Java is not always slow, and if you wanted to use JOGL you'll get pretty decent performance.
That said, the mistake that everyone seems to make is that you either do no graphics, or you are trying to recreate Doom 3. You're right that no one in their right mind is going to try to make the next Doom 3 in Java any time soon. But what if I just want to experiment with some simple 3D graphics? What if I want to make a neat little graph in my already existing Java program? What if I want to print fancy stuff from Java (which just gives you a canvas and makes you do the drawing).
You can experiment, do simple things, there are lots of reasons to go with Java for a small project. Maybe you want to make it an applet so it's easy to put in a browser.
PS: I'm working with Java3D right now, and I find it very interesting. I've done OpenGL before, but I've never used a scenography library, so there is an interesting learning experience there.
I kind of agree with the steering wheel and the zapper shell. The wheel looks more advanced (has buttons and such), but it's still just 'meh.'
The platform on the other hand, is HUGE. Look how many "non-gamers" like the Wii. Now give them an exercise device that is kind of fun to use, lets you do step-robics. It's like the mat from the NES days, but updated. Having all the balancing mechanics in it can open some more very interesting possibilities. It may die a quiet death, but it may be another game changer.
I like this idea quite a bit, I just don't think it's far enough. It shouldn't just be the new 700MHz spectrum. If you buy ANY new space, you should have to comply with this. If you USE any space you should have to comply. No locking cells to the carrier after Dec 31st, 2007. Not 2015, not 2010, THIS YEAR. Since this is just locking and it's not a problem over seas, they have no excuse why this couldn't be done.
I'd also say contracts should be illegal (or at least termination fees) and ditto with subsidizing phones (you want to subsidize? Must be and instant rebate, none of this mail-in stuff). But I don't expect those to happen.
I'll still be surprised if this was passed.
But please, free the cell phones. Won't someone please think of the cell phones?
Quotes from the PDF linked to by the forum post (emphasis mine):
The recent release of a licensing program for BD+, the coveted second line of defense against piracy...
He said BD+ offers four times the safeguard on top of AACS against piracy.
"If you see an apartment in a rough part of L.A., and the door has six locks on it, you're not breaking into that apartment," Doherty said. "Having those extra locks, even if you are not sure [they all work], is part of the magic of BD+..."
BD+, unlike AACS, which suffered a partial hack last year, won't likely be broken for 10 years,...
Hmm, they seem to have skipped 8. The amount of gall in this little article (which is the PDF) is amazing. AACS was "partially" cracked. BD+ is a second line of defense, four times as safe, and just like six weak locks that you don't think work, which, by the way, is magic.
We asked. We had a little local outfit that was great. Then Comcast bougt them out. We've changed our plan once or twice (like adding HD when I got an HDTV, and lowering the cable speed since we were no where near that speed). Things have gone quite downhill, but they didn't do that do us. As I said in my above post, we have service with them because they are the only game in town for us.
I have Comcrud. They bought out my local cable company years ago and raised rates, trashed service, capped the internet speeds, and all sorts of other fun stuff. I have something like a 6 mbps connection if you listen to them. I've seen it up as high as a little over 1 mbps (from speed tests and such). As it is now, every speed test I can find is maxing out at about 300 kbps down and 350 kbps up, which is what I was getting hours ago when this story first hit the firehose.
Jerks.
I love monopolies. My only other choice is unreliable ISDN at 3x the price, or a (partial) T1 which costs even more.
I hate relativistic points of view. Some things are just not ethical. There are some things that could be quibbled over (grey areas, mostly), but this isn't something people should be debating. It is very widely consider wrong to steal stuff, kill people, invade people's privacy by looking through all their documents and photos without permission, etc. This is not something that needs to be up for debate.
As for the idea of "why can't we assume most people are nice", I generally do. But you still should be cautious for two reasons. First of all, despite what I'd like to believe a great many people just aren't ethical (and the constant stream of stuff from politicians, sports, stars, and other "role models" isn't helping).
