Yes, movies based on games and games based on movies tend to do very well (money wise) but be terrible (plot/fun wise).
That said, anyone who's a gamer knows these facts. And as more and more of these movies and games are made, they can only make so many sales to the general public before they realize this fact and this money source dries up.
Right now Hollywood is nearing a drought. Instead of traveling to a resovoir (lots of ideas/good movies, but you have to travel), they want to go three feet and suck the water (money/ideas) that's formed a puddle in a drainage ditch. They'll get water, but it won't last long and it will leave consumers with a bad taste in their mouths (but what do you expect from drainage ditch water?).
I know what you mean. Games can have an effect. I still hate Malcolm McDowell because to me he will always be the villan in Wing Commander III (or was it IV? Probably IV).
What about viruses that attach themselves to the end of things like Word files. Now I'm talking real viruses (not Macro viruses) that use x86 code. By marking the area of memory the Word file is loaded into with the NX bit, no error in the file format or otherwise could ever be exploited to allow running of that code because the CPU would catch it and throw an exception.
It won't help people who open a program they think let's them download free porn but is actually a virus, but it could help stop viruses that exploit problems with how files are handled by programs that attach their code somewhere in the file data.
It allows you to mark, in hardware, which pages of memory can and can not be exected from. The way it prevents buffer overflows is this:
Application sets up the buffer, and code expoits it to put it's own data into the buffer so it can be executed. But because the page of memory that was holding the buffer was marked NX, the processor won't EVER execute it, it will raise an exception.
So by using this you can make it nearly impossible to exploit buffer overflows in software. You'd have to find software that didn't set the bit. I can see no reason to do such a thing other than some kind of self modifying code buffer, and I would hope people would know better than that by now because if you implement that and let the user pass code, you're just ASKING for bugs.
Linux supports it, I think OpenBSD supports it (other BSDs probably too), Windows XP SP 2 is supposed to support it, I think Solaris supports it, and that's all I know off the top of my head (but that's all the major OSes anyways).
This is a counter to AMD adding NX to the Opteron/Athlon64 line of chips. Intel already countered that by announcing that it would have NX on it's chips (which it calls NE or ND or something) a few days ago.
Either way, it's nice to see everyone supporting this. Definatly seems like good technology to me.
I haven't heard that, but you can buy adaptors. Since the controllers are just USB with one more wire (which is unimportant, power for rumble I think) with a little modification you can plug 'em into PCs. Drivers are available on-line.
Now what I would REALLY like to see would be a mosue/keyboard for the X-Box that is supported in games. I don't care about MS's "it's not a PC" thing, the BEST WAY to play FPSes is a keyboard and mouse. All the keys can also be put to good use in simulation games (of which there are few on consoles due to lack of buttons). Think of it. We could have something like Flight Sim, Mech 2, X-Wing, or one of the many other great games that just uses more buttons that a controller provides.
Come on MS, a keyboard and mouse will only HELP things.
I've thought many times of getting a custom license plate that like. It's be cool to do it there or on your head stone on your grave for something.
Just some random letters so everyone who looks will spend a few minutes wasting their time trying to figure out what it means, when there is no answer.
He he he. Maybe when I buy a new car. Anyone out there ever done this?
I like the Opteron as much as the next guy and I'm no fan of the Itanic. But the fact is that for some types of calculations the Itanium can smoke Opterons. If you want the fastest, in many cases you want the Itanium. If you want the best value (which still performs quite close to the fastest), you want an Opteron. I don't remember which operations are better on which, so you'll have to look that up (or someone will reply with the answer).
Depending on budget, price (I wouldn't be suprised if Intel cut them a sweet deal to get this cluster publicized to help our their product's sales), and other factors, the Itanium could have been a good choice.
Especially if they were using software that had been designed for the Itanium (like they were replacing an older cluster) then they wouldn't have to port the software which would have saved real money.
