The whole thing is silly. Remember when Sony introduced a games machine more powerful than any other machine ever released in its form factor, which also cost more than any other machine ever released in that form factor, partially due to their decision to try to use it as a platform to promote their own media format and sell movies, and Nintendo released a much weaker games machine with an unusual interface that people thought was a gimmick, but it sold more than twice as well as the Sony system?
In any event, yes, I really [b]do[/b] use multiple real mouse buttons, regularly, in my daily workflow, and I have multibutton mice on all my Macs. I wish they would stop gimping the laptop.
Don't be a moron. I've been using Macs for a very long time, and yes, I really, really, miss the second button, and it really, really, does not get in the way.
I play video games, which often make excellent use of the convenient binding "hold down both mouse buttons". There is no way to do that with the built-in mouse, so anything I do on the Mac will require an external mouse.
Really, option-click isn't faster. It's slower. Time to hit option: At least 1ms. Time to not have to hit a key: 0ms.
I'm fine with people trying to stick up for Apple some of the time, but you don't have to be stupid about it. The single-button thing really does suck, even in OS X. There is a good reason for which people so often set up a second button... Although I should point out that, in many programs, it's control-click, not option-click, that replicates the other button. (Some programs support even more combinations... All of which are harder to keep straight than a second button would be.)
How are the Wii's graphics going to be worse in three years than they are now? They're already nowhere near the top of the heap.
The thing is, that matters a lot less once you've decided you're okay with it. The difference between the 90th percentile and the 99th percentile is huge. No one cares about the difference between 50th and 59th.
Isn't that what everyone said would be a noticable improvement over DRM-restricted music, and we all wanted it, and it would solve the company's problem?
When I bought the PDF of Programming Ruby, I got a PDF with my name in it. Makes sense to me!
I've played several post-NES virtual console games on the plain Wiimote.
I currently believe the PS3 has a single gyro for Z-axis, plus a 3-axis accelerometer; the Wii just has the accelerometer, and relies on gravity for orientation. I don't really CARE about Z-axis rotation, though, and I'd rather have a pointer and a second, independant, 3-axis accelerometer.
I think the Wiimote is fine for a lot of titles, many of which have gratuitously complicated interfaces. Look at Marvel Ultimate Alliance. On the Wii, the camera control is "tilt nunchuk". One less button needed, and a MUCH superior interface for the functionality.
I recently started looking into databases, and I asked a bunch of friends. All the experienced ones gave roughly the same advice: If you don't have time to read directions, just throw something together with MySQL. It'll be okay. PostgreSQL would be better.
So I took the extra ten minutes, and I'm pretty happy.
Every large site I know of that uses MySQL has had scaling problems of one sort or another under load, usually to do with trying to handle multiple writes to the database. At least a few people have simply swapped in PostgreSQL and seen problems disappear instantly. One friend did performance testing, where what he found was that MySQL was faster for small sets of clients, but that it slowed down faster, and that for largish N, he couldn't get it complete the test on the available hardware, but PostgreSQL just ran.
Having set up both a few times now, and having debugged problems with both, there is simply no way I'd use MySQL given any choice at all. It runs, but it feels accreted rather than designed. I know, Cathedral and Bazaar and all that... But there are times when you really do want the feeling that someone considered something up front.
I haven't minded holding it horizontally. A recent Cranky User column (that's me!) commented on the simplification. I consider the simplification a plus, even though in some cases a game design may lack buttons. I consider it better to have a simpler design.
I'm fine with the lack of gyros; it'd be neat, but it'd be noticably more expensive, and most games are doing just fine, as long as I don't want to play in micro gravity.
BTW, what are some of these "many" games that need a Classic Controller? I haven't seen one yet.
Maybe they should have played some Wii games rather than just dismissing it.
It does not take a lot of games to notice that: 1. I no longer have to play games with my hands together as though I'd been cuffed. 2. Easy to distinguish buttons, not too many of them, with convenient support for things like "thumb+forefinger = grab", making controls easier to remember. 3. Broad selection of simultaneous actions. I can move and turn at the same time without trying to remember button combos.
