Most average consumers either don't see the difference between HD and SD, or just don't care. They want the movie, and if VHS was good enough so is DVD.
HD isn't a bad thing, but the difference between VHS and DVD is much more dramatical than DVD and another HD-capable disk format.
Why publishers don't use the extra capacity to sell more episodes of $favorite_sitcom on fewer disks is beyond me. I could use the shelf space.
(Yes, most people are able to perceive the difference between SD and HD, but I mean seeing the difference in a psychologically meaningful sense.)
I vividly remember playing Ultima VI on the PC, and learning to use the debug mode. Entering codes you could create any "item" in your inventory, including walls of buildings etc. (Isometric 3D game.)
I sunk a huge amount of time into building my own castle or something, only to have it vanish when I wandered off somewhere else...:(
Like with any console hardware... Games are the ultimate measure of success.
If the games are good, the hardware fades away. There are great games for all three platforms. I'm happy with my Wii so far. Was a lot cheaper than the competition when I got it, and for me the family focus is a great asset. With four controllers I can have all kids entertained at the same time in something like Mario Kart Wii, and it's not like there aren't games for more mature gamers too... (Mad World, House of the Dead Overkill, Guitar Hero, I could go on.)
There is no best or worst console out there at the moment. You should really just focus on what games you want to play and get a console or consoles based on that.
One option already noted is giving a reasonable offer and sticking with it.
Another option is simply asking for a quote, but don't for the love of god tell them you're planning a business. Rather just send an informal message in the style of "I think $domain is a cool name, yadda yadda...".
Personally I'd opt for trying to figure out a name for the business that's not taken. Nonsense words that are easy to learn and not profanity in major languages are good bets.
While I like my CD collection, I have to admit that Spotify is really really handy for casual listening. I have a jukebox of ridiculous proportions at my disposal, for the relatively cheap price of a few audio ads a day. (Which I could also get rid of with the subscription option.)
Streaming has the additional benefit of making it impossible to lose / delete what you don't story anyway.
I don't really think a lot of people will find the buying option very attractive once 3G cell phones acquire this ability... I'm waiting for Spotify for my phone, (they already hired an S60 developer,) but then again I live in Finland.;)
Aww crap. This was about two different games... The telltale thing is new stuff for the Wii, but the remastered version is not... Oh well, SCUMMVM it is then...
The second video shows gameplay, and it looks like it's very true to the original. I'm going to stay positive on this one, given that I need excuses to buy more games for my Wii...;)
Now, none of that is necessary. She carries a Blackberry Curve and I can check her location via Google Latitude on my own Blackberry. She knows that this is not because I don't trust her, but because I don't trust everyone else. Besides, she can also see my location, which forestalls "Daddy, when are you going to get here?"
While I fall into the don't overreact -crowd here, I have to say that given your implementation of mutual monitoring/information sharing it's much more sensible. I like the idea that while you can see her location she can see yours too. Not sure I'd want my own kids tracking me though...:)
Having work experience with HD streams, I can verify that with modern h.264 compression you can easily fit a 720p HD stream in under 10Mbps, with acceptable quality.
Aimed at HD video? Can't we just call it faster?;)
...is that a dedicated wireless tech like Logitech's is better than Bluetooth.
My Bluetooth mouse at work occasionally lags behind, or sometimes stops moving for short whiles (even when it's not fallen asleep). Generally it seems the Bluetooth layer adds the occasional issues encountered with wireless networking in general.
I haven't ever seen this with Logitech's dedicated wireless devices.
Then again, I could just be a victim of bad drivers.:)
There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.
The success of technology is intimately tied to the free flow of information. Issues like there are important, because poorly designed restrictions inhibit our ability to make technological progress without spending a huge amount of resources on needless legal bickering.
If 8000-year-old documents are being withheld from the public domain there's a problem. A problem affecting both the richness of our culture and our ability to do science and apply it in the technology sector.
Nothing beats human interaction. Anyone can listen/watch a lecture recording, but participation requires genuine human interaction.
The only thing that can really provide that is VR tech so good it fools the brains that it's real. Our understanding of how the senses really work is nowhere near there yet.
Ultimately I think Internet access may well be another utility like water or electricity. It sort of makes sense to pay for what you use, so to speak.
But the charge should be so low that you need to really strain your connection a lot to feel it, and at the same time normal monthly fees need to go away.
I don't like the idea, but it makes sense economically. It costs energy to move packets around and keep networks running. The more you use the more you should pay.
But having some crazy base fee and then some punitive extra usage fee on top of that... No thanks.
I lead a small software development team. The people on this team have Finnish, Swedish or English as their first language. We comment our code and do all technical documentation in English. It just makes more sense.
Two reasons:
1. In an increasingly globalized world it makes little sense to use comparatively "tiny" languages to document code. Especially when we all know English anyway.
2. Programing languages tend to stem from English keyword-wise. Context switching between pseudo-English (code) and something completely different is much harder than between pseudo-English and English.
