There is little point upgrading hardware for any other reason than improved visuals. You can get better rendering, AA, FPS. etc, but most people are satisfied with the visual quality of the current HD gaming systems.
Are there even enough potential buyers to support a new generation of consoles? I honestly don't know, but I think they are aiming at the majority of the user base (casual), like myself who will need some serious justification to encourage me to buy a new system, and I don't think they can offer any justification at the moment. We already have HD, decent surround, WiFi, browser, motion capture etc.
The next generation of consoles will feature 3D technology. That's the next logical step, but until there is a concrete 3D standard (not just Blue-ray 3D), there will be reluctance to gamble with technological development.
Could someone please explain how this would actually work in practice? There isn't a single point that all internet traffic goes through, so how exactly would they achieve this? What about dial up and such?
There has been a lot of rhetoric in the UK recently regarding changing the voting system. I suspect the reason STV isn't favoured is because so called 'safe seats' will be put in jeopardy. It will also result in more hung parliaments if the most recent polls are anything to go by.
I haven't played a single Valve title and thought I hadn't got value for money. Although short, Portal was amazing. I can't wait for Portal 2. In fact I think I'm going to piss myself in anticipation./fanboi
Personally I think 3D is a bit of a gimmick at the moment. Kind of like HD was when it first came out, when there were only a handful of HD channels (in the UK, it is still only a dozen or so). The point is when someone pushes the boundaries (read: releases some new technology and catches their competitors with their pants down), there is a noticeable surge in the level of technology available to the consumer.
The 3DS might have few games for it, and have a smaller screen, but when someone else says "hey look, ours has loads of games, bigger screens AND better 3D", this is not a bad thing.
UK users under the age of 19 will now be able to click on the ‘Report abuse’ link on each page and have the option to report the abuse directly to CEOP as well as to Facebook employees.
There is are lot of knee-jerk reactions in politics when tragedies such as this happen. Even more so when the currently uncensored UK internet (and incompetent parents) grant unfettered internet access to children who should really know better but don't.
Fortunately, that was the last government's reaction. When a gunman in Cumbria went on a killing spree recently, the current PM rejected immediate calls for heavier restrictions on gun ownership. I'm hoping the pattern continues.
This is a ridiculous situation. Although harder to argue, a casino could claim that a card shuffling machine malfunctioned thus dealing a winning hand to a player by accident, or that a roulette table wasn't greased correctly so delivered the ball to the wrong pocket.
If it was me, I would get a court to subpoena the machine, get the error independently verified, and while they're at it, verify the winning odds the casino claim.
I can understand both sides to this. On the one hand, Apple is trying to regulate its 'image' and reputation when it allows apps to be sold on their store. On the other hand, you have developers who, by all accounts, followed the vague rules and got their hard work rejected.
You put it nicely when you said "No one is making anyone develop for an iPhone" and given the tiny margins people make on apps, I'm surprised anyone bothers.
I think it would be pretty easy for MS or Apple to simply say, "We will never collect any data about our OS users' application usage, browsing habits, or other personal information."
Except they have never said that, nor will they ever.
Chrome OS is also open source, maybe there will be some nice branch projects in the future. I'm concerned about how their OS is so entwined with Flash though, it hardly has a stellar reputation for security.
I'm making assumptions here, but if these errors are handled by software would it not be possible for a program to 'ignore' errors in certain circumstances? Perhaps this could result in improved performance/battery life for certain low priority tasks. Although an application where 1% error is acceptable doesn't spring immediately to mind, maybe supercomputing - where anomalous results are checked and verified against each other...?
For a robot with limbs specifically to play this instrument, with programming to match, it is actually quite poor. It might be beyond the realms of the average robotics graduate, but from the worlds biggest car maker, I would expect much better. Very little progress since 2007. Clearly a PR stunt; I'm disappointed.
Pretty much everyone has condemned the way BP has tried to 'save' the well during their attempts to 'solve' the problem, instead of taking a more direct approach, but it cannot be stressed enough. The oil rig explosion was on the 20th April. It's now the 23rd of May. For a company which is in control of, basically a WMD, there should have been contingency after contingency lined up.
No dice on the blow off valve? Next day try the cap, next day try the plug, then the current 'top kill' method; we'd be at the current progress within a week. At the moment it seems BP is making it up as they go along, that may be all they can do at the moment, but it is unacceptable that there was no preparation or protocol for a worse case scenario, which even this isn't. A tanker full of cement and rubber could have been there within a few hours, this is a disgrace.
It's going to be a long time before new drilling is permitted in the Gulf of Mexico, I hope that time is spent drafting up legislation that sets up some sort of oil spill crisis management that has direct authority to intervene immediately when something like this happens. This sort of task absolutely should not be in the hands of people who have such a blatant conflict of interest.