Second, "God helps those who help themselves." Just because someone else shouldn't do something doesn't mean you shouldn't do something to try to prevent it. If the cross-walk sign says go you still check for cars right? Other people should stop, but they may not... so you look anyway. Whether you should have to or not, you protect yourself.
That people do this doesn't surprise me. That low paid people who are trained for 2 hours and given little oversight do this surprises me even less.
They have no competition. Once again people are thinking about the iPhone as just another phone. It's not. Someone DESIGNED the thing. Phone interfaces currently almost always fit into one of three categories.
Use number pads/Menus - There are 9 menus, each with up to 10 items. The menu is either a list or a little 3x3 grid. Everything is shoved in there (possibly 6 levels deep) somewhere. Used on nearly every normal cell phone I've seen.
Smart phone - Either the palm interface (not bad, much like the iPhone's in many ways) or Windows Mobile (or CE or Pocket or whatever it's called now) which is rather ugly and not quite designed for a phone
Blackberry - We'll put a ton of icons on the screen, and make you use a scroll wheel to select one!
They are all HIDEOUS (except Palm, which isn't bad). Nothing on the market I've seen comes anywhere near the iPhone for aesthetics and user friendliness, and I'm not even talking about Safari or the photo viewer or some of the other great interfaces.
In the smart phone category, nothing looks or operates as stylishly as the iPhone. They may have to compete with other phones for people's money, but they are no other devices that I would put in it's class as a fair comparison. They may be in the next year or two, but I don't see any right not. There is just nothing else like it. And on that note it will be successful for quite a while even if sales taper off quite a bit. It may not end up the next RAZR, but it will continue to sell just fine for quite a while.
I'd like a 360. I really would. There are games I'd like to play (PGR3, Dead Rising, some others), as well as games coming out I'd like to play (Rock Band and many others). But I keep hearing about failures. I know people who are on at least their 3rd 360. I've seen the estimations recently putting the failure rates as high as ~30% (which, even if is off by 5x is quite high). If you combine that with the noise the things make, I'm hesitant to buy one. I keep waiting for a re-spin of the silicon (moving to a smaller process should help with the heat/noise issues).
The Elite might have got me but instead of pushing the models down, they just put the Elite on top with a new higher price point.
OK. I won't go through my views on what I think of violent pornography, or the idea that it will set mentally unbalanced people off if seen on the internet. I won't comment on the censorship aspect of this. I just have one honest question:
There have been various episodes of CSI (Vegas) that dealt with BDSM and such, especially those featuring Mistress Heather. There was a recent episode of Criminal Minds where the villain captured homeless people and put them in a torture maze to be sadistic.
Are those legal on TV? How about putting those episodes on the internet (say CBS did it), would that be legal under this law? Seems to me those two answers might be different.
It's OK to show a mentally unbalanced individual this on TV a show (which won't mess with their head), but if you show the exact same thing from the internet, they'll go NUTS.
Sure. If the answers to the hypothetical questions above are the same, where is the line and how long until television crosses it? Then what will the answers to my questions be.
TV is OK, but the Internet is evil. Even if they show the same exact content.
No. He deserves to be punished. But I'd much rather see the real people behind all get tried (even if not convicted) than give him a sentence that is out of whack with his crimes (relative to the others).
I think this was expected by many people, and it's fine with me. First the sentence was commuted, not pardoned. Second, while Scooter did commit a crime, everything I've read leads me to believe he has been basically a fall guy and there are others who deserve bigger sentences and to really be in trouble.
That said, whether you believe what I do above, or think Scooter is as guilty as a guy can be, is this really a surprise? You probably think he was a fall guy (like me), or that the President is a crook (blah blah blah) and expected him to give his buddy a "get out of jail free" card.
I have the last revision of the MacBook Pros that just came out. It's a great little laptop. It wouldn't surprise me too much if they did have multi-touch trackpads in the new Macs. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in mine and could be added with a software update. After all, they've supposed detecting when there are two fingers for a while, how much harder can it be to detect the stretching and squeezing motions? Apple has silently updated things before. For example, the cameras in the latest MacBook Pros are 1.3MP instead of 0.3MP. It's not exposed in software, but it's there.
