That's remarkably insightful. For a posting on/. I'm impressed. You're already at 5, and I don't have any mod points anyway, so I can't mod you up.
It could be a generational thing, but I've never understood why so many folks using the internet (mostly younger generations) feel that everything should be free to them no matter what.
When it isn't free, they do the electronic equivalent of a "smash and grab" and just figure out a way to take it.
I'm not saying that the nook developer's network is a bad thing. It is, in fact, quite interesting. However, folks shouldn't scream bloody murder about how evil B&N is when they fix the device so that it can't be used for free general internet. As you noted, it costs B&N for the bandwidth over the cellular and B&N isn't a non-profit organization. If there stops being a profit in it for them, they will stop providing it.
Actually it has changed quite a bit for the better in the past few years. I just couldn't resist the obvious "cheap shot". I manage a small / mid size network with about 100 users. I swear by nVidia cards. We use serveral different 3D design packages that push the hardware to the limit (and beyond sometimes). There truly are less real "crashes" now. There are still a number of glitches, but those can just as easily be attributed to the application itself as to the video driver. -JJS
The best thing he could probalby do at this point would be to create a few blogs around with his name attached to them. Fill the blogs with useful posts and information pertaining to his knowledge about his chosen field. After a while, the search engines would pick up on those and searches for his name would bring back more positive than negative stuff and the negative stuff might even get lost in the shuffle (or moved to a further page in the search results).
My rule of thumb: Never put anything on the 'net (or do anything that will wind up on the 'net) that will come back to haunt you during your run for the presidency.
It was noted earlier that IQ doesn't equal intelligence. I'm a guy (I have to state that to make my following comments clear within the parameters of the stated statistics).
1) I believe that both of my grandmothers were smarter than their husbands. Their husbands may have had more education, but overall both of my grandmothers were ferociously intelligent and very wise in day-to-day knowledge and dealing with interpersonal relationships. My maternal grandmother worked at several different banks and my paternal grandmother was a homemaker. (note: my maternal grandmother divorced her husband, which was simply the smartest and bravest thing she ever did). Not that my grandfathers were not smart or intelligent, but they both married up.
2) My mother has the same style of intelligence of her mother. I believe that my father is a nicer person than her mother's husband was. My father is extremely intelligent, but when something needs to get done when dealing with others, my mother is the one who can get stuff done quickly, efficiently, and without ticking anyone off (in fact, she usually defuses hostile situations when they arise, but will stand her ground when necessary). My mother has two sisters and one brother. Across the board, the three women are (in my estimation) smarter and more intelligent than my uncle. My father has a sister and she has the same style of intelligence as her mother while my father took more after his dad (not a bad thing, it must be noted).
3) I have three children. One is autistic and therefore excluded from the statistics, but I have another son and a daughter. While my non-autistic son is very smart and is able to use reason and problem solving skills very intelligently, my daughter is extremely intelligent (scary intelligent). How many 11-year-olds do you know who's aspirations include wanting to become an ambassador to a foreign country? Her favorite TV shows are Babylon 5 and West Wing (both involving politics and complex story lines which she absorbs like a sponge). She also tends to have the ability to emotionally "disarm" others and avoids being involved in "cliques" while still being friends with about everyone she meets. I frequently pop-quiz her on things such as American history (the US Constitution to be precise) and she usually gets the answers correct.
So...as noted, I guess I'm the odd ball out. I'm a guy in a family of ferociously smart women (we won't discuss my sister, though). Life was happier for me once I came to said realization and just learned to work around it.
"As someone who actually was part of the video game crash, let me offer you a different perspective. If Atari had been able to legally keep out competitors, the best Atari 2600 games would never have seen the light of day."
True, but I would remind you that not all competitors were the caliber of Activision (who actually made BETTER games than Atari).
Personally, I would consider that a win for Microsoft in this case.
On a side note: I refuse to say anything nice and/or positive about Microsoft in respect to this case. Everytime I have done so around here results in my being modded way down.
"Bait and switch" was possibly the wrong term to use.
