Clickthroughs are bullshit. Everyone is making up this bull about "pathetic clickthroughs", "low effectiveness", etc, etc. How the hell can you measure clickthroughs for any other type of media? How many clickthroughs do TV companies have? ZERO. Yet they still manage to earn SHITLOADS of cash AND run the show (which is far more expensive than the whole OSDN network). Nobody except morons with an IQ nearing zero buys stuff directly after seeing a banner. And these morons never read slashdot - they watch the stupid TV infomercials, as in "buy this deluxe footrest for only $200 and we'll throw in a free toilet seat" or whatever. I always do some research on stuff I buy. Sure, banner ads as well as any other medium CAN influence my decision. However, the stuff that influences me the most are USER EXPERIENCES. Sure, advertising can influence a minor decision. That's not the point, though. The point is to build brand recognition, when you associate a name with something good. Banner ads work perfectly for that purpose. The only reason they are "failing" now is because everyone has realized that the internet does not change basic economic rules and that you cannot have so much competition and still have a piece of the market. Another reason is that there is a general downturn in the economy. Therefore, businesses that could not make money are being hit harder and are going out of business. But banners are alive and kicking.
This is not true. Adobe CAN charge you for anything they feel like, but they choose not to. There IS such a thing called royalties. For example, some of the sound editing/composing programs do not allow you to redistribute your tracks without paying a royalty. Also, you probably heard of Unisys charging for creating GIFs, and Fraunhofer wanting to charge for MP3s. Legally, there is no difference. The whole big idea with suing sony/verant is ridiculous. They can delete your account if they feel like it - it's their own business. Your ISP could also delete your account if it found that you violate their TOS or even if they feel like it. And I haven't seen anyone complaining about ISPs deleting accounts for spamming and stuff like that. If Sony/verant doesn't like how you play the game, it's within their full rights to remove your account, provided that they return any money that you paid in advance.
Have you ever tried doing that? It won't work, guaranteed (refresh rates don't match - it won't work). However, it should be fairly easy to get to the analog signal inside the decoder box/TV. They have to convert to analog at some point, even if it's inside a chip. Who says you can't make a decoder box to convert from the RGB signals that go to the CRT, or whatever device they will put there. Also, it's impossible to lock anything if you have the key - it's just that principle that's flawed. Any piece of hardware can be reverse engineered - not by a 14 year old, of course, but some company in China could easily make a clone of whatever chip they would put in the decoders. How do you think they make clones of video game joysticks or fake Adaptec controllers or stuff like macrovision removers? Assuming there'll be some incentive (and there will be, because not only geeks and nerds use VCRs to tape shows), this stuff will either get cracked or will not even appear on the market.
And why the hell would sony MAKE cdr drives themselves? No, it has nothing to do with piracy, and everything with the fact that sony decided to cheap out on the laser if they are making a changer or something.
Yeah, Linux really needs an equivalent of the "control panel" in windoze, where all the different config utils are bunched up. Linuxconf is good for some things, but completely skips over others. Mandrake has some "drakconf" stuff, but it also skips over many things. This stuff is different from distro to distro, and is never documented. I really don't like that: not all users like to edit text files that are in some strange format. And the printed manuals generally suck, because they completely skip over lots of stuff. That's also why I like things like RPM: they make administration of the system easier for windoze users.
First, I never tried the Expanium, but I've seen a very negative review of it in Maximum PC (5/10) and it supposedly had bad sound quality (I don't remember what else they were pissed at). I heard pretty positive comments about the $89 Genica/MPTrip/whatever (computergeeks.com). Reportedly, it has very good quality, and the batteries last for approximately 4 hours. Overall, I see no reason why it sucks any more than the nomad, other than the construction is shitty. You do have to have discs, but at least it won't get busted if you drop it and it doesn't skip that easy (according to what I heard). And it's easy to copy mp3s when you want them, not to mention that you have unlimited storage capacity. It is also about 4 times cheaper than the nomad and probably it's not as heavy. Overall, MP3/CD looks like a more promising technology than hard drive-based players. The only minus is that it doesn't display the title. However, unless you really care about hearing a particular track, it should not be a problem.
In other words, it's no different than attaching a sensitive voltmeter/scope to your head and looking at the signal. This is nothing new, and I seen many projects in electronics magazines which basically do the same thing (to control a motor or something) with the exception that they don't attach to your head. If you attach a sensitive amplifier to your arm, it will pick up the electrical signals to the muscles even if you don't actually move the muscle, just think about it. The problem with all of them is that the electrodes need to be attached VERY securely to the skin, using a special cream which conducts electricity. Kinda nasty and EXTREMELY glitchy if you hook it up to a game, because the EMP from the fridge or stove might cause you to fire your weapon or whatever the same as your muscles. BTW, something like this could be built for much less than $900, using ordinary parts.
If you have ever heard of an electroencephalogram, you'll know how this works. Basically, there are many points on the head which have weak electrical signals. When these signals are amplified, they show activity of the brain -- when the child is about to have a seizure, they change dramatically and become "jumpy". My theory on how the thing works is this: an IC amplifies the signals, and sends them to an ADC. A microcontroller analyzes the signal and raises a red flag when they start to change. Nothing new, considering that electroencephalographs existed for a LONG time now. The thing certainly doesn't cost anything close to $900 to produce, considering how cheaply you can make an integrated circuit which does everything that needs to be done. The idea of bringing it to the consumer is original, although it's probably inaccurate as hell. The electrodes need to make very close contact with the head (to pick up the electrical signal) which is impossible to do with a simple helmet and is very uncomfortable.
