Great point about the audio feedback. I just posted a lengthy comment about my experience with one of these keyboards from this weekend, and wish I'd thought to mention that. You're absolutely right- the click is an enormous help in keeping accuracy up, and it's not so loud as to be obtrusive or annoying.
Dupe or no dupe, the timing of this article is great for me, as a buddy of mine got one last week and I got an opportunity to play around with it extensively over the weekend.
First, to the folks who are saying "It's teh suck compared to a full-sized keyboard 'cuz you don't get tactile feedback", thanks for the brilliant insight.
This isn't designed to compete with a full-sized keyboard except perhaps in geeky coolness. It's designed as an alternative to typing on the tiny keyboards built into PDAs or using the keypad on a phone. In this regard there's no comparison- it blows them away. I can actually touch type on the keypad on my phone, but could never hope to approach the typing speeds I can get on the virtual keyboard.
I think that a big factor in the utility of this device is the individual user. My friend (who actually owns the thing) has fairly thick fingers, and I think that he normally types by sight. Conversely, I touch type and have fairly smallish hands (for a guy anyway. They're still larger then all but the largest women's hands). My friend was able to do a passable job, but had to make a lot of corrections compared to when he's using a normal keyboard. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by how low my error rate was after just a short while. There's definitely a loss of speed associated with needing to keep glancing down at the "keys" to keep my finger positions calibrated, but after getting used to it I was still probably faster than your average hunt-and-peck typist.
As to the concern about repetitive stress injury from banging fingers into a table top, that's just absurd. You don't need to press into the surface- just touch it. There's no impact to speak of at all.
IMHO, it's pricy but useful, and has extreme coolness value. We took it around with us and got a lot of ooh's and aah's. If your fingers are exceptionally thick then you should probably skip it, but folks with smaller fingers will have little trouble. I need to find out if the layout works with the Mac's Command key, which normally maps to the Windows key on PC keyboards. The virtual keyboard doesn't include a Windows key, but if I can work around that I'm definitely getting one.
You can find it online. There are a few C-64 abandonware sites around that are very good. Also, decent 64 emulators are available for just about any platform (if you're using a Mac I highly recommend Power64).
While it's not wireless, the current iPod dock includes S-Video and mini stereo jacks on the back and an IR receiver on the front, and comes with an IR remote control. There are a couple of TV shows that I get off of the iTunes store, as well as videos that I've imported into iTunes from other sources. To watch them on our TV I skip the computer entirely. I just dock the iPod and watch. I only watch a few shows, so it's actually cheaper for me to buy individual episodes than to pay for cable TV.
The connection is clean so I lose no fidelity, (either video or audio). The dock itself is tiny and sits out of the way on top of the entertainment center.
There are scads of research programs working on long-chain carbon nanotubes, which are the single greatest technological challenge to building a space elevator. So far Liftport is the only organization working on the lifter and power delivery systems, but the government seems to be taking them quite seriously.
Check out their site (www.liftport.com), get the full story, and then make an educated assessment.
For the full space elevator the current plan is to use lasers to transmit power.
It sounds like the guy you're replying to is part of Liftport. I can only imagine that's why his response was so polite. I, on the other hand, have no affiliation with them whatsoever so I'll come out and say that you sound like an arrogant fucktard with a shallow grasp of the engineering challenges. Like he said though, if these issues are so damn easy for you to solve then put your brain where your mouth is, go to their site, and actually contribute. Your place in the history books awaits you.
That's exactly correct. The problem would most correctly be described as "crinkling".
I've had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Michael Laine on several occasions, and heard him give a talk on this very issue just last month. He's a very very smart guy, but by his own admission he's not an engineer. He's primarily a businessman and spokesman, and spends much of his time presenting technical issues to non-technical people in language that they can easily grasp. I wouldn't expect him to be scientifically precise in every word that comes out of his mouth.
I also own all three frisbees, and rather like them. They ended up being a gateway to a lot of really good music that I might not have otherwise ever discovered. However, I knew before I dropped cash on #2 and #3 that they were "inspired by" the movie. If my expectation had been otherwise I probably would've felt somewhat cheated.
