Why not have a changig password. The machine is set up with a set fo say 10 questions to which the suer knows the answers- what is your Mum's maiden name, your first dog's name, etc, the usual stuff. And he has to enter the correct answer corresponding to the passowrd question being asked. Ok - it's not all that more secure, but it does give another step of complexity without making it to inconvenient for the user...
I agree that the use of the computer interface should be to assist rather than hinder the user, but to my mind that still doesn't mean forcing him to use real-world analogies to work. If I find my desk is full and I want to float papers in the air as well, why shouldn't I be allowed to in a computer environment?
I would also disagree that the computer shouldn't make the user act in an organised way - it certainly should for certain tasks. When i'm writing a program - I don't want to have to search through piles of routines just to find the ones I need to link to. I need to work in an organised manner otherwise that's not helping me - it's hindering me. But if I was creating a picture, it might be a more relaxed activity where I don't ind making lots of sketches beforehand and then sorting through them later. So unless the user interface allows me to work in either way, then at one point it is hindering rather than helping me.
Every interface has to be learnt to a certain extent - even opening a door ! To my midn the succesful interface is one with a shallow learning curve that allows you do do the main things you need to do and then grows and adapts with you to your own unique way of working...
What we need is a unified desktop that represents the real objects we work on, in a way that mirrors the manner in which we actually use them.
I disagree here. Why limit yourself to the functionality of rela objects? You use a desk one way ebcause there is no other way to use it. You pile papers up because you're constarined by ravity to do so. How about if I could lift a paper and stick it in mid-air, and do this with lots of papers... then I would have a clean desk to work on, and I could look up and grab the paper I wanted to worjk on from mid-air, then return it there when I finished,. Just because desks work ina fixed manner doesn't mean we should constrain our interfaces to work in the same way. of course, it may take extra time to learn a totally new interface, but once learnt, we could work faster and more efficiently...
So what exactly is the technological innovation of itunes? I mean, it's a nice service and works fairly well - but I don't see it as much of a leap ahead of what we had before.
Fopr me, one of the great things about the gameboy range is taht it doesn't have region coding - so if I travel round the world with it, I know I can buy new games anywhere that will work on it.
Stick region coding on it and you've not only cut down your library of games considerably, but it's no longr a universal travelling games machine...
I like good sci fi and good action flicks, but take away the special effects and the underlying plot in Matrix was about as stupid as they come - people being used as batteries - yeah right! And once you've undermined the whole film with a stupid premise, then of course the whole thing will come tumbling down...
How else do you explain American vacation allowances? I recall seeing figures that showed productivity in American companies wasn't marekedly higher than their European equivalents, despite their longer hours. have to see if I cna track it down on Google.
If it costs this girl $2000, how can the RIAA push for more with other offenders? Surely anybody on the list can now offer $2000 to the RIAA and not have thme threaten their life savings any more?
If you try and look back over your old SF collection, as I've tried to, you'll find things weren't much better in the "good old" days. The characeristaion was non-existent (try and characterise a single Asimov hero- they were all as bland as STNG characters) - the writing was often childlike and way too simple, or became bogged down in its own cleverness (who has managed to read ther whole Rama series without trying to skip some pages) and the often quoted great classics of SF were often closer to fantasy than hard science - Dune being a good example. There were very few good hard-science SF books, and the problem is not taht there are fewer now, but that they are swamped by the increase in all the other types of books which, let's face it, for a non-scientist as most writers are, aer much easier to churn out!
If it comes out once a month, but had the whole month's newspapers availbale in searchable format, then it would be worth having! But if it's just another way7 to ram advertsiing down our throats, then it's just another coaster that isn't worth booting up.
For geeky stuff or stuff that you just shouldn't miss check out the Titan Missile Museum,Kitt Peak Observatory, The Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, lightning research center (nbot sure if it's open to the public,but they have some great storms near Tucson!)
For interest check out the reservations and Tombstone and visit the old mining centers - and if you're near the Grand Canyon, check Monument valley and sedona.
Work's well on DVDs, so why not set it up with a CD music track as well. The MP3+CDG format allows lyrics to be played at the same time as the music. You copuld just as easily fill in here with comments from the band/composer about the music and lyrics that scrolls up in time with the actual music - sort of online liner notes. You could eben make them more interactive - different sets of comments from different band members about how they are playing the music, etc.
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Why not have a changig password. The machine is set up with a set fo say 10 questions to which the suer knows the answers- what is your Mum's maiden name, your first dog's name, etc, the usual stuff. And he has to enter the correct answer corresponding to the passowrd question being asked. Ok - it's not all that more secure, but it does give another step of complexity without making it to inconvenient for the user...
I agree that the use of the computer interface should be to assist rather than hinder the user, but to my mind that still doesn't mean forcing him to use real-world analogies to work. If I find my desk is full and I want to float papers in the air as well, why shouldn't I be allowed to in a computer environment?