The 1/2 the thickness thing? Never. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see that. That would be amazing. But I just don't think it's really possible with the MacBooks. Now if you got rid of the hard drive and optical driver, you'd have a better shot... but I'd still peg this as very unlikely.
For anyone who doesn't get this, it's a reference to AT&T's monopoly days when Saturday Night Live had a sketch starting Lilly Tomlin in '76 called simply enough... "The Phone Company." Surprisingly, I can't find a YouTube video.
I don't think it's much of a surprise to anyone that AT&T might end up the weak link in this partnership. But I submitted this story because I think it shows just how different some companies (like Apple) view the consumers compared to others (like AT&T). This just happened to be a fantastic example of just how different the two ends of the spectrum are.
Of course, if you were to look through enough of my posts, you'd see I don't have much regard for cell phone companies (or cable companies, or...). But then again that's quite common on Slashdot.
I've gotta say, it looks nice. I'd love one. I don't care enough to switch yet, but it looks REALLY nice. I'm glad to hear that Apple did pretty well with it (as I'd hope).
That said, everyone keeps saying it lacks GPS (which is unfortunate). But I thought that part of the e911 rules that went into effect a few years ago was that all phones had to have a GPS receiver to tell the operator where the caller was. Is the location only from automatic signal strength triangulation? If they have GPS for e911, why don't more phones make it available to the user (if I'm wrong about the GPS being there, the answer to that one is obvious).
Can't wait to play with one some day though. And I really can't wait to see how other phone makers and carriers respond.
This whole thing is rather interesting. The Wii version is the one that really catches my interest because of what the controls "add" to the game. I was rather surprised at first when I saw what they were doing. While it fits well, it's rather visceral compared to just pushing a button so I wondered if they would have a tough time.
Nintendo banning an AO game doesn't surprise me. Sony banning it does surprise me some. But what all of this has really made me wonder is... does Microsoft have an anti-AO game policy? If Manhunt 2 was developed for the 360, would they be able to release it (problems with Target, Wal*Mart, etc selling it aside)?
The computer is really the only platform where this isn't a problem. If you look at the list of AO games, most of them are on the PC, even if you remove the "Virtual Jenna" type games. Since no-one can stop a game from being published on the PC (you can sell it mail order or download if you have to), this wouldn't be a problem.
Of course, Take-Two has put already had a target on their heads (unfairly). I can see the outrage over a game like this, seeing as how it makes GTA look tame. As adult as this is, I was really looking forward to reading the reviews of what the Wii controls added to it. There are previews out now, but previews are always positive so it's a bit hard to tell based on that. People called GTA a "murder simulator".. heh.
Porting consoles isn't easy. But maybe MS could agree to let them publish and get PR win with the mature crowd. But that would probably cause them problems with the family crowd they want.
I know there are worries about this, but I think it will be big (even if it takes a ramp up). Remember that the RAZR was $500 (AFTER $100 rebate) when it first came out. How much was the StarTAC? These phones can be VERY expensive. I'd love one (but I'm not paying that much). I can see this carving out a decent niche in the market. Will it be the new be-all-end-all of phones? I doubt it. It's still expensive, there is the keyboard question, only one carrier, etc.
But the interface is very interesting, it's slim, the talk time is amazing (still quite good if you assume it's inflated by ~10-20%). If nothing else it will push phones to have better interfaces, better screens, and maybe even push towards less subsidized phones.
Plus things like visual voicemail will definitely make it into cheap phones in the next few years.
I don't think it will be a complete flop, but even if it doesn't blow the doors off the market, it will be very interesting to watch.
OK. Here is what I think. I use Safari as my main browser on my Mac which I use for all personal computing. It's a nice browser. I started using it to try it, and I've stuck with it. I'm happy with it for the most part.
