You *have* to play online... the AI is terrible (and considering what the AI has to consider, I didn't think it would be very good anyways). If I have to play against the AI, I usually give them a few turns head start!
Books like this?
on
The Bug
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I see a lot of people saying that they won't read this book because 'they program for a living and don't want to take it home' or other such arguments...
I beg to differ - I think its great that a book has such an interesting premise and such a fresh view on literature. I've never seen anything like this, and will probably be picking this book up.
What do you guys think? This looks like the first killer app for bluetooth to me.
I completely agree. I was originally thinking about getting a Tungsten C (read: without Bluetooth) and this is making me reconsider. This is exactly what the technology needed - a good kick in the pants.
Why is this unique to bluetooth? Why not any old wireless technology?
I've looked online for the differences between Bt and 802.11b -
Bluetooth works at 720kbps - Wifi at 11mbps Bluetooth is geared towards point-to-point - Wifi network oriented Bluetooth has a smaller power requirement
If you, like me have been waiting for SWG for a very long time and have been dissapointed by their release status, I suggest you come take a look at Planetside
I'll play SWG next summer when they've had a chance to fix things.
I think this is a good point. Text based MUDs were one thing, they at least required imagination. Now though we are talking about playing a game in a 3d world, where even the characters are becoming more lifelike every weak. Human interface devices such as VR goggles and gloves for user input are making the digital transformation all the greater.
I think the only difference between the addictiveness of text based MUDs compared to 3d MMORPGs are the scope of who uses it. Back when MUDs were around, you had to be a geek to play them. Now-a-days, its a lot more socially accepted to play MMORPGs or just games in general.
Also wrt the holo-deck comment, I've always said that the holo-deck (or some similar invention) will be the last thing humans ever invent. Once you can have whatever scenerio you want in your mind, why would you want the real world?
I've been wanting a cellphone headset jack in my PDA for a while now. Hopefully Palm also does this. (The article seemed to indicate that only the Treo's would)
This would definately be a deal breaker.
Also, the FCC may have pulled approval, but both companies can get it back with a check of a box
First of all, I've been using a palm device for the past 4-5 years, from palm personal to my IIIc. In terms of their functionality for what they were meant to be used for, the palm system is great - scheduling and phone entries all work wonderfully on the palm. This is what I think we're going to see in the future:
Faster processor, better display, more memory (the standard stuff)
Communications intergration - voice and data connectivity, through a headphone in the PDA unit
Universal connectivity with more IR devices, and possibly RF devices
At least here (Canada), more affluent kids tend to play a lot LESS games, as their parents can more readily afford spending the hundreds (and thousands) of dollars necessary these days on things like sports equipment.
Can you imagine a garage sale in rosedale? or in forest hill? I've never seen one. Maybe they do have them, but I think the frequency is much lower. I can vouch from personal experience that a lot of my computer geek friends lived in an affluent area of Scarborough (Hill Crescent). So I don't think you can equate garage sale data to draw the conclusion that rich kids don't play games.
I guess this is a good indication of the status of the gaming industry, and how risky it is. Some bad luck (Daikatana, ugh) and you're toast. Next success game they have, they'll reopen another office, or expand the Austin one.
How long before the record companies will offer up something similar as a pay service?
That's too bad, because that's what the consumers really want. But I guess the consumer is not the record companies concern. (I leave it to a reply to talk about the poor quality of music these days;-) ).
As long as there is a free service, the masses won't pay. But I do agree that music is of poor quality now. I always thought i'd be a pop culture whore, but apparently that changed sometime around the age of 13. There is nothing better than reading over code whilst listening to The Wall or Dark side of the moon. mmmmm..
Something I've found interesting is the trend of storage media. Take a look at the floopy. At first, you had a 5 1/4 inch disk. Then you had programs and spanned multiple 5 1/4 inch disks. Then 3 1/2 became very popular. Then programs spanned (spun?) multiple 3 1/2 inch disks. (Insert talk about densities as well)
Now we're coming to multiple CDs. Soon we'll be receiving programs on DVD technology.
Maybe the hard disk industry will act in the same way. We've now pushed this type of media to the limit, perhaps another will emerge.
Unless this talk of bit-flipping is not a result of how our disk drives work . . . can anyone clarify?
At one point Napster will figure out that the record industry was happy about the verdict because it ineviatably means the death of napster.
It may cost them millions of dollars to figure this out, but eventually they will. The other file sharing programs are really taking off. Go to Zero Paid and check out all file share programs. Napster has become unnecessary - and their service depends on them being necessary.
This would be like asking the company you work for you can GPL a function that you wrote.
