If you are interested in fuel cells, I would suggest materials science, as that field, and to a lesser extent chemical engineering, is where most of the research regarding fuel cells comes from. The materials engineers develop different microstructures for the anodes and cathodes needed to make more stable and efficient fuel cells.
Mythos was made by a couple of the old D2 devs and has very similar play style to Diablo. It's free right now, but I think only the European version is technically live. Things are in English, but some of the translations aren't so great, and there is only one half-decent website with info on finding items, though it happens to be in German. http://www.mythos-europe.com/
I agree completely. LEGOs are one of the best toys out there IMO. Without them, I may not have ended up being an engineer. They used to be the obvious gift for me for Christmas and my family would always end up getting me two or three sets. Even now that I'm 21, I still love these little bricks. Now I just tend to look for the more detailed sets like the Ultimate Collectors sets. I will be really sad if LEGO is driven out of business b/c of this decision.
Do you really want to go back to using Windows 3.1 just because it's slightly faster? I sure as hell don't.
Now that's an interesting suggestion. I wonder how fast Windows 3.1 would run on current hardware. Then we could run all of our productivity apps off of 3.1 and game designers could start writing for 3.1 again. It would be a perfect world.
What the homebrew does is allow you to install the virtual console (VC) games that Nintendo sells through the Wii Shop Channel. The Wii itself has built in emulators to handle all the old Nintendo systems plus some older stuff like Genesis. The process is fairly simple to work through, and then you get the benefit of using your Wii and the classic controller to play the games. Homebrew also lets you create your own games, but from what I've seen thus far they are mostly pretty simple and not as good as the VC or WiiWare games. If you would rather download an emulator and play on your PC, then nobody is stopping you. Some people just prefer to play their old console games on a console.
Despite the fact that the homebrew can't do a lot of crazy things, it does allow users to replay some old games that they may not have had played years without having to repurchase them. Sometimes people just want to be able to play through A Link to the Past again without having to rebuy the game. Also there's a lot of crappy WiiWare out there that may sound interesting but absolutely suck. Homebrew is a way to try out those games without losing any money on the bad ones like Pop.
Even if it was feasible to buy all these hard drives or a tape drive, the amount of time it would take to properly do all these back-ups on a useful time scale seems to be beyond the reach of the typical user. Even power users do other things in their lives than worry about their computers. I can't see somebody with enough free time to make CD or DVD or tape backups every so often. And if you are copying your whole 1+ TB drive then it would take forever. It may just be that because I'm a college student I have less time than most people with normal jobs, but I see my dad come home late from work almost every day, and then he's just too tired to want to do anything else. So maybe this whole discussion just becomes irrelevant because not too many people realistically have the time to be able to do all this backing up, and would rather just take the risk of running a RAID setup.
I think that even though the actual drives born of this technology are still a couple of years away, it is a big step. You may argue that the drives will be crippled by being tied to Sony, or that nobody will be using optical media that large, but I say with the current trend these discs will be very welcome. Everything will shift to HD and now you can easily fit multiple HD movies on a single disc. This also allows for the easy and even redundant back-up of a hard drive. If it will only take 10 mins to fill 100GB of the disc, then you could easily create 2 copies of your 500GB external in a couple of hours. That way when it dies with a stupid 1 yr warranty(never buying WD again) you have it all saved.
I think I would have to disagree. They could work with a one time fee when you buy the game, or you could have a subscription system like XBox Live, in combination with micro transactions. It would be either a small initial investment or a monthly fee that covers all games. Sony would then give a cut of the subscription fees to every company running an MMO. The small transactions would allow for a constant revenue stream as new items could be created or extra levels and skills and classes downloaded. Then you'd be back down to just $10 or $20 a month if on a subscription plan with small payments if you decide to update your games.
I once again worry about the interface. They will really need to ensure that communication is easy and not too annoying. If this means using a USB keyboard instead of a wireless headset, I don't think it would be too hard to get people to plug in a keyboard. Headsets could still be used within a party for easier communication.
