I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that "bullet time" was developed during the Matrix but first seen in the Gap commercials. Remember, post production for a Movie takes a hell of a lot longer than a 30 second commercial.
Sure it does... in fact, that's why they've done it. Support Costs. They only have to train their market droids / help desk helmets on a few specific systems. I'm not saying its right, but they way they look at it MS has the dominant marketshare so they'll go with Windows. Remember who this is being market to.
Now, if they were really savvy they would have some "this is unofficial and we won't support it, but if you want to hook up to Linux/*BSD/BeOS/MacOS/Atari 800xl here's how you do it / here's a link to someone else who's done it... just don't call us if you have any problems." I would think that would be the least they could do.
Government regulation is admittedly imperfect and often infuriating; but it must at least try to work toward the public good, or its authors will lose their power.
I disagree. All a government has to do is try to look like it's working toward the public good.... In the same vein as my post to earlier story on "Truth in Science" government is run by people, people who are just as likely to be bought and sold as those in the corp. life. A government's job (IMHO) is to do the minimum to preserve fundamental rights (now just what that "minimum" is is the $50K question...). Corps will, to an extent, screw with you mainly because they're run by people (I don't buy the people are better than corps line. People run corps. There are corps out there that have, in my opinion, very good ethics and there are those out there who are frigging lousy... just like people). Its the nature of the beast. At least with a corportation I can choose not to do business with them. I'm much more afraid of a government with too much power.
Just look at all of the/. favorite topics of late
DCMA - Gov't Backed, Corp Bought
UCTIA - Gov't Backed, Corp Bought
Tax on recordable media in Canada/Germany - Gov't Backed, Corp Bought
etc....
It costs a hell of a lot less money to throw some cash around to the Pols and get legislation passed to protect your market than it is to improve your product. The great paradox is the more control you give the gov't the more control you hand over to those with very large pocketbooks.
Not as far as I know. I give the box a good kicking whenever I visit and it seems to be pretty stable. MSIE has a bit of a problem rendering/. in nested form, but that's about it. Then again, my parents have installed nothing beyond what came with the machine so there are not a lot of weird extensions (well, weirder than average) mucking things up either. Plus, she never really goes to too many taxing sites. Yahoo, the BBC, CNN.
I think issue only effects a small subset of Mac users, mainly hackers (in the right sense of the word). For everyday users, like my mom, who I believe make up the bulk of the non-business market for Apple OS9 does everything they need it to do, and does it fairly well. She checks her e-mail, types a letter or two, updates Quicken, and surfs (oh... and watches the odd DVD here and there). The system is never really taxed and AFAIK has yet to crash on her. Now, on the business user end of things, beyond the multimedia market (who probably run OS9 for creation type stuff... maybe Linux/*BSD for rendering) If people are using Linux/*BSD on Mac boxes the stability/support/*nix nature of OSX may bring 'em back.
Actually, Reason magazine a few years ago showed that the racial makeup of sports organizations (including coaches, execs, staff but excluding players) were pretty much in line with general population distributions. The only sport where the player population mirrored society (at least here in the states) is baseball.
As for "Blacks are naturally better athelets than whites" I think it's a bunch of bunk. Take a look at World soccer, rugby or cricket leagues. Or even baseball. Are Cubans more "naturally" more athletic just because a large number of them excel in baseball? Are Indians more "naturally" athletic because they excel at cricket? No. Its because its entrenched in their particlar (sub)culture. Sports participation tend to be more influenced by socio-economics.
And people are biased, and people are greedy, and people run the government. It always amazes me how some folks think that the govenment is somehow this "unbiased" organization that is out to protect our interests. Unfortunatly, its made up of those same dumb, biased, greedy folks that they claim they need protection from, except now those dumb, biased, greedy people have the ability to change laws to screw with us.
Yes, I know many people equate Sony with the great satan, but the tech is pretty damn good. Perfect for such activities as jogging. The newer models have 40+ seconds of skip protection. My older model only has 10 but I have rarely made it skip. The media is also more compact and can take quite a bit of abuse (they're jacketed). The only downside (IMHO) to CD-R: length. You can get the equiv. of one CD on each disc. Now, Sony's updated the MD to (if memory serves me correctly) quadruple the capacity, but AFAIK it's only used in some of their new digital cameras.
I agree with the author, but the word "Peaked" is probably not the best word. I would say more "expectations about the (commercial) internet have finally come down to earth" or "people are finally realizing that the internet is just another tool, not the second coming of {insert dead deity here}."
