Thanks to the laws we all have so much respect for, you can pass your higher costs onto everyone else! That's right, if you can prove your alternate energy source costs more than the utility is willing to pay, you can force them to pay you that amount. This is great in that it's the absolute oposite of a free market: Everyone is forced to pay the highest bidder!
They only pay you if you generate electricty, that is, add electricity to the grid. It's extremely unlikely that this would happen, in an average home.
Also, this is nothing new. I've heard people with solar panels or windmills talk about it, but I doubt most have ever had the power company actually pay them anything. More likely, they just get credited for some power one day when they weren't using much, so it just gives them a discount on the other days where they used more than they could produce themselves. I don't have a problem with that.
If I owned my own home, and ran a home business, I would look into one of these strictly for the back-up aspect. I would definitely get one of these for my home if I lived someplace like Florida, where they seem to get roughed up by a major hurricane every year or so.
If K-Mart decides they don't want to sell any product to a minor, I believe that's their right.
Exactly. A business can decide to not allow minors to buy their products if they wish... For example, Wal-Mart won't sell video head cleaner or things like that to minors because of "huffing" or spray paint because of graphitti concerns. I would assume they will also not sell R-rated movies to minors, either. I don't have a problem with that because, hey, it's their business. If they don't want to sell violent games or spray paint to minors, that's their business. It's not mine. The kids can just take their money elsewhere.
If it looks viable, a major player could push them out in months.
Actually, "A major player" would take months to just decide if it looks viable. Massive companies like Citibank do not move quickly. If they decide to do this, you can look forward to it rolling out about a year to two years after they make the decision. We're talking about an industry bigger and more monolithic than the Recording Industry... and look how long it has taken them to start offering digital music.
Another big problem with your idea is: Paypal has, so far, not made any money of it's customers. Credit Card Companies rape their customers for insane profits. Banks don't do quite as well, but still make good money. I don't think the big guys even want a part of this business... There is not a big enough profit margin there for them.
Paypal loses money right now to build market share by paying $5 per sign-up and another $5 per referral.
Now suppose CitiBank decides they want to play. They set up a system along similar lines, but pay $20 per sign-up, %10 per referral, and $50 for every former PayPal customer that switches. Paypal can't afford to piss money all over the internet that fast, but Citibank can... plus they have name recognition and an IRL customer base that Paypal lacks.
I think that paying members to switch might be illegal. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know. It just sounds fishy. Not really sure how they would verify the switch, also. And would switching mean you had to quit paypal, or just sign up for the new service. Because if it didn't make them quit paypal, it would only encourage new users to join paypal first. "Hmm, I can join citibank online for $20, or I can join paypal, then switch to citibank online for $5 + $20 + $50."
Now, suppose you are a blood-sucking CEO of a major international bank, and you arrive at the conclusion that Paypal is not only going to make money, but will slowly migrate into the banking business... What would you do? Let it happen, or pull a Microsoft? Thought so.
I can see one of these companies trying to buy Paypal and I'm sure some have already offered. This I conceed. I doubt though that a large bank could just step in and take over the market. Usually whoever offers the best service first wins. Ebay's own payment system can't compete with paypal... That should tell you something.
I don't know if I buy this "paypal is the bank of the future" idea, but it is definitely very popular and will only get moreso.
Umm, if you're getting Cease-and-desist letters, you really probably shouldn't just ignore them. Even if they are totally full of shit, the US legal system can be nasty.
Isn't HackerQuest based in China? I don't think the US legal system has any pull there what so ever...
I reckon you can hit a randomly chosen gamepad button lots faster than a randomly chosen key. On a decent gamepad (PSX, DC, N64), all the in-game buttons are under a finger or a thumb at all times.
Maybe, but what about non random buttons? In most RTS games, you can link groups of units or buildings to the number keys... For example, 1-5 are different troop squads, all in different areas of the map, and 6-0 are your different buildings you use to produce those units. After you link them to those number keys, you simply have to press their key and the map jumps to their location on the battlefield and selects them. Trying do do this on a gamepad would involve pressing a button, then scrolling down through a list, then pressing another button. Much more time consuming in the middle of a firefight. Complexity of input is why RTS games are generally much better on the PC. They are simply _better_ suited for the PC interface. It's the same reason why fighting games are much more successful on consoles... Tekken is much better suited for a gamepad and couch-style multiplayer.
No...just stealing a service by running free servers. This would, ultimately, lead to less people paying for the service provided by Verant.
