Where the OS is the road? Well, then Vista must be the small, bumpy and twisty road... might be fun for a drive, but what if I run only applications that match the GT and not the hot hatch? Well, then that's just bad. And the hot hatch could probably go faster in the better conditions as well than when faced with crap conditions. So, I think I'll stick to the OS that is the "better conditions".
This isn't HTML5-specific, but um... writing about newer browser technology as Slashdot gets upgraded into even more web 2.0 greatness (or horribleness, if that's your taking). Really? Facebook and Twitter links? And I may have easily missed it happen some time ago, but moving around the "slashboxes" on the right is not something I noticed until just accidentally tripping on it right as I saw this thread...
Take this positive or negative... fact of the matter is, I've not decided yet...
Dammit. I read over this once before hitting submit, and I didn't catch it might not be clear what I meant in part of that first paragraph.
In the main paragraph I have to write, it's exclusively handwritten. And it can go to a very large amount of text, stuffed full of all kinds of medical terminology and very specific information, which I'm writing all of at the same time as I'm listening to a doctor and patient speak of this information (that's how I get what to write...). Often, I am still writing that information only to be interrupted by information I need to put somewhere completely different in my "note" on that patient. Now, I could use medically accepted abbreviations, but my handwriting speed on these things has literally gotten fast enough that I'm happier with the benefit of nice looking text without abbreviations. I basically only type when I'm copying a full page of a radiologist's interpretation of a CT scan or something along those lines, and am otherwise handwriting in full English (and medical, which is English to me, but I feel like I have to translate it to a lower dialect of English for people who don't know it) at speeds that sometimes still surprise me...
And yes, my handwriting being as fast as 100wpm is probably an exaggeration. I haven't actually measured my handwriting speed in those conditions, and can pretty easily get typing speeds of over 100wpm without much effort any more...
I really want to know how much this changes on a per person basis...
At work, I use a tablet PC exclusively. Now, I'm able to dock the (once pretty nice, but now piece of shit, thanks to dating hardware and loads of paranoid IT apps monitoring every single thing we do) thing, but the majority of my input on it is handwriting. Now, the fact that I get to use a point and click interface for it does alter it. However, I have to catch a lot of information in one paragraph, and the goal is to complete that and all of the extra pointing and clicking (often including handwriting as the point and click doesn't have everything, and I'm forced to use an "Other" entry box) within a very short time. This can be as long as 5-10 minutes, but is usually under that. This also includes correcting the handwriting recognition's text, which I have to do a hell of a lot, as I'm doing this in a medical setting, using a lot of medical terminology, without a medical dictionary installed to the handwriting recognition (it exists, but getting IT to replace batteries and styli that are long overdue for replacement is a pain in the ass enough money-wise).
What I'm getting at: my handwriting in these circumstances has gotten ridiculously fast--and I don't use any kind of shorthand or even abbreviations. To the point that, if I didn't type over 100 wpm, it would probably be faster for me to handwrite than type in QWERTY. It certainly destroys my typing speed on my Droid, which I've gotten pretty damn good at (specifically the on screen keyboard, because I got well faster at that than I am at the hardware keyboard). So, really, this is interesting, but I really think it's going to vary by just who you test it on. I could see the majority matching these results, but I think it would be stupid to say it's a catch-all...
Wow. I've noticed the 600 pixels things a few times. It's hit me on slashdot--always seems to be the bottom right of it this text box in certain circumstances, specifically. It never bothered me enough to actually even check if anyone else had the problem. Plus with how many weird things I've been seeing KDE doing lately (parts are getting better and other parts worse... some of them are just weird bugs, like my background always being blank when I first get into KDE besides knowing what I set it as--easy enough, just go into Desktop properties and hit Ok, and that's fixed), I never fully counted that against Chrome, though it seemed most likely. That there is my biggest complaint about Chrome (and it doesn't even bother me that much...).
There's a few gripes on this article about Chrome on Linux that I don't agree with or care about. For RSS, for example, I can't say I care about it. On my mobile phone (though I have the droid, and I have to say, the only time RSS tempts me is when I'm not on wifi with it...) or maybe a plasma widget (KDE4) on my desktop, RSS is great. But in a browser, or where a browser is easy enough to access just as easy as anything RSS, I don't care. I like going to the website and seeing it that way, and otherwise haven't found much use for RSS. But that is personal preference, so I guess Google needs to get on that for some people.