Now I've tried it on Windows. It's cute. Even if it was perfect, it wouldn't replace FireFox because at this point I'm addicted to FlashBlock on my work PC. Things I use often have annoying flash ads and the computer isn't that fast in the first place. I'm glad it's there, and if I was going to switch to the Mac (like I did 2 years ago) being able to download it and try it may have been nice.
As for bugs, the only one I've noticed is that it doesn't handle my multi-monitor setup well. I haven't used it for more than a few seconds though (due to that). The problem is that when I put it on my secondary monitor (the left one, just FYI) then maximize it, Safari disappears. It still exists, it is maximized to the left of the left monitor, where it would be if a third monitor to the left of the left one existed. It doesn't seem to handle mouse clicks right in this state either some times. But when non-maximized, it works perfectly on either monitor. Works fine maximized on the main monitor as well.
It would be useful for testing websites (something I often have to do) for, but I always have my Mac next to me so it's not that critical for that.
It's a decent browser. When it gets out of beta I expect it to get a few points of market share (maybe Opera sized, or a little smaller). I don't expect it to kill FireFox; and I'm amazed at all this "Safari is buggy!" stuff since it is a BETA. Google (and others) seem to have ruined that word in the mainstream, as many people don't seem to know that it should be translated as "This software probably has problems and will crash on you, possibly losing data". Google's betas are often quite stable (and that's not too surprising as GMail has been out for a few years now). This is a real beta.
I remember seeing an article about that. The first had one transistor, then two, then three. Then people kept adding transistors and claiming it made their radio better. While some actually did that, the article had pictures of radios where off on a part of the circuit board that wasn't connected to anything there would be 3 or more transistors just soldered onto the board, no connections. They would buy bad transistors and just stick them in, not even using them as diodes, so they could call it a 5 transistor radio.
Frankly, I believe Sony in this case. Getting the algorythim right for this would be tough. It woudn't surprise me if the one MS made is currently ineffective. It will take time to find a better one.
My mac supports it, but I'm moving to an Intel mac this weekend. Since I'm going to end up installing Windows (for 3D games and such) I'll probably just put my old Windows 95 copy on there.
Let's see... SimCity was amazing. SimCity 2000 was basically perfect. SimCity 3000 added more complication (especially garbage) and just didn't seem as well balance and put together as 2000. SimCity 4 was OK but dog slow on even the fastest of computers. Frankly, I'd be worried what Maxis would produce for SimCity 5.
We'll see what they do with it. I doubt I'll buy it. I still the think the game reached perfection with 2k. Heck, if I could buy a copy of SC2K for OS X I'd do it right now.
At least they are trying something new instead of just adding more things to manage (like the last two releases).
Besides the unimportance (like the nice aluminum finish), there are benefits. The larger screen is one. FireWire 800 is very nice. The ExpressCard/34 slot is something of a big deal (so I can add 3G or something else without the overhead of USB), the graphics matter quite a bit to me (I'd like to be able to play games, mess around with making 3D applications, etc). People using it for more professional work can really benefit from the optical audio jacks if they work in that kind of environment.
I'll agree the jump is a bit high, but it wasn't a question for me.
I disagree. I think it would be pointless to stop developing it. Remember that their drivers are built on a common code base, meaning it shares quite a bit of code with Windows. They are also heavily optimized to a level that free software may never achieve in a reasonable time frame (simply due to lack of documentation and such). Their closed drivers will probably always have superior 3D performance, and that is why people buy Nvidia cards. If you only want 2D, you don't care most of the time. There is still the layer between the kernel and the OS independent stuff that must be worked on, but the have the other work done anyway due to Windows and OS X.
I've got an early '05 Powerbook G4 (first-gen HD motion sensors represent!). It's a great little thing but as I do more photo editing and such I'm starting to feel it's lack of power. I've used Intel Macs with C2Ds and they are very nice. I decided that during the next refresh I would purchase one.
