I know most of the people here are techies and early adopters, but as someone too lazy for that, voice recognition isn't that useful for all the ways I've tried it. My cell phone uses voice recognition too, but it's just a hell of a lot easier to scroll or click a hotkey to call the person I want. The only way it would be useful is in the car but the background noise renders it worthless (in my old clunker anyway).
New inventions have to solve some problem to gain acceptance. Betamax didn't solve any problem with VHS.. it had early adopters and hype, but there was no reason for people to switch. Is there a problem with current websurfing or computer usage? I don't think any that voice recognition would solve.
My favorite voice recognition technology is the "Windows Media Player Voice Command" that comes with Windows XP Plus!. What kind of retarded company makes a voice recognition controller for a goddamn music player. I don't see the future of the computing as yelling over Britney Spears to desperately make her stop her yapping.
Have you seen the Treo? Technically it doesn't break too much new ground but it addresses the issue you're talking about. It's smaller than last generation phones (like the Nokia 5000 and 6000 series) and the screen is about as big as Palm's tiny units (Vx etc). Plus it even has a keyboard. It looks like a great unit.
Umm, couldn't/shouldn't Microsoft be sued as well? They use pretty much an exact copy of Palm's graffiti for PocketPC's "Block Recognizer" (one of several input methods PPC uses, including crappy handwriting recognition).
Also, I think Handspring won't be hurt as much because they're putting their eggs in the Treo basket, which doesn't use graffiti in the main model (it uses a palm-sized keyboard, which is really nice IMO). Can't wait to get the color version, BTW.
Are these people just stupid? I don't see how sending a bunch of spam isn't anything but a waste of time and money.
I owned a domain a while ago so I ended up using a catchall and using different names for each place I put my e-mail address into. For example, slashdot@domain.com (I know this isn't that original, but I wanted to see what happened). It turned out I ended up getting NO spam from any of the names I put in; all of them were to my personal jeremyf@domain.com, which I only gave out to friends and family. I've come to the logical conclusion that my dad has been selling my e-mail address to debt consolidation companies and porn sites to feed his gambling habit. =(
True, the Game Boy doesn't have much to do with the console wars described here. But look at the top sellers [npdfunworld.com] of 2000:
1-3) Pokemon Games (Game Boy)
4) Pokemon Stadium (N64)
5) Tony Hawk 2 (PS)
6) Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
7) Tony Hawk 1 (PS)
8) Gran Turismo 2 (PS)
9-10) Pokemon Games (Game Boy)
Note there are no Square games on that list, despite many of their games, including Final Fantasy 9 coming out! Also on the top 10 game companies of 2000, Square is not listed (and Nintendo is #1).
I think everyone's overestimating how well Final Fantasy games sell. For geeks here like us, we'll snatch up Final Fantasy, but for the teen and college demographic of the PS2 and X-Box, games like Madden football (the #1 PS2 game of 2000) are much, much bigger sellers.
As for why Playstations sold more than N64's despite N64 having much stronger franchises in terms of sales (and this applies to PS2's over Gamecubes), I think it's simple. Marketing and image!
Doubtful that has anything to do with it.. Final Fantasy is a big seller but not THAT big. The game boy Pokemon series sold more than all the FF's put together (in the US, anyway). Why didn't the N64 outsell the Playstation, then? They had tons of Pokemon games!
Speaking of Pokemon, have any of you heard that Nintendo registered the trademark "Pokelele"? Apparently it's a ukelele "controller" for the Gamecube for a future game! (Like Samba de Amigo for the Dreamcast.) I'm getting a Gamecube just to play that !
Umm. That argument has been around for a while, and I don't get it. I'm not going to go to a Walmart looking for a Gamecube, and when I find they're sold out, say "Hm, I haven't bought a Playstation 2 in the past year, but since I can't find the thing I want, I'll buy it now!"
That argument might work if GC's/XBoxes were hard to come by for months like the PS2 was. If you shop around town or wait a week or two, you'll find the console you want.
I personally think it's just because both systems (Xbox and GC) have crap for games right now. I can only think of one game between the two I'd shell out ~$50 for (Super Smash Bros)!
Brain scans have nothing to do with the scientific method. The scientific method isn't meant to get things 100% right, or else we'd have a "unified theory" by now (if one exists) and all the other crap out there would be worthless. Approximations are grreat. The scientific method does not assume anything is 100% right. I'm guessing you dated clinical/counseling psychologists, or just people who took some psychology classes. Find a good research psychologist and they'll run rings around most physicists, because the scientific method is all they have. They don't have a huge body of constants or "easy" observations out there.