Again...I'm on the outside with this game. Do players have to purchase anything to get started playing it? If it's a totally free game, then paying extra for more stuff seems fair to keep the game servers alive. However, if they had to purchase the game and then pay MORE to get fancier stuff on top of the original purchase price (after being told that they wouldn't have to), then that does get close to a "bait and switch", even if they had no malicious intent.
You have to admit that he's right about needing to pay wages and such...but they should have been honest from the start. "Bait and switch" comes to mind here.
I don't play this particular game and I'm very selective about what I do play for reasons such as this. I was leery about my Steam account before all the crap with Modern Warfare 2 and was annoyed that I had to register for Steam when I bought my copy of Portal off a retail shelf a while back. I had to go online, but was able to tweak the settings so that I didn't have to be logged in to play it.
The simple fact is this: online play is big time now, and game developers will need to make money off of it to stay in business.
Again, though...they need to be honest from the start and not change things suddenly.
Am I really the first one to point out the obvious reference to "42" and the "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"? "42" is the answer to everything, you know (it worked surprisingly often in calculus).
Ahhh...gotcha. I remember that now, but I don't remember it being very clear about him landing on the Hammond.
I was hoping he was going to be more than a "recurring character". He's a pretty solid actor and they need some solid actors to take the lead on this show.
Not that I didn't like it per se, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping. However, it took Atlantis a season or two to grow on me (not like a fungus) and I actually enjoyed it by the end of the run. It got cooler when they started flying the city around.
I just hope this doesn't degrade into "breakdown of the week" where the old ship has another critical system failure that almost kills everyone until they find what they need on a planet at the last second.
I watched my DVR'd copy last night and was immensely grateful for the "30-second skip" feature.
However...I have to ask. I saw about three minutes of clips with Lou Diamond Phillips when they were on the base. They plastered his name *all over* the ads for that show. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but I do consider him an "B-Level" actor easily. He's always done solid acting and reminds me of a younger Edward J. Olmos and would be a good "anchor" actor for the show.
Did I miss something? I didn't see him make it onto the ship? Did the actor have a falling out with the producers and get edited from the show or something?
From the article, I gather that it's not so much that the logo looks so much like Apple's logo right now, but that Woolworth's may well be planning a line of computers with their new stylized logo on it.
While folks here at/. would know the difference, you must admit that there would be a plethora of users who would think they had an "apple" computer.
This is a pre-emptive move by Apple to protect their computer brand. I'm no Apple fanboi by any stretch of the imagination, mind you, but I can see why they are being so paranoid.
Even if you're not a Microsoft fan, you have to admit this is pretty frapped up.
According to the ZDNet article, Microsoft owns a patent on XML in word processor documents, but i4i owns the patent for "anything that touches custom XML formatting" in said documents.
The way i4i's patent sounds, this would also affect other things like OpenOffice.org and anything else that uses XML formatted documents. That's like, the entire current generation of word processors, isn't it?
I'm starting to wonder if patent lawyers can pick and choose who grants their patents from the Patent Office (they pick the non-tech literate ones) like they do with the courts when they sue over patent infringement (e.g. most patent cases are from east Texas).
Slashdot Mirror
Sycraft,
That's remarkably insightful. For a posting on /. I'm impressed. You're already at 5, and I don't have any mod points anyway, so I can't mod you up.
It could be a generational thing, but I've never understood why so many folks using the internet (mostly younger generations) feel that everything should be free to them no matter what.
When it isn't free, they do the electronic equivalent of a "smash and grab" and just figure out a way to take it.
I'm not saying that the nook developer's network is a bad thing. It is, in fact, quite interesting. However, folks shouldn't scream bloody murder about how evil B&N is when they fix the device so that it can't be used for free general internet. As you noted, it costs B&N for the bandwidth over the cellular and B&N isn't a non-profit organization. If there stops being a profit in it for them, they will stop providing it.
No one should begrudge them that.
-JJS
Actually it has changed quite a bit for the better in the past few years.
I just couldn't resist the obvious "cheap shot". I manage a small / mid size network with about 100 users. I swear by nVidia cards. We use serveral different 3D design packages that push the hardware to the limit (and beyond sometimes). There truly are less real "crashes" now. There are still a number of glitches, but those can just as easily be attributed to the application itself as to the video driver.
