Strangely no one has posted http://www.tadwilliams.com/ which has its front page turned over to news on this new game including a huge amount of artwork and many of Tad's thoughts on the project.
It's a shame you never checked out the website on the fly sheets of all the Otherland books. You might have found the Tad Williams mailing list which took on the ideas of the Treehouse.
Sadly the lyst lost support from Tad's then publishers and moved to yahoo groups where it slowly declined. This decline was made worse by Tad's shadowmarch project which formed its own message board community. The old mailing list now serves mostly as a means of notifying old friends about new births.
I have just been putting a new machine together using a SATA drive as the primary and no floppy. Only after plugging the lot in for the first time I discovered the slackware install CDROM would not talk SATA. Rather than burn another boot CD I used a USB CF reader and card.
Take a look at syslinux for more information on making a flash (or any FAT) drive boot a linux image. Makes life much easier if your kernels are too big for a floppy.
the whole state of mind of computer hackers (not crackers), they all derives from the mentality of hobbyists, and hobbyists do not like to be charged for something they can do, or think they can do, themselves.
Consider the open source idea, a project is started, the original author in control, the author is in this for the love of it but opens up source and others contribute giving feedback on a wide range of ideas that are built upon. These are hobbyists.
Tad as a bestseller author started a project where he had an idea, then opened that idea up on the web as an evolving and ongoing concern. He brings in art work from others, he starts a line of dialog with his readers which allows him to get a feel of what people want and where to take the story.
This is not open source, Tad has full ownership of Shadowmarch but it is something wild to experience where your complaints and whines are picked up and answered by a master of his art. When i read Shadowmarch and comment on the story, then have my questions answered in the next episode, it feels like i have griped about the linux kernel then had Linus say "Here you go, have that feature" instead of "Code it yourself".
erm the cost is $17.99 (US). This is significanly less than a hardcover Tad novel in my neck of the woods. Still it is more than a paperback which most people seem to consider closer to what you are getting... I personally rate the art work as being well worth the difference.
Shadowmarch is published in plain HTML fairly portable and open really.
I personally would go for 'e' but objectively it would have to be 'd'
I would also like to point out that inspite of the story coming to a conclusion in August there is still much to be gained form subscribing even now.
You will get to read 30 or 31 chapters of an excelent fantasy story, access to some fantastic art and delve into the rich lore of a great fantasy world.
This is not a passive book you are going to download and sit reading, this is an experiment in interactive fiction. The story is the key element and there will be 2 episodes released each month (on the 1st and 15th) but it has not been pre-written and set in stone. Tad will be taking oppinions from the message boards to get an idea of what people are interested in, if there are characters who are to be explored in more depth and what people don't like. It is not often you get the chance to communicate with an author of Tad's talent and be involved in the creative process.
There is a hell of a lot more planed around the story, message boards, artwork (both fan and official), music, RPGs and whole virtual worlds. Sure you can rip off the words and pictures but that is only a fraction of what this project is about.
3) Server B then contacts Server A saying "user with cookievalue X has just visited me", Server A then says "Ok use this Ad cos this user likes that kind of thing" Server B would probably then set its own cookie with the same value as Server A's and propogate the effect.
This needs servers to be 'in' on the project... hmmm i wonder how much C|Net will pay to get other websites in on the act... Maybe it will become part of the T&Cs if you get your ads C|Net.
Actually reading this patent it deals explicitly with tracking a browser across different websites...
I'm not sure how this will work with "Only accept cookies originating from the as the page being viewed" option in netscape but there are clauses dealing with ebeding a unique id in the refering URL.
IANAL and the language in this patent is boggling to say the least.
I think the critical point is:
"5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:
executing an authentication operation at said first server computer to generate authentication data; and
archiving said authentication data in said database. "
Which i think means that a second server you connect to reads your cookie and checks with the first server to see if that value has been regestered... What happens if the second server can not access the cookie is not specified.
It will be very interesting to see the definitions set to test if a bit of code or program is a virus or not.
Seeing as any code fragment could be incorporated into a virus will this effectively outlaw coding?
To quote from the article
the Bill cites the offence as a catch-all "Causing danger to data processing systems".
Now call me paranoyed but this seemes a little too general... Will this also be extended to bugs in opperating systems that cause 'danger to data processing systems'?
This is just my reading of the article so all opinions are probaly flawed but a lot of people seem to be getting ideas mixed up here.
From what i understand of this article's core is that Dr Venter has managed to find the 350 basic genes that are required to allow a cell to function. I would presume that this gives the cell enough information to make the proteins and enzimes required to convert food into energy.
From the sounds of it Dr. Venter has been able to artifically build a strand of DNA containing these genes. I guess the Frankenstein stuff about dead cell parts prebaly means that there is still a step that means he can't create the cell structure for the DNA so needs a cell to host the new DNA.
To put it in programming terms this is a very basic kernel for the hardware of a cell. This is cool but leaves you with a machine that sits there not doing much. Now they need to work out what genes they need to make things happen.
Well AFIK Intel has nothing to do with the Amulet project which is Steve Furber's pet at the university of Manchester (UK). Take a look at the project home page.
The Amulet is not a StrongARM chip it is a processor that impliments the same instruction set as the ARM7 processor. Its goal is to achieve extremely high power efficency not primarily speed.
The main advantage of the asynchronous logic is the _very_ low power disipation when idle this is effectively zero. A lot better than the StrongARM design when idle which due to the compromises necessary for higher speeds leaks a subtantial amount of current. Also due to the asynchronous logic not all parts of the need to be running at all times, these logic cuicits do not need power when not in use so there is even less power drain.