I would also disagree that the computer shouldn't make the user act in an organised way - it certainly should for certain tasks. When i'm writing a program - I don't want to have to search through piles of routines just to find the ones I need to link to. I need to work in an organised manner otherwise that's not helping me - it's hindering me. But if I was creating a picture, it might be a more relaxed activity where I don't ind making lots of sketches beforehand and then sorting through them later. So unless the user interface allows me to work in either way, then at one point it is hindering rather than helping me.
Every interface has to be learnt to a certain extent - even opening a door ! To my midn the succesful interface is one with a shallow learning curve that allows you do do the main things you need to do and then grows and adapts with you to your own unique way of working...
What we need is a unified desktop that represents the real objects we work on, in a way that mirrors the manner in which we actually use them.
I disagree here. Why limit yourself to the functionality of rela objects? You use a desk one way ebcause there is no other way to use it. You pile papers up because you're constarined by ravity to do so. How about if I could lift a paper and stick it in mid-air, and do this with lots of papers... then I would have a clean desk to work on, and I could look up and grab the paper I wanted to worjk on from mid-air, then return it there when I finished,. Just because desks work ina fixed manner doesn't mean we should constrain our interfaces to work in the same way. of course, it may take extra time to learn a totally new interface, but once learnt, we could work faster and more efficiently...
So an IT director and a number of flunkies have rewritten the results of an election.
That's disgusting! Everybody knows that rewriting the results of an election is a job for the courts!
So what exactly is the technological innovation of itunes? I mean, it's a nice service and works fairly well - but I don't see it as much of a leap ahead of what we had before.
UMD comes with DVD-style region coding
Fopr me, one of the great things about the gameboy range is taht it doesn't have region coding - so if I travel round the world with it, I know I can buy new games anywhere that will work on it.
Stick region coding on it and you've not only cut down your library of games considerably, but it's no longr a universal travelling games machine...
I like good sci fi and good action flicks, but take away the special effects and the underlying plot in Matrix was about as stupid as they come - people being used as batteries - yeah right! And once you've undermined the whole film with a stupid premise, then of course the whole thing will come tumbling down...
but there is a lesson which should not be ingored.
and after what the catholics got up to earlier, the lesson is surely:
"what goes around, comes around"
Gotta love that karma!
...who is willing to spend a few years out of circulation for $125,000...!
Contact me on 555-EASYCASH.
I think hackers should have an animated logo - and then it needs a bit of hacking to get it animated on cups/t-shirts/etc. !
Mate, you wouldn't have these problems if you kept to the license agreement which says you should be the sole (ab)user of your tool!
Or am I supposed to print them, staple them together and make a flip book like the good ol' days?
Americans Live To Work
Europeans Work To Live
How else do you explain American vacation allowances? I recall seeing figures that showed productivity in American companies wasn't marekedly higher than their European equivalents, despite their longer hours. have to see if I cna track it down on Google.
If it costs this girl $2000, how can the RIAA push for more with other offenders? Surely anybody on the list can now offer $2000 to the RIAA and not have thme threaten their life savings any more?
If you try and look back over your old SF collection, as I've tried to, you'll find things weren't much better in the "good old" days. The characeristaion was non-existent (try and characterise a single Asimov hero- they were all as bland as STNG characters) - the writing was often childlike and way too simple, or became bogged down in its own cleverness (who has managed to read ther whole Rama series without trying to skip some pages) and the often quoted great classics of SF were often closer to fantasy than hard science - Dune being a good example. There were very few good hard-science SF books, and the problem is not taht there are fewer now, but that they are swamped by the increase in all the other types of books which, let's face it, for a non-scientist as most writers are, aer much easier to churn out!
If it comes out once a month, but had the whole month's newspapers availbale in searchable format, then it would be worth having! But if it's just another way7 to ram advertsiing down our throats, then it's just another coaster that isn't worth booting up.
Well, they took every bean I had !
Just because you stink, it doesn't mean you're clever!
Using it to look at the tops of guys heads to see who is developing a bald spot?!?
people don't seem to get tongue-in-cheek humor
The feeling is mutual, I assure you!
You might be #1, but accoridng to the latest budget deficit figures, you're deep in #2 as well.
For geeky stuff or stuff that you just shouldn't miss check out the Titan Missile Museum,Kitt Peak Observatory, The Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, lightning research center (nbot sure if it's open to the public,but they have some great storms near Tucson!)
For interest check out the reservations and Tombstone and visit the old mining centers - and if you're near the Grand Canyon, check Monument valley and sedona.
so I get nice curly strips of paper rather than boring straight ones...
Work's well on DVDs, so why not set it up with a CD music track as well. The MP3+CDG format allows lyrics to be played at the same time as the music. You copuld just as easily fill in here with comments from the band/composer about the music and lyrics that scrolls up in time with the actual music - sort of online liner notes. You could eben make them more interactive - different sets of comments from different band members about how they are playing the music, etc.