To see gaming consoles as an example of a move away from convergence you have to remember that, by and large, all serious gaming was done on a PC. Now huge segments of the gaming population are migrating to console games. Essentially replacing a convergence device with a specialized one.
2.5 million blackberries sold isn't really indicative of a trend. Your stock graph doesn't even show sales figures, but...stock price. And it doesn't address media PCs. Besides, PCs can *already* do everything a media PC does; a media PC is simply more specialized. Hardly converging.
Same with a TiVO. I was recording TV shows on my PC with a Hauppauge card back in in 90s, the TiVO a specialized box to do just that. Another example of movement away from convergence to specialization.
Have you noticed that the all-in-one printers that do copying, printing, scanning, etc. aren't really top sellers.
I have no doubt that some hopeful company will release a cell phone that will play mp3s, and (at risk of pulling a CmdrTaco) I also have no doubt that it will be a mediocre seller. People haven't exactly flocked to the mp3 playing watch.
One thing about technology is that it is always getting better. MP3 playing might be a gimic on phones today, but be primary features of phones tomorrow.
Separation of use. What if I want to listen to music and talk on the phone? Or lend someone my iPod and not give them my cell phone? Or vice versa? There is a reason my wallet isn't attached to my keys, even though I always carry them both.
I wouldn't want a dishwasher that makes me dinner because the probability of problems with a product == the complexity of the product squared. I don't own a hammer/screwdriver or a watering lawn mower and I don't want to.
How is tivo a convergence device? It's a new appliance of convience. Do you consider an iPod a convergence device...between a walkman and a computer?:-)
People are buying blackberrys and media PCs? Look at the take off of console gaming to see how the tech market not simply not moving towards convergence, but actually away from it.
Large outcry from that, which wouldn't be past Microsoft. But I'd still say it'd be more likely that they would put these games on the silver network which is officially for game content downloads, extra game content purchases, and little stuff like scoreboards.
XBox Live! Gold is officially for game playing ability.
Of course who knows what these tiers will actually mean come release time.
Why would I want my console to provide functionality that my powermac does perfectly well now?
My consoles do gaming, my powermac does work. After getting an XBox and Gamecube, my pc gaming desktop simply wasn't getting gaming use except for Half-Life 2 so I sold the beast. I still have ScummVM for playing my Lucasarts games on normal desktop hardware and I have a couple of decent games for the mac. But the consoles have essentially taken over my gaming experience. PCs still rule at FPS games and hardcore RPGs. Consoles rule at racing, platformers, action, fighting, etc. etc. You just don't get awesome games like Ninja Gaiden on the PC, and in awesome surround sound. There are a ton of great games out there that are console only, and consoles are cheap. Try one out.
Yes I know that PC games can do 6.1 surround, but I have a hard time justifying connecting my PC to a room-sized sound system (5.1 gaming speaker sets are crap). Connecting my tv, dvd player, media computer, and consoles to a full system makes more sense.
I remember when we got our first 3dfx card. This was their first (the first consumer) 3d card actually, pre-voodoo, pre-sli. Just fun 3d graphics in GLquake, Decent 3, and a few others.
The card would get really hot. After playing games for 30min-1hr random graphical crashes would kick in. So we bought a custom fan from 3dfxcool.com. It was just a small case fan mounted on a strip of metal that you screwed into the case with the card. The metal suspended the fan just over the 3dfx's video chip. After that, we could play for hours without crashing.
Fan or heatsink, some kind of cooling is better. And since it costs little (and gives the impression of power) I suppose they figure: why not use both?
I feel good about getting a discount with my $grocery_store card. I must not share my secret purchase of root beer?
So what if companies track me? Track the hell out of me, target advertising to me, target tv to me (please), target games to me (yeah!), target movies to me (bring back scriptwriters). Just because I'm targetted doesn't mean I can't say no.
That's kind of exactly what Fight Club, which he was semi-quoting, was all about. It's a decent read too, but it is an example of an extremely rare case where the movie is far better than the book.
XP was a point release. 5.0 (Windows 2000) -> 5.1 (Windows XP).