People would be buying the total entertainment unit, with games as an afterthought.
If this is the case then that doesn't bode well for the industry. My understanding is console HW is sold at a loss, $$$ to be made on game licensing fees. If no one buys games then they're losing $$$.
.... they'd repackage a *BSD (most likely Free) along with the linux runtime packages and sell that. That way they can jump on the Linux bandwagon by selling something that is "compatible" without having to offer source.
The reason I don't think they'll come out with a disto based on Linux is because, as a LinuxCare exec said in an LJ article about a year ago, even if they throw in some closed libs/APIs, its a hell of a lot easier to reverse engineer them when you see how they interact with userland programs on the top and the kernel on the bottom.
Nathan
Re:Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing, Baby.
on
Wine In New Skins
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· Score: 1
You should try VNC (or is it VCN) from AT&T. Works about as well as X as is really easy to set up. I've use it to control a Win98 box from Linux, there are servers and clients for WinXX, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and a few others I'm sure I missed.
Their website is at www.uk.research.att.com. Damn good stuff, and GPLed to boot.
If there's a natural disaster of that magnitude (i.e., enough to take out your average data-center building). Remember, this is a business and things have to be cost effective. Someone, somewhere sat down and crunched the numbers to figure out what the chance of some freak accident was and the cost of having only one installation vs. two. I'd bet a whole tonne of money that your solution was a hell of a lot more expensive than the risk.
So, it's pretty clear that in the end, government nosiness is a good thing. Think about it.
Of course it is. Look at the old Soviet Union. The Soviets prided themselves on having cities that were safe enough for women to walk around alone at night.
I think the police should have the right to enter your property at any time they see fit without a court order. That way we can rid this country of drugs, child pornography, weapons, "subversive" materials. After all, you shouldn't have anything to worry about if you haven't committed a crime.
The only reason I got an account was so I could order CDs from Jungle Jeff (when they had CDs I wanted) and have the MP3s of the album thrown in my account. That way I could start listening right away without having to wait a few days for the CD to arrive. Other than that, about the only use I find for it is the odd free track I like that they throw my way.
Disclaimer: I have not read the book (and have heard its really good)
I just thought the movie was total cheese. No story depth, just a bunch of young, hip actors running around, saying cheesy stuff, shooting other stuff, and every once in a while showing a boob or two. I'll agree that its a well made and watchable crappy film. It was one of those movies where you and your friends sit around and have more fun ripping on it (a'la MST3K) than actually watching it.
Which was kind of my point. Great effects do not necc. make a great film (SW:TPM is another example). And shitty effects do not necc. make a bad film/program (Red Dwarf, Blake's Seven, Dr. Who).
I was getting all kinds of problems running Verizon (BA) DSL under Windows (well, not *all* kinds of problems... but at best the connection would stay up two days). I finally threw a Linux box on the line as a server as a Masq box for my network and my uptimes have gotten MUCH better (as high as 15 days). I think Verizon's PPPoE SW is a little flakey. I've also read that there's some third party freeware Windows drivers that work a heck of a lot better as well. I wish that I could have a static IP (so I could bring my crappy little website inhouse, stream stuff to work, etc) but as of late I've gotta say the service has been pretty good.
I have never read any of the books and saw parts of the Lynch film (which, not having read the book was damn hard to follow) and I liked it. Now, having said that I might have felt different had I read the book (natch) but I thought it was pretty well done.
One of the more common complaints I read yesterday was about how bad the CGI looked. Sure, it looked like CGI, but considering it's a made for TV miniseries with an appropriate budget I think they did a good job. And does it really matter that the FX aren't the absolute best? I'd rather have a good story than good effects--watch any British Sci-Fi show to see what I mean. Blake's Seven, Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, HHGTTG... all had pretty cheesy FX, but all had great stories that kept bringing me back for more. On the other hand, look at crap like Starship Troopers: ug, what a horrible movie.
They did that in 92 (I believe). NBC had 3 channels of PPV. They took a beating on it. I doubt they'll attempt to do that again. It was Tarticoff's (sp?) Waterloo. If they were smart (bwahahahahahahah... yeah right) They would sub license lesser events out. They should be able to more than make up in licensing what they would lose in eyeballs (therefor ad rates) with the competition.
Here here. I used to watch the "O" on Auntie Beeb in the UK growing up. It may have changed since I saw it last there (88 games), but they usually had great coverage.
