Did you really not notice the way the phone Keanu drops off the building hung in mid-air for half a second so you could read the exact brand and model number?
Of course the nastiest thing about mobile phone use in The Matrix is the way the whole team use Nokias, except the backstabbing turncoat who has a Motorola!
Re:Free (as in free speech) hardware
on
CPRM Voted Down
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· Score: 1
Well, if Haynes made a manual for your Ferrari then it could be considered a libre one. You might wreck the service history, but you won't be breaking any laws next time you take a ratchet set to the engine.
I kind of agree that 'Open' would be a better way of describing the hardware than 'Free' however.
Does anyone know why Apple are so shy of the NeXTStep links? Personally, I thought NeXT was one of the nicest machines I've ever used, and the thought of OSX being similiar is the main reason why I've been considering getting a Mac. My experience of pre-OSX versions of MacOS has been abysmal; its not that its particularly non-intuitive, but its just similiar enough for someone who had an Amiga and then Windows and later Solaris boxes to let you do real damage. It looks like it, but if you use it in the same way then the OS gets thoroughly confusing, leaving multiple copies of files around, deleting stuff you meant to move and other generally unpleasant things.
I think what is added is that its an environment that contains a VERY good Java VM, along with several other features such as ease of multiplatform development for things that are cumbersome in Java, and rather than attempt to write their own VM etc. they have decided its simpler to use the Amiga one.
"I was under the impression that you could create for your own use, a device of any kind, whether patented or not. It is only illegal to sell the product."
Possibly, but what do you think the farmer is growing the crop for, if not to sell it? I don't think Monsanto should win this, but unfortunately that argument won't save the farmer.
thank you for that; for some reason it just cracked me up completely.
Re:To everyone who says PS2 sucks, read this
on
Dreamcast Postmortem
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· Score: 1
Technically, there is nothing wrong with the PS2's internals, although they are indeed crap when compared to what we were hyped to expect (no surprise there; the thing would have had to make a GeForce2 look like a Voodoo2 to live up to its hype). The problem I (and many others) have with the machine is that the games currently available are dire almost without exception, and the best looking thing out there is a 1 level demo for a game that is scheduled to arrive around about the same time Halo for XBox does. From a number of polys a second viewpoint the ps2 beats the Dreamcast hands down. From a number of games worth buying position, the PS2 doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Not only Phantasy Star Online; show me a review that doesn't feel the need to point out how supporting online play means that DC Q3A wipes the floor with the just released PS2 version, or PS2 UT for that matter. My modem gets regular use here.
Apart from anything, just try to show me a better $99 WebTV box. Certainly beats the PS2's half-assed attempt at being a DVD player.
If you'd prefer your Dreamcast to last until the release of XBox, then let it do so! There is still Crazy Taxi 2 (which kicks arse, by the way), Sonic Adventure 2, a new version of Half Life (officially the greatest PC game of all time) and others on the way, and if you've played until boredom all the great games already available then you're bored faster than me. Lets see - have you completed:
Soul Calibur, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Ecco, M-SR, F355, DOA2, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, Rayman 2, Space Channel 5, Chu Chu Rocket, Samba De Amigo, Sega Rally 2, Sega GT, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Phantasy Star Online, Daytona, etc, etc...
Tons of games out there for this great machine. In fact I'd say there are more great games for the Dreamcast than there are even ok ones for the PS2!
With the take off of DVD, more and more people are in my position: not a single player in my posession is missing a digital out.
1) Laserdisc player that doubles as my main CD player.
2) DVD player that doubles as my secondary CD player.
3) CD Walkman.
4) DVD ROM drive.
5) CD Writer.
All have either an optical, coaxial or IDE digital audio out. So, either you give me a CD that I can get to work on a player that would allow me (if I so chose) to make a digital copy from, or the disc goes back to the shop as faulty. Its up to them...
As the AC says, 30fps would be fine for smooth movement, but only if we have motion blur. 30 to 60 fps on a non-motion blurred render is really really simple to see - ages ago, 3dfx did a demo for the Voodoo2 of a splitscreen 30/60 fps scene, to persuade people to upgrade their cards to what was, at the time, considered overkill.
On the other hand though, at one point someone (I think it was Carmack if I remember) tried comparing a 200fps scene to one that was rendered at 200fps and then this used to form a motion blurred 30fps, the latter was fine.
