Quoth the Coward, "Does anyone here seriously still use Internet Explorer? Why would you do that?"
Err, because we can't all be bothered to install a second browser on all our work PCs when Microsoft made sure you can't get the disk space back on the one you wouldn't use any more, obviously. Its not great, but it usually works.
I don't know about you (which is why I'm asking), but does anyone here seriously still have the ability to have Internet Explorer play MIDI files off web pages turned on? Why would you do that?
I've never met a page where its been anything other than horribly annoying, but then I so rarely use a browser that hasn't got it turned off that I don't tend to look for them.
Its like trying to browse through a website sitting next to someone whose mobile phone keeps going off - eurgh!
So, can anyone list a site that actually gains something from this horrible phenomenon?
"you can construct some kind of hacked MIDI keyboard that just plugs into the computer you want to compromise."
Now this just has to be the next/. poll:
Which tune should you have to play to get the admin password through MIDI? Personally, I vote for the Mission: Impossible theme, but I'm sure someone has a better idea.
"Automatic NOTICES are a good thing, automatic INSTALLS are not.."
Automatic notices are the default option, if memory serves. Certainly, thats what my XP Home machine is set to do. You can choose to have automatic install should you wish, but you don't have to. I left it on notify only, not because I find their EULA notices scary, but simply because I didn't want it deciding that I really shouldn't check my 3 items of email over a 56k connection without installing 20Mb of patches for unrelated things first.
If you do visit Alcatraz, make sure you take the Ranger tour of the natural history of the island.
I kind of poo-poohed the idea when my wife wanted to do it, but it ended up being the best part of the trip. The guys really know their stuff, and explain a bunch about the previous 150 years of the island before it became a prison.
And we saw a hummingbird. In the wild. Which was just beautiful.
My mate got a move to our Alameda office, and so every time I've been to see him this gag has been used at least 50 times. We're not even Star Trek geeks, and yet its just completely irresistable.
Aaah, I see. I understand about your average greengrocer not shipping fruit, its just that I was having one of those "Fruit" == "Citrus Fruit" brainouts, and so the idea or ordering fruit online and expecting it to arrive either fresh or undamaged seemed weird.
Quite apart from the fact that you've pointed out how easy it is to get both an SP and a mobile phone for less than the price of this, you're ignoring a couple of rather big points.
1) Number of people interested in possibly getting an N-Gage that don't already have a mobile phone: Naff all.
2) Number of people who fancy the idea of trying mobile gaming who won't either already have an SP, or be able to get hold of a non-SP GBA for under £50 now us gadget freaks have all upgraded: Even less.
3) Price of a perfectly good Nokia 3510i (which plays a not-bad Prince Of Persia in full colour itself) under a contract £0 (got one a couple of months back).
The analogy with the Dreamcast is fundamentally flawed. The DC tragically died, despite being able to hand all then-available competition its arse (and, in the end, compared pretty well with the first 18 months of PS2 output), because people were looking forward to the PS2.
While the N-Gage is going to be killed by people doing the same with the PSP, its also noticeably inferior to the GBA, so its still-birth won't be mourned at all.
My GForce 2 Ultra card easily comes in faster than the GF1 minimum, but I've only got a 900MHz Athlon. Presumably, this means its not going to do anything like run ok.
But, the reason I've not bothered upgrading my CPU is because I play most of my games on my Xbox. Which only contains a 700MHz Celeron (or was it even slower? I can't remember).
So am I really waiting for Xbox release, because the significantly faster processor in the PC is actually not good enough? Weird.
Namco might have considered calling the game just plain "Beyond Good & Evil" in English, but then there is the small matter of that also being the title of the next platform game from the Rayman team. Using German is probably their only way round a long boring trademark argument.
"This may be obvious to some but why did Kernel Sanders give Neo the choice of the two doors...
The problem is choice..."
For the same reason the final Animatrix episode sees the humans trying to persuade a machine over to their side, presumably - someone who chooses to work for you (even if its because you gave them an uninformed choice) does a much better job than someone who feels they are forced to.
So far, I've been really enjoying the Tolkien Risk that came out last year, but I've not really given it enough play yet. The new board is really interesting, as you can't do the same old strategies, and the heroes and fortresses make strategy pretty different too.
Best of all is the Fellowship movement, which keeps game length down and means that even in a four player game you're likely to all still be alive at the end.
Has anyone played this enough to get some more detailed opinions yet? Strategy-wise Rohan seems to be the new Australasia for us, for instance.
