nokia's patents and at the same time threaten the development of the Linux Kernel by assertion of its own patents. Therefore, Nokia's commitment shall not apply with regard to any party asserting its patents against any Linux Kernel.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that this means that if you are a Linux developer, use one of Nokia's patents as regards to this agreement, then turn around and try to sue LInux (or IBM, natch) for violating *your* patents, then you lose the ability to use Nokia's patents so Nokia can go after *you*.
If nothing else, it will make some companies who would sue Linux in a Rambus "We'll help develop the technology by committee then sue anybody who tries to actually use it without our permission" from (allegedly, like SCO) letting their technology be added into Linux, release a kernel, then start suing companies for violating their IP. With Nokia's clause here, they'll have to make certain that nothing of what they did includes Nokia's patents.
Phew. Interesting how complex things have to get just to cover your ass thanks to a exploitive lawsuit happy companies.
What's brought down the other Bittorrent torrent providing sites is the lawsuits challenging their legality - will Mr. Cohen be filtering out such movies/music/books/etc which violate someone's intellectual property (such as "Star Wars"), or does he have some legal angle that will make him immune?
IANAL (which for years I thought means "I am ANAL", but that's neither here nor there), but Usenet folks can get away with downloading since downloading copyrighted material is not technically illegal - but uploading, or, probably more accurately, distributing copyrighted material without the consent of the intellectual property owner is. So Usenet folks can download Episode III (though why they would is beyond my ken) without fear of lawsuits, but Bittorrent folks, from the second they activate the torrent and upload a packet to someone else, can be considered a distributer under the eyes of the law.
Which is why web sites such as Suprnova.org are now out of business - MPAA came a callin' with their trucks full o' lawyers claiming that giving people access and hosting torrent files is itself a violation of copyright distribution. I guess if Mr. Cohen doesn't host the files himself but merely links to where the files may be found, he could wiggle through that legal loophole.
Either way, good luck - I see a lot of good use for Bittorrent as a method of distributing large files for the masses such as Podcasts or the eventual Video Podcasts that are now popping up, perhaps even as a way to protect against slashdotting (just build bittorrent into web servers and form "unions" to spread the bandwidth or something like this), but I'm not so confident that such as business venture will work out without some legal challenges (whether appropriate or merely standard M/R/IAA "death by lawsuit" tactics).
I'd argue that Nintendo might be better served waiting until *after* the Christmas season. There's been several "OMG I must have!" Christmas toys that nobody can find, everybody's going onto Ebay and bidding hundreds of dollars for.
Then there's the games/items that come out in say, January, and do well. This strategy has served Blizzard very well with their "ship when its done". In some ways, Summer is actually a better launch date (kids getting out of school) and using that as a steady segway into greater sales.
Of course, this is just my opinion - I could be wrong.
So far, the specs look pretty good. MS is probably allowing it to be a DVD player out of the box without the annoying "remote control must be there". Surprisingly, it still looks pretty modible - you know that people will be dying to make it into a Linux box first chance they get (and with a removable hard drive, even easier to switch between systems and use those USB peripherals), so we'll have to see what anti-mod abilities it includes.
The #1 question still is: backwards compatibility. At these specs, there's no reason why a hardware emulator couldn't emulate an older Xbox. And with the Xbox 1 only 4 years old, I believe that backwards compatibility will be a big deal - if not a bigger deal than the other systems. It's the price between $300 - $400 with some games on launch day (of which, if history is a judge from the PS2, Xbox 1, and Gamecube launch, one of those games is worth having, and 6 months afterwards the other "killer apps" show up), or having a good library including the all important Halo 1 and 2.
Enough to make me buy on launch day? No (but then again, with the current 3 consoles I own plus the GBA and PSP, I have too many games anyway), but we'll have to see how it does the next time out. They've fixed a lot of my previous annoyances with the Xbox 1 (the USB system should let me plug in a keyboard to enter in my own music track information - a pain and a half with the Xbox 1 using a controller, and the free basic Live will bring in people who, like myself, are too damn cheap to pay the $60 or so a year to get onto Live, especially considering how little I play online these days. Three kids, wife, blah, blah, blah.)
But it's a good showing. I'll be curious to see how the PS3 and Nintendo Revolution respond. (Psst: Nintendo, DVD movies play out of the box. It's reason #1 why you're tied in second place worldwide with the Xbox.)
I gave GoDaddy a try after reading some slashdot posters sing the praises. Since my own domain name was going to expire in a month anyway, I thought I'd look into them.