As for Flash... I've been using it since you had to have the --enable-plugins flag when you ran Chrome. Back then, it was buggy in some circumstances. Now, I haven't had a problem in as long as I can remember not having to use that flag and a little before that.
Plus extensions work well now. Only problem there, is that some of them are shoot and miss at times. Some work great, some need a little work. That's typical of any application with extensions/plugins for me, though.
Complex scripts and KDE are two more things I don't care, so I leave it to others to know if Google needs work there. I run KDE, but I deal with GTK apps enough, I'm familiar with the GTK interface. It bothers me to some degree (I hate some of GTK's dialogs compared to Qt/KDE's, as personal preference), but Google's far from the only one that would need to work on that, if I was to gripe about that. Complex scripts on the other hand, I just don't deal with, so I refrain saying anything.
I'm using Chrome on Linux to type this, though. I've pretty much fallen to only using it, except when I can't. Some websites don't recognize it (Yahoo mail, I'm looking at you; coupled with finding out I have to go through their ridiculous--well, actually, pretty good for what it is--mobile site on my droid, instead of using a more uniform interface for the OS--I have to pay for POP access?! >.< I used to use POP on my WinMo Treo with them, too--has led me to tell everyone using my Yahoo mail to switch to a gmail that I can just filter specific tags on to), and so you either can't access it all, or have to use some light version of the site that just doesn't make sense--this is Chrome; I should be able to use the damn javascript heavy page just fine! As such, I still have Firefox installed for now like 1 site that I use for work, which only lets IE and Firefox use it for some retarded reason (that's the only options it actually says, anyway). My view of it remains, however, that Chrome is a great browser on Linux. I'm not a fan of Firefox, to be honest, and Chrome suits my needs and wishes for a browser wonderfully.
I essentially started with BASIC at a summer college program when I was 8 or 9. I don't know what language we used there, but it was on Macs at the school, and they focused mostly on drawing patterns on the screen. Of course, at that time, my partner and I accidentally figured out how to move a box around the screen and have the foreground and background switch through a list of different colors in seizure-inducing style. Some of us also programmed boxes that would race each other, a random one winning each time, and other such things. For a first exposure to programming, I still support BASIC, even though I wouldn't use it unless the project warranted it, any more.
After that was over, I used Liberty BASIC for some time. Liberty BASIC is actually an awesome language to get a good footing in on programming as well, and one I really recommend for just beginning to learn programming. It's simple, and you can get to doing some rather basic things in it rather quickly, while having a good chance at getting your foot in the door at some of the thought process and other things you'll be using later on in more advanced languages. It's got some good sprite stuff for simple 2D graphics and such, making it rather attractive if you want to show him how to make a game, but it also begins in command line (something that the *nix lover in me loves, especially when Liberty BASIC is Windows).
It was after that, that I switched to VB (pre-.NET). After playing with VB6, specifically, for a while, then I finally began learning C/C++ when I was 15 or 16. I can't say that I regret the path I followed there at all; C/C++ introduced a challenge, but I had a lot of the basics down in BASIC style syntax already. Of course, at 8, I was also playing with HTML and Javascript (specifically, for here, the latter), which gave me a little lead into the C-style syntax, and made the whole transition relatively easy.
Though, I have to throw in my tidbit of I still support learning ASM somewhere along the way. I never got great at ASM or anything, as I only wanted to do it for learning purposes, and so I did a lot of just embedding it in C/C++ code. However, the lessons that ASM taught me are invaluable every time I sit down to program, as it got me thinking of how the computer is actually working with what I tell it to do. As low level as C might be, it still has a good amount of abstraction over ASM, and I found my code to get cleaner in C after playing with ASM a decent amount. Of course, now, I'd struggle to make a program in ASM again, as I'd have to relearn quite a bit, but the goal was learning and gaining another perspective. And several, even higher-level languages have bits and pieces that can be great for that purpose, beyond just being useful in their own respects.
I haven't used Windows except in an extremely limited space at work (where, even if I tried, I can barely do a damn thing; installing 90% of software is completely out of the question, as is even correcting the damn clock that's 2-3 hours off depending on daylight savings), so I really have no clue. Does all of this hold up in Windows? I've been using Kubuntu for quite a while now, and work is the only place I use Windows. Yet, I know "most" people use Windows for everything (despite my having no clue how they can stand it, though my view is tainted because IT at my job makes those computers the epitome of my nightmares, and Kubuntu on my home PC is simply awesome). So are similar safety means in safe on Windows?