They aren't really stealing a service... It's just like the Bleem! case... Some people managed to figure out how Everquest's network works, and made their own version. As long as they didn't use any of Verant's code, then they haven't stolen anything. I doubt they could get into much trouble, unless their server is using Verant code to run. You could say Bleem! is stealing from Sony, too... But the courts (so far) feel otherwise.
I agree with some of your points, but not with others:
Multiplayer is sweet. Use anything from a dial in modem to a full T3. User supplies the bandwidth.
All the new consoles allow for broadband. So they are pretty much even here.
Interface. PC has a lot more interfaces to offer from mouse, keyboard to joystick. Ever play the orginal Diablo on Playstation? Diablo sucks without a mouse.
Absolutely right, There are certain kind of games that are good with a mouse and keyboard, others that are good with a gamepad. However, the DC has a mouse and keyboard... Most likely the other consoles will as well.
Patches: If you find a bug in a PC game, release a patch, no problem. Find a bug in a console game, huh huh your screwed.
I think the victory in this arena goes to the consoles because of this, actually. I can't think of a single DC, PSX or Genesis game I own that would need a patch, whereas virtually every PC game needs patching. Many cannot even be beaten out of the box, without a patch. The fact that you can't patch a console game forces the companies to make sure the product is error free.
Mods: Ever seen a Quake2 mod for the playstation?
This is a big issue... Counterstrike is at least as popular as Half-Life multiplayer, if not more. Will you be able to add mods to xbox games? Who knows?
Eye Candy: What can a TV do 320X240 res? Most PC games I play are at 1024X960
This is a big issue, too. I find that for most console games though, the TV is adequate. But part of that is because console games tend to be less complex, without all the HUDs and various read-outs that are common in PC games.
Sound: TV speakers aren't the greatest. PC gamers supply there own speakers from that little beep speaker in the case to a $5000 home stero system.
You're way off on this one. Most people (who are over 18) have much better sound setups for their TV than their computer, especially if they are a movie buff. Many people at least run their TV through their stereo, or have it all combined into one. (Thus the phrase "home theater"). Surround sound, 600 watt amps, etc... This beats out everything but the most expensive computer speakers. And most people will have their console where? Yep, as part of their home entertainment system.
sure console has the advantage of being able to program for one set of hardware, but with things like Direct X and Glide, is this to much of a concern any more?
Yes, it really is. A lot of programming for the PC is trying to pander to the lowest set of specs while making sure that some video card won't make the game just not run. Consoles don't have that problem. Of course, they also are locked in, where PCs can get new hardware every few months... if you can afford it. It's a trade off, really.
I really only see 2 advantages the console market has:
1) Also sitting on a nice comfortable sofa after a long day of sitting in a stiff chair is a bonus for the console. 2)Also being able to rent full version of console games for $2 is a sweet deal.
Both of these are advantages, though I tend not to bother renting games.
Play Diablo on the PC then try playing it on the Playstation, you will be disapointed.
And try playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater on your PC, and you will be disappointed. Hell, try playing a four player multiplayer game like Mario Kart 64 (actually that type of sitting-on-the-couch-with-your-friends multiplayer experience doesn't exist on the PC... and it's one of the best things about consoles) and you'll be disappointed. You are missing what most people seem to: console games and PC games are very different for very good reasons. They are designed to work with the platforms they were intended for. Of course Diablo is not as fun for consoles! It was designed with a PC interface... would Soccer be as fun to play if you turned it into a water sport? No.
Console games are generally less complex, easier to grasp... The kind of games where you can sit and play for 5-10 minutes and then do something else. PC games are generally more immersive, have a much greater learning curve but reward the player more. This is a big part of why PC games get such a hardcore following.
Console games and PC games are very different. I like both. The Xbox won't replace the PC, nor will any other Next Gen console. If a console comes around that does replace the PC, it will do so only by basically turning into a PC... And I don't see how you can call that "consoles destroying the PC market". More like the PC mindset subverting the console market.
I'd suggest that a game requiring 12 channels of user input to control isn't a feature, it's a design flaw.
No, it's just a different type of game. Some types of game are more suited to the keyboard/mouse, others are more suited to a gamepad. If you are playing a fighter jet simulation (and I mean a real simulation, not an arcade game), you need lots of different inputs to simulate the different controls. You don't need those controls if you are playing Sonic.
This theft will probably cost record companies billions in the coming years, and force them to raise prices to survive like they are doing right now.