For $9, I'm pretty damn impressed. Network Solutions gave me eternal run around when there was problems. When I moved and tried to change my DNS information a few years back, it was this horrific experience that gave me a bad taste in my mouth. Dealing with them on other issues such as when a former employer of mine bought a domain name from another party was just a nightmare.
Godaddy doesn't have the prettiest interface, but damn if it doesn't work. I signed in, it told me what I needed to give them, kept me updated on the progress transferring from Network Solutions, and when it was over someone gave me a phone call. The last time I tried to call Network Solutions for anything I felt like taking a bath afterwards. Sure, the guy wanted to ask me about hosting, but he basically said "Mr. Hummel, everything's done, need anything else? Great, call if you need something." Not pushy at all.
I have another domain name, and I know I'm going to use Godaddy. The price is nice, and I may even give their hosting services a try based on how well this experience has gone so far.
Now - one note on the ads. Stop it. I hate them, and almost didn't sign up just because the ad made me feel dumber after seeing them. Hell, change the name - Godaddy sounds more like a porn service than a domain name system.
Service: good. Support: Excellent. Name and marketing: Butt ugly awful.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
I was talking with my brother in law, who works in a car shop. Somehow the topic of VW came up, and he made an interesting comment:
Him: Man, I can always tell a gay guy when he walks in the door. If He's using an Apple computer while he's waiting, and is driving a VW Beetle or Golf - especially the Beetles! - or has one of those Apple Computer logos on their car - they are a flaming homo. Not that there's anything wrong with it.
Me (while looking up something on my Powerbook): Hm. Interesting. By the way, that's my Beetle parked outside. I'd better call my wife and tell her my secret's out.
We had a bit of a laugh over that - finding that one big honking exception to a stereotype can usually blow someone's bubble pretty quick.
Makes you wonder if MS doesn't realize that there's an untap market in the Gay and Lesbian community by continuing to show their support.
I guess what strikes me odd about the whole story is that for 12 years, MS has supported the Gay and Lesbian community, even winning awards for their support. They gave their support to a bill that basically says "Just like you can't discriminate against people for their gender, religion, ethnic background, or favorite M&M, you can't discriminate if they are a guy who likes to get it on with another guy, or a girl who thinks other girls are 'teh sexy'".
Then, one guy pops up, says "You know, God hates fags, and if you support this bill then we're going to tell the other Christian groups not to buy Microsoft."
As a Christian myself (yeah, not a terribly deeply practicing one - you won't see me making a birthday cake to Jesus and waiting for Him to blow out the candles on Christmas), I find the actions of Mr. Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond to be incredibly offensive, bigoted, and against everything that Christ stood for. (You know, the whole thing of "Judge not unrighteously lest ye be judged", or "I am not come to treat the well, but the sick", or "Get the hell out of my face, you damned dirty ape" - no, wait, wrong religious figure - my bad).
MS can't have it both ways. Either they support the Gay and Lesbian community, and show that there are some things more important than money - and to be honest, how many ministers are going to rise up and start buying Apple's just because MS states publicly they don't give a damn if two guys are getting hot and heavy in the bedroom? 1% of all ministers? 10%?
The loss of good faith, and a reputation of aligning themselves with people of bigoted views will probably do far more damage in the long run than "holding the course" and continuing their support of House Bill 1515.
Of course, that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong. If nothing else, if MS doesn't stand up and do the right thing, then I guess I'll be looking for that copy of iWork instead of MS Office for my next office suite upgrade.
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Interesting - I hadn't seen that part. Thanks for the update! Your thoughts on HP are interesting - if nothing else, it would help set HP apart from the rest of the pack, and if Apple and HP wanted to go after that "home market", this is a great way to do it (and keep costs down for Apple - let HP work on the "commodity" hardware while they run off and develop the "cool stuff"?).
Who knows. It's all 5-10 years out anyway, so we'll have to let the chips fall where they may (no pun intended).
I'm not sure if you realize how odd those two statements are together.
Think about the idea of a union: it's sole purpose is to say "We, the people who provide a service, will not do any work as a group until our demands our met." It's about saying "We don't like our work conditions, so we refuse to work here."
Only instead of just Bob one cubicle down quitting, which just means that Jane is hired instead at the same wage while Bob kicks the pavement and starves, it's Bob and Bill and Mary and Sally and Jane who doesn't even work there saying all at once "We don't like our work conditions, so we refuse to work here, and we're going to sit here outside and tell our fellow professionals not to work for you either until you meet our requests for a work condition."