I was going to hold out for the PC release of Halo myself, until I realised that the Xbox needed to play it today cost less than the new graphics card I'd need to play it when it eventually got to PC.
They practically give Xboxes away in cereal packets now (I'm sure they would actually do so if they fitted - b'dum tssh) so it does seem pretty pointless.
As for the whole mouse thing, it only takes a short while to get used to it; certainly a lot less than it took to get used to mouse rather than keys in the first place.
"I don't believe in art you can just pump out on a regular basis"
Charles Dickens originally published most of his novels a chapter at a time in magazines. Does this mean that there is no art in Great Expectations?
Does the fact that I need to go back to the concert hall the following night to hear the second part of Wagner's Ring cycle mean that his music has no art?
Here's my interpretation, pretty similiar to yours.
We know from The Animatrix (specifically World Record and Kid's Story) that its possible for some people to extract themselves from The Matrix without outside help. Logically, that kind of had to be the case anyway, otherwise no-one would rescue the first person out (there are whole issues about creation myths here, but thats another post).
We know that the only strange thing Neo has done outside the Matrix is cause a bunch of machines to malfunction.
So, what if Neo, though whatever meddling The Architect is referring to, can enter the Matrix through his own will, as well as leave it? The machines are wired in the whole time in order to communicate with each other - it seems to me that the most logical way for them to have been attacked is if Neo hit their connections.
Again, this is something that we might see played out in Revolutions - if Neo can yank stuff out of the Matrix just by thinking about it then its going to stir up some serious fighting.
" can't believe people try to read into this hack of a movie so much. The Wachowski bros or whatever are hacks that just made an action film."
People keep saying this in every Matrix-related thread. Why is it so difficult to grasp the idea that an action movie doesn't have to be completely dumb? Action movies never used to be dumb, they don't have to be now.
There is plenty of comment about America's attemts to keep nature under control, and at arms length behind white picket fences in Jaws, but that doesn't stop it being exciting. The Terminator deals with the issue of fate and our ability to shape the future by our choices in a very serious way, but Arnie still kicks arse. Why shouldn't The Matrix do the same?
At least as far as serial numbers and holograms go, in my experience (which basically consists of noticing whats on the dodgy software stands at car boot sales while I'm hunting for rare vinyl) there are two parts to the question.
On the one hand, these don't seem to slow pirates down that much - anyone can write a serial down, and its a relatively low level of copy protection to crack. On the other, however, it does make it blindingly obvious for anyone passing that these aren't originals. Claiming ignorance about what is being sold or purchased is right out, so prosecution is a lot simpler.
"One of the boys was seen on Chinese television telling police interrogators that he had started the fire in an act of revenge because staff at the cybercafe had refused to let him play computer games there."
Just the other day, when I was in the supermarket someone's toddler kicked my shins because I wouldn't give him the pen I was signing my recipt with. I don't think we can ban writing implements on this basis...
Thailand isn't some 3rd World backwater where everyone sleeps together in reed huts, you know. Apart from anything else, the suggestion that anyone, anywhere, is able to afford a modern shiny PC hooked up to a broadband connection, and yet not spend the money on a house big enough to sleep every member of their family is rather strange.
On matters like censorship, I generally agree with you - because kids might see something at a friend's house, school etc, when you're not present to see what they are up to.
But the simple act of not letting them play PC games after 10pm is another thing entirely. Thats as simple as not putting the machine in their bedroom.
I agree its basically a Microsoft puff piece, but its actually pretty true.
Dreamcast servers have been switched off now (possibly except PSO, I'm not sure). So they don't count.
PS2 only has a couple of games online; Socom (not something I'd want to play in my spare time if practising how to shoot people in teams was my day job) and Twisted Metal: Black (which, frankly, sucks in my opinion). I'm not aware of a third yet.
Gamecube has PSO. Which is also available on the Xbox.
Admittedly, the best choice of platform for online by a country mile is the PC, but if you want the simplicity (and manufacturer subsidy, no doubt) of a console then Xbox is the way to go.
Slashdot Mirror
Quoth the Coward, "Does anyone here seriously still use Internet Explorer? Why would you do that?"
Err, because we can't all be bothered to install a second browser on all our work PCs when Microsoft made sure you can't get the disk space back on the one you wouldn't use any more, obviously. Its not great, but it usually works.
I don't know about you (which is why I'm asking), but does anyone here seriously still have the ability to have Internet Explorer play MIDI files off web pages turned on? Why would you do that?