Everyone knows that ninjas kill people ALL THE TIME! Their lives are actually MORE exciting than they're portrayed in movies, but I don't think that we could really handle their true awesomeness.:-)
Everything in films is exaggerated. Just look at gunshots; people fly in the air after catching a bullet, when in reality they wouldn't even fall over. You've never seen anyone get shot by Chuck Norris.;-)
OMG! That actually makes perfect sense! Do you realize that you just made one of the most absurd examples of computer use in film history plausible? That's like breaking Excalibur!
You can still do anything you want. Really? Does that include having a phone conversation that includes the words "Taliban", "jihad", and "bomb" without fearing that some government goon is going to be listening in? Does that mean that I can still know- not suspect, but know that the government isn't arbitrarily tapping my phone?
When the government becomes the criminals, and when we as citizens no longer have any real procedural recourse, where do you stand on the possibility of people who are genuine patriots rising up to overthrow said government? I'm not saying that that's where we are, but I do think that we should perhaps begin asking ourselves this question.
And just to deflect accusations of liberal bias, I am not, have never voted for, nor ever been, a Democrat. I did used to be a staunch Republican, and still hold many traditional republican beliefs. Pity the Republican party no longer seems to.
I know some people who are both Muslim and American! If they "threaten this country" will they be shot twice?
Here's a more serious question. If it comes to a point where the foundations of liberty and freedom upon which this country is supposed to have been founded have ceased to exist completely, then according to the founding fathers it is the duty of the citizens to rise up and overthrow the government- by violence if necessary. If/when it comes to that, which side will he be shooting?
I'll go one step further and say that most people buy a computer and once it's bogged down with spyware or so fragmented that performance is significantly impaired, they get a whole new computer. I've seen it happen many times despite my urgings of "You don't need a new computer! Just defrag or get antispyware/FireFox, or at worst reinstall the OS!" I've picked up some very nice computers very cheap or even free as a result of this.
It's worth mentioning that I've never seen this happen with Mac users.
Did congress try to take away executive branch powers with FISA? In a sense, yes. FISA grew largely out of the illegal wiretaps that Nixon did shortly before Watergate. His argument was exactly the same as Bush's- that as President and Commander in Chief he had the authority to authorize wiretaps with no judicial review "for the purposes of national security."
The reality, as it turned out, was that he was using wiretaps to spy on political opponents and journalists critical of him. FISA was created to clarify exactly when and how wiretaps could be used, and more importantly to eliminate any possibility of such "creative interpretation" being used to justify warrantless wiretaps in the future.
Interestingly, the President asked for and got numerous changes to FISA after 9/11 which made it even easier for wiretaps to be done legally. Yet still he chooses to disregard FISA.
Interesting factoid you may already know: since its inception, the FISA court has reviewed over 10,000 requests for wiretaps. Only 4 have been refused or sent back to be modified and resubmitted. FISA is a rubber stamp which even the NSA needs to abide by. The only reason to circumvent it is to conceal wrongdoing.
As mentioned elsewhere, two movies that translated very well into video games are Blade Runner (Westwood) and TRON (TRON 2.0). In both cases the look and feel of the original world was maintained and then expanded upon. In both cases they also made sure that game isn't just a scene-by-scene recreation of the movie, but is instead a unique story that either takes place alongside the movie or is a logical sequel to it.
Games that have made successful translations into film seem to be harder to find. Off hand the only example that I can come up with is Silent Hill, and I have to admit that I never played the game.
'Course, I also enjoyed the Tomb Raider movies immensely, but that was entirely a factor of eye candy.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Great point about the audio feedback. I just posted a lengthy comment about my experience with one of these keyboards from this weekend, and wish I'd thought to mention that. You're absolutely right- the click is an enormous help in keeping accuracy up, and it's not so loud as to be obtrusive or annoying.
Dupe or no dupe, the timing of this article is great for me, as a buddy of mine got one last week and I got an opportunity to play around with it extensively over the weekend.
First, to the folks who are saying "It's teh suck compared to a full-sized keyboard 'cuz you don't get tactile feedback", thanks for the brilliant insight.