That may seem fair in your region of the world, but it is ludicrously over-priced elsewhere.
Over priced compared to what? The pirated copies? Letting people who infringe copyright dictate price point is not a good idea.
In the UK a new release DVD can be anywhere between £10 and £15; a trip to the cinema for 4 people can be upward of £35. I'd say the price point for a DVD that you can keep, share, re-sell etc, is about right. Sure it would be nice if it was cheaper.
At the end of the day these companies have costs, risks, and an obligation to make huge profits. Do other manufacturers listen when you tell them to reduce prices and make less profit?
Cellphone companies find cellphones pose no health risk.
Yes the survey was conducted by the WHO, by then there is this gem
Data from the IARC study showed that overall, mobile telephone users in fact had a lower risk of brain cancer than people who had never used one, but the 21 scientists who conducted the study said this finding suggested problems with the method, or inaccurate information from those who took part.
Sounds like it was a bit of a waste of time really...
I just don't understand why no one trusts Google when they have the cleanest track record out there
I think it is down to how many companies have burned their users in the past. Last.fm, Facebook etc. were all 'trusted' by users until their moral compasses went haywire. I think distrusting content providers* is healthy, if only from a security and privacy perspective.
*Yes I realise Google searches don't technically provide content
Language evolves, get over it. I see people cringing when someone says 'queer' to describe an unusual situation, or 'gay' to describe an overtly jolly individual.
I guess all this drama could have been avoided if the author had just used the term 'cracker'. Oh well. 20:20 hindsight and all that...
If that's the case, why not get online retailers to add an additional tax to products shipped to NC zip codes, which is then handed over?
I'm not familiar with the US tax system, but in the UK VAT is added at the point of sale, included in the price, and the total gathered by the supplier is paid once a year to the tax man.
If this is just to get taxes, why do they need personal information? So they can pursue cases individually? Talk about ball-ache.
Slashdot Mirror
I didn't realise using Facebook and Twitter was such a risky endeavour.
I think it's definitely stalled, yes.
There is little point upgrading hardware for any other reason than improved visuals. You can get better rendering, AA, FPS. etc, but most people are satisfied with the visual quality of the current HD gaming systems.
Are there even enough potential buyers to support a new generation of consoles? I honestly don't know, but I think they are aiming at the majority of the user base (casual), like myself who will need some serious justification to encourage me to buy a new system, and I don't think they can offer any justification at the moment. We already have HD, decent surround, WiFi, browser, motion capture etc.
The next generation of consoles will feature 3D technology. That's the next logical step, but until there is a concrete 3D standard (not just Blue-ray 3D), there will be reluctance to gamble with technological development.
Could someone please explain how this would actually work in practice? There isn't a single point that all internet traffic goes through, so how exactly would they achieve this? What about dial up and such?
There has been a lot of rhetoric in the UK recently regarding changing the voting system. I suspect the reason STV isn't favoured is because so called 'safe seats' will be put in jeopardy. It will also result in more hung parliaments if the most recent polls are anything to go by.
I haven't played a single Valve title and thought I hadn't got value for money. Although short, Portal was amazing. I can't wait for Portal 2. In fact I think I'm going to piss myself in anticipation. /fanboi
Personally I think 3D is a bit of a gimmick at the moment. Kind of like HD was when it first came out, when there were only a handful of HD channels (in the UK, it is still only a dozen or so). The point is when someone pushes the boundaries (read: releases some new technology and catches their competitors with their pants down), there is a noticeable surge in the level of technology available to the consumer.
The 3DS might have few games for it, and have a smaller screen, but when someone else says "hey look, ours has loads of games, bigger screens AND better 3D", this is not a bad thing.
Latest hypometer reports say you have dropped to hypecon 3 since someone managed to place a pre-order. I think you need to throttle more bandwidth.
UK users under the age of 19 will now be able to click on the ‘Report abuse’ link on each page and have the option to report the abuse directly to CEOP as well as to Facebook employees.
There is are lot of knee-jerk reactions in politics when tragedies such as this happen. Even more so when the currently uncensored UK internet (and incompetent parents) grant unfettered internet access to children who should really know better but don't.
Fortunately, that was the last government's reaction. When a gunman in Cumbria went on a killing spree recently, the current PM rejected immediate calls for heavier restrictions on gun ownership. I'm hoping the pattern continues.
This is a ridiculous situation. Although harder to argue, a casino could claim that a card shuffling machine malfunctioned thus dealing a winning hand to a player by accident, or that a roulette table wasn't greased correctly so delivered the ball to the wrong pocket.