That being said, we do use our respective first languages for verbal communication and describing ideas. That feels more natural, just as English feels more natural for code documentation and detailed technical specs.
Think in the lines of PDF:s, vector graphics, doodles (stylus based touchscreen tech to draw), Wikipedia browsing, etc...
What is needed is a power management scheme smart enough to kick in a heavy duty processor for drawing a new page, and having a really tiny power draw when you are devouring content.
Maybe asymmetrical multicore prosessors are needed, who knows... But I still think it makes no sense to limit a device as versatile as an ebook reader to just text and static images.
That's true. And the main reason is that most displays are simply not high-quality to enough to offer you the reading experience that paper gives you. However, that's changing: high-quality displays that are thin enough to roll up are in the works and some are even available now, albeit for a high cost.
I've been wanting an ebook reader for the longest time. I actually realized in high school that a reflective instead of emissive display was the pilotal tech missing... (Before I heard about e-ink.)
But most current readers are either tiny screens or underpowered feature- or processing-wise. But I hope to eventually have a DRM-free O'Reilly zoo with me on my commute... One can dream.:)
Not all memory is created equal. Memory can be bad if Memtest detects errors, or you can simply be running it at the wrong settings. Usually there are both "normal" and "performance" settings for memory on higher end motherboards, or sometimes you can tweak all sorts of cycle-level stuff manually (CAS latency etc.).
Try running your memory with the most conservative settings before you assume it's bad.
Whatever you pursue, add some psychology to the mix. Coding can be outsourced, but human interaction can't. There will always be a need for people who can understand both the human mind as well as computers, at least until the two merge...;)
I was planning to study cognitive science myself, but faith had different plans for me it seems. But never underestimate the power in understanding other people. The hardest part of many software projects is figuring out the real needs, and that nearly always starts with human beings.
Slashdot Mirror
Most average consumers either don't see the difference between HD and SD, or just don't care. They want the movie, and if VHS was good enough so is DVD.
HD isn't a bad thing, but the difference between VHS and DVD is much more dramatical than DVD and another HD-capable disk format.
Why publishers don't use the extra capacity to sell more episodes of $favorite_sitcom on fewer disks is beyond me. I could use the shelf space.
(Yes, most people are able to perceive the difference between SD and HD, but I mean seeing the difference in a psychologically meaningful sense.)
I vividly remember playing Ultima VI on the PC, and learning to use the debug mode. Entering codes you could create any "item" in your inventory, including walls of buildings etc. (Isometric 3D game.)
I sunk a huge amount of time into building my own castle or something, only to have it vanish when I wandered off somewhere else... :(
Like with any console hardware... Games are the ultimate measure of success.
If the games are good, the hardware fades away. There are great games for all three platforms. I'm happy with my Wii so far. Was a lot cheaper than the competition when I got it, and for me the family focus is a great asset. With four controllers I can have all kids entertained at the same time in something like Mario Kart Wii, and it's not like there aren't games for more mature gamers too... (Mad World, House of the Dead Overkill, Guitar Hero, I could go on.)
There is no best or worst console out there at the moment. You should really just focus on what games you want to play and get a console or consoles based on that.
One option already noted is giving a reasonable offer and sticking with it.
Another option is simply asking for a quote, but don't for the love of god tell them you're planning a business. Rather just send an informal message in the style of "I think $domain is a cool name, yadda yadda...".
Personally I'd opt for trying to figure out a name for the business that's not taken. Nonsense words that are easy to learn and not profanity in major languages are good bets.
I hear local ads, paid for by Finnish companies. Maybe the German marketing forces haven't realized Spotify is out there yet?
s/story/store/ Darn typos just don't give up.
While I like my CD collection, I have to admit that Spotify is really really handy for casual listening. I have a jukebox of ridiculous proportions at my disposal, for the relatively cheap price of a few audio ads a day. (Which I could also get rid of with the subscription option.)
Streaming has the additional benefit of making it impossible to lose / delete what you don't story anyway.
I don't really think a lot of people will find the buying option very attractive once 3G cell phones acquire this ability... I'm waiting for Spotify for my phone, (they already hired an S60 developer,) but then again I live in Finland. ;)
Aww crap. This was about two different games... The telltale thing is new stuff for the Wii, but the remastered version is not... Oh well, SCUMMVM it is then...
http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland/
The second video shows gameplay, and it looks like it's very true to the original. I'm going to stay positive on this one, given that I need excuses to buy more games for my Wii... ;)
Now, none of that is necessary. She carries a Blackberry Curve and I can check her location via Google Latitude on my own Blackberry. She knows that this is not because I don't trust her, but because I don't trust everyone else. Besides, she can also see my location, which forestalls "Daddy, when are you going to get here?"