I'm not a fan of Intel lately, but the Itanium isn't overpriced garbage no matter what. That smacks of fanboyism. Interesting you didn't add G5s to your list, BTW.
ALSO: Don't forget that the Itanium 2 was DESIGNED FOR big iron, while the Opteron was designed for servers and small iron. They can be used in other ways (you could run a web site off an Itanium 2), but the Itanium was designed for these kind of applications.
That's true. The problem is that using their numbers, they are lobbying congress to take consumers rights away and make the penalties for "casual piracy" (a few songs, as opposed to running a pirating ring where you copy and sell 1000s of discs) rediculous. They are also trying to do things like extend copyrights and such, which can easily negativly effect consumers.
They have the right to fight piracy. They DON'T have the right to use wildly missleading numbers to convince the government to help them prop up their failing business model.
By constantly dropping your calls, you give up and don't use your phone, so the battery seems to last longer. It's all a big scam. The man doesn't want you to know how pathetic the battery life is.
But I'll tell people the TRUTH man... and the truth is th)@*%/.% [NO CARRIER]
I agree. The constant switiching between virticle and horizontal bar graphs was annoying and unneccessary too. I also don't think that the one or two 3D bar graphs should have been there.
My only other complaint is the image size, but that was explained and I understand. I suggest that if at all possible you read the author's link because the smooshed graphs can be rather illegible.
I've seen these kind of things before, but what I'd really like to see is Reiser 4. While I know it's not released yet, you can download the beta and I'd like to see how it performs compared to other filesystems.
Otherwise, an interesting article.
And for the complainers who say "Why include ext2, everyone should use a journaling filesystem", there are two reasons. First is that ext2 is a MAJOR STANDARD that was what everyone used for years and years. The second is that ext2 is still usefull. For a temporary filesystem (like/tmp or some temporary RAM disk with unimportant contents) ext2 is often very fast because it lacks all the journaling stuff which is unimportant for a temporary filesystem.
It turns the Japanese dog's "wan-wan"s into "woof-woof"s.
Why you would want that? I don't know. Now something to turn my French Poodle's "le woof, le woof" and my Mexican Hairless Chiuaua's "el yipo! el yipo!" into a simple "bark bark" I could understand, that I'd pay for.
LOL. I didn't realize I did that. No, I won't be buying a second PS2 (unless the rerelease it ala the PSOne and they do something really fantastic to make me want it).
I think this is one of the best outcomes that could happen. The shows that I care about most (X-Play, Fresh Gear, and Invent This!) are all OK, along with others (Anime Unleashed, for one). At the same time I'll get new shows from G4 (some of them must be good, right?).
I was worried about this whole thing, but this seems to be about the best anyone could realistically hope for.
I would guess that most programs (I know that Outlook let's you do this) will let you specify where to place the datafile with all the e-mails and such. All you do is have it put the file on another disk. The idea is that you use a USB key that you keep with you. The data file is stored on the key so only when you're at the computer and it's plugged in is the data accessable. Hard to get more secure than not having the file on the computer at all.
If the program objects to having the file on a removeable drive, you could make batch scripts and keep them on the desktop. The one you run after inserting the key would copy the file from the key to the hard drive in the apropriate place. The one you run when you're done moves the files off the hard drive back onto the key. They you remove your key and go.
Seems like about the best solution you'll get.
Note: also that there are some USB Keys (I seem to remember seeing one on Tom's Hardware reviewed once) that have functionality like this built in somehow. They contain their own e-mail client or other software to make doing this kind of thing easy. Look around, you're not the only person who would like to be able to do something like this.
Also note: for the ultimate in security, get one of the USB key drives that has a thumbprint sensor as an added layer of security.
I agree. I think that to a large degree the PS2 is reatching saturation. The people who want a PS2 by and large have one, so their sales will drop to lower levels.
At the same time, the people who bought a PS2 but want something else (like a GC or PS2) are likely to buy one with the low price, so theirs sales will go up.