If it was me, I would get a court to subpoena the machine, get the error independently verified, and while they're at it, verify the winning odds the casino claim.
I can understand both sides to this. On the one hand, Apple is trying to regulate its 'image' and reputation when it allows apps to be sold on their store. On the other hand, you have developers who, by all accounts, followed the vague rules and got their hard work rejected.
You put it nicely when you said "No one is making anyone develop for an iPhone" and given the tiny margins people make on apps, I'm surprised anyone bothers.
I think it would be pretty easy for MS or Apple to simply say, "We will never collect any data about our OS users' application usage, browsing habits, or other personal information."
Except they have never said that, nor will they ever.
Chrome OS is also open source, maybe there will be some nice branch projects in the future. I'm concerned about how their OS is so entwined with Flash though, it hardly has a stellar reputation for security.
Or worse, it could jump to itself repeatedly, thereby creating a HCF situation.
I'm making assumptions here, but if these errors are handled by software would it not be possible for a program to 'ignore' errors in certain circumstances? Perhaps this could result in improved performance/battery life for certain low priority tasks. Although an application where 1% error is acceptable doesn't spring immediately to mind, maybe supercomputing - where anomalous results are checked and verified against each other...?
For a robot with limbs specifically to play this instrument, with programming to match, it is actually quite poor. It might be beyond the realms of the average robotics graduate, but from the worlds biggest car maker, I would expect much better. Very little progress since 2007. Clearly a PR stunt; I'm disappointed.
Pretty much everyone has condemned the way BP has tried to 'save' the well during their attempts to 'solve' the problem, instead of taking a more direct approach, but it cannot be stressed enough. The oil rig explosion was on the 20th April. It's now the 23rd of May. For a company which is in control of, basically a WMD, there should have been contingency after contingency lined up.
No dice on the blow off valve? Next day try the cap, next day try the plug, then the current 'top kill' method; we'd be at the current progress within a week. At the moment it seems BP is making it up as they go along, that may be all they can do at the moment, but it is unacceptable that there was no preparation or protocol for a worse case scenario, which even this isn't. A tanker full of cement and rubber could have been there within a few hours, this is a disgrace.
It's going to be a long time before new drilling is permitted in the Gulf of Mexico, I hope that time is spent drafting up legislation that sets up some sort of oil spill crisis management that has direct authority to intervene immediately when something like this happens. This sort of task absolutely should not be in the hands of people who have such a blatant conflict of interest.
What if a car drove off a jetty and crashed into an oil riser?
Gah, I should add that music and movie productions are done in our region of the world, and have costs to match.
That may seem fair in your region of the world, but it is ludicrously over-priced elsewhere.
Over priced compared to what? The pirated copies? Letting people who infringe copyright dictate price point is not a good idea.
In the UK a new release DVD can be anywhere between £10 and £15; a trip to the cinema for 4 people can be upward of £35. I'd say the price point for a DVD that you can keep, share, re-sell etc, is about right. Sure it would be nice if it was cheaper.
At the end of the day these companies have costs, risks, and an obligation to make huge profits. Do other manufacturers listen when you tell them to reduce prices and make less profit?
First Pandora's Box opened!
Or rather, the second?
What if a car crashed into an oil riser?
Yes the survey was conducted by the WHO, by then there is this gem
Data from the IARC study showed that overall, mobile telephone users in fact had a lower risk of brain cancer than people who had never used one, but the 21 scientists who conducted the study said this finding suggested problems with the method, or inaccurate information from those who took part.
Sounds like it was a bit of a waste of time really...
... I mean, is there ever anything genuine shared on there? lady_gaga-poker_face.exe THAT LOOKS GENUINE *click*click*
I just don't understand why no one trusts Google when they have the cleanest track record out there
I think it is down to how many companies have burned their users in the past. Last.fm, Facebook etc. were all 'trusted' by users until their moral compasses went haywire. I think distrusting content providers* is healthy, if only from a security and privacy perspective.
*Yes I realise Google searches don't technically provide content
Language evolves, get over it. I see people cringing when someone says 'queer' to describe an unusual situation, or 'gay' to describe an overtly jolly individual.
I guess all this drama could have been avoided if the author had just used the term 'cracker'. Oh well. 20:20 hindsight and all that...
If that's the case, why not get online retailers to add an additional tax to products shipped to NC zip codes, which is then handed over?
I'm not familiar with the US tax system, but in the UK VAT is added at the point of sale, included in the price, and the total gathered by the supplier is paid once a year to the tax man.
If this is just to get taxes, why do they need personal information? So they can pursue cases individually? Talk about ball-ache.