I don't think this means anything to CSC1XX courses, though. Universities usually have strict policies stating that they own everything you do. Otherwise how would they make money? (other than charging outrageous tuition)
>that the only plane to be shot down by >Milosevic's army was a stealth aircraft. And >they don't even have mobile phones...
... okay, lets say your being bombed, and you can't see who's attacking you, because they're obviously stealth. Even the ones that you *can* see, are going too fast for you to target. What do you do? You pepper the sky with your AA guns.
The fact that a stealth bomber got hit means that one of those AA rounds was really really lucky, that's all. If AA guns could target, they'd hit more often.
SAM batteries is a different story - but also require targeting.
No one will pay for Napster. there are too many clones out there, and too many other napster servers not controlled by napster itself.
Unless they start going after ALL those free serices, napster will fail. Maybe that's what the record labels want... one p2p sharing program that they can control. Then, since napster is "official" they can go after the clones, thereby controlling p2p sharing.
Are you another MS employee? Figured you must be or just don't really understand how MS products work (or don't for that matter). If you don't like the anti MS stuff go away slashdot is for people who care.
Wow, that's kind of pathetic of you. Slashdot is for discussion, not for one sided stuborness.
Whenever there is a Katz article posted on Slashdot, a large portion of the comments are saying what was wrong with the article - how it was "one-sided," or "out of context," or just "stupid." Obviously his articles are going to be thought provoking, and incite "debate" in the comments. Otherwise, what is the point?
I'm not saying all his stuff is GREAT. I'm just saying give the guy a break.
Yeah yeah, moderate me down.
Actually, I was referring to the/. crowd vs common masses. WE are able to decypher what is hollywood and what is history - but regular slack-jawed yokel american may not.
He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell, "1984", 1948
I've never seen a place where this quote is more appropriate. Yes, *we* know that the films are historically innacurate, but say 20 years from now, or 50 years from now, will common people go to history books, or something that is *EASY* for them to watch. It can almost be said that Hollywood is subconciously rewritting history.
Slashdot Mirror
You *have* to play online... the AI is terrible (and considering what the AI has to consider, I didn't think it would be very good anyways). If I have to play against the AI, I usually give them a few turns head start!
I see a lot of people saying that they won't read this book because 'they program for a living and don't want to take it home' or other such arguments...
I beg to differ - I think its great that a book has such an interesting premise and such a fresh view on literature. I've never seen anything like this, and will probably be picking this book up.
just fyi, whatever you were refering to it wasn't me - I've only posted on this article once and it was about the differences between BT and Wifi =)
What do you guys think? This looks like the first killer app for bluetooth to me.
I completely agree. I was originally thinking about getting a Tungsten C (read: without Bluetooth) and this is making me reconsider. This is exactly what the technology needed - a good kick in the pants.
Why is this unique to bluetooth? Why not any old wireless technology?
I've looked online for the differences between Bt and 802.11b -
Bluetooth works at 720kbps - Wifi at 11mbps
Bluetooth is geared towards point-to-point - Wifi network oriented
Bluetooth has a smaller power requirement
Bah, read for yourselves
I bet this money only include the OS and M$ Office... the money will be laundered somehow and end up on a military project we don't know about...
Didn't they get caught paying 95$ for a screw a few years back?
If you, like me have been waiting for SWG for a very long time and have been dissapointed by their release status, I suggest you come take a look at Planetside
I'll play SWG next summer when they've had a chance to fix things.
I think this is a good point. Text based MUDs were one thing, they at least required imagination. Now though we are talking about playing a game in a 3d world, where even the characters are becoming more lifelike every weak. Human interface devices such as VR goggles and gloves for user input are making the digital transformation all the greater.
I think the only difference between the addictiveness of text based MUDs compared to 3d MMORPGs are the scope of who uses it. Back when MUDs were around, you had to be a geek to play them. Now-a-days, its a lot more socially accepted to play MMORPGs or just games in general.
Also wrt the holo-deck comment, I've always said that the holo-deck (or some similar invention) will be the last thing humans ever invent. Once you can have whatever scenerio you want in your mind, why would you want the real world?
Some technical specs and more pictures are here.
Does that *really* say 206MHz ? Gah.
Something interesting to do would be to change Tribes2 to Quake3 and see if there is an improvement in tribes2.
If so, we'd have to ask ourselves questions about the kind of deal ATI is making!
I've been wanting a cellphone headset jack in my PDA for a while now. Hopefully Palm also does this. (The article seemed to indicate that only the Treo's would)
This would definately be a deal breaker.