The PS2 is the oldest system and will soon be replaced. It's only natural that it's sales are starting to dip at the end of it's life.
I agree. Only my understanding is that the abuse happened last year, like November. What happened in January is that the investigation that started back in November (it was started by the Army, who was on the ball) ended. It's only in the last week that the media has picked up on this story. Reports from January issued by the Army mentioned this investigation or that charges had been filed or completed or something like that.
It's only NOW that the media tells us about the breaking story, MONTHS AFTER IT HAPPENED. Why now? Either they were too busy with some other rediculous thing or accusation back then, or they waited untill now to make the president look worse.
But that last paragraph is my editorializing. The point is that while the photos could have been taken and made it onto the front page within an hour, it actually took months. I don't believe this story one bit.
It's interesting and all, but isn't it overkill? I mean they are using an accelerometer! Couldn't a simple CDS photocell detect when the thing is empty based on the ammount of light filtering through what's left of the beer? Seems like it would be simple to calibrate. Just take one, fill it up with the maximim ammount of beer before a refill is called for (since you may have a tiny bit left when it's still "empty"). Set it on a table and press a button, it's callibrated. Even a simple mercury switch could probably be set up to do this reliably without needing an accelerometer. And if you were willing to permantly modify the container, you could do more like a small float, tiny bits of metal on the side so you could use conductivity to figure it out, a pressure sensor (beer weighs more than air), etc.
I'm not denying that their idea works, it just seems there is probably an easier (or at least cheaper) way.
You mean it's not some secret hit squad dressed as blue hedgehogs using some kind of alien technology powered by some kind of emerald, perhaps a chaos one, trying to remotely injure the player in an attempt to hurt the reputation of a competitor's product in any way to win?
Could it at least be some kind of time/space annomoly controlled by a company famous for tape players men could use while walking? Or maybe a conspiriacy of high-jumping plumbers?
Isn't that fair. It's there for a good reason, but it's why in my area FM transmitters are useless.
I live on the plains (rolling hills) near a major city. There is basically no static on my radio dial. Everywhere I tune with my car radio, I can either hear a clear station, or a static with a station under it. The radio dial is FULL. 91.1 (for an example) has a station, 91.3 is free. 91.5 has a station, 91.7 is free. It's like this for nearly the entire band. Some stations (local 100,000 watt powerhouses) make things harder than others.
Having a little transmitter so I can listen to my iPod in my car is nice, but it's a royal pain to find a free station. And the things that are free, vary by area. So what works near my home, doesn't work 10 or 20 miles away (either towards or away from the city). And I'm out in the distant suburbs, things are worse downtown.
There is NO ROOM for microbroadcasters where I live. The FCC would have to move things around and dedicate new space (ex 70.1 to 87.9 MHz) for microbroadcasters, because there is no space for 'em now. Out in the middle of no where, yes, but not 30 miles (as the crow flies) from a 450,000 person metropolis.
True, but as long as they are doing all this, the external box could be in a dongle of some sort. The jack could pass digital data to a box on the dongle that would do all that. It would add nothing to the system (no chips, really) but would allow TV play.
They could sell the dongle seperatly and make extra money, and becasue it takes a digital signal you wouldn't be limited to composite signals, you could have S-Video or component.
Just an idea. I'd like to see it, but I don't at all expect it.
I REALLY hope they add the X and Y buttons. It would make their current SNES porting easier for everyone. As for wireless, Nintendo already announced some little adaptor that clipped onto the back of the GBA and was supposed to provide wireless, but I doubt it will ever see the US (or even release, thanks to the DS). I can't wait for E3. Between everything that's happening (and I wouldn't be too suprised to see a PS2 redesign ala the PSOne) it's going to be very interesting.
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That said, anyone who's a gamer knows these facts. And as more and more of these movies and games are made, they can only make so many sales to the general public before they realize this fact and this money source dries up.
