The biggest problem with a list of the "best movies of all time", in whatever category is that things change. The quality/realism of effects has obviously changed over time, but also taste (people like different sorts of movies now than they did twenty years ago), plausability (things that seemed highly probable twenty years ago look very dated now), and what's allowed to be shown (the censors have gotten more lenient over time), so that at the end of the day the best movies of all time - especially in the Sci-fi category - are going to be a highly subjective, and likely to change over time as well as from person to person.
Why hasn't it been copied? Simple: Apple has a history of suing people for copying their desktop look+feel, so one can only assume they'd do the same for their case design. No-one would dare risk it.
This sounds a lot like several science fiction shows/movies. Isn't this how the Total Recall device worked? and I'm sure there were others.
Seems like every time I think an idea on a TV show is good, someone goes and invents it for real... I'm starting to think the only sci-fi ideas that I won't see in my lifetime are the ones that are actuall physically impossible.
Different sites will always have different numbers of visitors. It's obvious - a site about Star Wars will always have more visitors than an equivalent site about say, fly fishing (for want of a better example), simply because Star Wars is more well known. But that doesn't mean that the fly fishing site is obscure - it might be the most popular fly fishing site on the web.
The real question is how much of your potential audience are you attracting? Do fly fishermen know about your site. If your target audience is interested and visiting the site then you're doing fine. If not, that's when you need to worry.
No terrestrial planets are likely to exist inside their orbits. Outside their orbits it would be too cold for liquid water to exist.
Nevertheless, they could still have moons that could fit the bill.
All said and done though, I still agree that the odds are fairly long of finding a planet either specs coming even close to matching earth. They probably do exist (it's a big universe, you know), but not too many I guess, and not easy to find.
I've always thought that aircraft wings are one of the most obvious places to put solar cells. On a day-time flight, you're practically garuanteed maximum sunshine for the whole duration.
Even if you don't use it directly to power the engines, there's still plenty of electronics on your average aircraft that could use it.
Does anyone remember Microsoft BOB? It was an ill-fated attempt to hide the complexity of the OS behind a silly front-end.
And then there was that insane navigation screen used in Jurassic Park. The girl managed to use it easily enough in the movie, but it didn't look like the easiest system in the world.
In short - there have been plenty of attempts to come up with something better than the desktop, but although they're all very pretty and innovative, most of them have been pretty useless to actually use.
Great. I'm planning to buy this. My "one game per year". But I think maybe I'll wait till the premium price copies have been snapped up by the insanely eager.
It'll be cheaper in six months, folks!;-)
(hmmm... and I wonder how long before FreeCiv catches up?)
So, if code isn't speech, why not write it up as speech - write it in English, as a series of bullet points - "How to decode DCSS".
That isn't code, so it must be speech, right?
Now that must surely demonstrate the problem...?
A few years back, I wrote a game on the Amiga which implimented exactly this - two mice operating two pointers, both on the same screen.
The game in question was a two-player variant of Pipeline. If the truth be told, I never actually finished the game properly, but the two-players/two-pointers thing worked brilliantly.
Unfortunately, the method I used won't translate to another platform; I used a third-party extension to an existing language, which offered the commands to access a second mouse (and various other good stuff).
My point is that I've proved it can be done, and that it works well when it is done properly.
I've also seen an art package demonstrated that used a second mouse, with the second mouse being used to move palettes. Interesting concept, though maybe a little hard to get used to.
I'm not sure, though, how useful it would be on a general desktop. If one pointer does something that occuldes the screen space the other pointer is using (maybe it opens a new window, or something), it could cause problems.
As stated in the text above, lists like this are really useless. It's just such an objective thing.
To be fair, it's hard to imagine a list like this not including Bill Gates, but how long has Linus been 'important'? Long enough to be number 3 in the top ten most important people of the decade? Hmmm...
And it depends how you define 'important'. Should Saddam Hussein be in there? How about Vladimir Putin, or any of a range of world leaders who've had their say over the last ten years.