So when I checked the Apple store yesterday and saw it was down, I was thrilled. I had been expecting it (I follow rumors sites and Apple Insider had some detailed possible specs on Monday). When I got to work the store was back up and I ordered one immediately.
It's about time that Apple put 2 gigs in the MacBook Pros by default.
It's expected to come as soon as Friday, and I can't wait. Geek Sugar has pictures of the new one, and they that the display is noticeably brighter, despite the fact it's not supposed to be (according to Apple, there is a mini-interview on Gizmodo).
Slashdot Mirror
Java is not always slow, and if you wanted to use JOGL you'll get pretty decent performance.
That said, the mistake that everyone seems to make is that you either do no graphics, or you are trying to recreate Doom 3. You're right that no one in their right mind is going to try to make the next Doom 3 in Java any time soon. But what if I just want to experiment with some simple 3D graphics? What if I want to make a neat little graph in my already existing Java program? What if I want to print fancy stuff from Java (which just gives you a canvas and makes you do the drawing).
You can experiment, do simple things, there are lots of reasons to go with Java for a small project. Maybe you want to make it an applet so it's easy to put in a browser.
PS: I'm working with Java3D right now, and I find it very interesting. I've done OpenGL before, but I've never used a scenography library, so there is an interesting learning experience there.
I kind of agree with the steering wheel and the zapper shell. The wheel looks more advanced (has buttons and such), but it's still just 'meh.'
The platform on the other hand, is HUGE. Look how many "non-gamers" like the Wii. Now give them an exercise device that is kind of fun to use, lets you do step-robics. It's like the mat from the NES days, but updated. Having all the balancing mechanics in it can open some more very interesting possibilities. It may die a quiet death, but it may be another game changer.
I like this idea quite a bit, I just don't think it's far enough. It shouldn't just be the new 700MHz spectrum. If you buy ANY new space, you should have to comply with this. If you USE any space you should have to comply. No locking cells to the carrier after Dec 31st, 2007. Not 2015, not 2010, THIS YEAR. Since this is just locking and it's not a problem over seas, they have no excuse why this couldn't be done.
I'd also say contracts should be illegal (or at least termination fees) and ditto with subsidizing phones (you want to subsidize? Must be and instant rebate, none of this mail-in stuff). But I don't expect those to happen.
I'll still be surprised if this was passed.
But please, free the cell phones. Won't someone please think of the cell phones?
PS: I love Behind the Counter.
Hmm, they seem to have skipped 8. The amount of gall in this little article (which is the PDF) is amazing. AACS was "partially" cracked. BD+ is a second line of defense, four times as safe, and just like six weak locks that you don't think work, which, by the way, is magic.
What is this guy smoking?
We asked. We had a little local outfit that was great. Then Comcast bougt them out. We've changed our plan once or twice (like adding HD when I got an HDTV, and lowering the cable speed since we were no where near that speed). Things have gone quite downhill, but they didn't do that do us. As I said in my above post, we have service with them because they are the only game in town for us.
I have Comcrud. They bought out my local cable company years ago and raised rates, trashed service, capped the internet speeds, and all sorts of other fun stuff. I have something like a 6 mbps connection if you listen to them. I've seen it up as high as a little over 1 mbps (from speed tests and such). As it is now, every speed test I can find is maxing out at about 300 kbps down and 350 kbps up, which is what I was getting hours ago when this story first hit the firehose.
Jerks.
I love monopolies. My only other choice is unreliable ISDN at 3x the price, or a (partial) T1 which costs even more.
I hate relativistic points of view. Some things are just not ethical. There are some things that could be quibbled over (grey areas, mostly), but this isn't something people should be debating. It is very widely consider wrong to steal stuff, kill people, invade people's privacy by looking through all their documents and photos without permission, etc. This is not something that needs to be up for debate.
As for the idea of "why can't we assume most people are nice", I generally do. But you still should be cautious for two reasons. First of all, despite what I'd like to believe a great many people just aren't ethical (and the constant stream of stuff from politicians, sports, stars, and other "role models" isn't helping).