Right now Hollywood is nearing a drought. Instead of traveling to a resovoir (lots of ideas/good movies, but you have to travel), they want to go three feet and suck the water (money/ideas) that's formed a puddle in a drainage ditch. They'll get water, but it won't last long and it will leave consumers with a bad taste in their mouths (but what do you expect from drainage ditch water?).
I'm hoppin' for "Frogger: The Musical"!
(man I hope no Hollywood exec reads this. I was kidding, OK. KIDDING!)
Those were great games.
It won't help people who open a program they think let's them download free porn but is actually a virus, but it could help stop viruses that exploit problems with how files are handled by programs that attach their code somewhere in the file data.
It allows you to mark, in hardware, which pages of memory can and can not be exected from. The way it prevents buffer overflows is this:
Application sets up the buffer, and code expoits it to put it's own data into the buffer so it can be executed. But because the page of memory that was holding the buffer was marked NX, the processor won't EVER execute it, it will raise an exception.
So by using this you can make it nearly impossible to exploit buffer overflows in software. You'd have to find software that didn't set the bit. I can see no reason to do such a thing other than some kind of self modifying code buffer, and I would hope people would know better than that by now because if you implement that and let the user pass code, you're just ASKING for bugs.
Linux supports it, I think OpenBSD supports it (other BSDs probably too), Windows XP SP 2 is supposed to support it, I think Solaris supports it, and that's all I know off the top of my head (but that's all the major OSes anyways).
Either way, it's nice to see everyone supporting this. Definatly seems like good technology to me.
Now what I would REALLY like to see would be a mosue/keyboard for the X-Box that is supported in games. I don't care about MS's "it's not a PC" thing, the BEST WAY to play FPSes is a keyboard and mouse. All the keys can also be put to good use in simulation games (of which there are few on consoles due to lack of buttons). Think of it. We could have something like Flight Sim, Mech 2, X-Wing, or one of the many other great games that just uses more buttons that a controller provides.
Come on MS, a keyboard and mouse will only HELP things.
Just some random letters so everyone who looks will spend a few minutes wasting their time trying to figure out what it means, when there is no answer.
He he he. Maybe when I buy a new car. Anyone out there ever done this?
I.S. O.V.R. T.H.E.R.E
Unfortunatly, the arrow that would accompany the message must have gotten rubbed off.
:)
Depending on budget, price (I wouldn't be suprised if Intel cut them a sweet deal to get this cluster publicized to help our their product's sales), and other factors, the Itanium could have been a good choice.
Especially if they were using software that had been designed for the Itanium (like they were replacing an older cluster) then they wouldn't have to port the software which would have saved real money.
I'm not a fan of Intel lately, but the Itanium isn't overpriced garbage no matter what. That smacks of fanboyism. Interesting you didn't add G5s to your list, BTW.
ALSO: Don't forget that the Itanium 2 was DESIGNED FOR big iron, while the Opteron was designed for servers and small iron. They can be used in other ways (you could run a web site off an Itanium 2), but the Itanium was designed for these kind of applications.
They have the right to fight piracy. They DON'T have the right to use wildly missleading numbers to convince the government to help them prop up their failing business model.
THEY don't want you to complete your calls!
By constantly dropping your calls, you give up and don't use your phone, so the battery seems to last longer. It's all a big scam. The man doesn't want you to know how pathetic the battery life is.
But I'll tell people the TRUTH man... and the truth is th)@*%/.% [NO CARRIER]
My only other complaint is the image size, but that was explained and I understand. I suggest that if at all possible you read the author's link because the smooshed graphs can be rather illegible.
Small gripes aside, good article.
Otherwise, an interesting article.
And for the complainers who say "Why include ext2, everyone should use a journaling filesystem", there are two reasons. First is that ext2 is a MAJOR STANDARD that was what everyone used for years and years. The second is that ext2 is still usefull. For a temporary filesystem (like /tmp or some temporary RAM disk with unimportant contents) ext2 is often very fast because it lacks all the journaling stuff which is unimportant for a temporary filesystem.