I'm trying to see how that's "not taking a stand for yourself". I don't state that all unions are good (often, like any other organization, they become grossly inefficient and corrupt), but as opposed to working 80 hours a week without overtime, hardly any vacation and the threat of "Don't like it? Then quit!", then a union can be a very effective means of telling your employer "I don't like the working conditions, so I quit."
So therefore there is a reason why voice actors get paid more: they have a special talent that is difficult to find.
Or, it's because they're willing to band together en masse and refuse to work without what they consider to be their fair pay. Makes you wonder what would happen if game developers - all of them - decided not to work unless they got fair working conditions too?
Seems like something like this happened once before. Hm....
A lot of it depends on what Apple does. Right now, Linux can run on a Mac, so that's not a barrier. Linux will (and I'll go on a limb here) certainly run on the new Intel Macs.
So by "hurt", there's no net change: Linux runs on Macs, and will in the future.
If Apple makes its Macs (say that three times fast) as closed as they are now, then Linux will have nothing to worry about. Linux succeeds, as one developer mentioned, because nothing runs faster than on commodity hardware running with LInux running with Apache. Linux succeeds because of its ability to work very well with open systems. Apple will be a niche player - maybe they'll grow if WINE should run well under OS X with an Intel processor (and I'm hoping so, if for no other reason than I can play Half Life on a Mac finally), but I don't think that Linux will be threatened by a locked hardware base.
If Apple, say 5 years from now, decides that it's going to let the machine hardware become the commodity item and focus on its "special" hardware (iPod, etc) and software (Final Cut Pro, iLife, etc), then Linux will still be unharmed. Even if Apple says "OK, we're still going to sell premium desktop machines at +$300 compared to the competition for quality - but you could always just buy a Dell and pay us $150 for OS 10.7 and we'll be happy, since that still means you'll buy our other software too and you're likely to someday make an official Apple machine your next purchase", Linux will not be "harmed", since Apple can't stop Linux from being made. Linux will proceed along its way.
If by "harmed" you mean market share, then he may have a point. If Apple lets OS X run on standard PC's, then I can see Linux desktop share either becoming stagnent or shifting about.
My personal bet is that if the latter happens (OS X on standard machines), within 10 years we'll see a 50% Windows, 30% OS X, and 15% Linux, 5% other varients in the desktop market - in the server market it may be much as it is now, maybe with OS X and Linux overtaking the bulk of the traditional Unix route.
So, "harm" to Linux? The truth, as you may learn, depends entirely upon a certain point of view. What I've described is just mine. I could be wrong.
Because they're not willing to quit en masse and tell the publisher "pay us more or else no game"?
"Then the publishers will hire scabs!"
Yes - and how long will it take for the "scabs" to get up to snuff and be able to handle all of the tasks of the former programers/artists/testers? What if every employee at EA and Ubisoft all left the same day and said "We'll come back when we're offered a 40 hour work week with overtime of 1.5x an hour over 40 hours and 2x every hour past 60 hours, with paid vacation time between games and a independent mediator for disputes", and the publishers were left looking at their bankroll and deciding if just going scabs are worth it?
The voice actors deserve it not because they're better, but because they're willing to fight and sacrifice what they want *now* for a better deal *later*. It's the way the entertainment industry rose up with the screen actor's guild and the like - and I think the game industry is about to get hit with it big time, and they won't like it.
Then the developers and designers should be paid more, and if their talents are indeed special (such as art design, etc) perhaps they should be paid residuals.
Instead of knocking everybody down to one level, how about we raise the special up?
I know there will be those who simply say "Well, them let them go - they get overpaid for their $300 an hour work anyway", or "Voice acting in games sucks!" or "It's a free market!"
To which I would respond "Yes, it's a free market - and they are free not to work unless they get the pay they demand."
Electronic Arts makes multiple billions of dollars of profit (not revenue - profit) every year, while they treat programmer like dirt. Their response to the voice actors request is something like "But - we don't pay the programmers this much - what's your problem?"
To which the voice actors, which come from a history of which using a guild (or a union, really) has gotten them what they want: pay for their work, and residuals for using their talents to promote someone else's product. As I wrote in a column not too long ago, it's a system that's served Hollywood well.
And yes, with all of the unions about, Hollywood still makes a lot of money. A *ton* of money.
Maybe this is the wakeup call that the game industry needs. Maybe EA and other publishers (sorry to pick on EA, but they're the most egregious example I know), if the voice actors get their way, will be faced with developers saying "Holy fucking shit - where's my piece of the pie then?.