My original point though was that current LCD screens have enough refresh delay that a quick pan in a 3d game turns the screen into a hideous blur, rather than allowing you to see detail as it flies past. When running past high contrast objects in a 3d game it can be difficult to see people entering the edge of the screen.
Its great to see they are using new organic LEDs - they work so much better than the ones covered in pesticides...
Anyway. The real, real question is have they managed to get refresh rates fast enough to play games yet? I see 'faster', but not enough details to see if it can keep up with 60fps Counterstrike games. Going back to the recent story about grips, LAN parties are held back mainly by the monitor bulk, not machine size.
I think the point is, that his Daikatana not only sucked as a bad game, but sucked the life out of other, better products that were sacrificed to pay for its development, particularly the genius that was Looking Glass, who watched games like the Thief series and System Shock II fail to get a marketing push because they were too busy hyping a game two years late and dire when it did come out.
If you're going to put a Doom name on the list its got to be Carmack; without his engine design the relentless improvement in 3D game graphics wouldn't be where it is - and don't forget that Half-life (the best PC game ever!) is based off the Quake II one.
err. try that again? There was a mention of OSX on Friday, a rather busy and full discussion of it in fact, that dealt with several of the points of its release on that date, and you're annoyed because they didn't run another story to say 'yes, just as we've just told you, OSX is out now and its feature incomplete, just as we talked about'. Not news, methinks; I'm all talked out about an OS I won't be buying for a few months yet (until its deemed good enough to ship as the default OS in Mac boxes, as I don't have one right now).
Besides, everyone knows that the story moderation is 'quirky' to say the least. Posting one story doesn't affect the decision to post another very much.
sneaky followup - its easy to tell that the video is compressed; at a resolution of 720x480 for NTSC, 720x576 for PAL, and a colour depth of (roughly) 16 bit (the details of Mpeg2's real colour depth are quite complex as its greyscale is a different resolution to its colour) means an uncompressed NTSC frame would be 675k, or 5529600 bytes. Taking a two-hour movie at 24 frames a second leaves a total storage requirement of 111GB for video only, not the 4-8GB that such a movie regularly fits into including soundtracks.
Indeed, the Spoon(42)man speaks the truth. The video is in Mpeg2 format with a variable bitrate, and the audio is either uncompressed PCM (rare), Dolby Digital or DTS (copyright Dolby and DTS respectively) with a maximum total bitrate for the lot of 9.8Mbit/s.
Re:I'm very leery of this wrt Second Amendment rig
on
Hacking Biology
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· Score: 1
disclaimer: funny joke, so I'm not being serious here.
Anyway...
How does the bullet resistance matter when only one side isn't allowed bombs?;)
So does this mean that my grandparents can demand the modifications between their source and mine be made public?:)
Re:DVD features more important than on windows
on
Another Look At OS X
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· Score: 1
The 59 minute limit is an important point for those wanting to do nice transfers of films, but I think its an acceptable compromise. The hardware isn't to the point where you'll get a full 9Meg a side on a disc like you can with a commercial dual-layer one, and in order to simplify the compression program they've gone for a fixed, reasonably high bitrate. Remember, Jobs claims that iMovie will compress a full 1 hour disc in 2 hours. Last time I looked at similiar Mpeg2 compression for a P!!! 900 it took about a day or so.
Also, for those of us who are used to good old laserdiscs, getting one hour per disc side is just like the good old days, and if you're transferring your films from here then you're getting a nice break where you need it. Plus, I can imagine getting this stuff past the MPAA must be a bit easier when a copy of Star Wars needs to be a 3-disc set before you put any extras on it, and I'd rather have the tech as it is than not at all.
DVD features more important than on windows
on
Another Look At OS X
·
· Score: 2
In my case at least, whats attracting me to the new Macs is the recently-unveiled iMovie software and SmartDrive hardware that means you can master your own DVDs that will play in normal machines. This is really cool, groundbreaking stuff, but if it doesn't work yet in OSX then I won't be buying one till its fixed.
Mind you, they must have known about this for a while; newly bought Macs with this stuff won't be shipping with OSX installed intil June/July, so thats about when I'd expect to see a complete feature set available.
well, there are women there, but they're mates or mates' girlfriends, so thats ok. Its the sort of games you're intending to play thats the important thing;)
Slashdot Mirror
Did you really not notice the way the phone Keanu drops off the building hung in mid-air for half a second so you could read the exact brand and model number?