While I fall into the don't overreact -crowd here, I have to say that given your implementation of mutual monitoring/information sharing it's much more sensible. I like the idea that while you can see her location she can see yours too. Not sure I'd want my own kids tracking me though... :)
Having work experience with HD streams, I can verify that with modern h.264 compression you can easily fit a 720p HD stream in under 10Mbps, with acceptable quality.
Aimed at HD video? Can't we just call it faster? ;)
...is that a dedicated wireless tech like Logitech's is better than Bluetooth.
My Bluetooth mouse at work occasionally lags behind, or sometimes stops moving for short whiles (even when it's not fallen asleep). Generally it seems the Bluetooth layer adds the occasional issues encountered with wireless networking in general.
I haven't ever seen this with Logitech's dedicated wireless devices.
Then again, I could just be a victim of bad drivers. :)
Or, ya know, not.
I'm not calling Wolfram a big academic fraud with an even bigger opinion of himself, but so far we've seen no evidence that he has done anything.
I said it could work. ;)
So far there's no evidence in either direction. But it's more fun to stay optimistic.
It seems they are not trying to index the web, nor trying to replace Google.
Instead they are trying to compute knowledge-worthy data from a small subset of the web using natural language algorithms.
Queries like "What is the melting point of iron?" are processed and answered, instead of just trying to score pages based on keywords.
This could really work.
I totally need something like this for my GPS-enabled cell phone for a real world Hichhiker's Guide. :)
Robert Heinlein, Life-Line (1939)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein
To the people tagging this !tech:
The success of technology is intimately tied to the free flow of information. Issues like there are important, because poorly designed restrictions inhibit our ability to make technological progress without spending a huge amount of resources on needless legal bickering.
If 8000-year-old documents are being withheld from the public domain there's a problem. A problem affecting both the richness of our culture and our ability to do science and apply it in the technology sector.
Nothing beats human interaction. Anyone can listen/watch a lecture recording, but participation requires genuine human interaction.
The only thing that can really provide that is VR tech so good it fools the brains that it's real. Our understanding of how the senses really work is nowhere near there yet.
Ultimately I think Internet access may well be another utility like water or electricity. It sort of makes sense to pay for what you use, so to speak.
But the charge should be so low that you need to really strain your connection a lot to feel it, and at the same time normal monthly fees need to go away.
I don't like the idea, but it makes sense economically. It costs energy to move packets around and keep networks running. The more you use the more you should pay.
But having some crazy base fee and then some punitive extra usage fee on top of that... No thanks.
I lead a small software development team. The people on this team have Finnish, Swedish or English as their first language. We comment our code and do all technical documentation in English. It just makes more sense.
Two reasons:
1. In an increasingly globalized world it makes little sense to use comparatively "tiny" languages to document code. Especially when we all know English anyway.
2. Programing languages tend to stem from English keyword-wise. Context switching between pseudo-English (code) and something completely different is much harder than between pseudo-English and English.
That being said, we do use our respective first languages for verbal communication and describing ideas. That feels more natural, just as English feels more natural for code documentation and detailed technical specs.
Books shouldn't need a heavy duty processor
Books? No.
Content that can be displayed on paper? Yes.
Think in the lines of PDF:s, vector graphics, doodles (stylus based touchscreen tech to draw), Wikipedia browsing, etc...
What is needed is a power management scheme smart enough to kick in a heavy duty processor for drawing a new page, and having a really tiny power draw when you are devouring content.
Maybe asymmetrical multicore prosessors are needed, who knows... But I still think it makes no sense to limit a device as versatile as an ebook reader to just text and static images.
That's true. And the main reason is that most displays are simply not high-quality to enough to offer you the reading experience that paper gives you. However, that's changing: high-quality displays that are thin enough to roll up are in the works and some are even available now, albeit for a high cost.
I've been wanting an ebook reader for the longest time. I actually realized in high school that a reflective instead of emissive display was the pilotal tech missing... (Before I heard about e-ink.)
But most current readers are either tiny screens or underpowered feature- or processing-wise. But I hope to eventually have a DRM-free O'Reilly zoo with me on my commute... One can dream. :)
Good ebook matrix:
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix
Vulcans are hot!
Moderation:
(Score:4, Insightful)
Only on Slashdot...
But I agree with the parent post, though. Female vulcans, at least..
Not all memory is created equal. Memory can be bad if Memtest detects errors, or you can simply be running it at the wrong settings. Usually there are both "normal" and "performance" settings for memory on higher end motherboards, or sometimes you can tweak all sorts of cycle-level stuff manually (CAS latency etc.).
Try running your memory with the most conservative settings before you assume it's bad.
Whatever you pursue, add some psychology to the mix. Coding can be outsourced, but human interaction can't. There will always be a need for people who can understand both the human mind as well as computers, at least until the two merge... ;)
I was planning to study cognitive science myself, but faith had different plans for me it seems. But never underestimate the power in understanding other people. The hardest part of many software projects is figuring out the real needs, and that nearly always starts with human beings.