Second, "God helps those who help themselves." Just because someone else shouldn't do something doesn't mean you shouldn't do something to try to prevent it. If the cross-walk sign says go you still check for cars right? Other people should stop, but they may not... so you look anyway. Whether you should have to or not, you protect yourself.
That people do this doesn't surprise me. That low paid people who are trained for 2 hours and given little oversight do this surprises me even less.
They have no competition. Once again people are thinking about the iPhone as just another phone. It's not. Someone DESIGNED the thing. Phone interfaces currently almost always fit into one of three categories.
They are all HIDEOUS (except Palm, which isn't bad). Nothing on the market I've seen comes anywhere near the iPhone for aesthetics and user friendliness, and I'm not even talking about Safari or the photo viewer or some of the other great interfaces.
In the smart phone category, nothing looks or operates as stylishly as the iPhone. They may have to compete with other phones for people's money, but they are no other devices that I would put in it's class as a fair comparison. They may be in the next year or two, but I don't see any right not. There is just nothing else like it. And on that note it will be successful for quite a while even if sales taper off quite a bit. It may not end up the next RAZR, but it will continue to sell just fine for quite a while.
I'd like a 360. I really would. There are games I'd like to play (PGR3, Dead Rising, some others), as well as games coming out I'd like to play (Rock Band and many others). But I keep hearing about failures. I know people who are on at least their 3rd 360. I've seen the estimations recently putting the failure rates as high as ~30% (which, even if is off by 5x is quite high). If you combine that with the noise the things make, I'm hesitant to buy one. I keep waiting for a re-spin of the silicon (moving to a smaller process should help with the heat/noise issues).
The Elite might have got me but instead of pushing the models down, they just put the Elite on top with a new higher price point.
OK. I won't go through my views on what I think of violent pornography, or the idea that it will set mentally unbalanced people off if seen on the internet. I won't comment on the censorship aspect of this. I just have one honest question:
There have been various episodes of CSI (Vegas) that dealt with BDSM and such, especially those featuring Mistress Heather. There was a recent episode of Criminal Minds where the villain captured homeless people and put them in a torture maze to be sadistic.
Are those legal on TV? How about putting those episodes on the internet (say CBS did it), would that be legal under this law? Seems to me those two answers might be different.
It's OK to show a mentally unbalanced individual this on TV a show (which won't mess with their head), but if you show the exact same thing from the internet, they'll go NUTS.
Sure. If the answers to the hypothetical questions above are the same, where is the line and how long until television crosses it? Then what will the answers to my questions be.
TV is OK, but the Internet is evil. Even if they show the same exact content.
No. He deserves to be punished. But I'd much rather see the real people behind all get tried (even if not convicted) than give him a sentence that is out of whack with his crimes (relative to the others).
He deserves to be punished.
I think this was expected by many people, and it's fine with me. First the sentence was commuted, not pardoned. Second, while Scooter did commit a crime, everything I've read leads me to believe he has been basically a fall guy and there are others who deserve bigger sentences and to really be in trouble.
That said, whether you believe what I do above, or think Scooter is as guilty as a guy can be, is this really a surprise? You probably think he was a fall guy (like me), or that the President is a crook (blah blah blah) and expected him to give his buddy a "get out of jail free" card.
I have the last revision of the MacBook Pros that just came out. It's a great little laptop. It wouldn't surprise me too much if they did have multi-touch trackpads in the new Macs. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in mine and could be added with a software update. After all, they've supposed detecting when there are two fingers for a while, how much harder can it be to detect the stretching and squeezing motions? Apple has silently updated things before. For example, the cameras in the latest MacBook Pros are 1.3MP instead of 0.3MP. It's not exposed in software, but it's there.
The 1/2 the thickness thing? Never. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see that. That would be amazing. But I just don't think it's really possible with the MacBooks. Now if you got rid of the hard drive and optical driver, you'd have a better shot... but I'd still peg this as very unlikely.