Just a thought, but Japanese gamers seem to be more technical and know more about their games (as evidenced by the much higher gaming rate there).
Now think about Nintendo's target audience here. Imagine a mom who goes into a Walmart because her 9 year old wants a Nintendo. "Huh? Panawhatever Q? What's that? I want a Nintendo. What, it plays Nintendo games? Why does it cost more than this small one over here? Is it better? I'm all confused! *Buys X-box*"
Try to explain the average Nintendo buyer the difference between two computers. It's hard enough to explain the differences between console brands, we don't need two systems to play one brand of game.
1. People with autism rarely show some extreme scientific/artistic ability. I believe it's around 0.5%, and when they do, it's almost always just "above normal" and in a way that's not incredibly useful, like writing code. For example, an autistic child (an autistic savant) might be able to know the day of the week of any date in the next 1000 years, but not be able to do long division.
2. A lot of people think Asperger's syndrome is just different than autism, but can sometimes be misdiagnosed as autism. People with Asperger's syndrome are generally functional.
6. If there's a link between the inability to socialize well and autism, it would be a major finding. It's more likely, in my opinion, that there's something happening prenatally in Silicon Valley, like the air or food people generally eat there. Silicon Valley is one of the richest places in the world, a lot of things are different there besides it just having a lot of computer programmers.
It requires more study, any conclusion right now is foolish.
As a psychology student, I have to say you're wrong in a couple ways. First of all, this study is NOT a psychological study. It's an epidemiological study. Blame med school and statistics teachers, not psychology. There's no behavioral experiments here. Just counting who's been diagnosed with autism in the past few years.
Second, in real schools of research psychology (counseling and social work don't count), the scientific method is rammed down psychology students' throats more than in any other discipline, because we have to. We can't just say "Hey we spotted a new planet through a telescope" or "I found this cool new algorithm for searches"... you have to prove that your experimental condition does not differ by chance and that it is significant, etc. Look in a psychology journal; more statistics and references than in any other science.
Ummm, this is a self-report semi-anonymous survey. Why would someone spend the time to create a false identity and lie on a volunteer survey? Not all experienced Internet users are paranoid crankheads (most, but not all)!
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it was found experienced net users were less likely to download music.. all my friends who don't have computers always tried to find napster and download songs when they first got on my computer (or got one of their own). It's pretty cool to download a collection of 8gigs of songs on your hard drive, but after a while, most people realize they wasted many hours of their life doing this..
Like the other guy said, your link has nothing to do with anything. How is this report drivel? Do you think the guys at UCLA made numbers up so that they could further their agenda of making the American populace believe that newer Internet users chat online more than vice versa? How devious...
Believe it or not, some non-Linux geeks are smart and know how to do statistics. Their downloadable report is obviously not a formal scientific article that would be published in a journal, and it probably didn't go through peer review. That doesn't mean it's a bad report.
Hm, addictive personalities is a little simplified, but yeah, you can become addicted to anything.
Addiction is defined by its consequences. If you have sex 30x a day but your relationships, finances, job, etc., are great, you don't have a sex addiction. If you have sex twice a week but you quit your job, ignore your children, and spend all your money so you can't pay rent just so you can find some tail, that's an addiction.
The same goes for gaming, but I think most cases of what someone would think is "addicted to gaming" is just someone liking video games a lot.
What is the average gamer going to do instead of gaming anyway? Go on a date? HAHAHAHA, GOOD LUCK FATASS!
I know Handspring's device was named Treo because it's a "trio" of devices: PDA, cell phone, and mobile internet device (RIM-style). And Treo looked cooler than Trio. And it looked even cooler with an accent over it.
Possibilities are few =(
on
Electronic Paper
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
This doesn't seem exciting to me compared to OLED (Organic LED).. OLED is also supposed to be cheap (although there are no good estimates for either technology) but production is already getting started and it already uses very little power.
The major selling point for e-paper is that it is "bendable"... eg, you can make a t-shirt out of it:) They'd have to get the power consumption really low, like the article said, for it to be more worthwhile for "flat" technology (eg, holodeck walls) than OLED.
Philips' e-paper will probably have a monopoly in Internet basketballs though..:-\
Slashdot Mirror
OH FUCKING SHIT! SOME LINUX DORKS FROM SLASHDOT SAW MY NEW COMPUTER 9 HOURS EARLY
*elsewhere*
It sure is freezing in here
I just cured cancer
Let's try this "open source" dealy
Time: Gets tons of hits for breaking the story
Apple: Gets front page story for a "make-or-break" product on one of the biggest weeklies in the world
I doubt either will be complaining too much =(
I know most of the people here are techies and early adopters, but as someone too lazy for that, voice recognition isn't that useful for all the ways I've tried it. My cell phone uses voice recognition too, but it's just a hell of a lot easier to scroll or click a hotkey to call the person I want. The only way it would be useful is in the car but the background noise renders it worthless (in my old clunker anyway).