This isn't designed to compete with a full-sized keyboard except perhaps in geeky coolness. It's designed as an alternative to typing on the tiny keyboards built into PDAs or using the keypad on a phone. In this regard there's no comparison- it blows them away. I can actually touch type on the keypad on my phone, but could never hope to approach the typing speeds I can get on the virtual keyboard.
I think that a big factor in the utility of this device is the individual user. My friend (who actually owns the thing) has fairly thick fingers, and I think that he normally types by sight. Conversely, I touch type and have fairly smallish hands (for a guy anyway. They're still larger then all but the largest women's hands). My friend was able to do a passable job, but had to make a lot of corrections compared to when he's using a normal keyboard. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by how low my error rate was after just a short while. There's definitely a loss of speed associated with needing to keep glancing down at the "keys" to keep my finger positions calibrated, but after getting used to it I was still probably faster than your average hunt-and-peck typist.
As to the concern about repetitive stress injury from banging fingers into a table top, that's just absurd. You don't need to press into the surface- just touch it. There's no impact to speak of at all.
IMHO, it's pricy but useful, and has extreme coolness value. We took it around with us and got a lot of ooh's and aah's. If your fingers are exceptionally thick then you should probably skip it, but folks with smaller fingers will have little trouble. I need to find out if the layout works with the Mac's Command key, which normally maps to the Windows key on PC keyboards. The virtual keyboard doesn't include a Windows key, but if I can work around that I'm definitely getting one.
The Amiga was hands-down the best platform for Syndicate! The DOS port was great and all, but the Amiga version was a work of art.
You can find it online. There are a few C-64 abandonware sites around that are very good. Also, decent 64 emulators are available for just about any platform (if you're using a Mac I highly recommend Power64).
While it's not wireless, the current iPod dock includes S-Video and mini stereo jacks on the back and an IR receiver on the front, and comes with an IR remote control. There are a couple of TV shows that I get off of the iTunes store, as well as videos that I've imported into iTunes from other sources. To watch them on our TV I skip the computer entirely. I just dock the iPod and watch. I only watch a few shows, so it's actually cheaper for me to buy individual episodes than to pay for cable TV.
The connection is clean so I lose no fidelity, (either video or audio). The dock itself is tiny and sits out of the way on top of the entertainment center.
If you don't get the joke then you're a young slashdot whipper snapper! ;-)
The proposed locations are at sea, away from shipping and air traffic routes, and would be strictly enforced no-fly zones.
There are scads of research programs working on long-chain carbon nanotubes, which are the single greatest technological challenge to building a space elevator. So far Liftport is the only organization working on the lifter and power delivery systems, but the government seems to be taking them quite seriously.
Check out their site (www.liftport.com), get the full story, and then make an educated assessment.
For the full space elevator the current plan is to use lasers to transmit power.
It sounds like the guy you're replying to is part of Liftport. I can only imagine that's why his response was so polite. I, on the other hand, have no affiliation with them whatsoever so I'll come out and say that you sound like an arrogant fucktard with a shallow grasp of the engineering challenges. Like he said though, if these issues are so damn easy for you to solve then put your brain where your mouth is, go to their site, and actually contribute. Your place in the history books awaits you.
That's exactly correct. The problem would most correctly be described as "crinkling".
I've had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Michael Laine on several occasions, and heard him give a talk on this very issue just last month. He's a very very smart guy, but by his own admission he's not an engineer. He's primarily a businessman and spokesman, and spends much of his time presenting technical issues to non-technical people in language that they can easily grasp. I wouldn't expect him to be scientifically precise in every word that comes out of his mouth.
Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down. - Malcolm Reynolds
I also own all three frisbees, and rather like them. They ended up being a gateway to a lot of really good music that I might not have otherwise ever discovered. However, I knew before I dropped cash on #2 and #3 that they were "inspired by" the movie. If my expectation had been otherwise I probably would've felt somewhat cheated.