But it's just semantics. Apple uses a nice, consistent versioning scheme.
a.b.c where:
A = Complete OS, possibly breaks compatability with A-1
B = Major OS, significant new features
C = Update OS, bug and security fixes (generally referred to as a point release)
Windows has gone from 3.1 -> 5.1 but you'd never know it from their brand names. They haven't really made an "A" revision since Win3.1->Win95, although Longhorn will be one. MS's equivilent to OS X.
Hmm, Hell Yes! He seems to be a decent political/social manipulator (choosing not to eliminate middlemen when selling meds), an excellent and brilliant strategist especially when the chips are down, and he's the best leader of them all--he knows when to lay the smackdown, when to coax, when to wheedle, and when to be generous.
List revision (Reynolds takes #2. While he was shaping up to be the best of all, we simply don't have enough data for a decent comparison):
I know all about Thrawn. But you should properly call him Grand Admiral Thrawn, and he was the only alien to be granted that honor by the Emperor. That said, Thrawn was pretty brilliant, but nowhere near Sheridan's level. He was another character that did superb combat, excellent war strategy, iffy politics, no diplomacy.
I explicitly stated that I was just considering the movies. Because otherwise I'd have to include certain Babylon 5 and Star Trek books that are also canon.
Slashdot Mirror
To see gaming consoles as an example of a move away from convergence you have to remember that, by and large, all serious gaming was done on a PC. Now huge segments of the gaming population are migrating to console games. Essentially replacing a convergence device with a specialized one.
2.5 million blackberries sold isn't really indicative of a trend. Your stock graph doesn't even show sales figures, but...stock price. And it doesn't address media PCs. Besides, PCs can *already* do everything a media PC does; a media PC is simply more specialized. Hardly converging.
Same with a TiVO. I was recording TV shows on my PC with a Hauppauge card back in in 90s, the TiVO a specialized box to do just that. Another example of movement away from convergence to specialization.
Have you noticed that the all-in-one printers that do copying, printing, scanning, etc. aren't really top sellers.
I have no doubt that some hopeful company will release a cell phone that will play mp3s, and (at risk of pulling a CmdrTaco) I also have no doubt that it will be a mediocre seller. People haven't exactly flocked to the mp3 playing watch.
One thing about technology is that it is always getting better. MP3 playing might be a gimic on phones today, but be primary features of phones tomorrow.
Just like calenders, address books, and games?
Separation of use. What if I want to listen to music and talk on the phone? Or lend someone my iPod and not give them my cell phone? Or vice versa? There is a reason my wallet isn't attached to my keys, even though I always carry them both.
I wouldn't want a dishwasher that makes me dinner because the probability of problems with a product == the complexity of the product squared. I don't own a hammer/screwdriver or a watering lawn mower and I don't want to.
How is tivo a convergence device? It's a new appliance of convience. Do you consider an iPod a convergence device...between a walkman and a computer? :-)
People are buying blackberrys and media PCs? Look at the take off of console gaming to see how the tech market not simply not moving towards convergence, but actually away from it.
I guess you don't run backups. You might want to look into that.
(And backing up onto another hard drive is hardly a solution.)
Is that like saying, "I would like $10. $50 would work too. I'm not too picky."?
I don't think he was trying to make a mistake by incorrectly using the word 'slightly'.
The XBox is technically much more capable than the PS2.
All aight? I can't not understand what you you're saying.
How do you get slang wrong?
Large outcry from that, which wouldn't be past Microsoft. But I'd still say it'd be more likely that they would put these games on the silver network which is officially for game content downloads, extra game content purchases, and little stuff like scoreboards.
XBox Live! Gold is officially for game playing ability.
Of course who knows what these tiers will actually mean come release time.
Why would I want my console to provide functionality that my powermac does perfectly well now?
My consoles do gaming, my powermac does work. After getting an XBox and Gamecube, my pc gaming desktop simply wasn't getting gaming use except for Half-Life 2 so I sold the beast. I still have ScummVM for playing my Lucasarts games on normal desktop hardware and I have a couple of decent games for the mac. But the consoles have essentially taken over my gaming experience. PCs still rule at FPS games and hardcore RPGs. Consoles rule at racing, platformers, action, fighting, etc. etc. You just don't get awesome games like Ninja Gaiden on the PC, and in awesome surround sound. There are a ton of great games out there that are console only, and consoles are cheap. Try one out.