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Clickthroughs are bullshit. Everyone is making up this bull about "pathetic clickthroughs", "low effectiveness", etc, etc. How the hell can you measure clickthroughs for any other type of media? How many clickthroughs do TV companies have? ZERO. Yet they still manage to earn SHITLOADS of cash AND run the show (which is far more expensive than the whole OSDN network). Nobody except morons with an IQ nearing zero buys stuff directly after seeing a banner. And these morons never read slashdot - they watch the stupid TV infomercials, as in "buy this deluxe footrest for only $200 and we'll throw in a free toilet seat" or whatever. I always do some research on stuff I buy. Sure, banner ads as well as any other medium CAN influence my decision. However, the stuff that influences me the most are USER EXPERIENCES. Sure, advertising can influence a minor decision. That's not the point, though. The point is to build brand recognition, when you associate a name with something good. Banner ads work perfectly for that purpose. The only reason they are "failing" now is because everyone has realized that the internet does not change basic economic rules and that you cannot have so much competition and still have a piece of the market. Another reason is that there is a general downturn in the economy. Therefore, businesses that could not make money are being hit harder and are going out of business. But banners are alive and kicking.
This is not true. Adobe CAN charge you for anything they feel like, but they choose not to. There IS such a thing called royalties. For example, some of the sound editing/composing programs do not allow you to redistribute your tracks without paying a royalty. Also, you probably heard of Unisys charging for creating GIFs, and Fraunhofer wanting to charge for MP3s. Legally, there is no difference. The whole big idea with suing sony/verant is ridiculous. They can delete your account if they feel like it - it's their own business. Your ISP could also delete your account if it found that you violate their TOS or even if they feel like it. And I haven't seen anyone complaining about ISPs deleting accounts for spamming and stuff like that. If Sony/verant doesn't like how you play the game, it's within their full rights to remove your account, provided that they return any money that you paid in advance.
Have you ever tried doing that? It won't work, guaranteed (refresh rates don't match - it won't work). However, it should be fairly easy to get to the analog signal inside the decoder box/TV. They have to convert to analog at some point, even if it's inside a chip. Who says you can't make a decoder box to convert from the RGB signals that go to the CRT, or whatever device they will put there. Also, it's impossible to lock anything if you have the key - it's just that principle that's flawed. Any piece of hardware can be reverse engineered - not by a 14 year old, of course, but some company in China could easily make a clone of whatever chip they would put in the decoders. How do you think they make clones of video game joysticks or fake Adaptec controllers or stuff like macrovision removers? Assuming there'll be some incentive (and there will be, because not only geeks and nerds use VCRs to tape shows), this stuff will either get cracked or will not even appear on the market.
And why the hell would sony MAKE cdr drives themselves? No, it has nothing to do with piracy, and everything with the fact that sony decided to cheap out on the laser if they are making a changer or something.
Yeah, Linux really needs an equivalent of the "control panel" in windoze, where all the different config utils are bunched up. Linuxconf is good for some things, but completely skips over others. Mandrake has some "drakconf" stuff, but it also skips over many things. This stuff is different from distro to distro, and is never documented. I really don't like that: not all users like to edit text files that are in some strange format. And the printed manuals generally suck, because they completely skip over lots of stuff. That's also why I like things like RPM: they make administration of the system easier for windoze users.
First, I never tried the Expanium, but I've seen a very negative review of it in Maximum PC (5/10) and it supposedly had bad sound quality (I don't remember what else they were pissed at). I heard pretty positive comments about the $89 Genica/MPTrip/whatever (computergeeks.com). Reportedly, it has very good quality, and the batteries last for approximately 4 hours. Overall, I see no reason why it sucks any more than the nomad, other than the construction is shitty. You do have to have discs, but at least it won't get busted if you drop it and it doesn't skip that easy (according to what I heard). And it's easy to copy mp3s when you want them, not to mention that you have unlimited storage capacity. It is also about 4 times cheaper than the nomad and probably it's not as heavy. Overall, MP3/CD looks like a more promising technology than hard drive-based players. The only minus is that it doesn't display the title. However, unless you really care about hearing a particular track, it should not be a problem.
In other words, it's no different than attaching a sensitive voltmeter/scope to your head and looking at the signal. This is nothing new, and I seen many projects in electronics magazines which basically do the same thing (to control a motor or something) with the exception that they don't attach to your head. If you attach a sensitive amplifier to your arm, it will pick up the electrical signals to the muscles even if you don't actually move the muscle, just think about it. The problem with all of them is that the electrodes need to be attached VERY securely to the skin, using a special cream which conducts electricity. Kinda nasty and EXTREMELY glitchy if you hook it up to a game, because the EMP from the fridge or stove might cause you to fire your weapon or whatever the same as your muscles. BTW, something like this could be built for much less than $900, using ordinary parts.
If you have ever heard of an electroencephalogram, you'll know how this works. Basically, there are many points on the head which have weak electrical signals. When these signals are amplified, they show activity of the brain -- when the child is about to have a seizure, they change dramatically and become "jumpy". My theory on how the thing works is this: an IC amplifies the signals, and sends them to an ADC. A microcontroller analyzes the signal and raises a red flag when they start to change. Nothing new, considering that electroencephalographs existed for a LONG time now. The thing certainly doesn't cost anything close to $900 to produce, considering how cheaply you can make an integrated circuit which does everything that needs to be done. The idea of bringing it to the consumer is original, although it's probably inaccurate as hell. The electrodes need to make very close contact with the head (to pick up the electrical signal) which is impossible to do with a simple helmet and is very uncomfortable.