New inventions have to solve some problem to gain acceptance. Betamax didn't solve any problem with VHS.. it had early adopters and hype, but there was no reason for people to switch. Is there a problem with current websurfing or computer usage? I don't think any that voice recognition would solve.
My favorite voice recognition technology is the "Windows Media Player Voice Command" that comes with Windows XP Plus!. What kind of retarded company makes a voice recognition controller for a goddamn music player. I don't see the future of the computing as yelling over Britney Spears to desperately make her stop her yapping.
Have you seen the Treo? Technically it doesn't break too much new ground but it addresses the issue you're talking about. It's smaller than last generation phones (like the Nokia 5000 and 6000 series) and the screen is about as big as Palm's tiny units (Vx etc). Plus it even has a keyboard. It looks like a great unit.
And it's funny how the Japanese think it's cool when things use English text/voices =(
I'll fight you >=(
Umm, couldn't/shouldn't Microsoft be sued as well? They use pretty much an exact copy of Palm's graffiti for PocketPC's "Block Recognizer" (one of several input methods PPC uses, including crappy handwriting recognition).
Also, I think Handspring won't be hurt as much because they're putting their eggs in the Treo basket, which doesn't use graffiti in the main model (it uses a palm-sized keyboard, which is really nice IMO). Can't wait to get the color version, BTW.
Man just so you know the Visor Neo kinda sucks :( I had one but took it back. :( Prolly should exchange it for a Sony Clie :~(~
Are these people just stupid? I don't see how sending a bunch of spam isn't anything but a waste of time and money.
I owned a domain a while ago so I ended up using a catchall and using different names for each place I put my e-mail address into. For example, slashdot@domain.com (I know this isn't that original, but I wanted to see what happened). It turned out I ended up getting NO spam from any of the names I put in; all of them were to my personal jeremyf@domain.com, which I only gave out to friends and family. I've come to the logical conclusion that my dad has been selling my e-mail address to debt consolidation companies and porn sites to feed his gambling habit. =(
True, the Game Boy doesn't have much to do with the console wars described here. But look at the top sellers [npdfunworld.com] of 2000:
1-3) Pokemon Games (Game Boy)
4) Pokemon Stadium (N64)
5) Tony Hawk 2 (PS)
6) Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
7) Tony Hawk 1 (PS)
8) Gran Turismo 2 (PS)
9-10) Pokemon Games (Game Boy)
Note there are no Square games on that list, despite many of their games, including Final Fantasy 9 coming out! Also on the top 10 game companies of 2000, Square is not listed (and Nintendo is #1).
I think everyone's overestimating how well Final Fantasy games sell. For geeks here like us, we'll snatch up Final Fantasy, but for the teen and college demographic of the PS2 and X-Box, games like Madden football (the #1 PS2 game of 2000) are much, much bigger sellers.
As for why Playstations sold more than N64's despite N64 having much stronger franchises in terms of sales (and this applies to PS2's over Gamecubes), I think it's simple. Marketing and image!
I know it's irrelevant to your point, but the GC has ~20 games out right now and the XBox has ~30 =(
Doubtful that has anything to do with it.. Final Fantasy is a big seller but not THAT big. The game boy Pokemon series sold more than all the FF's put together (in the US, anyway). Why didn't the N64 outsell the Playstation, then? They had tons of Pokemon games!
Speaking of Pokemon, have any of you heard that Nintendo registered the trademark "Pokelele"? Apparently it's a ukelele "controller" for the Gamecube for a future game! (Like Samba de Amigo for the Dreamcast.) I'm getting a Gamecube just to play that !
Umm. That argument has been around for a while, and I don't get it. I'm not going to go to a Walmart looking for a Gamecube, and when I find they're sold out, say "Hm, I haven't bought a Playstation 2 in the past year, but since I can't find the thing I want, I'll buy it now!"
That argument might work if GC's/XBoxes were hard to come by for months like the PS2 was. If you shop around town or wait a week or two, you'll find the console you want.
I personally think it's just because both systems (Xbox and GC) have crap for games right now. I can only think of one game between the two I'd shell out ~$50 for (Super Smash Bros)!