Yes I know that PC games can do 6.1 surround, but I have a hard time justifying connecting my PC to a room-sized sound system (5.1 gaming speaker sets are crap). Connecting my tv, dvd player, media computer, and consoles to a full system makes more sense.
That wasn't trolling, that was flamebait.
How about the ability for the rest of the family to watch tv whilst you play your video games?
And how much is another tv and a console vs. the cost of a pc? Or just plug your console into a computer monitor and enjoy high def gaming. Ahh.
Or get games that are fun to watch, like Resident Evil 4.
The cash that it's cushioned in.
Should it just ignore the VRAM, or make use of it?
I'm for the latter.
I remember when we got our first 3dfx card. This was their first (the first consumer) 3d card actually, pre-voodoo, pre-sli. Just fun 3d graphics in GLquake, Decent 3, and a few others.
The card would get really hot. After playing games for 30min-1hr random graphical crashes would kick in. So we bought a custom fan from 3dfxcool.com. It was just a small case fan mounted on a strip of metal that you screwed into the case with the card. The metal suspended the fan just over the 3dfx's video chip. After that, we could play for hours without crashing.
Fan or heatsink, some kind of cooling is better. And since it costs little (and gives the impression of power) I suppose they figure: why not use both?
I feel good about getting a discount with my $grocery_store card. I must not share my secret purchase of root beer?
So what if companies track me? Track the hell out of me, target advertising to me, target tv to me (please), target games to me (yeah!), target movies to me (bring back scriptwriters). Just because I'm targetted doesn't mean I can't say no.
Only if the content is worth it.
.Mac services ($100/year): yes.
Gamespot Complete ($30/year): yes.
NY Times OP/ED drivel ($50/year): no.
Benefits of Quartz 2D extreme: speed, quality. Graphics render faster and look better especially during transformations (like the genie effect).
Can your hardware handle it?
Go into "About this Mac" and click "More Info"
Select the video card for more detailed information
Look for:
Core Image: Supported
Core Image-capable graphics cards include:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
ATI Radeon 9600 XT, 9800 XT, X800 XT
nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL
Full details.
That's kind of exactly what Fight Club, which he was semi-quoting, was all about. It's a decent read too, but it is an example of an extremely rare case where the movie is far better than the book.
And that's why the Cherokee still have their land in Georgia.
Oh wait...
Ha! That's the very first time that I've seen someone take that "new here" seriously. Awesome. First post to you dude.
The XBox has 1080i, as does the XBox 360.
:-)
Oddly enough, the Atari Collection for XBox is one of the games that supports 1080i...why?
XP was a point release. 5.0 (Windows 2000) -> 5.1 (Windows XP).
But it's just semantics. Apple uses a nice, consistent versioning scheme.
a.b.c where:
A = Complete OS, possibly breaks compatability with A-1
B = Major OS, significant new features
C = Update OS, bug and security fixes (generally referred to as a point release)
Windows has gone from 3.1 -> 5.1 but you'd never know it from their brand names. They haven't really made an "A" revision since Win3.1->Win95, although Longhorn will be one. MS's equivilent to OS X.
Hmm, Hell Yes! He seems to be a decent political/social manipulator (choosing not to eliminate middlemen when selling meds), an excellent and brilliant strategist especially when the chips are down, and he's the best leader of them all--he knows when to lay the smackdown, when to coax, when to wheedle, and when to be generous.
List revision (Reynolds takes #2. While he was shaping up to be the best of all, we simply don't have enough data for a decent comparison):
Sheridan > Reynolds > Sisko > Sinclair > Picard > Kirk
I know all about Thrawn. But you should properly call him Grand Admiral Thrawn, and he was the only alien to be granted that honor by the Emperor. That said, Thrawn was pretty brilliant, but nowhere near Sheridan's level. He was another character that did superb combat, excellent war strategy, iffy politics, no diplomacy.
I explicitly stated that I was just considering the movies. Because otherwise I'd have to include certain Babylon 5 and Star Trek books that are also canon.