Last year was a record year for the music industry. The majority of big sales items came from artists who are "singles-driven", like the various teen groups and hip-hop groups. Hot singles are also what's most likely to be pirated off of the internet. Interesting, isn't it, that sales did not decline at all.
Also... I know lots of people who use Napster. Most of them also buy lots of CDs. I use Napster, and Gnutella constantly. I also spend probably around $250-300 a month on music. I purchase, on average, probably 4 records or cds a week. I love music. Listening to stuff on the internet is an extension of my non-wired listening habits, not a replacement.
The only people I know who download from Napster but don't also buy music are people who aren't into music and didn't spend money on it before they started using Napster. These are the people who "just listen to whatever's on the radio". These people never gave the music industry money before, so the fact that they use Napster isn't hurting them now.
The bottom line is, if people like music, they will buy what they like. Napster can help them find it... Maybe I'm a bad example, since I host a radio show and run a (very small) record label, but I buy music from artists I hear off of Napster. Hell, I'm even going to put out a record by an artist I was introduced to from an MP3!
Personally, I think that if a band doesn't want their songs on Napster, they should be able to take them off. But I think time will show that having exposure on Napster is like having exposure on radio... It can only do good things for a band's popularity. (Not to mention there are many other services that are virtually impossible to monitor.)
the following may not be correct. It seems that the subsidiary of AOL that originally created Gnutella is suing AOL and Time Warner in order to protect itself, in the event that it is sued.
You are right. What followed was not correct. The skinny: MP3Board (an unrelated company) is suing AOL/Time Warner in order to protect itself, as they are already being sued. What they hope to accomplish out of this is a bit unclear to me, especially since AOL disavowed Gnutella almost from the beginning...
...Is that, by default, whenever you download something, it's shared (at least, as far as I recall). So that if users just don't move it out of the download directory, they are sharing it... This is how files spread through the network. If gnutella doesn't do this (and I don't think it does), then that will of course lower the amount of users sharing, because the casual user will not go out of their way to enable it.
Your assumption is VERY wrong. If there were no copyrights and all code was open, whats to stop a programmer working for a company to throw the code out in the open?
The contracts that that programmer signed when he took the job, as well as trade secret laws and the simple fact that "THE COMPANY" has the ability to sue an individual into oblivion, even if they have no chance of winning.
Okay, are there any non-RIAA labels that play stuff that you can listen to with actual girls other than goth chicks?
Yeah, try teenbeat... the Rondelles, specifically.. a girly poppy rock band, they sound like the go-gos. Or try to pick up BIS, a teeny-bopper poppy newavey band, they are on Grand Royal, though, the Beastie Boys label, so that could be in the RIAA. Either of these would be available at a good record store, but I don't know the URLs offhand.
(As opposed to all the pretentious college radio sh*t and ferral headbanger mush you just suggested to us.)
Actually, most of the things I suggested don't get play on college radio, with the exception of K and Kill Rock Stars... Those two labels, incidentally, have albums by the likes of Beck (a multiplatinum artist) and Sleater-Kinney (whose albums have been awarded 4 and 5 star ratings by, of all magazines, Rolling Stone). Not everything on indie labels is obscure or "unlistenable". Of course, if the most interesting stuff you listen to is Christina and Brittany, then, yes, you should skip everything I mentioned. And possibly kill yourself.
How about something that human beings can dance to?
If you like dance music/techno/electronica, there are literally hundreds of small labels that do that stuff. I don't really like it, so I can't direct you, but I'm sure with a little help from Yahoo, you can find em. Or, if you live in even a moderately sized city, there should be a DJ shop that carries a good selection of dance stuff.
Try a few of these : (notable bands in parenthesis)
Dischord Records : Independent for close to 20 years. (Minor Threat, Slant 6, Nation of Ulysses) No Idea Records : punk, hardcore, emo (Small Brown Bike, Hot Water Music) Troubleman Unlimited : post-punk, post-hardcore, post-rock (Camera Obscura, Red Scare) Jade Tree : all about the emo rock (the Promise Ring, Cap n Jazz, Jets to Brazil) Lovitt Records : Indie Rock, Emo, some Electronic-tinged (try Milemarker, 400 Years) K Records : Indie, Folk, Other (Beck, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Sebadoh, IQU, Make-Up) Kill Rock Stars : Indie Rock (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney) Three One G : crazed hardcore, No Wave, some electronic-type rock (try Black Cat #13, the Locust) Ebullition : hardcore punk, some emo (try Orchid, Bread and Circuits, Reversal of Man) HydraHead : the best in metal and straight edge(Botch, Cave In, Soilent Green) Relapse : metal, hardcore, tough guy stuff. (Napalm Death, Exhumed) Reptillian Records : a variety of sounds, from garage rock to grindcore to rock'n roll (Page 99, Electric Frankenstein) Revelation : More hardcore and metal. (Rancid, Brandtson, Isis) TrustKill : Tough guy stuff. (Poison the Well)
All guaranteed (as far as I know) to be RIAA free!