I've never met a page where its been anything other than horribly annoying, but then I so rarely use a browser that hasn't got it turned off that I don't tend to look for them.
Its like trying to browse through a website sitting next to someone whose mobile phone keeps going off - eurgh!
So, can anyone list a site that actually gains something from this horrible phenomenon?
"you can construct some kind of hacked MIDI keyboard that just plugs into the computer you want to compromise."
/. poll:
Now this just has to be the next
Which tune should you have to play to get the admin password through MIDI? Personally, I vote for the Mission: Impossible theme, but I'm sure someone has a better idea.
"Only every single supported version of Windows has this flaw? Thank God, I thought I was in trouble here"
Yes, this does indeed mean that pirate copies of the OS can't be infected, as they are not supported by Microsoft. Really, it does...
"Automatic NOTICES are a good thing, automatic INSTALLS are not.."
Automatic notices are the default option, if memory serves. Certainly, thats what my XP Home machine is set to do. You can choose to have automatic install should you wish, but you don't have to. I left it on notify only, not because I find their EULA notices scary, but simply because I didn't want it deciding that I really shouldn't check my 3 items of email over a 56k connection without installing 20Mb of patches for unrelated things first.
The Diefenbunker might be the only bunker over there thats open, but we have one here in the UK as well.
It still gets a giggle every time I drive past it - they have a directions sign that just says:
-- Secret Bunker
Comedy genius from the MOD there.
If you do visit Alcatraz, make sure you take the Ranger tour of the natural history of the island.
I kind of poo-poohed the idea when my wife wanted to do it, but it ended up being the best part of the trip. The guys really know their stuff, and explain a bunch about the previous 150 years of the island before it became a prison.
And we saw a hummingbird. In the wild. Which was just beautiful.
Not terribly geeky, but beautiful nonetheless.
"Have you seen the Nuclear Wessels?"
Oh dear God no.
My mate got a move to our Alameda office, and so every time I've been to see him this gag has been used at least 50 times. We're not even Star Trek geeks, and yet its just completely irresistable.
Aaah, I see. I understand about your average greengrocer not shipping fruit, its just that I was having one of those "Fruit" == "Citrus Fruit" brainouts, and so the idea or ordering fruit online and expecting it to arrive either fresh or undamaged seemed weird.
You want to buy fresh apples? Why would you search on Google rather than walking to your nearest greengrocer?
Selling fruit over the internet sounds like the worst kind of dotcom daftness made flesh; I thought we got away from that rubbish ages ago.
But then the whole article just screams "Googel is teh Biast!!!" in a horribly GameFAQs way.
Quite apart from the fact that you've pointed out how easy it is to get both an SP and a mobile phone for less than the price of this, you're ignoring a couple of rather big points.
1) Number of people interested in possibly getting an N-Gage that don't already have a mobile phone: Naff all.
2) Number of people who fancy the idea of trying mobile gaming who won't either already have an SP, or be able to get hold of a non-SP GBA for under £50 now us gadget freaks have all upgraded: Even less.
3) Price of a perfectly good Nokia 3510i (which plays a not-bad Prince Of Persia in full colour itself) under a contract £0 (got one a couple of months back).
The analogy with the Dreamcast is fundamentally flawed. The DC tragically died, despite being able to hand all then-available competition its arse (and, in the end, compared pretty well with the first 18 months of PS2 output), because people were looking forward to the PS2.
While the N-Gage is going to be killed by people doing the same with the PSP, its also noticeably inferior to the GBA, so its still-birth won't be mourned at all.
My GForce 2 Ultra card easily comes in faster than the GF1 minimum, but I've only got a 900MHz Athlon. Presumably, this means its not going to do anything like run ok.
But, the reason I've not bothered upgrading my CPU is because I play most of my games on my Xbox. Which only contains a 700MHz Celeron (or was it even slower? I can't remember).
So am I really waiting for Xbox release, because the significantly faster processor in the PC is actually not good enough? Weird.
Namco might have considered calling the game just plain "Beyond Good & Evil" in English, but then there is the small matter of that also being the title of the next platform game from the Rayman team. Using German is probably their only way round a long boring trademark argument.
Bloody newbie internet users. Its like someone uninvented Usenet round here these days.
"This may be obvious to some but why did Kernel Sanders give Neo the choice of the two doors...
The problem is choice..."
For the same reason the final Animatrix episode sees the humans trying to persuade a machine over to their side, presumably - someone who chooses to work for you (even if its because you gave them an uninformed choice) does a much better job than someone who feels they are forced to.