* Sports, sports and more sports (no human interest crap); * Events that *gasp* didn't have British athletes shoe ins to win (prob. because they just don't have the greatest athletes); * Commentators that weren't in love with the sound of their own voice (i.e. would actually shut up for most of the event)
God knows why the NBC (or any other US network for that matter) feels that the simple act of taking part in a sport isn't thrilling enough. NOOOOOO... we have to be subjegated to endless clips/monologs of how "Skippy the polevaulter" is vaulting this pole for his mother, who just got over a really bad case of hangnail.
Slashdot Mirror
I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that "bullet time" was developed during the Matrix but first seen in the Gap commercials. Remember, post production for a Movie takes a hell of a lot longer than a 30 second commercial.
Sure it does... in fact, that's why they've done it. Support Costs. They only have to train their market droids / help desk helmets on a few specific systems. I'm not saying its right, but they way they look at it MS has the dominant marketshare so they'll go with Windows. Remember who this is being market to.
Now, if they were really savvy they would have some "this is unofficial and we won't support it, but if you want to hook up to Linux/*BSD/BeOS/MacOS/Atari 800xl here's how you do it / here's a link to someone else who's done it... just don't call us if you have any problems." I would think that would be the least they could do.
I disagree. All a government has to do is try to look like it's working toward the public good.... In the same vein as my post to earlier story on "Truth in Science" government is run by people, people who are just as likely to be bought and sold as those in the corp. life. A government's job (IMHO) is to do the minimum to preserve fundamental rights (now just what that "minimum" is is the $50K question...). Corps will, to an extent, screw with you mainly because they're run by people (I don't buy the people are better than corps line. People run corps. There are corps out there that have, in my opinion, very good ethics and there are those out there who are frigging lousy... just like people). Its the nature of the beast. At least with a corportation I can choose not to do business with them. I'm much more afraid of a government with too much power.
Just look at all of the /. favorite topics of late
DCMA - Gov't Backed, Corp Bought
UCTIA - Gov't Backed, Corp Bought
Tax on recordable media in Canada/Germany - Gov't Backed, Corp Bought
etc....
It costs a hell of a lot less money to throw some cash around to the Pols and get legislation passed to protect your market than it is to improve your product. The great paradox is the more control you give the gov't the more control you hand over to those with very large pocketbooks.
Not as far as I know. I give the box a good kicking whenever I visit and it seems to be pretty stable. MSIE has a bit of a problem rendering /. in nested form, but that's about it. Then again, my parents have installed nothing beyond what came with the machine so there are not a lot of weird extensions (well, weirder than average) mucking things up either. Plus, she never really goes to too many taxing sites. Yahoo, the BBC, CNN.
I think issue only effects a small subset of Mac users, mainly hackers (in the right sense of the word). For everyday users, like my mom, who I believe make up the bulk of the non-business market for Apple OS9 does everything they need it to do, and does it fairly well. She checks her e-mail, types a letter or two, updates Quicken, and surfs (oh... and watches the odd DVD here and there). The system is never really taxed and AFAIK has yet to crash on her. Now, on the business user end of things, beyond the multimedia market (who probably run OS9 for creation type stuff... maybe Linux/*BSD for rendering) If people are using Linux/*BSD on Mac boxes the stability/support/*nix nature of OSX may bring 'em back.
As for "Blacks are naturally better athelets than whites" I think it's a bunch of bunk. Take a look at World soccer, rugby or cricket leagues. Or even baseball. Are Cubans more "naturally" more athletic just because a large number of them excel in baseball? Are Indians more "naturally" athletic because they excel at cricket? No. Its because its entrenched in their particlar (sub)culture. Sports participation tend to be more influenced by socio-economics.
And people are biased, and people are greedy, and people run the government. It always amazes me how some folks think that the govenment is somehow this "unbiased" organization that is out to protect our interests. Unfortunatly, its made up of those same dumb, biased, greedy folks that they claim they need protection from, except now those dumb, biased, greedy people have the ability to change laws to screw with us.
Fight for your own family's "safety"... mine doesn't need your help.
Minidisc
Minidisc
Minidisc
Yes, I know many people equate Sony with the great satan, but the tech is pretty damn good. Perfect for such activities as jogging. The newer models have 40+ seconds of skip protection. My older model only has 10 but I have rarely made it skip. The media is also more compact and can take quite a bit of abuse (they're jacketed). The only downside (IMHO) to CD-R: length. You can get the equiv. of one CD on each disc. Now, Sony's updated the MD to (if memory serves me correctly) quadruple the capacity, but AFAIK it's only used in some of their new digital cameras.