Everyone knows that ninjas kill people ALL THE TIME! Their lives are actually MORE exciting than they're portrayed in movies, but I don't think that we could really handle their true awesomeness. :-)
Everything in films is exaggerated. Just look at gunshots; people fly in the air after catching a bullet, when in reality they wouldn't even fall over. ;-)
You've never seen anyone get shot by Chuck Norris.
OMG! That actually makes perfect sense! Do you realize that you just made one of the most absurd examples of computer use in film history plausible? That's like breaking Excalibur!
I bow to you, and I fear you.
"Quit picking on Hackers 'cuz it shows a young Angelina Jolie's boobies!"
This is Slashdot. It's okay to admit that you watched that scene in frame advance. That's why I bought the DVD in the first place.
Re: your later point, there are actually 3 soundtrack albums, and they're all pretty damn shiny.
Love your sig! :-)
No you don't. You probably can't afford the habit. ;-)
The gp post is a reference to the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. I've seen friends financially broken by their devotion to it.
As the t-shirt says: "Anime: Drugs would be cheaper"
You can still do anything you want.
Really? Does that include having a phone conversation that includes the words "Taliban", "jihad", and "bomb" without fearing that some government goon is going to be listening in? Does that mean that I can still know- not suspect, but know that the government isn't arbitrarily tapping my phone?
When the government becomes the criminals, and when we as citizens no longer have any real procedural recourse, where do you stand on the possibility of people who are genuine patriots rising up to overthrow said government? I'm not saying that that's where we are, but I do think that we should perhaps begin asking ourselves this question.
And just to deflect accusations of liberal bias, I am not, have never voted for, nor ever been, a Democrat. I did used to be a staunch Republican, and still hold many traditional republican beliefs. Pity the Republican party no longer seems to.
I know some people who are both Muslim and American! If they "threaten this country" will they be shot twice?
Here's a more serious question. If it comes to a point where the foundations of liberty and freedom upon which this country is supposed to have been founded have ceased to exist completely, then according to the founding fathers it is the duty of the citizens to rise up and overthrow the government- by violence if necessary. If/when it comes to that, which side will he be shooting?
I'll go one step further and say that most people buy a computer and once it's bogged down with spyware or so fragmented that performance is significantly impaired, they get a whole new computer. I've seen it happen many times despite my urgings of "You don't need a new computer! Just defrag or get antispyware/FireFox, or at worst reinstall the OS!" I've picked up some very nice computers very cheap or even free as a result of this.
It's worth mentioning that I've never seen this happen with Mac users.
On behalf of the outraged subjects in the rest of Oceania, I thank our brethren in Airstrip One for their support.
Did congress try to take away executive branch powers with FISA?
In a sense, yes. FISA grew largely out of the illegal wiretaps that Nixon did shortly before Watergate. His argument was exactly the same as Bush's- that as President and Commander in Chief he had the authority to authorize wiretaps with no judicial review "for the purposes of national security."
The reality, as it turned out, was that he was using wiretaps to spy on political opponents and journalists critical of him. FISA was created to clarify exactly when and how wiretaps could be used, and more importantly to eliminate any possibility of such "creative interpretation" being used to justify warrantless wiretaps in the future.
Interestingly, the President asked for and got numerous changes to FISA after 9/11 which made it even easier for wiretaps to be done legally. Yet still he chooses to disregard FISA.
Interesting factoid you may already know: since its inception, the FISA court has reviewed over 10,000 requests for wiretaps. Only 4 have been refused or sent back to be modified and resubmitted. FISA is a rubber stamp which even the NSA needs to abide by. The only reason to circumvent it is to conceal wrongdoing.
As mentioned elsewhere, two movies that translated very well into video games are Blade Runner (Westwood) and TRON (TRON 2.0). In both cases the look and feel of the original world was maintained and then expanded upon. In both cases they also made sure that game isn't just a scene-by-scene recreation of the movie, but is instead a unique story that either takes place alongside the movie or is a logical sequel to it.
:-)
Games that have made successful translations into film seem to be harder to find. Off hand the only example that I can come up with is Silent Hill, and I have to admit that I never played the game.
'Course, I also enjoyed the Tomb Raider movies immensely, but that was entirely a factor of eye candy.
WtF?