I can tell my distance on Windows (God, stick me on Vista/7 and I'm *completely* lost on where the hell *anything* besides the blatantly obvious went)... haven't used it on my own PC since like 2005, and even then, I had gone to dual booting and rarely going into Windows (still do the same--Windows XP--with a 1TB hard drive I bought a couple weeks ago, but that's there mostly because I wanted to dick around with it, until I realized it takes way more work just to get some of the basic drivers working, such as ethernet, versus Kubuntu that it all *just worked*--WTF?! Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?!)...
Well. What about the generation that has never seen Dances With Wolves? They need their own version! (I don't know if I want to shoot myself for saying that or just admit that I only say it in order to be devil's advocate in some way...)
To me, yeah, the storyline was one I can say it feels like I've seen at least a few times before (and that's all I have to say about the storyline... except that I enjoyed it, but I can actually enjoy lame storylines if told/portrayed well enough, and this was at least enjoyable in my mind), but the CG was actually pretty good. I'm waiting for better, but I can't stand most CG-based films, unless I go into it thinking that I'm watching a long cartoon, making the movie seem considerably less worthwhile in my mind. This one, though at times it was pretty obviously CG, I was able to forget that it was CG at several times (or at least not have to keep reminding myself that it's meant to be that way). And the 3D... I don't care for 3D, but I forgot that I was watching it in 3D a little bit into it, except for the glasses fitting uncomfortably over my normal glasses. The lower FPS also pissed me off a few times when a flicker of light would disappear too soon or do awkward things like jump around strangely, and similar things--no wonder Cameron wanted the higher FPS.
More on topic, the science. The article actually points out a few things that had me questioning during the movie. Like the floating mountains, which left me going "WTF?!" But, as those float, I can see more sense why their tree doesn't--the unobtanium is below the tree, but not in it. Whereas it is the unobtanium in the floating mountains that make them float. so, I can see how the tree wouldn't also float. It just makes me glad to see that I'm not the only one and to see this article that actually brings up some valid points (especially with the update on there going into some of it more). To be honest, after reading this article, my appreciation of the movie is kind of elevated, and I want to see it again. There seems to be a lot of thought about how it actually works.
But he didn't even talk about the linguistics of the Na'vi... there's a science/art (depending on your perspective) that I've actually wanted to hear more about, in relation to this film!
You know... I somehow doubt anyone would be willing to go to the lengths I'm thinking, and ISPs would probably object as well. There's also probably some other problems that I just don't know about (I'll admit I'm no expert on this).
However, would it be feasible to create some kind of a scale of required broadband? For example, they give 768k to the guys like that hermit in Montana, and call it broadband. But then raise that requirement according to how dense the population is. The more dense, the faster the connection; the less dense, the slower the connection. To some degree, we kind of already have that, without the regulation. At least, the more dense in population an area is, the more likely it is that you'll be able to get a faster connection. Not that that is any kind of rule as it is now, but a very generalized statement.
So, the hermit gets his 768k, which probably is plenty fast for him, compared to what he can get now. And then give the 10,000k to everyone in the big city.
I know I certainly wouldn't be upset about that, as long as it wasn't done in a retarded fashion--though, knowing the people in power in the US, it probably would be done in a retarded fashion.
Beyond that, I give up. Just let me live where I can get a fast *enough* connection.
If you could find a USB blu-ray drive, you should be able to just plug it right in there. The wikipedia page on it says something about it being licensed for use in blu-ray players, so that should work, in theory. Though XBMC (or Boxee, comparing it to this box; it's built off of XBMC) on a PS3 would kick this thing's ass, easily.
Pandora is what gets me to stream. While I have many means of finding new bands/musicians to listen to, I have also found some I hadn't come across before Pandora. And sure, I have a pretty nice music collection, but every once in a while, I want to listen to something that I *don't* have on hand. And Pandora is great at that, also, and also gives me that perfect chance to start searching for and checking out some new bands. I also much prefer to stream a few songs of a band, then go from there, than to just download their latest or greatest or entire discography. Streaming's just a faster means of getting to it, and if I'm cool with listening to other stuff alongside it, why not?
You know, that's what I've been thinking... I used to come on/. and read some really interesting thing every day. Now, I end up not even RTFA unless it actually sounds like it has some truly good stuff in the article. And yet I'm still disappointed when I do RTFA quite a lot lately, for how much it doesn't seem like much more than an advertisement/marketing story or blog article.