Nathan
I agree with the author, but the word "Peaked" is probably not the best word. I would say more "expectations about the (commercial) internet have finally come down to earth" or "people are finally realizing that the internet is just another tool, not the second coming of {insert dead deity here}."
If this is the case then that doesn't bode well for the industry. My understanding is console HW is sold at a loss, $$$ to be made on game licensing fees. If no one buys games then they're losing $$$.
Nathan
Which results in my favorite line:
"I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe."
The reason I don't think they'll come out with a disto based on Linux is because, as a LinuxCare exec said in an LJ article about a year ago, even if they throw in some closed libs/APIs, its a hell of a lot easier to reverse engineer them when you see how they interact with userland programs on the top and the kernel on the bottom.
Nathan
Their website is at www.uk.research.att.com. Damn good stuff, and GPLed to boot.
Nathan
If there's a natural disaster of that magnitude (i.e., enough to take out your average data-center building). Remember, this is a business and things have to be cost effective. Someone, somewhere sat down and crunched the numbers to figure out what the chance of some freak accident was and the cost of having only one installation vs. two. I'd bet a whole tonne of money that your solution was a hell of a lot more expensive than the risk.
That was my point.
Smell that??? That's irony.
Of course it is. Look at the old Soviet Union. The Soviets prided themselves on having cities that were safe enough for women to walk around alone at night.
I think the police should have the right to enter your property at any time they see fit without a court order. That way we can rid this country of drugs, child pornography, weapons, "subversive" materials. After all, you shouldn't have anything to worry about if you haven't committed a crime.
With my DSL line I can stream my music to myself.
Nathan
Roaring Penguin is what I've got on my router. Great little program. Rock solid!
I just thought the movie was total cheese. No story depth, just a bunch of young, hip actors running around, saying cheesy stuff, shooting other stuff, and every once in a while showing a boob or two. I'll agree that its a well made and watchable crappy film. It was one of those movies where you and your friends sit around and have more fun ripping on it (a'la MST3K) than actually watching it.
Which was kind of my point. Great effects do not necc. make a great film (SW:TPM is another example). And shitty effects do not necc. make a bad film/program (Red Dwarf, Blake's Seven, Dr. Who).
I was getting all kinds of problems running Verizon (BA) DSL under Windows (well, not *all* kinds of problems... but at best the connection would stay up two days). I finally threw a Linux box on the line as a server as a Masq box for my network and my uptimes have gotten MUCH better (as high as 15 days). I think Verizon's PPPoE SW is a little flakey. I've also read that there's some third party freeware Windows drivers that work a heck of a lot better as well. I wish that I could have a static IP (so I could bring my crappy little website inhouse, stream stuff to work, etc) but as of late I've gotta say the service has been pretty good.
One of the more common complaints I read yesterday was about how bad the CGI looked. Sure, it looked like CGI, but considering it's a made for TV miniseries with an appropriate budget I think they did a good job. And does it really matter that the FX aren't the absolute best? I'd rather have a good story than good effects--watch any British Sci-Fi show to see what I mean. Blake's Seven, Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, HHGTTG... all had pretty cheesy FX, but all had great stories that kept bringing me back for more. On the other hand, look at crap like Starship Troopers: ug, what a horrible movie.
I'll def. be watching tonight and tomorrow.
Nathan
They did that in 92 (I believe). NBC had 3 channels of PPV. They took a beating on it. I doubt they'll attempt to do that again. It was Tarticoff's (sp?) Waterloo. If they were smart (bwahahahahahahah... yeah right) They would sub license lesser events out. They should be able to more than make up in licensing what they would lose in eyeballs (therefor ad rates) with the competition.
* Sports, sports and more sports (no human interest crap);
* Events that *gasp* didn't have British athletes shoe ins to win (prob. because they just don't have the greatest athletes);
* Commentators that weren't in love with the sound of their own voice (i.e. would actually shut up for most of the event)
God knows why the NBC (or any other US network for that matter) feels that the simple act of taking part in a sport isn't thrilling enough. NOOOOOO... we have to be subjegated to endless clips/monologs of how "Skippy the polevaulter" is vaulting this pole for his mother, who just got over a really bad case of hangnail.
Nathan