Maybe the big publishing houses will have to break up, or deal with lower profits - or maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
Who knows. Personally, I'm rooting for the voice actors. Overpaid hams? Sure - but they're overpaid hams who know the value of their dollar, and are willing to sacrifice profits now to do better in the future. Maybe they'll lose. But it won't be because they just bend over a desk when the guy with the paycheck wants to ram it up their ass.
Just my opinion. I could be wrong.
What's the fastest way to transmit stolen data? Modem, T1, T3 - or a UPS truck full of tapes?
I might be able to get my June or July statement from the bank with my credit slip - but otherwise, I'm out of this one. Too bad - $50 would have gone well to my purchase of a new iPod Photo. I don't need a new battery since I replaced mine about a couple of months ago myself (easier than I thought - the biggest problem was trying to keep my 9 month old son away from the taken apart iPod, who is convinced my iPod and my Game Boy Advance are the tastiest things on the planet.) It took 2 years for my iPod battery to reach that stage, so I guess I'm not too upset about missing on an additional $50 of Apple goodness.
Hm - maybe I'll contact the bank anyway and see what I can figure out....
The MPAA won't go for it right now - their main supporter is out of the loop, and the EFF has links out to its registered members (and why aren't *you* a member?) that the first time someone tries to make one, or sneak it into another bill, we're suppose to be on that congresscritter like white on rice.
But time is running out for them to get the flag in by 2008, so I still expect to see something underhanded put in in the hopes that nobody will see what they're doing. Which is why we need to be eternally vigilant.
What surprises me about the MPAA is that they've learned from history. "What?" They've learned from history?"
Sure. For the last few hundred years of progress, there's been large companies that have a near oligarchy of power on some product (entertainment, in this case). Then some technology comes along, breaks up the big guys, sets up several little guys, and then the conglomeration effect builds again until, like a neutron hitting a uranium atom, the system is split apart, new creative energy is unleashed, and it's back to a maelstrom of competition until the reaction settles down.
The MPAA I think knows this, so they're fighting the technology as hard as they can. If people can time shift and get rid of commercials, big companies will make less money, and with the Internet spreading, people can make their own shows - think podcasting with video. LIke early radio, 99% will be crap, but there will be that 1% of really good stuff that turns people away from traditional TV. When that happens more and more often, the MPAA's contributers will be financially out of it, and the next cycle will begin.
The MPAA is just trying to protect itself. Granted, in a stupid fashion, because history shows that you can be one of the new movers and shakers in a new technological - it's just likely you won't because you'll be fighting the technology instead.
Hm - maybe the MPAA *doesn't* get it after all.
Of course, this is all just my opinion. I could be wrong.
To lunch, or the decision?
The deadline expires tonight.
Then, it will take a few weeks to decide on a punishment (if any).
Then a few more weeks to decide if the decision is the right one.
Then another month to decide if the decision of the decision was a good one.
Then submit it for a committee vote.
Wait - who had the decision?
I thought you had it? Where did it go?
What were we deciding upon?
I don't know. Let's hold a meeting and see if we can decide on it.
What's for lunch?
I don't know you - you decide.
Er, bad note and I'm a horrible person, but I meant to write "Apple/Sirius iPod hybrid" instead of "bastard child". I hate it when my coworkers interrupt me in the middle of a post.... ;).
Evidently Sirius will be teaming up with Mr. Adam Curry who helped to make podcasting famous (and could arguably be the "inventor" of podcasting).
This kind of a system may benefit both Sirius and Apple. Rather than trying to make some sort of Apple/Sirius bastard child, perform an Audible like system: subscribers to Sirius could get satellite shows and download them as podcasts as well automatically through iTunes, or do a "Sirius Lite" with delayed Podcast versions of shows available for a monthly fee (again, like Audible).
Apple sells more iPods (especially if they do it as an exclusive), Sirius would get more subscribers (heck, I've no interest in a satellite radio system, but I'd pay a small monthly service fee for good radio/music shows I could auto-sync to my iPod - key word "good"), and consumers - eh, I'll let individuals decide if its good for them or not.
Every Apple/Mac site that I've run across.
Personally, this is the part of the "next generation" console battle I'm curious about. A big deal was made about how badly Doom 3 performed when it was ported to OS X, of which there are two main reasons used to explain the issue:
Video card drives
Porting from the Intel to the PPC architecture
Basically, because the system was optimized for the x86 processor line, several "hacks" had to be used to get it comperable to the PPC. That's not saying "Intel good, G5 bad", just "different". Like translating between Japanese and English but still missing the localizations and other important issues, so it's not quite exactly the same - but "close enough".
