Sirius Satellite Radio (www.siriusradio.com) is also working along the same lines as XM. The Sirius setup is a bit more realistic (and cheaper) in my point of view. Instead of 2 satellites and a sh*tload of terrestrial repeaters, Sirius [already] has 3 satellites cycling around the globe so that 2 are visible at all times. Sirius also seems to have a more interesting station lineup that XM, but that's personal preference.
As for the actual feasability of these services succeding, it'll depend on a lot of things. The current belief that the economy is bad will definately hurt these companies. Even so, they have very deep pockets and should be able to stick around for a while. Both companies already have deals in the works with car manufacturers to make the satellite radio system an option. It's probably a best choice if you live in a low-radio-station density area where the only thing you can hear is country, rap, or rush limbaugh.
It's also important to note that neither of these systems are cross compatable -- different hardware and such. Should be interesting to keep an eye on though. BR
What happened to the good ol' days when games weren't compared to quake? I remember when Doom first came out it was "like Wolf 3d...but better", then quake took doom's spot: "...it's even better than doom!". Now anything remotely like a FPS is compared to quake. dang kids. -Hitecher-
ok, here's the deal. you take Apollo 13, Contact, and 2001: A Space Odyssey [some would even dare to add a little Stand by Me], cram it all together and stamp a huge disney logo on it to get Mission to Mars.
Contact: Mathematical patterns hidden in sounds. Contact with friendly aliens. Aliens want us to join them so they can explain crap, etc. etc.
Apollo 13: Gas leak, explosion, crippled spacecraft, had to abandon it...
2001: the spacesuits. completely ripped off of 2001. the spinning spacecraft. the monolyth-shape that they entered.
stand by me: This was the most enjoyable reference to another movie. The guy from Sliders, who played Verno in Stand By Me, was a whiney loser who constantly ate. There would be this intense moment with everyone standing around watching a screen, and he'd be sitting there with a pack of food. They'd leave the room, and he'd be standing there with a whiney look on his face. He constantly said stupid things. HE MADE A DOUBLE HELIX OUT OF M&MS. Every time he did something goofy or stupid or whiney or food-related, I yelled (to myself, so as not to be rude) "Verrrrnoooo", which was more often than you might think! It was hilarious.
plot was depressingly predictable. Obvious foreshadowing, irony, and stupid conversation to give away plot elements: Here's the virtual opening of the movie: "Too bad your wife, who was a Mars expert, died and now you won't get to go to Mars, ever." "Yea, it's too bad but I bet nothing will ever happen to you up there anyway and I'll never get to go to Mars."
"There's probably some real intelligent life on Mars" "No way, you're drunk." Maybe she's right.
"Because we have landed on the Martian surface and are now millions of miles away from you, there is nothing you can do to stop us from celebrating a birthday." Oh, so that's where there are. Wow I hope this moment of happiness won't soon be contrasted with a disaster. Or will it?
being a disney movie, there was no nudity, cursing, or guns (except for a grappling-hook type thing). only 2 people were seen to have died, one being violently torn apart by a tornado (PG!?!), the other freezing.
Corporate promotion: It seems the producer sold advertising space in the movie to make up for the forthcoming lack of ticket sales. Among names displayed in prominence, Kawasaki, Penzoil, M&Ms, Isuzu, SGI. If Disney had just gone ahead and used MTM to promote some upcoming film, by having the characters of the future refer to how good it was or something, it wouldn't have surprised me at all.
Howabout the lack of technical advances in the year 2020: We saw one futuristic object, a car from Isuzu no less, while everything else appears to be from 1999, I wonder when they started filming. The scientific jargon typical of NASA has been toned by substantially by the apparant 20 years of advances. Astronauts are visually informed when they have reached "the point of no return." Spacecraft are named Mars-1 Mars-2 and Mars-Supply. Also, it appears that in a disaster situation everyone is supposed to panic and deviate from procedure by trying untested methods of recovery.
The computer that controlled everything on the spaceship seems very easily crashed -- easier than a windows machine. also when the spaceship was losing air, it seemed to be killing the computer too. as the computer died its voice started cracking like an adolescent teenager. it was great.
special effects were pretty good in general with some wacky camera motions that were kinda odd, but the CGI sucked bigtime. the thing i enjoyed the most was the ease of fun-making ala MST3k. that movie was a goldmine for funny commentary; i might go see it again just to make sure i didn't miss any.
aside from all that i mentioned, i'm glad i went. i needed the laugh. go to the matinee but don't spend $8 on it.