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If you are interested in fuel cells, I would suggest materials science, as that field, and to a lesser extent chemical engineering, is where most of the research regarding fuel cells comes from. The materials engineers develop different microstructures for the anodes and cathodes needed to make more stable and efficient fuel cells.
Mythos was made by a couple of the old D2 devs and has very similar play style to Diablo. It's free right now, but I think only the European version is technically live. Things are in English, but some of the translations aren't so great, and there is only one half-decent website with info on finding items, though it happens to be in German. http://www.mythos-europe.com/
I agree completely. LEGOs are one of the best toys out there IMO. Without them, I may not have ended up being an engineer. They used to be the obvious gift for me for Christmas and my family would always end up getting me two or three sets. Even now that I'm 21, I still love these little bricks. Now I just tend to look for the more detailed sets like the Ultimate Collectors sets. I will be really sad if LEGO is driven out of business b/c of this decision.
Do you really want to go back to using Windows 3.1 just because it's slightly faster? I sure as hell don't.
Now that's an interesting suggestion. I wonder how fast Windows 3.1 would run on current hardware. Then we could run all of our productivity apps off of 3.1 and game designers could start writing for 3.1 again. It would be a perfect world.
What the homebrew does is allow you to install the virtual console (VC) games that Nintendo sells through the Wii Shop Channel. The Wii itself has built in emulators to handle all the old Nintendo systems plus some older stuff like Genesis. The process is fairly simple to work through, and then you get the benefit of using your Wii and the classic controller to play the games. Homebrew also lets you create your own games, but from what I've seen thus far they are mostly pretty simple and not as good as the VC or WiiWare games. If you would rather download an emulator and play on your PC, then nobody is stopping you. Some people just prefer to play their old console games on a console.
Despite the fact that the homebrew can't do a lot of crazy things, it does allow users to replay some old games that they may not have had played years without having to repurchase them. Sometimes people just want to be able to play through A Link to the Past again without having to rebuy the game. Also there's a lot of crappy WiiWare out there that may sound interesting but absolutely suck. Homebrew is a way to try out those games without losing any money on the bad ones like Pop.
Even if it was feasible to buy all these hard drives or a tape drive, the amount of time it would take to properly do all these back-ups on a useful time scale seems to be beyond the reach of the typical user. Even power users do other things in their lives than worry about their computers. I can't see somebody with enough free time to make CD or DVD or tape backups every so often. And if you are copying your whole 1+ TB drive then it would take forever. It may just be that because I'm a college student I have less time than most people with normal jobs, but I see my dad come home late from work almost every day, and then he's just too tired to want to do anything else. So maybe this whole discussion just becomes irrelevant because not too many people realistically have the time to be able to do all this backing up, and would rather just take the risk of running a RAID setup.
I think that even though the actual drives born of this technology are still a couple of years away, it is a big step. You may argue that the drives will be crippled by being tied to Sony, or that nobody will be using optical media that large, but I say with the current trend these discs will be very welcome. Everything will shift to HD and now you can easily fit multiple HD movies on a single disc. This also allows for the easy and even redundant back-up of a hard drive. If it will only take 10 mins to fill 100GB of the disc, then you could easily create 2 copies of your 500GB external in a couple of hours. That way when it dies with a stupid 1 yr warranty(never buying WD again) you have it all saved.
I think I would have to disagree. They could work with a one time fee when you buy the game, or you could have a subscription system like XBox Live, in combination with micro transactions. It would be either a small initial investment or a monthly fee that covers all games. Sony would then give a cut of the subscription fees to every company running an MMO. The small transactions would allow for a constant revenue stream as new items could be created or extra levels and skills and classes downloaded. Then you'd be back down to just $10 or $20 a month if on a subscription plan with small payments if you decide to update your games. I once again worry about the interface. They will really need to ensure that communication is easy and not too annoying. If this means using a USB keyboard instead of a wireless headset, I don't think it would be too hard to get people to plug in a keyboard. Headsets could still be used within a party for easier communication.
maybe because a solar cell is way more expensive than a battery and would probably need to be about twice the size of your laptop to keep it powered.