Disclaimer: My UID doesn't reflect how long I've browsed/., as I didn't use to read the comments nearly as much as I read the actual articles (which has kinda reversed)
Ok. Wow. I just surprised myself... Google showed me I haven't been keeping up with my times (though, honestly, it still sucks compared to Desktops in what choice you have hardware wise... probably worth it, if you want to avoid the "MS tax" that badly, nonetheless).
But it's those of us who buy the laptops that end up having to pay the "MS tax", which angers us--especially those like myself, who don't plan on using anything from MS unless it's in a VM. For me, that doesn't even have to do with MS itself. I just find Linux to be, in general, much better catered to the way I think and work with my own computer, especially when compared to Windows that I have never been able to wrap my head around as well as I do Linux. And as long as I don't see any MS software that I actually want to use come out on Linux, I don't see any reason why they should be getting anything from me, unless it's to run on a VM (or WINE).
In the last couple years, I haven't run into anything that I can't find some other way of doing things, mostly native to Linux. There's games, etc., but if you're talking about netbooks, you're probably not talking about much for games, in which case, Linux has more than enough to keep me happy (not that I'm much of a gamer... hell, I don't even use my computer enough any more to justify installing Gentoo, which I like much more than the Kubuntu I'm running at the moment).
So, until I can just as easily build my own laptop from parts as I can build my computer from parts (hell, a little free time and it's good to use), I'm going to hate the very concept of a "MS tax".
Damn those cows! So many hours spent staring at a bunch of cows trying to kill my little isometric Barbarian. And all I wanted was another goddamn level!
This really is hell... damn. I always thought that plane crash seemed too real to be a dream....
Slashdot Mirror
May an Interjection?
Where the OS is the road? Well, then Vista must be the small, bumpy and twisty road... might be fun for a drive, but what if I run only applications that match the GT and not the hot hatch? Well, then that's just bad. And the hot hatch could probably go faster in the better conditions as well than when faced with crap conditions. So, I think I'll stick to the OS that is the "better conditions".
This isn't HTML5-specific, but um... writing about newer browser technology as Slashdot gets upgraded into even more web 2.0 greatness (or horribleness, if that's your taking). Really? Facebook and Twitter links? And I may have easily missed it happen some time ago, but moving around the "slashboxes" on the right is not something I noticed until just accidentally tripping on it right as I saw this thread...
Take this positive or negative... fact of the matter is, I've not decided yet...
Goddammit. I'm a dumbass. Mod me down and ignore this...
Sure? From what I'm looking at, OS X uses an X server with modifications... I'd say a pretty damn important part of the GUI layer is FOSS-based...
Dammit. I read over this once before hitting submit, and I didn't catch it might not be clear what I meant in part of that first paragraph.
In the main paragraph I have to write, it's exclusively handwritten. And it can go to a very large amount of text, stuffed full of all kinds of medical terminology and very specific information, which I'm writing all of at the same time as I'm listening to a doctor and patient speak of this information (that's how I get what to write...). Often, I am still writing that information only to be interrupted by information I need to put somewhere completely different in my "note" on that patient. Now, I could use medically accepted abbreviations, but my handwriting speed on these things has literally gotten fast enough that I'm happier with the benefit of nice looking text without abbreviations. I basically only type when I'm copying a full page of a radiologist's interpretation of a CT scan or something along those lines, and am otherwise handwriting in full English (and medical, which is English to me, but I feel like I have to translate it to a lower dialect of English for people who don't know it) at speeds that sometimes still surprise me...
And yes, my handwriting being as fast as 100wpm is probably an exaggeration. I haven't actually measured my handwriting speed in those conditions, and can pretty easily get typing speeds of over 100wpm without much effort any more...
I really want to know how much this changes on a per person basis...
At work, I use a tablet PC exclusively. Now, I'm able to dock the (once pretty nice, but now piece of shit, thanks to dating hardware and loads of paranoid IT apps monitoring every single thing we do) thing, but the majority of my input on it is handwriting. Now, the fact that I get to use a point and click interface for it does alter it. However, I have to catch a lot of information in one paragraph, and the goal is to complete that and all of the extra pointing and clicking (often including handwriting as the point and click doesn't have everything, and I'm forced to use an "Other" entry box) within a very short time. This can be as long as 5-10 minutes, but is usually under that. This also includes correcting the handwriting recognition's text, which I have to do a hell of a lot, as I'm doing this in a medical setting, using a lot of medical terminology, without a medical dictionary installed to the handwriting recognition (it exists, but getting IT to replace batteries and styli that are long overdue for replacement is a pain in the ass enough money-wise).