Titles CANNOT be copyrighted. Read the circular from the Copyright Office if you are unclear on this point.
Trademarks and service marks are something else.
Yeah. That's what I said. Did the fact that I said "trademarked/copyrighted/something" lead you to believe I was 100% sure what protections were in place? All I said was that I know you can't just name your band after another band... Elektra records, a large label, tried to and lost, even though the other band had not done anything to protect their name, except for releasing (on underground labels) a few records.
Sorry to say, incorrect. You can start a band tomorrow and the only thing that prevents you from calling it "Metallica" is good taste.
Sorry you are wrong... Band names are almost always trademarked/copyrighted/something... A recent example was when Elektra was about to release an album by their band "Hot Water Music", only to discover there was a underground punk rock band already named Hot Water Music... They then proceeded to do all sorts of shady things to try to get the name away from them (including sending them a contract which they claimed would allow the punk band to keep their name, but, in actuality, signed the name over to Elektra), but eventually lost and had to change the name of their band. So, no, you couldn't name your band Metallica.
All the IPO companies are watching their stock tank.
You're right all of them are. Not just the open source companies... People finally wised up and realized just because a company's business involves computers, it doesn't mean it's going to make money.
If many-eyes-made-better-code Open Source would make a profit.
You wanna compare stats to IIS and Apache? Or ASP and PHP? Let's see which comes up the winner... Open Source isn't about profit and companies that try to make profit off of it probably won't. However, my company makes a very nice profit developing inter/intranet solutions for customers using open source products... Solutions which are faster and more stable than they would be using Windows or MS products...
This is great and all, but why not burn regular CDs?!! I mean, it's better quality than an mp3?! This whole mp3 thing is just branding gone awry. Its an opportunity to make your company seem like it's jumping on the internet or new technology band wagon. Up the stock prices, eh boys?
I like mp3cds because I can, for example, take my whole music collection with me when I go on a trip. It's much nicer to take it all in one 20-cd slipcase than a huge box of 500 cds. also, if I lose my mp3-cds, or they get stolen, I can just go home and make more.
By bringing up the spectre of "evil overclocking dealers" they can excuse putting in the multiplier locks etc
I know at least 4 people who have bought overclocked or mismarked machines. The most absurd example of this was a friend who had me install a new video card for them into their PII-266... which, upon opening the case was revealed to not even be a PII! I don't think the company that sound it to him even bother to OC it... They just lied to him about what it was and he didn't know any better. I had a "PII-266" that was marked as a PII-233, myself...
what difference does it really make to AMD if people overclock or not? if they break the chip, they will have to buy a new one!
If they make it easy for you to overclock, then they also make it easy for "DiscountComputersByMail.com" to overclock, and when your grandmother burns out the 950MHz machine that was actually a 700MHz, then she thinks that she broke it and buys another. Or maybe she thinks "I should have listened to my friend Bea and not gotten an Athlon."
Either way, Grandma's getting screwed, and that's why companies make it hard to overclock. If we lived in a magical world where only hobbyists and geeks wanted to overclock their machines, they wouldn't care. But there is always someone willing to make a buck off of people who don't know any better.
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Thanks to the laws we all have so much respect for, you can pass your higher costs onto everyone else! That's right, if you can prove your alternate energy source costs more than the utility is willing to pay, you can force them to pay you that amount. This is great in that it's the absolute oposite of a free market: Everyone is forced to pay the highest bidder!
They only pay you if you generate electricty, that is, add electricity to the grid. It's extremely unlikely that this would happen, in an average home.
Also, this is nothing new. I've heard people with solar panels or windmills talk about it, but I doubt most have ever had the power company actually pay them anything. More likely, they just get credited for some power one day when they weren't using much, so it just gives them a discount on the other days where they used more than they could produce themselves. I don't have a problem with that.
