"If the menus were on the windows, the distance would be smaller, but by having the menus against an edge of the screen, you can't overshoot towards the edge, so the target size is effectively infinite. No bad UI about that."
I'd also like to point out that one of the most frustrating thing for new users of computers (such as the elderly) is the difficulty of manipulating a cursor on the screen with a secondary device to press tiny virtual buttons. It's extremely unintuitive for them. Every time they overshoot a button- and as you point out it happens quite easily on Windows- it adds to their frustration. It's one of the reason the iPad has been so successful, despite running a mere "phone OS". See an application? Press on it. Voila you're done! Want to see more apps? Flick to the left like turning a page. Voila! People often complained about the lack of folders in early versions of iOS. But the problem with folders is they're not exactly intuitive for someone's who has never used a computer before. Apple only added folders to iOS when it had determined the usability to confusion ratio (where confusion was caused by clutter) was high enough to warrant its introduction. There's also a sort of "training" that goes on, where users were taught the basics of iOS, and learned more as Apple gradually- and very carefully- introduced new features in later versions.
Contrast this to Android or Windows XP, where features come first and usability and accessibility come second (still no GPU acceleration for UI and browsing?!). It's why newcomers and casual users find it "cluttered" or "confusing".
Re:I haven't read the article, but hear me out her
on
Who Killed Videogames?
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· Score: 2, Informative
I was actually about to comment on how surprising it is that it took this long for the games industry to mutate to this model. Games have always been ripe for psychological manipulation of the customer, but for the most part until recently game developers had focused solely on the "pure" goal of providing a great experience. Eventually this led to publishers milking franchises to maximize profits, but usually those sequels (like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout) were actually quite good. Now we have "achievements" and "trophies" and other bizarre and meaningless "rewards" mostly unrelated to the actual game experience.
It's not the patents themselves that are the issue, but how they're implemented and how the system works. Unlike hardware patents, the details of software patent infringement claims can't be viewed by the defendant. So when Microsoft threatens Google's Android OS over software patents, Google has absolutely no way of legally knowing exactly what part of their code Microsoft is suing them over. If they did, they could easy change how a technique is implemented. Google can do absolutely nothing to remedy the situation and instead must pay licensing fees if they lose the lawsuit. This situation is patently insane (pun intended).
In hardware patent lawsuits like Apple vs. Samsung, both Samsung and the rest of the public can determine what exactly Apple is suing over. Samsung can easily change their tablet's form factor to meet Apple's demands.
That said, I certainly don't want to ever see Europe implement software patents. Diversity is nice.
Look, Intel's not stupid enough to push AMD out of the market. They could have done it by now if they really wanted to by dropping prices to barely positive margins. Like Microsoft investing in Apple in the 90s, they'll keep AMD around as a defense against anti-trust/monopoly accusations. Instead Intel will just price their CPUs higher and delay release of their next-gen units. People feeling "bad" about AMD dropping out of the market seem to think Intel becoming a monopoly would somehow be a permanent state. This is the reason we have government and organizations like the DoJ.
I don't see OS's using any more RAM. Windows 8 certainly doesn't. There are no computing tasks this guy's mom does that will ever need more than 4 GB, let alone 8.
Apple's lawsuits over Android are mostly retarded (but Android unquestionably copied iOS's overall design; prototypes before the iPhone were mostly Blackberry knockoffs), but their complaints about Samsung copying their design are legitimate.
I heard Thunderbolt can do 4 channels bi-directionally. Does that mean 40 gbps in one direction? With -2/10 for overhead, that's 32 gbps or PCIe 2.0 8x, right? But why do people keep saying it's only equivalent to 4x?
Lol return to "sound money" and ignore decades of economics research and history demonstrating the utter destruction returning to a "gold standard" would cause.
Uh.... no. Far more likely is that Obama is unwilling, not unable. You're a moron if you still believe Obama ever cared about the common man. Look who he appointed to his economic advisory board. Look at how he started parroting right-wing talking points over the "deficit" and ignored jobs. Look at how he ignored economic advisors about the original stimulus size. Fracking wake up, Obama is corrupt.
There was nothing "grass roots" about the Tea Party. They were angry at the people in government who were trying to help them, not at the people in government making them worse off. They're also selfish sociopaths who don't know the first thing about economics. A lot of them receive government healthcare with Medicare and Medicaid, but protest "government involvement" in their lives. Their old retards who were utterly manipulated by the neo conservative leadership. You honestly think those idiots could coordinate so many "protests" or so many highly-paid speakers? Such mindless tools.
Wall Street basically caused the recession. They lobbied Congress to repeal Glass-Steagall, defeated significant financial reforms during Dodd-Frank, have all their cronies in the White House and control the purse strings of every major politician's campaign.
Of course our entire economy the world over would also crash. *That* would be nice wouldn't it. At any rate I do find it rather disturbing how many cops surround these events, looking for any excuse to arrest these protesters.
Actually you're wrong. The standards for LTE Release 10 was finalized all the way back in March (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/022511-lte-advanced-mobile-standard-gets-go-ahead.html)/ That said, it won't be used in networks until 2014.
It's not a free market. There is no such thing. It's a hypothetical construct. Every market has barriers to entry. The wireless industry has multibillion dollar barriers.
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You're projecting. Seriously, stop regurgitating the same anti-Apple talking points you hear around the web.
"If the menus were on the windows, the distance would be smaller, but by having the menus against an edge of the screen, you can't overshoot towards the edge, so the target size is effectively infinite. No bad UI about that."