It turns the Japanese dog's "wan-wan"s into "woof-woof"s.
Why you would want that? I don't know. Now something to turn my French Poodle's "le woof, le woof" and my Mexican Hairless Chiuaua's "el yipo! el yipo!" into a simple "bark bark" I could understand, that I'd pay for.
LOL. I didn't realize I did that. No, I won't be buying a second PS2 (unless the rerelease it ala the PSOne and they do something really fantastic to make me want it).
I was worried about this whole thing, but this seems to be about the best anyone could realistically hope for.
I would guess that most programs (I know that Outlook let's you do this) will let you specify where to place the datafile with all the e-mails and such. All you do is have it put the file on another disk. The idea is that you use a USB key that you keep with you. The data file is stored on the key so only when you're at the computer and it's plugged in is the data accessable. Hard to get more secure than not having the file on the computer at all.
If the program objects to having the file on a removeable drive, you could make batch scripts and keep them on the desktop. The one you run after inserting the key would copy the file from the key to the hard drive in the apropriate place. The one you run when you're done moves the files off the hard drive back onto the key. They you remove your key and go.
Seems like about the best solution you'll get.
Note: also that there are some USB Keys (I seem to remember seeing one on Tom's Hardware reviewed once) that have functionality like this built in somehow. They contain their own e-mail client or other software to make doing this kind of thing easy. Look around, you're not the only person who would like to be able to do something like this.
Also note: for the ultimate in security, get one of the USB key drives that has a thumbprint sensor as an added layer of security.
At the same time, the people who bought a PS2 but want something else (like a GC or PS2) are likely to buy one with the low price, so theirs sales will go up.
The PS2 is the oldest system and will soon be replaced. It's only natural that it's sales are starting to dip at the end of it's life.
It's only NOW that the media tells us about the breaking story, MONTHS AFTER IT HAPPENED. Why now? Either they were too busy with some other rediculous thing or accusation back then, or they waited untill now to make the president look worse.
But that last paragraph is my editorializing. The point is that while the photos could have been taken and made it onto the front page within an hour, it actually took months. I don't believe this story one bit.
I'm not denying that their idea works, it just seems there is probably an easier (or at least cheaper) way.
Could it at least be some kind of time/space annomoly controlled by a company famous for tape players men could use while walking? Or maybe a conspiriacy of high-jumping plumbers?
Why isn't it ever the INTERESTING explanation?
I live on the plains (rolling hills) near a major city. There is basically no static on my radio dial. Everywhere I tune with my car radio, I can either hear a clear station, or a static with a station under it. The radio dial is FULL. 91.1 (for an example) has a station, 91.3 is free. 91.5 has a station, 91.7 is free. It's like this for nearly the entire band. Some stations (local 100,000 watt powerhouses) make things harder than others.
Having a little transmitter so I can listen to my iPod in my car is nice, but it's a royal pain to find a free station. And the things that are free, vary by area. So what works near my home, doesn't work 10 or 20 miles away (either towards or away from the city). And I'm out in the distant suburbs, things are worse downtown.
There is NO ROOM for microbroadcasters where I live. The FCC would have to move things around and dedicate new space (ex 70.1 to 87.9 MHz) for microbroadcasters, because there is no space for 'em now. Out in the middle of no where, yes, but not 30 miles (as the crow flies) from a 450,000 person metropolis.
They could sell the dongle seperatly and make extra money, and becasue it takes a digital signal you wouldn't be limited to composite signals, you could have S-Video or component.
Just an idea. I'd like to see it, but I don't at all expect it.
I REALLY hope they add the X and Y buttons. It would make their current SNES porting easier for everyone. As for wireless, Nintendo already announced some little adaptor that clipped onto the back of the GBA and was supposed to provide wireless, but I doubt it will ever see the US (or even release, thanks to the DS). I can't wait for E3. Between everything that's happening (and I wouldn't be too suprised to see a PS2 redesign ala the PSOne) it's going to be very interesting.