If I owned my own home, and ran a home business, I would look into one of these strictly for the back-up aspect. I would definitely get one of these for my home if I lived someplace like Florida, where they seem to get roughed up by a major hurricane every year or so.
Josh Sisk
If K-Mart decides they don't want to sell any product to a minor, I believe that's their right.
Exactly. A business can decide to not allow minors to buy their products if they wish... For example, Wal-Mart won't sell video head cleaner or things like that to minors because of "huffing" or spray paint because of graphitti concerns. I would assume they will also not sell R-rated movies to minors, either. I don't have a problem with that because, hey, it's their business. If they don't want to sell violent games or spray paint to minors, that's their business. It's not mine. The kids can just take their money elsewhere.
Josh Sisk
If it looks viable, a major player could push them out in months.
Actually, "A major player" would take months to just decide if it looks viable. Massive companies like Citibank do not move quickly. If they decide to do this, you can look forward to it rolling out about a year to two years after they make the decision. We're talking about an industry bigger and more monolithic than the Recording Industry... and look how long it has taken them to start offering digital music.
Another big problem with your idea is: Paypal has, so far, not made any money of it's customers. Credit Card Companies rape their customers for insane profits. Banks don't do quite as well, but still make good money. I don't think the big guys even want a part of this business... There is not a big enough profit margin there for them.
Paypal loses money right now to build market share by paying $5 per sign-up and another $5 per referral.
Now suppose CitiBank decides they want to play. They set up a system along similar lines, but pay $20 per sign-up, %10 per referral, and $50 for every former PayPal customer that switches. Paypal can't afford to piss money all over the internet that fast, but Citibank can... plus they have name recognition and an IRL customer base that Paypal lacks.
I think that paying members to switch might be illegal. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know. It just sounds fishy. Not really sure how they would verify the switch, also. And would switching mean you had to quit paypal, or just sign up for the new service. Because if it didn't make them quit paypal, it would only encourage new users to join paypal first. "Hmm, I can join citibank online for $20, or I can join paypal, then switch to citibank online for $5 + $20 + $50."
Now, suppose you are a blood-sucking CEO of a major international bank, and you arrive at the conclusion that Paypal is not only going to make money, but will slowly migrate into the banking business... What would you do? Let it happen, or pull a Microsoft? Thought so.
I can see one of these companies trying to buy Paypal and I'm sure some have already offered. This I conceed. I doubt though that a large bank could just step in and take over the market. Usually whoever offers the best service first wins. Ebay's own payment system can't compete with paypal... That should tell you something.
I don't know if I buy this "paypal is the bank of the future" idea, but it is definitely very popular and will only get moreso.
Josh Sisk
Umm, if you're getting Cease-and-desist letters, you really probably shouldn't just ignore them. Even if they are totally full of shit, the US legal system can be nasty.
Isn't HackerQuest based in China? I don't think the US legal system has any pull there what so ever...
Josh Sisk
I reckon you can hit a randomly chosen gamepad button lots faster than a randomly chosen key. On a decent gamepad (PSX, DC, N64), all the in-game buttons are under a finger or a thumb at all times.
Maybe, but what about non random buttons? In most RTS games, you can link groups of units or buildings to the number keys... For example, 1-5 are different troop squads, all in different areas of the map, and 6-0 are your different buildings you use to produce those units. After you link them to those number keys, you simply have to press their key and the map jumps to their location on the battlefield and selects them. Trying do do this on a gamepad would involve pressing a button, then scrolling down through a list, then pressing another button. Much more time consuming in the middle of a firefight. Complexity of input is why RTS games are generally much better on the PC. They are simply _better_ suited for the PC interface. It's the same reason why fighting games are much more successful on consoles... Tekken is much better suited for a gamepad and couch-style multiplayer.
Josh Sisk
No...just stealing a service by running free servers. This would, ultimately, lead to less people paying for the service provided by Verant.
They aren't really stealing a service... It's just like the Bleem! case... Some people managed to figure out how Everquest's network works, and made their own version. As long as they didn't use any of Verant's code, then they haven't stolen anything. I doubt they could get into much trouble, unless their server is using Verant code to run. You could say Bleem! is stealing from Sony, too... But the courts (so far) feel otherwise.
Josh Sisk
I agree with some of your points, but not with others:
Multiplayer is sweet. Use anything from a dial in modem to a full T3. User supplies the bandwidth.
All the new consoles allow for broadband. So they are pretty much even here.