Microsoft has done rather well using PC development ability and bringing them into the console side. Look at how many companies who had hardly done anything on a console were coming out with "PC/Xbox" versions of the games. Same processor, same API - just the controllers were different (and of course, on the Xbox, not nearly the OS load and a single resolution to support).
Now, things are different. On all three systems, it uses an IBM Power variant - not quite a G5, as each have been optimized in different ways, but all share some core technologies. So for a PC developer the API is the same, but now the processor is completely different. Close enough to the Mac line that there may be difficulties making a PC/Xbox 360 game - or at least the same difficulty level as going Xbox 360 -> PC as there would be going Xbox 360 -> OS X - easier in some ways, since the development boxen are modified G5 systems.
It will be curious to see if this has any impact at all upon Mac based gaming. My gut says "no, not really", but with a majority of game developers going to PPC based architectures, it does make you wonder a bit.
You're probably more correct than I am - I decided to take the more conservative belief "just in case" Nokia didn't mean for their agreement to extend that far.
So, with stopwatch in hand, I thought I'd test out how well this works.
First search: "The Power of Nightmares".
Results: Timed Out
Second search: "Eyes on the Prize"
Results: Timed out
Third search: Don Quixote
Results: Timed out
Yup - working perfectly so far! M|R|F/IAA doesn't have anything to worry about!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that this means that if you are a Linux developer, use one of Nokia's patents as regards to this agreement, then turn around and try to sue LInux (or IBM, natch) for violating *your* patents, then you lose the ability to use Nokia's patents so Nokia can go after *you*.
If nothing else, it will make some companies who would sue Linux in a Rambus "We'll help develop the technology by committee then sue anybody who tries to actually use it without our permission" from (allegedly, like SCO) letting their technology be added into Linux, release a kernel, then start suing companies for violating their IP. With Nokia's clause here, they'll have to make certain that nothing of what they did includes Nokia's patents.
Phew. Interesting how complex things have to get just to cover your ass thanks to a exploitive lawsuit happy companies.
What's brought down the other Bittorrent torrent providing sites is the lawsuits challenging their legality - will Mr. Cohen be filtering out such movies/music/books/etc which violate someone's intellectual property (such as "Star Wars"), or does he have some legal angle that will make him immune?
IANAL (which for years I thought means "I am ANAL", but that's neither here nor there), but Usenet folks can get away with downloading since downloading copyrighted material is not technically illegal - but uploading, or, probably more accurately, distributing copyrighted material without the consent of the intellectual property owner is. So Usenet folks can download Episode III (though why they would is beyond my ken) without fear of lawsuits, but Bittorrent folks, from the second they activate the torrent and upload a packet to someone else, can be considered a distributer under the eyes of the law.
Which is why web sites such as Suprnova.org are now out of business - MPAA came a callin' with their trucks full o' lawyers claiming that giving people access and hosting torrent files is itself a violation of copyright distribution. I guess if Mr. Cohen doesn't host the files himself but merely links to where the files may be found, he could wiggle through that legal loophole.
Either way, good luck - I see a lot of good use for Bittorrent as a method of distributing large files for the masses such as Podcasts or the eventual Video Podcasts that are now popping up, perhaps even as a way to protect against slashdotting (just build bittorrent into web servers and form "unions" to spread the bandwidth or something like this), but I'm not so confident that such as business venture will work out without some legal challenges (whether appropriate or merely standard M/R/IAA "death by lawsuit" tactics).
I'd argue that Nintendo might be better served waiting until *after* the Christmas season. There's been several "OMG I must have!" Christmas toys that nobody can find, everybody's going onto Ebay and bidding hundreds of dollars for.
Then there's the games/items that come out in say, January, and do well. This strategy has served Blizzard very well with their "ship when its done". In some ways, Summer is actually a better launch date (kids getting out of school) and using that as a steady segway into greater sales.
Of course, this is just my opinion - I could be wrong.
So far, the specs look pretty good. MS is probably allowing it to be a DVD player out of the box without the annoying "remote control must be there". Surprisingly, it still looks pretty modible - you know that people will be dying to make it into a Linux box first chance they get (and with a removable hard drive, even easier to switch between systems and use those USB peripherals), so we'll have to see what anti-mod abilities it includes.