For anyone who doesn't get this, it's a reference to AT&T's monopoly days when Saturday Night Live had a sketch starting Lilly Tomlin in '76 called simply enough... "The Phone Company." Surprisingly, I can't find a YouTube video.
I don't think it's much of a surprise to anyone that AT&T might end up the weak link in this partnership. But I submitted this story because I think it shows just how different some companies (like Apple) view the consumers compared to others (like AT&T). This just happened to be a fantastic example of just how different the two ends of the spectrum are.
Of course, if you were to look through enough of my posts, you'd see I don't have much regard for cell phone companies (or cable companies, or...). But then again that's quite common on Slashdot.
I've gotta say, it looks nice. I'd love one. I don't care enough to switch yet, but it looks REALLY nice. I'm glad to hear that Apple did pretty well with it (as I'd hope).
That said, everyone keeps saying it lacks GPS (which is unfortunate). But I thought that part of the e911 rules that went into effect a few years ago was that all phones had to have a GPS receiver to tell the operator where the caller was. Is the location only from automatic signal strength triangulation? If they have GPS for e911, why don't more phones make it available to the user (if I'm wrong about the GPS being there, the answer to that one is obvious).
Can't wait to play with one some day though. And I really can't wait to see how other phone makers and carriers respond.
This whole thing is rather interesting. The Wii version is the one that really catches my interest because of what the controls "add" to the game. I was rather surprised at first when I saw what they were doing. While it fits well, it's rather visceral compared to just pushing a button so I wondered if they would have a tough time.
Nintendo banning an AO game doesn't surprise me. Sony banning it does surprise me some. But what all of this has really made me wonder is... does Microsoft have an anti-AO game policy? If Manhunt 2 was developed for the 360, would they be able to release it (problems with Target, Wal*Mart, etc selling it aside)?
The computer is really the only platform where this isn't a problem. If you look at the list of AO games, most of them are on the PC, even if you remove the "Virtual Jenna" type games. Since no-one can stop a game from being published on the PC (you can sell it mail order or download if you have to), this wouldn't be a problem.
Of course, Take-Two has put already had a target on their heads (unfairly). I can see the outrage over a game like this, seeing as how it makes GTA look tame. As adult as this is, I was really looking forward to reading the reviews of what the Wii controls added to it. There are previews out now, but previews are always positive so it's a bit hard to tell based on that. People called GTA a "murder simulator".. heh.
Porting consoles isn't easy. But maybe MS could agree to let them publish and get PR win with the mature crowd. But that would probably cause them problems with the family crowd they want.
I know there are worries about this, but I think it will be big (even if it takes a ramp up). Remember that the RAZR was $500 (AFTER $100 rebate) when it first came out. How much was the StarTAC? These phones can be VERY expensive. I'd love one (but I'm not paying that much). I can see this carving out a decent niche in the market. Will it be the new be-all-end-all of phones? I doubt it. It's still expensive, there is the keyboard question, only one carrier, etc.
But the interface is very interesting, it's slim, the talk time is amazing (still quite good if you assume it's inflated by ~10-20%). If nothing else it will push phones to have better interfaces, better screens, and maybe even push towards less subsidized phones.
Plus things like visual voicemail will definitely make it into cheap phones in the next few years.
I don't think it will be a complete flop, but even if it doesn't blow the doors off the market, it will be very interesting to watch.
OK. Here is what I think. I use Safari as my main browser on my Mac which I use for all personal computing. It's a nice browser. I started using it to try it, and I've stuck with it. I'm happy with it for the most part.
Now I've tried it on Windows. It's cute. Even if it was perfect, it wouldn't replace FireFox because at this point I'm addicted to FlashBlock on my work PC. Things I use often have annoying flash ads and the computer isn't that fast in the first place. I'm glad it's there, and if I was going to switch to the Mac (like I did 2 years ago) being able to download it and try it may have been nice.