Of course the nastiest thing about mobile phone use in The Matrix is the way the whole team use Nokias, except the backstabbing turncoat who has a Motorola!
Well, if Haynes made a manual for your Ferrari then it could be considered a libre one. You might wreck the service history, but you won't be breaking any laws next time you take a ratchet set to the engine.
I kind of agree that 'Open' would be a better way of describing the hardware than 'Free' however.
Does anyone know why Apple are so shy of the NeXTStep links? Personally, I thought NeXT was one of the nicest machines I've ever used, and the thought of OSX being similiar is the main reason why I've been considering getting a Mac. My experience of pre-OSX versions of MacOS has been abysmal; its not that its particularly non-intuitive, but its just similiar enough for someone who had an Amiga and then Windows and later Solaris boxes to let you do real damage. It looks like it, but if you use it in the same way then the OS gets thoroughly confusing, leaving multiple copies of files around, deleting stuff you meant to move and other generally unpleasant things.
I take it you noticed the links to other stories? Bush's speech under the title 'All your Base are belong to us' indeed...
I think what is added is that its an environment that contains a VERY good Java VM, along with several other features such as ease of multiplatform development for things that are cumbersome in Java, and rather than attempt to write their own VM etc. they have decided its simpler to use the Amiga one.
"I was under the impression that you could create for your own use, a device of any kind, whether patented or not. It is only illegal to sell the product."
Possibly, but what do you think the farmer is growing the crop for, if not to sell it? I don't think Monsanto should win this, but unfortunately that argument won't save the farmer.
thank you for that; for some reason it just cracked me up completely.
Technically, there is nothing wrong with the PS2's internals, although they are indeed crap when compared to what we were hyped to expect (no surprise there; the thing would have had to make a GeForce2 look like a Voodoo2 to live up to its hype). The problem I (and many others) have with the machine is that the games currently available are dire almost without exception, and the best looking thing out there is a 1 level demo for a game that is scheduled to arrive around about the same time Halo for XBox does. From a number of polys a second viewpoint the ps2 beats the Dreamcast hands down. From a number of games worth buying position, the PS2 doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Not only Phantasy Star Online; show me a review that doesn't feel the need to point out how supporting online play means that DC Q3A wipes the floor with the just released PS2 version, or PS2 UT for that matter. My modem gets regular use here.
Apart from anything, just try to show me a better $99 WebTV box. Certainly beats the PS2's half-assed attempt at being a DVD player.
If you'd prefer your Dreamcast to last until the release of XBox, then let it do so! There is still Crazy Taxi 2 (which kicks arse, by the way), Sonic Adventure 2, a new version of Half Life (officially the greatest PC game of all time) and others on the way, and if you've played until boredom all the great games already available then you're bored faster than me. Lets see - have you completed:
Soul Calibur, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Ecco, M-SR, F355, DOA2, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, Rayman 2, Space Channel 5, Chu Chu Rocket, Samba De Amigo, Sega Rally 2, Sega GT, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Phantasy Star Online, Daytona, etc, etc...
Tons of games out there for this great machine. In fact I'd say there are more great games for the Dreamcast than there are even ok ones for the PS2!
With the take off of DVD, more and more people are in my position: not a single player in my posession is missing a digital out.
1) Laserdisc player that doubles as my main CD player.
2) DVD player that doubles as my secondary CD player.
3) CD Walkman.
4) DVD ROM drive.
5) CD Writer.
All have either an optical, coaxial or IDE digital audio out. So, either you give me a CD that I can get to work on a player that would allow me (if I so chose) to make a digital copy from, or the disc goes back to the shop as faulty. Its up to them...
As the AC says, 30fps would be fine for smooth movement, but only if we have motion blur. 30 to 60 fps on a non-motion blurred render is really really simple to see - ages ago, 3dfx did a demo for the Voodoo2 of a splitscreen 30/60 fps scene, to persuade people to upgrade their cards to what was, at the time, considered overkill.
On the other hand though, at one point someone (I think it was Carmack if I remember) tried comparing a 200fps scene to one that was rendered at 200fps and then this used to form a motion blurred 30fps, the latter was fine.