What I'm getting at: my handwriting in these circumstances has gotten ridiculously fast--and I don't use any kind of shorthand or even abbreviations. To the point that, if I didn't type over 100 wpm, it would probably be faster for me to handwrite than type in QWERTY. It certainly destroys my typing speed on my Droid, which I've gotten pretty damn good at (specifically the on screen keyboard, because I got well faster at that than I am at the hardware keyboard). So, really, this is interesting, but I really think it's going to vary by just who you test it on. I could see the majority matching these results, but I think it would be stupid to say it's a catch-all...
It is patented... a previous poster posted a link that explained this.
Wouldn''t it be Oor in order to really remove all the toxic bs?
Wow. I've noticed the 600 pixels things a few times. It's hit me on slashdot--always seems to be the bottom right of it this text box in certain circumstances, specifically. It never bothered me enough to actually even check if anyone else had the problem. Plus with how many weird things I've been seeing KDE doing lately (parts are getting better and other parts worse... some of them are just weird bugs, like my background always being blank when I first get into KDE besides knowing what I set it as--easy enough, just go into Desktop properties and hit Ok, and that's fixed), I never fully counted that against Chrome, though it seemed most likely. That there is my biggest complaint about Chrome (and it doesn't even bother me that much...).
There's a few gripes on this article about Chrome on Linux that I don't agree with or care about. For RSS, for example, I can't say I care about it. On my mobile phone (though I have the droid, and I have to say, the only time RSS tempts me is when I'm not on wifi with it...) or maybe a plasma widget (KDE4) on my desktop, RSS is great. But in a browser, or where a browser is easy enough to access just as easy as anything RSS, I don't care. I like going to the website and seeing it that way, and otherwise haven't found much use for RSS. But that is personal preference, so I guess Google needs to get on that for some people.
As for Flash... I've been using it since you had to have the --enable-plugins flag when you ran Chrome. Back then, it was buggy in some circumstances. Now, I haven't had a problem in as long as I can remember not having to use that flag and a little before that.
Plus extensions work well now. Only problem there, is that some of them are shoot and miss at times. Some work great, some need a little work. That's typical of any application with extensions/plugins for me, though.
Complex scripts and KDE are two more things I don't care, so I leave it to others to know if Google needs work there. I run KDE, but I deal with GTK apps enough, I'm familiar with the GTK interface. It bothers me to some degree (I hate some of GTK's dialogs compared to Qt/KDE's, as personal preference), but Google's far from the only one that would need to work on that, if I was to gripe about that. Complex scripts on the other hand, I just don't deal with, so I refrain saying anything.
I'm using Chrome on Linux to type this, though. I've pretty much fallen to only using it, except when I can't. Some websites don't recognize it (Yahoo mail, I'm looking at you; coupled with finding out I have to go through their ridiculous--well, actually, pretty good for what it is--mobile site on my droid, instead of using a more uniform interface for the OS--I have to pay for POP access?! >.< I used to use POP on my WinMo Treo with them, too--has led me to tell everyone using my Yahoo mail to switch to a gmail that I can just filter specific tags on to), and so you either can't access it all, or have to use some light version of the site that just doesn't make sense--this is Chrome; I should be able to use the damn javascript heavy page just fine! As such, I still have Firefox installed for now like 1 site that I use for work, which only lets IE and Firefox use it for some retarded reason (that's the only options it actually says, anyway). My view of it remains, however, that Chrome is a great browser on Linux. I'm not a fan of Firefox, to be honest, and Chrome suits my needs and wishes for a browser wonderfully.
I essentially started with BASIC at a summer college program when I was 8 or 9. I don't know what language we used there, but it was on Macs at the school, and they focused mostly on drawing patterns on the screen. Of course, at that time, my partner and I accidentally figured out how to move a box around the screen and have the foreground and background switch through a list of different colors in seizure-inducing style. Some of us also programmed boxes that would race each other, a random one winning each time, and other such things. For a first exposure to programming, I still support BASIC, even though I wouldn't use it unless the project warranted it, any more.