Interface. PC has a lot more interfaces to offer from mouse, keyboard to joystick. Ever play the orginal Diablo on Playstation? Diablo sucks without a mouse.
Absolutely right, There are certain kind of games that are good with a mouse and keyboard, others that are good with a gamepad. However, the DC has a mouse and keyboard... Most likely the other consoles will as well.
Patches: If you find a bug in a PC game, release a patch, no problem. Find a bug in a console game, huh huh your screwed.
I think the victory in this arena goes to the consoles because of this, actually. I can't think of a single DC, PSX or Genesis game I own that would need a patch, whereas virtually every PC game needs patching. Many cannot even be beaten out of the box, without a patch. The fact that you can't patch a console game forces the companies to make sure the product is error free.
Mods: Ever seen a Quake2 mod for the playstation?
This is a big issue... Counterstrike is at least as popular as Half-Life multiplayer, if not more. Will you be able to add mods to xbox games? Who knows?
Eye Candy: What can a TV do 320X240 res? Most PC games I play are at 1024X960
This is a big issue, too. I find that for most console games though, the TV is adequate. But part of that is because console games tend to be less complex, without all the HUDs and various read-outs that are common in PC games.
Sound: TV speakers aren't the greatest. PC gamers supply there own speakers from that little beep speaker in the case to a $5000 home stero system.
You're way off on this one. Most people (who are over 18) have much better sound setups for their TV than their computer, especially if they are a movie buff. Many people at least run their TV through their stereo, or have it all combined into one. (Thus the phrase "home theater"). Surround sound, 600 watt amps, etc... This beats out everything but the most expensive computer speakers. And most people will have their console where? Yep, as part of their home entertainment system.
sure console has the advantage of being able to program for one set of hardware, but with things like Direct X and Glide, is this to much of a concern any more?
Yes, it really is. A lot of programming for the PC is trying to pander to the lowest set of specs while making sure that some video card won't make the game just not run. Consoles don't have that problem. Of course, they also are locked in, where PCs can get new hardware every few months... if you can afford it. It's a trade off, really.
I really only see 2 advantages the console market has:
1) Also sitting on a nice comfortable sofa after a long day of sitting in a stiff chair is a bonus for the console. 2)Also being able to rent full version of console games for $2 is a sweet deal.
Both of these are advantages, though I tend not to bother renting games.
Play Diablo on the PC then try playing it on the Playstation, you will be disapointed.
And try playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater on your PC, and you will be disappointed. Hell, try playing a four player multiplayer game like Mario Kart 64 (actually that type of sitting-on-the-couch-with-your-friends multiplayer experience doesn't exist on the PC... and it's one of the best things about consoles) and you'll be disappointed. You are missing what most people seem to: console games and PC games are very different for very good reasons. They are designed to work with the platforms they were intended for. Of course Diablo is not as fun for consoles! It was designed with a PC interface... would Soccer be as fun to play if you turned it into a water sport? No.
Console games are generally less complex, easier to grasp... The kind of games where you can sit and play for 5-10 minutes and then do something else. PC games are generally more immersive, have a much greater learning curve but reward the player more. This is a big part of why PC games get such a hardcore following.
Console games and PC games are very different. I like both. The Xbox won't replace the PC, nor will any other Next Gen console. If a console comes around that does replace the PC, it will do so only by basically turning into a PC... And I don't see how you can call that "consoles destroying the PC market". More like the PC mindset subverting the console market.
Josh Sisk
I'd suggest that a game requiring 12 channels of user input to control isn't a feature, it's a design flaw.
No, it's just a different type of game. Some types of game are more suited to the keyboard/mouse, others are more suited to a gamepad. If you are playing a fighter jet simulation (and I mean a real simulation, not an arcade game), you need lots of different inputs to simulate the different controls. You don't need those controls if you are playing Sonic.
Josh Sisk
This theft will probably cost record companies billions in the coming years, and force them to raise prices to survive like they are doing right now.
Last year was a record year for the music industry. The majority of big sales items came from artists who are "singles-driven", like the various teen groups and hip-hop groups. Hot singles are also what's most likely to be pirated off of the internet. Interesting, isn't it, that sales did not decline at all.
Also... I know lots of people who use Napster. Most of them also buy lots of CDs. I use Napster, and Gnutella constantly. I also spend probably around $250-300 a month on music. I purchase, on average, probably 4 records or cds a week. I love music. Listening to stuff on the internet is an extension of my non-wired listening habits, not a replacement.