I'd also like to point out that one of the most frustrating thing for new users of computers (such as the elderly) is the difficulty of manipulating a cursor on the screen with a secondary device to press tiny virtual buttons. It's extremely unintuitive for them. Every time they overshoot a button- and as you point out it happens quite easily on Windows- it adds to their frustration. It's one of the reason the iPad has been so successful, despite running a mere "phone OS". See an application? Press on it. Voila you're done! Want to see more apps? Flick to the left like turning a page. Voila! People often complained about the lack of folders in early versions of iOS. But the problem with folders is they're not exactly intuitive for someone's who has never used a computer before. Apple only added folders to iOS when it had determined the usability to confusion ratio (where confusion was caused by clutter) was high enough to warrant its introduction. There's also a sort of "training" that goes on, where users were taught the basics of iOS, and learned more as Apple gradually- and very carefully- introduced new features in later versions.
Contrast this to Android or Windows XP, where features come first and usability and accessibility come second (still no GPU acceleration for UI and browsing?!). It's why newcomers and casual users find it "cluttered" or "confusing".
I was actually about to comment on how surprising it is that it took this long for the games industry to mutate to this model. Games have always been ripe for psychological manipulation of the customer, but for the most part until recently game developers had focused solely on the "pure" goal of providing a great experience. Eventually this led to publishers milking franchises to maximize profits, but usually those sequels (like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout) were actually quite good. Now we have "achievements" and "trophies" and other bizarre and meaningless "rewards" mostly unrelated to the actual game experience.
It's not the patents themselves that are the issue, but how they're implemented and how the system works. Unlike hardware patents, the details of software patent infringement claims can't be viewed by the defendant. So when Microsoft threatens Google's Android OS over software patents, Google has absolutely no way of legally knowing exactly what part of their code Microsoft is suing them over. If they did, they could easy change how a technique is implemented. Google can do absolutely nothing to remedy the situation and instead must pay licensing fees if they lose the lawsuit. This situation is patently insane (pun intended).
In hardware patent lawsuits like Apple vs. Samsung, both Samsung and the rest of the public can determine what exactly Apple is suing over. Samsung can easily change their tablet's form factor to meet Apple's demands.
That said, I certainly don't want to ever see Europe implement software patents. Diversity is nice.
His ability to go beyond the law and typical bureaucracy is a key in his fight against his city's unique super villains.
Obviously you didn't glean the proper message from Unbreakable.
Look, Intel's not stupid enough to push AMD out of the market. They could have done it by now if they really wanted to by dropping prices to barely positive margins. Like Microsoft investing in Apple in the 90s, they'll keep AMD around as a defense against anti-trust/monopoly accusations. Instead Intel will just price their CPUs higher and delay release of their next-gen units. People feeling "bad" about AMD dropping out of the market seem to think Intel becoming a monopoly would somehow be a permanent state. This is the reason we have government and organizations like the DoJ.
I don't see OS's using any more RAM. Windows 8 certainly doesn't. There are no computing tasks this guy's mom does that will ever need more than 4 GB, let alone 8.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4760/arms-mali400-mp4-is-the-fastest-smartphone-gpufor-now
No I just don't want to ever think about a charger cable ever again. Same way with a solar powered calculator.
Apple's lawsuits over Android are mostly retarded (but Android unquestionably copied iOS's overall design; prototypes before the iPhone were mostly Blackberry knockoffs), but their complaints about Samsung copying their design are legitimate.
Loooots of those on Slashdot.
I heard Thunderbolt can do 4 channels bi-directionally. Does that mean 40 gbps in one direction? With -2/10 for overhead, that's 32 gbps or PCIe 2.0 8x, right? But why do people keep saying it's only equivalent to 4x?
Lol return to "sound money" and ignore decades of economics research and history demonstrating the utter destruction returning to a "gold standard" would cause.
Uh.... no. Far more likely is that Obama is unwilling, not unable. You're a moron if you still believe Obama ever cared about the common man. Look who he appointed to his economic advisory board. Look at how he started parroting right-wing talking points over the "deficit" and ignored jobs. Look at how he ignored economic advisors about the original stimulus size. Fracking wake up, Obama is corrupt.
It's about altering the "debate" honestly, to wrest control away from the corporate-controlled media and the easily manipulated Tea Partiers.
Pretty sure Steve Jobs stopped caring about wealth as he got older. Problem with Wall Street is they're never satisfied.
There was nothing "grass roots" about the Tea Party. They were angry at the people in government who were trying to help them, not at the people in government making them worse off. They're also selfish sociopaths who don't know the first thing about economics. A lot of them receive government healthcare with Medicare and Medicaid, but protest "government involvement" in their lives. Their old retards who were utterly manipulated by the neo conservative leadership. You honestly think those idiots could coordinate so many "protests" or so many highly-paid speakers? Such mindless tools.
Wall Street basically caused the recession. They lobbied Congress to repeal Glass-Steagall, defeated significant financial reforms during Dodd-Frank, have all their cronies in the White House and control the purse strings of every major politician's campaign.
The 99% aren't the borg. They can't coordinate their purchases across the country. These Wall Street protests *are* the 99% saying "no together".
Of course our entire economy the world over would also crash. *That* would be nice wouldn't it. At any rate I do find it rather disturbing how many cops surround these events, looking for any excuse to arrest these protesters.
Memristors alone will make HP hugely profitable from licensing. Memristors will likely be the great computing discovery of the next decade or two.
Actually you're wrong. The standards for LTE Release 10 was finalized all the way back in March (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/022511-lte-advanced-mobile-standard-gets-go-ahead.html)/ That said, it won't be used in networks until 2014.
Coverage will be very good when in 2013 they repurpose that 800 MHz spectrum for LTE. It will be Verizon quality actually.
It's not a free market. There is no such thing. It's a hypothetical construct. Every market has barriers to entry. The wireless industry has multibillion dollar barriers.