After that was over, I used Liberty BASIC for some time. Liberty BASIC is actually an awesome language to get a good footing in on programming as well, and one I really recommend for just beginning to learn programming. It's simple, and you can get to doing some rather basic things in it rather quickly, while having a good chance at getting your foot in the door at some of the thought process and other things you'll be using later on in more advanced languages. It's got some good sprite stuff for simple 2D graphics and such, making it rather attractive if you want to show him how to make a game, but it also begins in command line (something that the *nix lover in me loves, especially when Liberty BASIC is Windows).
It was after that, that I switched to VB (pre-.NET). After playing with VB6, specifically, for a while, then I finally began learning C/C++ when I was 15 or 16. I can't say that I regret the path I followed there at all; C/C++ introduced a challenge, but I had a lot of the basics down in BASIC style syntax already. Of course, at 8, I was also playing with HTML and Javascript (specifically, for here, the latter), which gave me a little lead into the C-style syntax, and made the whole transition relatively easy.
Though, I have to throw in my tidbit of I still support learning ASM somewhere along the way. I never got great at ASM or anything, as I only wanted to do it for learning purposes, and so I did a lot of just embedding it in C/C++ code. However, the lessons that ASM taught me are invaluable every time I sit down to program, as it got me thinking of how the computer is actually working with what I tell it to do. As low level as C might be, it still has a good amount of abstraction over ASM, and I found my code to get cleaner in C after playing with ASM a decent amount. Of course, now, I'd struggle to make a program in ASM again, as I'd have to relearn quite a bit, but the goal was learning and gaining another perspective. And several, even higher-level languages have bits and pieces that can be great for that purpose, beyond just being useful in their own respects.
I suddenly find myself in a funny spot...
I haven't used Windows except in an extremely limited space at work (where, even if I tried, I can barely do a damn thing; installing 90% of software is completely out of the question, as is even correcting the damn clock that's 2-3 hours off depending on daylight savings), so I really have no clue. Does all of this hold up in Windows? I've been using Kubuntu for quite a while now, and work is the only place I use Windows. Yet, I know "most" people use Windows for everything (despite my having no clue how they can stand it, though my view is tainted because IT at my job makes those computers the epitome of my nightmares, and Kubuntu on my home PC is simply awesome). So are similar safety means in safe on Windows?
I can tell my distance on Windows (God, stick me on Vista/7 and I'm *completely* lost on where the hell *anything* besides the blatantly obvious went)... haven't used it on my own PC since like 2005, and even then, I had gone to dual booting and rarely going into Windows (still do the same--Windows XP--with a 1TB hard drive I bought a couple weeks ago, but that's there mostly because I wanted to dick around with it, until I realized it takes way more work just to get some of the basic drivers working, such as ethernet, versus Kubuntu that it all *just worked*--WTF?! Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?!)...
Well. What about the generation that has never seen Dances With Wolves? They need their own version! (I don't know if I want to shoot myself for saying that or just admit that I only say it in order to be devil's advocate in some way...)
To me, yeah, the storyline was one I can say it feels like I've seen at least a few times before (and that's all I have to say about the storyline... except that I enjoyed it, but I can actually enjoy lame storylines if told/portrayed well enough, and this was at least enjoyable in my mind), but the CG was actually pretty good. I'm waiting for better, but I can't stand most CG-based films, unless I go into it thinking that I'm watching a long cartoon, making the movie seem considerably less worthwhile in my mind. This one, though at times it was pretty obviously CG, I was able to forget that it was CG at several times (or at least not have to keep reminding myself that it's meant to be that way). And the 3D... I don't care for 3D, but I forgot that I was watching it in 3D a little bit into it, except for the glasses fitting uncomfortably over my normal glasses. The lower FPS also pissed me off a few times when a flicker of light would disappear too soon or do awkward things like jump around strangely, and similar things--no wonder Cameron wanted the higher FPS.
More on topic, the science. The article actually points out a few things that had me questioning during the movie. Like the floating mountains, which left me going "WTF?!" But, as those float, I can see more sense why their tree doesn't--the unobtanium is below the tree, but not in it. Whereas it is the unobtanium in the floating mountains that make them float. so, I can see how the tree wouldn't also float. It just makes me glad to see that I'm not the only one and to see this article that actually brings up some valid points (especially with the update on there going into some of it more). To be honest, after reading this article, my appreciation of the movie is kind of elevated, and I want to see it again. There seems to be a lot of thought about how it actually works.