The only people I know who download from Napster but don't also buy music are people who aren't into music and didn't spend money on it before they started using Napster. These are the people who "just listen to whatever's on the radio". These people never gave the music industry money before, so the fact that they use Napster isn't hurting them now.
The bottom line is, if people like music, they will buy what they like. Napster can help them find it... Maybe I'm a bad example, since I host a radio show and run a (very small) record label, but I buy music from artists I hear off of Napster. Hell, I'm even going to put out a record by an artist I was introduced to from an MP3!
Personally, I think that if a band doesn't want their songs on Napster, they should be able to take them off. But I think time will show that having exposure on Napster is like having exposure on radio... It can only do good things for a band's popularity. (Not to mention there are many other services that are virtually impossible to monitor.)
Josh Sisk
the following may not be correct. It seems that the subsidiary of AOL that originally created Gnutella is suing AOL and Time Warner in order to protect itself, in the event that it is sued.
You are right. What followed was not correct. The skinny: MP3Board (an unrelated company) is suing AOL/Time Warner in order to protect itself, as they are already being sued. What they hope to accomplish out of this is a bit unclear to me, especially since AOL disavowed Gnutella almost from the beginning...
Josh Sisk
...Is that, by default, whenever you download something, it's shared (at least, as far as I recall). So that if users just don't move it out of the download directory, they are sharing it... This is how files spread through the network. If gnutella doesn't do this (and I don't think it does), then that will of course lower the amount of users sharing, because the casual user will not go out of their way to enable it.
Josh Sisk
Gee, if that's treason (and it is), wouldn't a congressman selling his vote to a corporation be treason, too?
As far as I'm concerned, yes. In my opinion, the involvement corporate interests are the number one thing wrong with our government today.
Josh Sisk
Your assumption is VERY wrong. If there were no copyrights and all code was open, whats to stop a programmer working for a company to throw the code out in the open?
The contracts that that programmer signed when he took the job, as well as trade secret laws and the simple fact that "THE COMPANY" has the ability to sue an individual into oblivion, even if they have no chance of winning.
Josh Sisk
Okay, are there any non-RIAA labels that play stuff that you can listen to with actual girls other than goth chicks?
Yeah, try teenbeat... the Rondelles, specifically.. a girly poppy rock band, they sound like the go-gos. Or try to pick up BIS, a teeny-bopper poppy newavey band, they are on Grand Royal, though, the Beastie Boys label, so that could be in the RIAA. Either of these would be available at a good record store, but I don't know the URLs offhand.
(As opposed to all the pretentious college radio sh*t and ferral headbanger mush you just suggested to us.)
Actually, most of the things I suggested don't get play on college radio, with the exception of K and Kill Rock Stars... Those two labels, incidentally, have albums by the likes of Beck (a multiplatinum artist) and Sleater-Kinney (whose albums have been awarded 4 and 5 star ratings by, of all magazines, Rolling Stone). Not everything on indie labels is obscure or "unlistenable". Of course, if the most interesting stuff you listen to is Christina and Brittany, then, yes, you should skip everything I mentioned. And possibly kill yourself.
How about something that human beings can dance to?
If you like dance music/techno/electronica, there are literally hundreds of small labels that do that stuff. I don't really like it, so I can't direct you, but I'm sure with a little help from Yahoo, you can find em. Or, if you live in even a moderately sized city, there should be a DJ shop that carries a good selection of dance stuff.
Josh Sisk
Try a few of these : (notable bands in parenthesis)
Dischord Records : Independent for close to 20 years. (Minor Threat, Slant 6, Nation of Ulysses)
No Idea Records : punk, hardcore, emo (Small Brown Bike, Hot Water Music)
Troubleman Unlimited : post-punk, post-hardcore, post-rock (Camera Obscura, Red Scare)
Jade Tree : all about the emo rock (the Promise Ring, Cap n Jazz, Jets to Brazil)
Lovitt Records : Indie Rock, Emo, some Electronic-tinged (try Milemarker, 400 Years)
K Records : Indie, Folk, Other (Beck, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Sebadoh, IQU, Make-Up)
Kill Rock Stars : Indie Rock (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney)
Three One G : crazed hardcore, No Wave, some electronic-type rock (try Black Cat #13, the Locust)
Ebullition : hardcore punk, some emo (try Orchid, Bread and Circuits, Reversal of Man)
HydraHead : the best in metal and straight edge(Botch, Cave In, Soilent Green)
Relapse : metal, hardcore, tough guy stuff. (Napalm Death, Exhumed)
Reptillian Records : a variety of sounds, from garage rock to grindcore to rock'n roll (Page 99, Electric Frankenstein)
Revelation : More hardcore and metal. (Rancid, Brandtson, Isis)
TrustKill : Tough guy stuff. (Poison the Well)
All guaranteed (as far as I know) to be RIAA free!