As for bugs, the only one I've noticed is that it doesn't handle my multi-monitor setup well. I haven't used it for more than a few seconds though (due to that). The problem is that when I put it on my secondary monitor (the left one, just FYI) then maximize it, Safari disappears. It still exists, it is maximized to the left of the left monitor, where it would be if a third monitor to the left of the left one existed. It doesn't seem to handle mouse clicks right in this state either some times. But when non-maximized, it works perfectly on either monitor. Works fine maximized on the main monitor as well.
It would be useful for testing websites (something I often have to do) for, but I always have my Mac next to me so it's not that critical for that.
It's a decent browser. When it gets out of beta I expect it to get a few points of market share (maybe Opera sized, or a little smaller). I don't expect it to kill FireFox; and I'm amazed at all this "Safari is buggy!" stuff since it is a BETA. Google (and others) seem to have ruined that word in the mainstream, as many people don't seem to know that it should be translated as "This software probably has problems and will crash on you, possibly losing data". Google's betas are often quite stable (and that's not too surprising as GMail has been out for a few years now). This is a real beta.
I remember seeing an article about that. The first had one transistor, then two, then three. Then people kept adding transistors and claiming it made their radio better. While some actually did that, the article had pictures of radios where off on a part of the circuit board that wasn't connected to anything there would be 3 or more transistors just soldered onto the board, no connections. They would buy bad transistors and just stick them in, not even using them as diodes, so they could call it a 5 transistor radio.
Frankly, I believe Sony in this case. Getting the algorythim right for this would be tough. It woudn't surprise me if the one MS made is currently ineffective. It will take time to find a better one.
My mac supports it, but I'm moving to an Intel mac this weekend. Since I'm going to end up installing Windows (for 3D games and such) I'll probably just put my old Windows 95 copy on there.
Let's see... SimCity was amazing. SimCity 2000 was basically perfect. SimCity 3000 added more complication (especially garbage) and just didn't seem as well balance and put together as 2000. SimCity 4 was OK but dog slow on even the fastest of computers. Frankly, I'd be worried what Maxis would produce for SimCity 5.
We'll see what they do with it. I doubt I'll buy it. I still the think the game reached perfection with 2k. Heck, if I could buy a copy of SC2K for OS X I'd do it right now.
At least they are trying something new instead of just adding more things to manage (like the last two releases).
Besides the unimportance (like the nice aluminum finish), there are benefits. The larger screen is one. FireWire 800 is very nice. The ExpressCard/34 slot is something of a big deal (so I can add 3G or something else without the overhead of USB), the graphics matter quite a bit to me (I'd like to be able to play games, mess around with making 3D applications, etc). People using it for more professional work can really benefit from the optical audio jacks if they work in that kind of environment.
I'll agree the jump is a bit high, but it wasn't a question for me.
I disagree. I think it would be pointless to stop developing it. Remember that their drivers are built on a common code base, meaning it shares quite a bit of code with Windows. They are also heavily optimized to a level that free software may never achieve in a reasonable time frame (simply due to lack of documentation and such). Their closed drivers will probably always have superior 3D performance, and that is why people buy Nvidia cards. If you only want 2D, you don't care most of the time. There is still the layer between the kernel and the OS independent stuff that must be worked on, but the have the other work done anyway due to Windows and OS X.
I've got an early '05 Powerbook G4 (first-gen HD motion sensors represent!). It's a great little thing but as I do more photo editing and such I'm starting to feel it's lack of power. I've used Intel Macs with C2Ds and they are very nice. I decided that during the next refresh I would purchase one.
So when I checked the Apple store yesterday and saw it was down, I was thrilled. I had been expecting it (I follow rumors sites and Apple Insider had some detailed possible specs on Monday). When I got to work the store was back up and I ordered one immediately.
It's about time that Apple put 2 gigs in the MacBook Pros by default.
It's expected to come as soon as Friday, and I can't wait. Geek Sugar has pictures of the new one, and they that the display is noticeably brighter, despite the fact it's not supposed to be (according to Apple, there is a mini-interview on Gizmodo).
I can't wait!
Now I just need Leopard...