The wiimote is, hands down, the best console controller ever. It's not even close. Can I invent a game that works better on something else? Sure. I can make games that are better on keyboard than mouse, too. Still, the dominant case is pretty clear.
I do own one of their older models, and I like it. The company is friendly, too; when I wanted docs on the USB protocol it uses for defining macros, they sent them.
I have a PS3. I wouldn't call it "silent"; that fan's pretty noticeable. (Same volume as my docked laptop, my Wii, or one of my desktops.)
Yes, it's all these things. However, it's competing with game consoles, so all those other things are irrelevant.
Not every combination of features is worth extra money. Sometimes, "convergent" devices just fail miserably, because no one wants the convergence enough to pay a huge premium over what they'd get otherwise. I got a Wii to play games. I got a PS3 to run Linux. For an embedded Linux system, it's a bit pricey but not bad, and certainly an interesting processor. As a games machine, it's stupidly overpriced. But the fact is, brand matters, and it's a games machine through and through to the market.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice; rather, it is an account of my layman's perception of how things have worked.
It's very simple.
Unless they have prior express permission (or, thanks to a new enabling law, an "established business relationship" with many additional qualifiers), unsolicited faxes are categorically prohibited in the US. Penalty? $500, per advertisement, statutory damages, plus possible penalties.
So sue.
Call them up, find out who it is and what they're selling. Tape the call if that's legal in your area. Then sue.
My share, after attorney's fees and costs (including copying, etc.), of my junk fax litigation has been about $38,000 over the last few years. Mostly mortgage brokers, many of whom are predatory lenders as well. Do not waste your time trying to identify "Mortgage Services" -- just get them to hand you to a local mortgage company, and sue the mortgage company. Generally, in my experience, a given 800 number is affiliated with a single customer, so you call the number, and then sue for all the faxes you've gotten with that number on them.
I write about this stuff some in my blog. Largest total settlement was with Allied Telesyn, who paid $250 per ad to all the people who filled out claim forms, $5k to me, and probably more like $300k to some lawyers. Largest settlements for me personally have been on the order of $10k, but my friendly neighborhood lawyer gets about 35%, and there's filing fees and such.
Just a few things to know: 1. Junk faxers are dishonest. They will lie. They will tell you they didn't know it was illegal, they will lie to you about the law, they will say they didn't send the faxes, and so on. We see this all the time. 2. If you are not comfortable representing yourself pro se, get a lawyer. 3. Don't go to small claims unless you are absolutely SURE that your state won't let you do district court. Small claims judges are often unfamiliar with statutory damage laws.
There are no damages to prove; the law sets the damages at $500, per advertisement.
If you want to call remove numbers, go ahead, and write down which ones you called and when, but don't expect it to have any effect.
I've been using them in every room for every light fixture of a 3-story house for 10 years. I have maybe 12 dead ones so far. Average life seems to be 5-7 years, maybe longer.
By contrast, the one fixture we had with miniature bases, even though it's on less than most of our other lights, has gone through ten bulbs in that time, and it only has three sockets to begin with.
You're not even within an order of magnitude of making sense.
Linux on the PS3 works with framebuffer video, because Sony locked down the GPU.
I don't think this'll change.
So, really, the Wii is pretty tempting, and anyway, it's powerful enough to run interesting games. It's a lot more powerful than the PS2; even the Gamecube was arguably a bit more powerful than the PS2.
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Neat! Now how do I do "hold down both mouse buttons at once and drag"?
Yeah, and Wii is outselling PS3 about 5:1 right now, but overall installed base is closer to 2:1 in both cases.
You can't lose without competing.
The whole thing is silly. Remember when Sony introduced a games machine more powerful than any other machine ever released in its form factor, which also cost more than any other machine ever released in that form factor, partially due to their decision to try to use it as a platform to promote their own media format and sell movies, and Nintendo released a much weaker games machine with an unusual interface that people thought was a gimmick, but it sold more than twice as well as the Sony system?
What do you mean "right-clickable trackpad"?
In any event, yes, I really [b]do[/b] use multiple real mouse buttons, regularly, in my daily workflow, and I have multibutton mice on all my Macs. I wish they would stop gimping the laptop.