-JJS
Now if we could just get a stable nVidia driver in Windows, we'll be set.
-JJS
The best thing he could probalby do at this point would be to create a few blogs around with his name attached to them. Fill the blogs with useful posts and information pertaining to his knowledge about his chosen field. After a while, the search engines would pick up on those and searches for his name would bring back more positive than negative stuff and the negative stuff might even get lost in the shuffle (or moved to a further page in the search results).
My rule of thumb: Never put anything on the 'net (or do anything that will wind up on the 'net) that will come back to haunt you during your run for the presidency.
-JJS
...and I have to say that if I went to free screening of it, I would demand a full refund.
My KIDS won't even watch it, and that's saying something.
I'm guess I'm just the oddball out here.
It was noted earlier that IQ doesn't equal intelligence. I'm a guy (I have to state that to make my following comments clear within the parameters of the stated statistics).
1) I believe that both of my grandmothers were smarter than their husbands. Their husbands may have had more education, but overall both of my grandmothers were ferociously intelligent and very wise in day-to-day knowledge and dealing with interpersonal relationships. My maternal grandmother worked at several different banks and my paternal grandmother was a homemaker. (note: my maternal grandmother divorced her husband, which was simply the smartest and bravest thing she ever did). Not that my grandfathers were not smart or intelligent, but they both married up.
2) My mother has the same style of intelligence of her mother. I believe that my father is a nicer person than her mother's husband was. My father is extremely intelligent, but when something needs to get done when dealing with others, my mother is the one who can get stuff done quickly, efficiently, and without ticking anyone off (in fact, she usually defuses hostile situations when they arise, but will stand her ground when necessary). My mother has two sisters and one brother. Across the board, the three women are (in my estimation) smarter and more intelligent than my uncle. My father has a sister and she has the same style of intelligence as her mother while my father took more after his dad (not a bad thing, it must be noted).
3) I have three children. One is autistic and therefore excluded from the statistics, but I have another son and a daughter. While my non-autistic son is very smart and is able to use reason and problem solving skills very intelligently, my daughter is extremely intelligent (scary intelligent). How many 11-year-olds do you know who's aspirations include wanting to become an ambassador to a foreign country? Her favorite TV shows are Babylon 5 and West Wing (both involving politics and complex story lines which she absorbs like a sponge). She also tends to have the ability to emotionally "disarm" others and avoids being involved in "cliques" while still being friends with about everyone she meets. I frequently pop-quiz her on things such as American history (the US Constitution to be precise) and she usually gets the answers correct.
So...as noted, I guess I'm the odd ball out. I'm a guy in a family of ferociously smart women (we won't discuss my sister, though). Life was happier for me once I came to said realization and just learned to work around it.
-JJS
"As someone who actually was part of the video game crash, let me offer you a different perspective. If Atari had been able to legally keep out competitors, the best Atari 2600 games would never have seen the light of day."
True, but I would remind you that not all competitors were the caliber of Activision (who actually made BETTER games than Atari).
-JJS
To amicusNYCL:
Reading comments like this one make me wish there was a "Score 6: Remarkably Resonable Comment".
If I had mod points right now, I'd mod you up even if you were already at score:5.
-JJS
Personally, I would consider that a win for Microsoft in this case.
On a side note: I refuse to say anything nice and/or positive about Microsoft in respect to this case. Everytime I have done so around here results in my being modded way down.
Wait...will saying that get me modded down?
-JJS
Point taken.
"Bait and switch" was possibly the wrong term to use.
Again...I'm on the outside with this game. Do players have to purchase anything to get started playing it? If it's a totally free game, then paying extra for more stuff seems fair to keep the game servers alive. However, if they had to purchase the game and then pay MORE to get fancier stuff on top of the original purchase price (after being told that they wouldn't have to), then that does get close to a "bait and switch", even if they had no malicious intent.
Again...the main issue is honesty from the start.
Just my $0.02.
-JJS
You have to admit that he's right about needing to pay wages and such...but they should have been honest from the start. "Bait and switch" comes to mind here.
I don't play this particular game and I'm very selective about what I do play for reasons such as this. I was leery about my Steam account before all the crap with Modern Warfare 2 and was annoyed that I had to register for Steam when I bought my copy of Portal off a retail shelf a while back. I had to go online, but was able to tweak the settings so that I didn't have to be logged in to play it.