There is another advantage and that is RF emmisions, without a clock there are no high level harmonics in the amulet core making it a very quiet chip.
Slashdot Mirror
Strangely no one has posted http://www.tadwilliams.com/ which has its front page turned over to news on this new game including a huge amount of artwork and many of Tad's thoughts on the project.
It's a shame you never checked out the website on the fly sheets of all the Otherland books. You might have found the Tad Williams mailing list which took on the ideas of the Treehouse.
Sadly the lyst lost support from Tad's then publishers and moved to yahoo groups where it slowly declined. This decline was made worse by Tad's shadowmarch project which formed its own message board community. The old mailing list now serves mostly as a means of notifying old friends about new births.
I have just been putting a new machine together using a SATA drive as the primary and no floppy. Only after plugging the lot in for the first time I discovered the slackware install CDROM would not talk SATA. Rather than burn another boot CD I used a USB CF reader and card.
Take a look at syslinux for more information on making a flash (or any FAT) drive boot a linux image. Makes life much easier if your kernels are too big for a floppy.
Tad as a bestseller author started a project where he had an idea, then opened that idea up on the web as an evolving and ongoing concern. He brings in art work from others, he starts a line of dialog with his readers which allows him to get a feel of what people want and where to take the story.
This is not open source, Tad has full ownership of Shadowmarch but it is something wild to experience where your complaints and whines are picked up and answered by a master of his art. When i read Shadowmarch and comment on the story, then have my questions answered in the next episode, it feels like i have griped about the linux kernel then had Linus say "Here you go, have that feature" instead of "Code it yourself".
Shadowmarch is published in plain HTML fairly portable and open really.
*sigh* indeed advertising would have helped, google for Tad Williams and Shadowmarch comes in number 3 ranking below a Fan page.
/. does not catch enough peoples interest.
It seems even exposure of
I personally would go for 'e' but objectively it would have to be 'd'
I would also like to point out that inspite of the story coming to a conclusion in August there is still much to be gained form subscribing even now.
You will get to read 30 or 31 chapters of an excelent fantasy story, access to some fantastic art and delve into the rich lore of a great fantasy world.
Typical, Why not go visit the site?
This is not a passive book you are going to download and sit reading, this is an experiment in interactive fiction. The story is the key element and there will be 2 episodes released each month (on the 1st and 15th) but it has not been pre-written and set in stone. Tad will be taking oppinions from the message boards to get an idea of what people are interested in, if there are characters who are to be explored in more depth and what people don't like. It is not often you get the chance to communicate with an author of Tad's talent and be involved in the creative process.
There is a hell of a lot more planed around the story, message boards, artwork (both fan and official), music, RPGs and whole virtual worlds. Sure you can rip off the words and pictures but that is only a fraction of what this project is about.
2) Everytime you visit site A the page is dynamically generated so that all links from that page are of a format,
http://ServerB/cookievalue/page.html
(my interpretation)
3) Server B then contacts Server A saying "user with cookievalue X has just visited me", Server A then says "Ok use this Ad cos this user likes that kind of thing" Server B would probably then set its own cookie with the same value as Server A's and propogate the effect.
This needs servers to be 'in' on the project... hmmm i wonder how much C|Net will pay to get other websites in on the act... Maybe it will become part of the T&Cs if you get your ads C|Net.
Things to think about...
Actually reading this patent it deals explicitly with tracking a browser across different websites...
I'm not sure how this will work with "Only accept cookies originating from the as the page being viewed" option in netscape but there are clauses dealing with ebeding a unique id in the refering URL.
IANAL and the language in this patent is boggling to say the least.
I think the critical point is:
"5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:
executing an authentication operation at said first server computer to generate
authentication data; and
archiving said authentication data in said database. "
Which i think means that a second server you connect to reads your cookie and checks with the first server to see if that value has been regestered... What happens if the second server can not access the cookie is not specified.
Garh! damn leagal talk...
Seeing as any code fragment could be incorporated into a virus will this effectively outlaw coding?
To quote from the article
Now call me paranoyed but this seemes a little too general... Will this also be extended to bugs in opperating systems that cause 'danger to data processing systems'?LES..
From what i understand of this article's core is that Dr Venter has managed to find the 350 basic genes that are required to allow a cell to function. I would presume that this gives the cell enough information to make the proteins and enzimes required to convert food into energy.
From the sounds of it Dr. Venter has been able to artifically build a strand of DNA containing these genes. I guess the Frankenstein stuff about dead cell parts prebaly means that there is still a step that means he can't create the cell structure for the DNA so needs a cell to host the new DNA.
To put it in programming terms this is a very basic kernel for the hardware of a cell. This is cool but leaves you with a machine that sits there not doing much. Now they need to work out what genes they need to make things happen.
Well thats just my take.
LES..
The Amulet is not a StrongARM chip it is a processor that impliments the same instruction set as the ARM7 processor. Its goal is to achieve extremely high power efficency not primarily speed.
The main advantage of the asynchronous logic is the _very_ low power disipation when idle this is effectively zero. A lot better than the StrongARM design when idle which due to the compromises necessary for higher speeds leaks a subtantial amount of current. Also due to the asynchronous logic not all parts of the need to be running at all times, these logic cuicits do not need power when not in use so there is even less power drain.
There is another advantage and that is RF emmisions, without a clock there are no high level harmonics in the amulet core making it a very quiet chip.
LES..