So far, I've been really enjoying the Tolkien Risk that came out last year, but I've not really given it enough play yet. The new board is really interesting, as you can't do the same old strategies, and the heroes and fortresses make strategy pretty different too.
Best of all is the Fellowship movement, which keeps game length down and means that even in a four player game you're likely to all still be alive at the end.
Has anyone played this enough to get some more detailed opinions yet? Strategy-wise Rohan seems to be the new Australasia for us, for instance.
I was going to hold out for the PC release of Halo myself, until I realised that the Xbox needed to play it today cost less than the new graphics card I'd need to play it when it eventually got to PC.
They practically give Xboxes away in cereal packets now (I'm sure they would actually do so if they fitted - b'dum tssh) so it does seem pretty pointless.
As for the whole mouse thing, it only takes a short while to get used to it; certainly a lot less than it took to get used to mouse rather than keys in the first place.
"I don't believe in art you can just pump out on a regular basis"
Charles Dickens originally published most of his novels a chapter at a time in magazines. Does this mean that there is no art in Great Expectations?
Does the fact that I need to go back to the concert hall the following night to hear the second part of Wagner's Ring cycle mean that his music has no art?
Here's my interpretation, pretty similiar to yours.
We know from The Animatrix (specifically World Record and Kid's Story) that its possible for some people to extract themselves from The Matrix without outside help. Logically, that kind of had to be the case anyway, otherwise no-one would rescue the first person out (there are whole issues about creation myths here, but thats another post).
We know that the only strange thing Neo has done outside the Matrix is cause a bunch of machines to malfunction.
So, what if Neo, though whatever meddling The Architect is referring to, can enter the Matrix through his own will, as well as leave it? The machines are wired in the whole time in order to communicate with each other - it seems to me that the most logical way for them to have been attacked is if Neo hit their connections.
Again, this is something that we might see played out in Revolutions - if Neo can yank stuff out of the Matrix just by thinking about it then its going to stir up some serious fighting.
" can't believe people try to read into this hack of a movie so much. The Wachowski bros or whatever are hacks that just made an action film."
People keep saying this in every Matrix-related thread. Why is it so difficult to grasp the idea that an action movie doesn't have to be completely dumb? Action movies never used to be dumb, they don't have to be now.
There is plenty of comment about America's attemts to keep nature under control, and at arms length behind white picket fences in Jaws, but that doesn't stop it being exciting. The Terminator deals with the issue of fate and our ability to shape the future by our choices in a very serious way, but Arnie still kicks arse. Why shouldn't The Matrix do the same?
At least as far as serial numbers and holograms go, in my experience (which basically consists of noticing whats on the dodgy software stands at car boot sales while I'm hunting for rare vinyl) there are two parts to the question.
On the one hand, these don't seem to slow pirates down that much - anyone can write a serial down, and its a relatively low level of copy protection to crack. On the other, however, it does make it blindingly obvious for anyone passing that these aren't originals. Claiming ignorance about what is being sold or purchased is right out, so prosecution is a lot simpler.
"One of the boys was seen on Chinese television telling police interrogators that he had started the fire in an act of revenge because staff at the cybercafe had refused to let him play computer games there."
Just the other day, when I was in the supermarket someone's toddler kicked my shins because I wouldn't give him the pen I was signing my recipt with. I don't think we can ban writing implements on this basis...
Err, are you serious?
Thailand isn't some 3rd World backwater where everyone sleeps together in reed huts, you know. Apart from anything else, the suggestion that anyone, anywhere, is able to afford a modern shiny PC hooked up to a broadband connection, and yet not spend the money on a house big enough to sleep every member of their family is rather strange.
On matters like censorship, I generally agree with you - because kids might see something at a friend's house, school etc, when you're not present to see what they are up to.
But the simple act of not letting them play PC games after 10pm is another thing entirely. Thats as simple as not putting the machine in their bedroom.
I agree its basically a Microsoft puff piece, but its actually pretty true.
Dreamcast servers have been switched off now (possibly except PSO, I'm not sure). So they don't count.
PS2 only has a couple of games online; Socom (not something I'd want to play in my spare time if practising how to shoot people in teams was my day job) and Twisted Metal: Black (which, frankly, sucks in my opinion). I'm not aware of a third yet.
Gamecube has PSO. Which is also available on the Xbox.
Admittedly, the best choice of platform for online by a country mile is the PC, but if you want the simplicity (and manufacturer subsidy, no doubt) of a console then Xbox is the way to go.