The simple fact is this: online play is big time now, and game developers will need to make money off of it to stay in business.
Again, though...they need to be honest from the start and not change things suddenly.
-JJS
The real truth:
He embarrassed them and they using an overbroad definition of a vague law to get revenge on him.
This type of crap happens way too much.
I *was* going to go see a movie on Monday, but since we're all going to be sucked into a black hole of oblivion, that plan is out the window.
On a positive note, I don't have to worry about those credit card bills now.
Dang that Microsoft!!! Why can't they just make more secure software????
Yeah...I know this wasn't Microsoft, but aren't the rules here at /. that we are somehow supposed to blame Microsoft for everything?
Get a Mac!
(note: I don't own a Mac and run IE almost exclusively)
-JJS
It's been mentioned already, but this is creepily close to GATTACA for my tastes.
Why is it that the creepy sci-fi is what becomes a reality?
I guess that means Canton, Ohio doesn't exist?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.transport.road/browse_thread/thread/d39ab20c3b39e05e/c8ead5ec3e9d1298?lnk=raot
Am I really the first one to point out the obvious reference to "42" and the "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"? "42" is the answer to everything, you know (it worked surprisingly often in calculus).
Or did I just miss an earlier reference...?
-JJS
From description: "...Battlestar Galactica creator Ron Moore..."
Ron Moore didn't create Battlestar Galactica...he just took a very good pre-existing idea and ruined it.
Paragraph 4 of TFA has the hidden "gem":
"The blunder emerged a week after the Sunday Mirror revealed how an inmate at the same jail managed to get a key cut that opened every door."
I wonder if that fella was employed as a locksmith at the jail after having been arrested for breaking and entering...
Didn't this same thing happen recently with the Wii console?
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/10/01/0626228
One used to be able to trust the mainstream console makers, but not so much anymore.
Ahhh...gotcha. I remember that now, but I don't remember it being very clear about him landing on the Hammond.
I was hoping he was going to be more than a "recurring character". He's a pretty solid actor and they need some solid actors to take the lead on this show.
Not that I didn't like it per se, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping. However, it took Atlantis a season or two to grow on me (not like a fungus) and I actually enjoyed it by the end of the run. It got cooler when they started flying the city around.
I just hope this doesn't degrade into "breakdown of the week" where the old ship has another critical system failure that almost kills everyone until they find what they need on a planet at the last second.
Thanks for clearing it up for me, though.
-JJS
I watched my DVR'd copy last night and was immensely grateful for the "30-second skip" feature.
However...I have to ask. I saw about three minutes of clips with Lou Diamond Phillips when they were on the base. They plastered his name *all over* the ads for that show. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but I do consider him an "B-Level" actor easily. He's always done solid acting and reminds me of a younger Edward J. Olmos and would be a good "anchor" actor for the show.
Did I miss something? I didn't see him make it onto the ship? Did the actor have a falling out with the producers and get edited from the show or something?
-JJS
From the article, I gather that it's not so much that the logo looks so much like Apple's logo right now, but that Woolworth's may well be planning a line of computers with their new stylized logo on it.
While folks here at /. would know the difference, you must admit that there would be a plethora of users who would think they had an "apple" computer.
This is a pre-emptive move by Apple to protect their computer brand. I'm no Apple fanboi by any stretch of the imagination, mind you, but I can see why they are being so paranoid.
-JJS
Wow. *That* didn't take long to get there.
Even if you're not a Microsoft fan, you have to admit this is pretty frapped up.
According to the ZDNet article, Microsoft owns a patent on XML in word processor documents, but i4i owns the patent for "anything that touches custom XML formatting" in said documents.
The way i4i's patent sounds, this would also affect other things like OpenOffice.org and anything else that uses XML formatted documents. That's like, the entire current generation of word processors, isn't it?
I'm starting to wonder if patent lawyers can pick and choose who grants their patents from the Patent Office (they pick the non-tech literate ones) like they do with the courts when they sue over patent infringement (e.g. most patent cases are from east Texas).
-JJS