My original point though was that current LCD screens have enough refresh delay that a quick pan in a 3d game turns the screen into a hideous blur, rather than allowing you to see detail as it flies past. When running past high contrast objects in a 3d game it can be difficult to see people entering the edge of the screen.
Ok, lets tie this in with the earlier story about new funky organic LEDs for a cool display, before we get too excited...
Why spend $500 a time, when the whole lot will probably end up being used as texturemaps on Microsloth Flightsim 2010?
Its marked as 'flamebait' because it is. 'Organic' simply means that it uses organic compounds. NOT animals. Did you skip chemistry at school?
Its great to see they are using new organic LEDs - they work so much better than the ones covered in pesticides... Anyway. The real, real question is have they managed to get refresh rates fast enough to play games yet? I see 'faster', but not enough details to see if it can keep up with 60fps Counterstrike games. Going back to the recent story about grips, LAN parties are held back mainly by the monitor bulk, not machine size.
I think the point is, that his Daikatana not only sucked as a bad game, but sucked the life out of other, better products that were sacrificed to pay for its development, particularly the genius that was Looking Glass, who watched games like the Thief series and System Shock II fail to get a marketing push because they were too busy hyping a game two years late and dire when it did come out.
If you're going to put a Doom name on the list its got to be Carmack; without his engine design the relentless improvement in 3D game graphics wouldn't be where it is - and don't forget that Half-life (the best PC game ever!) is based off the Quake II one.
err. try that again? There was a mention of OSX on Friday, a rather busy and full discussion of it in fact, that dealt with several of the points of its release on that date, and you're annoyed because they didn't run another story to say 'yes, just as we've just told you, OSX is out now and its feature incomplete, just as we talked about'. Not news, methinks; I'm all talked out about an OS I won't be buying for a few months yet (until its deemed good enough to ship as the default OS in Mac boxes, as I don't have one right now).
Besides, everyone knows that the story moderation is 'quirky' to say the least. Posting one story doesn't affect the decision to post another very much.
sneaky followup - its easy to tell that the video is compressed; at a resolution of 720x480 for NTSC, 720x576 for PAL, and a colour depth of (roughly) 16 bit (the details of Mpeg2's real colour depth are quite complex as its greyscale is a different resolution to its colour) means an uncompressed NTSC frame would be 675k, or 5529600 bytes. Taking a two-hour movie at 24 frames a second leaves a total storage requirement of 111GB for video only, not the 4-8GB that such a movie regularly fits into including soundtracks.
Indeed, the Spoon(42)man speaks the truth. The video is in Mpeg2 format with a variable bitrate, and the audio is either uncompressed PCM (rare), Dolby Digital or DTS (copyright Dolby and DTS respectively) with a maximum total bitrate for the lot of 9.8Mbit/s.
disclaimer: funny joke, so I'm not being serious here.
;)
Anyway...
How does the bullet resistance matter when only one side isn't allowed bombs?
So does this mean that my grandparents can demand the modifications between their source and mine be made public? :)
The 59 minute limit is an important point for those wanting to do nice transfers of films, but I think its an acceptable compromise. The hardware isn't to the point where you'll get a full 9Meg a side on a disc like you can with a commercial dual-layer one, and in order to simplify the compression program they've gone for a fixed, reasonably high bitrate. Remember, Jobs claims that iMovie will compress a full 1 hour disc in 2 hours. Last time I looked at similiar Mpeg2 compression for a P!!! 900 it took about a day or so.
Also, for those of us who are used to good old laserdiscs, getting one hour per disc side is just like the good old days, and if you're transferring your films from here then you're getting a nice break where you need it. Plus, I can imagine getting this stuff past the MPAA must be a bit easier when a copy of Star Wars needs to be a 3-disc set before you put any extras on it, and I'd rather have the tech as it is than not at all.
In my case at least, whats attracting me to the new Macs is the recently-unveiled iMovie software and SmartDrive hardware that means you can master your own DVDs that will play in normal machines. This is really cool, groundbreaking stuff, but if it doesn't work yet in OSX then I won't be buying one till its fixed.
Mind you, they must have known about this for a while; newly bought Macs with this stuff won't be shipping with OSX installed intil June/July, so thats about when I'd expect to see a complete feature set available.
well, there are women there, but they're mates or mates' girlfriends, so thats ok. Its the sort of games you're intending to play thats the important thing ;)