Slashdot Mirror
Sirius Satellite Radio (www.siriusradio.com) is also working along the same lines as XM. The Sirius setup is a bit more realistic (and cheaper) in my point of view. Instead of 2 satellites and a sh*tload of terrestrial repeaters, Sirius [already] has 3 satellites cycling around the globe so that 2 are visible at all times. Sirius also seems to have a more interesting station lineup that XM, but that's personal preference.
As for the actual feasability of these services succeding, it'll depend on a lot of things. The current belief that the economy is bad will definately hurt these companies. Even so, they have very deep pockets and should be able to stick around for a while. Both companies already have deals in the works with car manufacturers to make the satellite radio system an option. It's probably a best choice if you live in a low-radio-station density area where the only thing you can hear is country, rap, or rush limbaugh.
It's also important to note that neither of these systems are cross compatable -- different hardware and such. Should be interesting to keep an eye on though.
BR
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/academy/c urriculum/demo/curriculumde mo.html
I'm in the CCNA training program and they're offering the first two lessons off their website for free. Really good info and nice looking flash.
What happened to the good ol' days when games weren't compared to quake? I remember when Doom first came out it was "like Wolf 3d...but better", then quake took doom's spot: "...it's even better than doom!". Now anything remotely like a FPS is compared to quake. dang kids. -Hitecher-
ok, here's the deal. you take Apollo 13, Contact, and 2001: A Space Odyssey [some would even dare to add a little Stand by Me], cram it all together and stamp a huge disney logo on it to get Mission to Mars.
Contact:
Mathematical patterns hidden in sounds. Contact with friendly aliens. Aliens want us to join them so they can explain crap, etc. etc.
Apollo 13:
Gas leak, explosion, crippled spacecraft, had to abandon it...
2001:
the spacesuits. completely ripped off of 2001. the spinning spacecraft. the monolyth-shape that they entered.
stand by me:
This was the most enjoyable reference to another movie. The guy from Sliders, who played Verno in Stand By Me, was a whiney loser who constantly ate. There would be this intense moment with everyone standing around watching a screen, and he'd be sitting there with a pack of food. They'd leave the room, and he'd be standing there with a whiney look on his face. He constantly said stupid things. HE MADE A DOUBLE HELIX OUT OF M&MS. Every time he did something goofy or stupid or whiney or food-related, I yelled (to myself, so as not to be rude) "Verrrrnoooo", which was more often than you might think! It was hilarious.
plot was depressingly predictable. Obvious foreshadowing, irony, and stupid conversation to give away plot elements: Here's the virtual opening of the movie:
"Too bad your wife, who was a Mars expert, died and now you won't get to go to Mars, ever."
"Yea, it's too bad but I bet nothing will ever happen to you up there anyway and I'll never get to go to Mars."
"There's probably some real intelligent life on Mars"
"No way, you're drunk."
Maybe she's right.
"Because we have landed on the Martian surface and are now millions of miles away from you, there is nothing you can do to stop us from celebrating a birthday."
Oh, so that's where there are. Wow I hope this moment of happiness won't soon be contrasted with a disaster. Or will it?
being a disney movie, there was no nudity, cursing, or guns (except for a grappling-hook type thing). only 2 people were seen to have died, one being violently torn apart by a tornado (PG!?!), the other freezing.
Corporate promotion: It seems the producer sold advertising space in the movie to make up for the forthcoming lack of ticket sales. Among names displayed in prominence, Kawasaki, Penzoil, M&Ms, Isuzu, SGI. If Disney had just gone ahead and used MTM to promote some upcoming film, by having the characters of the future refer to how good it was or something, it wouldn't have surprised me at all.
Howabout the lack of technical advances in the year 2020: We saw one futuristic object, a car from Isuzu no less, while everything else appears to be from 1999, I wonder when they started filming. The scientific jargon typical of NASA has been toned by substantially by the apparant 20 years of advances. Astronauts are visually informed when they have reached "the point of no return." Spacecraft are named Mars-1 Mars-2 and Mars-Supply. Also, it appears that in a disaster situation everyone is supposed to panic and deviate from procedure by trying untested methods of recovery.
The computer that controlled everything on the spaceship seems very easily crashed -- easier than a windows machine. also when the spaceship was losing air, it seemed to be killing the computer too. as the computer died its voice started cracking like an adolescent teenager. it was great.
special effects were pretty good in general with some wacky camera motions that were kinda odd, but the CGI sucked bigtime. the thing i enjoyed the most was the ease of fun-making ala MST3k. that movie was a goldmine for funny commentary; i might go see it again just to make sure i didn't miss any.
aside from all that i mentioned, i'm glad i went. i needed the laugh. go to the matinee but don't spend $8 on it.