Also, the FCC may have pulled approval, but both companies can get it back with a check of a box
Faster processor, better display, more memory (the standard stuff)
Communications intergration - voice and data connectivity, through a headphone in the PDA unit
Universal connectivity with more IR devices, and possibly RF devices
At least here (Canada), more affluent kids tend to play a lot LESS games, as their parents can more readily afford spending the hundreds (and thousands) of dollars necessary these days on things like sports equipment.
Can you imagine a garage sale in rosedale? or in forest hill? I've never seen one. Maybe they do have them, but I think the frequency is much lower. I can vouch from personal experience that a lot of my computer geek friends lived in an affluent area of Scarborough (Hill Crescent). So I don't think you can equate garage sale data to draw the conclusion that rich kids don't play games.
(sorry about the local references to Toronto)
I guess this is a good indication of the status of the gaming industry, and how risky it is. Some bad luck (Daikatana, ugh) and you're toast. Next success game they have, they'll reopen another office, or expand the Austin one.
How long before the record companies will offer up something similar as a pay service? That's too bad, because that's what the consumers really want. But I guess the consumer is not the record companies concern. (I leave it to a reply to talk about the poor quality of music these days ;-) ).
As long as there is a free service, the masses won't pay. But I do agree that music is of poor quality now. I always thought i'd be a pop culture whore, but apparently that changed sometime around the age of 13. There is nothing better than reading over code whilst listening to The Wall or Dark side of the moon. mmmmm..
Something I've found interesting is the trend of storage media. Take a look at the floopy. At first, you had a 5 1/4 inch disk. Then you had programs and spanned multiple 5 1/4 inch disks. Then 3 1/2 became very popular. Then programs spanned (spun?) multiple 3 1/2 inch disks. (Insert talk about densities as well)
Now we're coming to multiple CDs. Soon we'll be receiving programs on DVD technology.
Maybe the hard disk industry will act in the same way. We've now pushed this type of media to the limit, perhaps another will emerge.
Unless this talk of bit-flipping is not a result of how our disk drives work . . . can anyone clarify?
At one point Napster will figure out that the record industry was happy about the verdict because it ineviatably means the death of napster.
It may cost them millions of dollars to figure this out, but eventually they will. The other file sharing programs are really taking off. Go to Zero Paid and check out all file share programs. Napster has become unnecessary - and their service depends on them being necessary.
This would be like asking the company you work for you can GPL a function that you wrote.
I don't think this means anything to CSC1XX courses, though. Universities usually have strict policies stating that they own everything you do. Otherwise how would they make money? (other than charging outrageous tuition)
I guess they wanted to compete with the LCD projectors in peeing competition.
Can anyone see any use to this beast that a projector couldn't fulfill?
>that the only plane to be shot down by
... okay, lets say your being bombed, and you can't see who's attacking you, because they're obviously stealth. Even the ones that you *can* see, are going too fast for you to target. What do you do? You pepper the sky with your AA guns.
>Milosevic's army was a stealth aircraft. And
>they don't even have mobile phones...
The fact that a stealth bomber got hit means that one of those AA rounds was really really lucky, that's all. If AA guns could target, they'd hit more often.
SAM batteries is a different story - but also require targeting.
No one will pay for Napster. there are too many clones out there, and too many other napster servers not controlled by napster itself.
Unless they start going after ALL those free serices, napster will fail. Maybe that's what the record labels want... one p2p sharing program that they can control. Then, since napster is "official" they can go after the clones, thereby controlling p2p sharing.
Are you another MS employee? Figured you must be or just don't really understand how MS products work (or don't for that matter). If you don't like the anti MS stuff go away slashdot is for people who care.
Wow, that's kind of pathetic of you. Slashdot is for discussion, not for one sided stuborness.
Almost like its "cool" to bash Katz.
Whenever there is a Katz article posted on Slashdot, a large portion of the comments are saying what was wrong with the article - how it was "one-sided," or "out of context," or just "stupid." Obviously his articles are going to be thought provoking, and incite "debate" in the comments. Otherwise, what is the point?
I'm not saying all his stuff is GREAT. I'm just saying give the guy a break.
Yeah yeah, moderate me down.
I want to know more about this "laser" weapon.
And the
"Alan Parsons Project"....
and
"Death star"
But seriously, do we have laser destructive enough to warrant being on a super vehicle? If so, why is this the first I have heard of them?
Actually, I was referring to the /. crowd vs common masses. WE are able to decypher what is hollywood and what is history - but regular slack-jawed yokel american may not.
He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell, "1984", 1948
I've never seen a place where this quote is more appropriate. Yes, *we* know that the films are historically innacurate, but say 20 years from now, or 50 years from now, will common people go to history books, or something that is *EASY* for them to watch. It can almost be said that Hollywood is subconciously rewritting history.