Josh Sisk
Is anyone else as impressed by how much time this guy spends posting all this stuff? What a loser.
Get of the computer man, and step outside. See that bright, yellow light? That's the sun.
Josh Sisk
If Sega come up with a easy way to add 10baseT to the system then NFS and another server turns it into a quite interesting.
There is a NIC coming out, release date is somewhere near the end of summer.
I agree the playstation 2 makes a much more capable target, particularly with USB and PCMCIA.
I believe they have dropped the PCMIA slot to make room for the drive bay. I'm not 100% sure of this, however.
Josh Sisk
It doesn't have a network card (only a 33.6 kbps modem).
One is coming out by the end of summer. They have already said it will be DSL and cable-modem compatible.
Josh Sisk
Titles CANNOT be copyrighted. Read the circular from the Copyright Office if you are unclear on this point.
Trademarks and service marks are something else.
Yeah. That's what I said. Did the fact that I said "trademarked/copyrighted/something" lead you to believe I was 100% sure what protections were in place? All I said was that I know you can't just name your band after another band... Elektra records, a large label, tried to and lost, even though the other band had not done anything to protect their name, except for releasing (on underground labels) a few records.
Josh Sisk
Sorry to say, incorrect. You can start a band tomorrow and the only thing that prevents you from calling it "Metallica" is good taste.
Sorry you are wrong... Band names are almost always trademarked/copyrighted/something... A recent example was when Elektra was about to release an album by their band "Hot Water Music", only to discover there was a underground punk rock band already named Hot Water Music... They then proceeded to do all sorts of shady things to try to get the name away from them (including sending them a contract which they claimed would allow the punk band to keep their name, but, in actuality, signed the name over to Elektra), but eventually lost and had to change the name of their band. So, no, you couldn't name your band Metallica.
Josh Sisk
All the IPO companies are watching their stock tank.
You're right all of them are. Not just the open source companies... People finally wised up and realized just because a company's business involves computers, it doesn't mean it's going to make money.
If many-eyes-made-better-code Open Source would make a profit.
You wanna compare stats to IIS and Apache? Or ASP and PHP? Let's see which comes up the winner... Open Source isn't about profit and companies that try to make profit off of it probably won't. However, my company makes a very nice profit developing inter/intranet solutions for customers using open source products... Solutions which are faster and more stable than they would be using Windows or MS products...
Josh Sisk
This is great and all, but why not burn regular CDs?!! I mean, it's better quality than an mp3?! This whole mp3 thing is just branding gone awry. Its an opportunity to make your company seem like it's jumping on the internet or new technology band wagon. Up the stock prices, eh boys?
I like mp3cds because I can, for example, take my whole music collection with me when I go on a trip. It's much nicer to take it all in one 20-cd slipcase than a huge box of 500 cds. also, if I lose my mp3-cds, or they get stolen, I can just go home and make more.
Josh Sisk
By bringing up the spectre of "evil overclocking dealers" they can excuse putting in the multiplier locks etc
I know at least 4 people who have bought overclocked or mismarked machines. The most absurd example of this was a friend who had me install a new video card for them into their PII-266... which, upon opening the case was revealed to not even be a PII! I don't think the company that sound it to him even bother to OC it... They just lied to him about what it was and he didn't know any better. I had a "PII-266" that was marked as a PII-233, myself...
Josh Sisk
what difference does it really make to AMD if people overclock or not? if they break the chip, they will have to buy a new one!
If they make it easy for you to overclock, then they also make it easy for "DiscountComputersByMail.com" to overclock, and when your grandmother burns out the 950MHz machine that was actually a 700MHz, then she thinks that she broke it and buys another. Or maybe she thinks "I should have listened to my friend Bea and not gotten an Athlon."
Either way, Grandma's getting screwed, and that's why companies make it hard to overclock. If we lived in a magical world where only hobbyists and geeks wanted to overclock their machines, they wouldn't care. But there is always someone willing to make a buck off of people who don't know any better.
Josh Sisk
Couldn't resellers just not use a BIOS that made the call? Or alter the BIOS to list it incorrectly?