But he didn't even talk about the linguistics of the Na'vi... there's a science/art (depending on your perspective) that I've actually wanted to hear more about, in relation to this film!
Brilliant! Where do I sign up for this proposal?!
You know... I somehow doubt anyone would be willing to go to the lengths I'm thinking, and ISPs would probably object as well. There's also probably some other problems that I just don't know about (I'll admit I'm no expert on this).
However, would it be feasible to create some kind of a scale of required broadband? For example, they give 768k to the guys like that hermit in Montana, and call it broadband. But then raise that requirement according to how dense the population is. The more dense, the faster the connection; the less dense, the slower the connection. To some degree, we kind of already have that, without the regulation. At least, the more dense in population an area is, the more likely it is that you'll be able to get a faster connection. Not that that is any kind of rule as it is now, but a very generalized statement.
So, the hermit gets his 768k, which probably is plenty fast for him, compared to what he can get now. And then give the 10,000k to everyone in the big city.
I know I certainly wouldn't be upset about that, as long as it wasn't done in a retarded fashion--though, knowing the people in power in the US, it probably would be done in a retarded fashion.
Beyond that, I give up. Just let me live where I can get a fast *enough* connection.
Idk. They're saying it was probably a russian missile, but what I'm reading, the Russians are denying that...
Whatever it is... holy shit!
If you could find a USB blu-ray drive, you should be able to just plug it right in there. The wikipedia page on it says something about it being licensed for use in blu-ray players, so that should work, in theory. Though XBMC (or Boxee, comparing it to this box; it's built off of XBMC) on a PS3 would kick this thing's ass, easily.
Pandora is what gets me to stream. While I have many means of finding new bands/musicians to listen to, I have also found some I hadn't come across before Pandora. And sure, I have a pretty nice music collection, but every once in a while, I want to listen to something that I *don't* have on hand. And Pandora is great at that, also, and also gives me that perfect chance to start searching for and checking out some new bands. I also much prefer to stream a few songs of a band, then go from there, than to just download their latest or greatest or entire discography. Streaming's just a faster means of getting to it, and if I'm cool with listening to other stuff alongside it, why not?
You know, that's what I've been thinking... I used to come on /. and read some really interesting thing every day. Now, I end up not even RTFA unless it actually sounds like it has some truly good stuff in the article. And yet I'm still disappointed when I do RTFA quite a lot lately, for how much it doesn't seem like much more than an advertisement/marketing story or blog article.
Disclaimer: My UID doesn't reflect how long I've browsed /., as I didn't use to read the comments nearly as much as I read the actual articles (which has kinda reversed)
Ok. Wow. I just surprised myself... Google showed me I haven't been keeping up with my times (though, honestly, it still sucks compared to Desktops in what choice you have hardware wise... probably worth it, if you want to avoid the "MS tax" that badly, nonetheless).
But it's those of us who buy the laptops that end up having to pay the "MS tax", which angers us--especially those like myself, who don't plan on using anything from MS unless it's in a VM. For me, that doesn't even have to do with MS itself. I just find Linux to be, in general, much better catered to the way I think and work with my own computer, especially when compared to Windows that I have never been able to wrap my head around as well as I do Linux. And as long as I don't see any MS software that I actually want to use come out on Linux, I don't see any reason why they should be getting anything from me, unless it's to run on a VM (or WINE).
In the last couple years, I haven't run into anything that I can't find some other way of doing things, mostly native to Linux. There's games, etc., but if you're talking about netbooks, you're probably not talking about much for games, in which case, Linux has more than enough to keep me happy (not that I'm much of a gamer... hell, I don't even use my computer enough any more to justify installing Gentoo, which I like much more than the Kubuntu I'm running at the moment).
So, until I can just as easily build my own laptop from parts as I can build my computer from parts (hell, a little free time and it's good to use), I'm going to hate the very concept of a "MS tax".
Shit! Teens are going to be hanging themselves in their basement in great numbers! And the court's going to be all full of cyber-bully cases. SHIT!
That's it. I quit the
Damn those cows! So many hours spent staring at a bunch of cows trying to kill my little isometric Barbarian. And all I wanted was another goddamn level!
This really is hell... damn. I always thought that plane crash seemed too real to be a dream....
FTFA: "ACB logged a record 480,000 hits in one day in early November"
Maybe today will break that record, with it posted up on slashdot now...
If it does, at least I know I contributed! Haha!