Brain scans have nothing to do with the scientific method. The scientific method isn't meant to get things 100% right, or else we'd have a "unified theory" by now (if one exists) and all the other crap out there would be worthless. Approximations are grreat. The scientific method does not assume anything is 100% right. I'm guessing you dated clinical/counseling psychologists, or just people who took some psychology classes. Find a good research psychologist and they'll run rings around most physicists, because the scientific method is all they have. They don't have a huge body of constants or "easy" observations out there.
Just a thought, but Japanese gamers seem to be more technical and know more about their games (as evidenced by the much higher gaming rate there).
Now think about Nintendo's target audience here. Imagine a mom who goes into a Walmart because her 9 year old wants a Nintendo. "Huh? Panawhatever Q? What's that? I want a Nintendo. What, it plays Nintendo games? Why does it cost more than this small one over here? Is it better? I'm all confused! *Buys X-box*"
Try to explain the average Nintendo buyer the difference between two computers. It's hard enough to explain the differences between console brands, we don't need two systems to play one brand of game.
1. People with autism rarely show some extreme scientific/artistic ability. I believe it's around 0.5%, and when they do, it's almost always just "above normal" and in a way that's not incredibly useful, like writing code. For example, an autistic child (an autistic savant) might be able to know the day of the week of any date in the next 1000 years, but not be able to do long division.
2. A lot of people think Asperger's syndrome is just different than autism, but can sometimes be misdiagnosed as autism. People with Asperger's syndrome are generally functional.
6. If there's a link between the inability to socialize well and autism, it would be a major finding. It's more likely, in my opinion, that there's something happening prenatally in Silicon Valley, like the air or food people generally eat there. Silicon Valley is one of the richest places in the world, a lot of things are different there besides it just having a lot of computer programmers.
It requires more study, any conclusion right now is foolish.
As a psychology student, I have to say you're wrong in a couple ways. First of all, this study is NOT a psychological study. It's an epidemiological study. Blame med school and statistics teachers, not psychology. There's no behavioral experiments here. Just counting who's been diagnosed with autism in the past few years.
Second, in real schools of research psychology (counseling and social work don't count), the scientific method is rammed down psychology students' throats more than in any other discipline, because we have to. We can't just say "Hey we spotted a new planet through a telescope" or "I found this cool new algorithm for searches"... you have to prove that your experimental condition does not differ by chance and that it is significant, etc. Look in a psychology journal; more statistics and references than in any other science.
nah i was lying =(
Ummm, this is a self-report semi-anonymous survey. Why would someone spend the time to create a false identity and lie on a volunteer survey? Not all experienced Internet users are paranoid crankheads (most, but not all)!
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it was found experienced net users were less likely to download music.. all my friends who don't have computers always tried to find napster and download songs when they first got on my computer (or got one of their own). It's pretty cool to download a collection of 8gigs of songs on your hard drive, but after a while, most people realize they wasted many hours of their life doing this..
Like the other guy said, your link has nothing to do with anything. How is this report drivel? Do you think the guys at UCLA made numbers up so that they could further their agenda of making the American populace believe that newer Internet users chat online more than vice versa? How devious...
Believe it or not, some non-Linux geeks are smart and know how to do statistics. Their downloadable report is obviously not a formal scientific article that would be published in a journal, and it probably didn't go through peer review. That doesn't mean it's a bad report.
The prices on Pricewatch are routinely twice as much as from other places on the web, but people still seem to buy there too :-\
By 'old-timer' I'm pretty sure he meant 'senile' :-(
Hm, addictive personalities is a little simplified, but yeah, you can become addicted to anything.
Addiction is defined by its consequences. If you have sex 30x a day but your relationships, finances, job, etc., are great, you don't have a sex addiction. If you have sex twice a week but you quit your job, ignore your children, and spend all your money so you can't pay rent just so you can find some tail, that's an addiction.
The same goes for gaming, but I think most cases of what someone would think is "addicted to gaming" is just someone liking video games a lot.
What is the average gamer going to do instead of gaming anyway? Go on a date? HAHAHAHA, GOOD LUCK FATASS!
Then what do those two words mean? :-\
I know Handspring's device was named Treo because it's a "trio" of devices: PDA, cell phone, and mobile internet device (RIM-style). And Treo looked cooler than Trio. And it looked even cooler with an accent over it.
This doesn't seem exciting to me compared to OLED (Organic LED).. OLED is also supposed to be cheap (although there are no good estimates for either technology) but production is already getting started and it already uses very little power.
:) They'd have to get the power consumption really low, like the article said, for it to be more worthwhile for "flat" technology (eg, holodeck walls) than OLED.
:-\
The major selling point for e-paper is that it is "bendable"... eg, you can make a t-shirt out of it
Philips' e-paper will probably have a monopoly in Internet basketballs though..