The #1 question still is: backwards compatibility. At these specs, there's no reason why a hardware emulator couldn't emulate an older Xbox. And with the Xbox 1 only 4 years old, I believe that backwards compatibility will be a big deal - if not a bigger deal than the other systems. It's the price between $300 - $400 with some games on launch day (of which, if history is a judge from the PS2, Xbox 1, and Gamecube launch, one of those games is worth having, and 6 months afterwards the other "killer apps" show up), or having a good library including the all important Halo 1 and 2.
Enough to make me buy on launch day? No (but then again, with the current 3 consoles I own plus the GBA and PSP, I have too many games anyway), but we'll have to see how it does the next time out. They've fixed a lot of my previous annoyances with the Xbox 1 (the USB system should let me plug in a keyboard to enter in my own music track information - a pain and a half with the Xbox 1 using a controller, and the free basic Live will bring in people who, like myself, are too damn cheap to pay the $60 or so a year to get onto Live, especially considering how little I play online these days. Three kids, wife, blah, blah, blah.)
But it's a good showing. I'll be curious to see how the PS3 and Nintendo Revolution respond. (Psst: Nintendo, DVD movies play out of the box. It's reason #1 why you're tied in second place worldwide with the Xbox.)
Damn! I'll remember that next time.
Ding, dong, the witch is dead
Which old witch? The wicked witch!
Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead!
I gave GoDaddy a try after reading some slashdot posters sing the praises. Since my own domain name was going to expire in a month anyway, I thought I'd look into them.
For $9, I'm pretty damn impressed. Network Solutions gave me eternal run around when there was problems. When I moved and tried to change my DNS information a few years back, it was this horrific experience that gave me a bad taste in my mouth. Dealing with them on other issues such as when a former employer of mine bought a domain name from another party was just a nightmare.
Godaddy doesn't have the prettiest interface, but damn if it doesn't work. I signed in, it told me what I needed to give them, kept me updated on the progress transferring from Network Solutions, and when it was over someone gave me a phone call. The last time I tried to call Network Solutions for anything I felt like taking a bath afterwards. Sure, the guy wanted to ask me about hosting, but he basically said "Mr. Hummel, everything's done, need anything else? Great, call if you need something." Not pushy at all.
I have another domain name, and I know I'm going to use Godaddy. The price is nice, and I may even give their hosting services a try based on how well this experience has gone so far.
Now - one note on the ads. Stop it. I hate them, and almost didn't sign up just because the ad made me feel dumber after seeing them. Hell, change the name - Godaddy sounds more like a porn service than a domain name system.
Service: good. Support: Excellent. Name and marketing: Butt ugly awful.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
I was talking with my brother in law, who works in a car shop. Somehow the topic of VW came up, and he made an interesting comment:
We had a bit of a laugh over that - finding that one big honking exception to a stereotype can usually blow someone's bubble pretty quick.
Makes you wonder if MS doesn't realize that there's an untap market in the Gay and Lesbian community by continuing to show their support.
I guess what strikes me odd about the whole story is that for 12 years, MS has supported the Gay and Lesbian community, even winning awards for their support. They gave their support to a bill that basically says "Just like you can't discriminate against people for their gender, religion, ethnic background, or favorite M&M, you can't discriminate if they are a guy who likes to get it on with another guy, or a girl who thinks other girls are 'teh sexy'".
Then, one guy pops up, says "You know, God hates fags, and if you support this bill then we're going to tell the other Christian groups not to buy Microsoft."
As a Christian myself (yeah, not a terribly deeply practicing one - you won't see me making a birthday cake to Jesus and waiting for Him to blow out the candles on Christmas), I find the actions of Mr. Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond to be incredibly offensive, bigoted, and against everything that Christ stood for. (You know, the whole thing of "Judge not unrighteously lest ye be judged", or "I am not come to treat the well, but the sick", or "Get the hell out of my face, you damned dirty ape" - no, wait, wrong religious figure - my bad).
MS can't have it both ways. Either they support the Gay and Lesbian community, and show that there are some things more important than money - and to be honest, how many ministers are going to rise up and start buying Apple's just because MS states publicly they don't give a damn if two guys are getting hot and heavy in the bedroom? 1% of all ministers? 10%?
The loss of good faith, and a reputation of aligning themselves with people of bigoted views will probably do far more damage in the long run than "holding the course" and continuing their support of House Bill 1515.
Of course, that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong. If nothing else, if MS doesn't stand up and do the right thing, then I guess I'll be looking for that copy of iWork instead of MS Office for my next office suite upgrade.