Don't be a moron. I've been using Macs for a very long time, and yes, I really, really, miss the second button, and it really, really, does not get in the way.
I play video games, which often make excellent use of the convenient binding "hold down both mouse buttons". There is no way to do that with the built-in mouse, so anything I do on the Mac will require an external mouse.
Really, option-click isn't faster. It's slower. Time to hit option: At least 1ms. Time to not have to hit a key: 0ms.
I'm fine with people trying to stick up for Apple some of the time, but you don't have to be stupid about it. The single-button thing really does suck, even in OS X. There is a good reason for which people so often set up a second button... Although I should point out that, in many programs, it's control-click, not option-click, that replicates the other button. (Some programs support even more combinations... All of which are harder to keep straight than a second button would be.)
Absolutely agreed. The previous high end was 1680x1050, which is okay, but...
This is the feature that is enough to overcome the feeling of "WTF single button mouse".
How are the Wii's graphics going to be worse in three years than they are now? They're already nowhere near the top of the heap.
The thing is, that matters a lot less once you've decided you're okay with it. The difference between the 90th percentile and the 99th percentile is huge. No one cares about the difference between 50th and 59th.
Isn't that what everyone said would be a noticable improvement over DRM-restricted music, and we all wanted it, and it would solve the company's problem?
When I bought the PDF of Programming Ruby, I got a PDF with my name in it. Makes sense to me!
You don't understand. It's not that Windows makes your hardware be shit.
It's that, under Windows, you have no way of knowing, because "crashes all the damn time" is normal.
Seconded. I've been running almost exclusively under Wine since about 0.9.30, and Cedega for a month or two before that, and NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.
If the client is crashing, my first guess is a dodgy computer. Windows machines can have utter crap for hardware without the user noticing.
But apart from that, you might be able to make an N800 work.
Failing that, get ready to build your own from scratch.
I've played several post-NES virtual console games on the plain Wiimote.
I currently believe the PS3 has a single gyro for Z-axis, plus a 3-axis accelerometer; the Wii just has the accelerometer, and relies on gravity for orientation. I don't really CARE about Z-axis rotation, though, and I'd rather have a pointer and a second, independant, 3-axis accelerometer.
I think the Wiimote is fine for a lot of titles, many of which have gratuitously complicated interfaces. Look at Marvel Ultimate Alliance. On the Wii, the camera control is "tilt nunchuk". One less button needed, and a MUCH superior interface for the functionality.
I recently started looking into databases, and I asked a bunch of friends. All the experienced ones gave roughly the same advice: If you don't have time to read directions, just throw something together with MySQL. It'll be okay. PostgreSQL would be better.
So I took the extra ten minutes, and I'm pretty happy.
Every large site I know of that uses MySQL has had scaling problems of one sort or another under load, usually to do with trying to handle multiple writes to the database. At least a few people have simply swapped in PostgreSQL and seen problems disappear instantly. One friend did performance testing, where what he found was that MySQL was faster for small sets of clients, but that it slowed down faster, and that for largish N, he couldn't get it complete the test on the available hardware, but PostgreSQL just ran.
Having set up both a few times now, and having debugged problems with both, there is simply no way I'd use MySQL given any choice at all. It runs, but it feels accreted rather than designed. I know, Cathedral and Bazaar and all that... But there are times when you really do want the feeling that someone considered something up front.
I haven't minded holding it horizontally. A recent Cranky User column (that's me!) commented on the simplification. I consider the simplification a plus, even though in some cases a game design may lack buttons. I consider it better to have a simpler design.
I'm fine with the lack of gyros; it'd be neat, but it'd be noticably more expensive, and most games are doing just fine, as long as I don't want to play in micro gravity.
BTW, what are some of these "many" games that need a Classic Controller? I haven't seen one yet.
Parody doesn't get you anywhere on trademark, normally; it gets called "passing off".
Would a reader looking at this poster immediately connect it with the Apple iPod? You betcha. That'd be a trademark issue.
IANAL.
Maybe they should have played some Wii games rather than just dismissing it.
It does not take a lot of games to notice that:
1. I no longer have to play games with my hands together as though I'd been cuffed.
2. Easy to distinguish buttons, not too many of them, with convenient support for things like "thumb+forefinger = grab", making controls easier to remember.
3. Broad selection of simultaneous actions. I can move and turn at the same time without trying to remember button combos.
The wiimote is, hands down, the best console controller ever. It's not even close. Can I invent a game that works better on something else? Sure. I can make games that are better on keyboard than mouse, too. Still, the dominant case is pretty clear.
I do own one of their older models, and I like it. The company is friendly, too; when I wanted docs on the USB protocol it uses for defining macros, they sent them.
I didn't see any detail in this article that wasn't in the previous one.
Nice attempt at mindreading, but failed.
I have a PS3. I wouldn't call it "silent"; that fan's pretty noticeable. (Same volume as my docked laptop, my Wii, or one of my desktops.)
Yes, it's all these things. However, it's competing with game consoles, so all those other things are irrelevant.
Not every combination of features is worth extra money. Sometimes, "convergent" devices just fail miserably, because no one wants the convergence enough to pay a huge premium over what they'd get otherwise. I got a Wii to play games. I got a PS3 to run Linux. For an embedded Linux system, it's a bit pricey but not bad, and certainly an interesting processor. As a games machine, it's stupidly overpriced. But the fact is, brand matters, and it's a games machine through and through to the market.
I prefer junkfaxes.org (note the plural).
In my experience, it's pretty cost-effective, and it does noticably reduce the number of faxes you get.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice; rather, it is an account of my layman's perception of how things have worked.
It's very simple.
Unless they have prior express permission (or, thanks to a new enabling law, an "established business relationship" with many additional qualifiers), unsolicited faxes are categorically prohibited in the US. Penalty? $500, per advertisement, statutory damages, plus possible penalties.
So sue.
Call them up, find out who it is and what they're selling. Tape the call if that's legal in your area. Then sue.
My share, after attorney's fees and costs (including copying, etc.), of my junk fax litigation has been about $38,000 over the last few years. Mostly mortgage brokers, many of whom are predatory lenders as well. Do not waste your time trying to identify "Mortgage Services" -- just get them to hand you to a local mortgage company, and sue the mortgage company. Generally, in my experience, a given 800 number is affiliated with a single customer, so you call the number, and then sue for all the faxes you've gotten with that number on them.
I write about this stuff some in my blog. Largest total settlement was with Allied Telesyn, who paid $250 per ad to all the people who filled out claim forms, $5k to me, and probably more like $300k to some lawyers. Largest settlements for me personally have been on the order of $10k, but my friendly neighborhood lawyer gets about 35%, and there's filing fees and such.
Just a few things to know:
1. Junk faxers are dishonest. They will lie. They will tell you they didn't know it was illegal, they will lie to you about the law, they will say they didn't send the faxes, and so on. We see this all the time.
2. If you are not comfortable representing yourself pro se, get a lawyer.
3. Don't go to small claims unless you are absolutely SURE that your state won't let you do district court. Small claims judges are often unfamiliar with statutory damage laws.
There are no damages to prove; the law sets the damages at $500, per advertisement.
If you want to call remove numbers, go ahead, and write down which ones you called and when, but don't expect it to have any effect.
Not all illegal acts are criminal. Junk faxes aren't criminal, but they're illegal and expose the senders to liability. Mmm, tasty liability.
Like hell they need replacement as often.
I've been using them in every room for every light fixture of a 3-story house for 10 years. I have maybe 12 dead ones so far. Average life seems to be 5-7 years, maybe longer.
By contrast, the one fixture we had with miniature bases, even though it's on less than most of our other lights, has gone through ten bulbs in that time, and it only has three sockets to begin with.
You're not even within an order of magnitude of making sense.
Linux on the PS3 works with framebuffer video, because Sony locked down the GPU.
I don't think this'll change.
So, really, the Wii is pretty tempting, and anyway, it's powerful enough to run interesting games. It's a lot more powerful than the PS2; even the Gamecube was arguably a bit more powerful than the PS2.