My top ten list will be completely different to another person's. That's the way it is.
<irony mode=on> Now, if I put up a top-ten list of most important people, would I have been mentioned on Slashdot? Probably only if I put Linus in there somewhere... </irony>
good gracious, I thought I was the only one to remember those!
I'm sure everyone remembers them, but as with so many of the things "we used to do", people seem to have blocked them out of their collective conciousness.
I think it's some kind of embarrassment. It's bad enough having today's generation (ooh, now I feel old!) laughing at 'Monkey Island' when we dig it up from the bottom of the hard drive, but if I tried to show them a text adventure, I'd get looked at as if I was some sort of prehistoric fossil.
Just so the record doesn't hold me too badly in light of the above, I should mention that I do still enjoy text adventures. I'm one of the few who still actually writes the things. I'm quite pleased with the parser I've managed to create, and some of the stories, although in truth, I doubt they're really very advanced.
The issue with this software, as I understand it, is similar to the issue with DVD - ie, you can have the files, but you have to play them with the "approved" software.
Now from where I'm sitting, that means that breaking the encryption really isn't of much relevance; the issue is of making player-software available cross platform. This could be done by cracking the encryption, but lets face it: it's a whole lot easier just to reverse-engineer the player-software that is released, which is exactly what was done for DVDs.
Okay, so the powers that be don't especially like that tactic either, but in truth it's better for them too.
Slashdot Mirror
shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination
"All States", eh... So does that mean Kentucky has just as much right to the moon as California and Florida...?
The biggest problem with a list of the "best movies of all time", in whatever category is that things change. The quality/realism of effects has obviously changed over time, but also taste (people like different sorts of movies now than they did twenty years ago), plausability (things that seemed highly probable twenty years ago look very dated now), and what's allowed to be shown (the censors have gotten more lenient over time), so that at the end of the day the best movies of all time - especially in the Sci-fi category - are going to be a highly subjective, and likely to change over time as well as from person to person.
Why hasn't it been copied? Simple: Apple has a history of suing people for copying their desktop look+feel, so one can only assume they'd do the same for their case design. No-one would dare risk it.
I thought the DCMA made this sort of research illegal?
'Cause after all, we don't want to know about serious flaws in our security systems, do we?
Instead of "Please examine my contents", it should say "Share and enjoy".
This sounds a lot like several science fiction shows/movies. Isn't this how the Total Recall device worked? and I'm sure there were others.
Seems like every time I think an idea on a TV show is good, someone goes and invents it for real... I'm starting to think the only sci-fi ideas that I won't see in my lifetime are the ones that are actuall physically impossible.
I'm a PC fan, so does that mean I get to be plugged into the back of a computer?
Then again, I also used to like tractors, so does that make me an ex-tractor fan?
....sorry... I couldn't resist it....
I bet that fellow who paid M$'s lapsed domain registration a few years ago on Passport.com is really kicking himself now!
Different sites will always have different numbers of visitors. It's obvious - a site about Star Wars will always have more visitors than an equivalent site about say, fly fishing (for want of a better example), simply because Star Wars is more well known. But that doesn't mean that the fly fishing site is obscure - it might be the most popular fly fishing site on the web.
The real question is how much of your potential audience are you attracting? Do fly fishermen know about your site. If your target audience is interested and visiting the site then you're doing fine. If not, that's when you need to worry.
At least a peacefull use of those aircrafts.
Peaceful???? Bah! This will only increase the amount of noise they make!
Infinity, think about it.
I prefer not to. My brain exploded last time I tried.
No terrestrial planets are likely to exist inside their orbits. Outside their orbits it would be too cold for liquid water to exist.
Nevertheless, they could still have moons that could fit the bill.
All said and done though, I still agree that the odds are fairly long of finding a planet either specs coming even close to matching earth. They probably do exist (it's a big universe, you know), but not too many I guess, and not easy to find.
Oh for a big telescope on the Moon!
Oh for a really big telescope covering the entire dark side of the moon! hehehe!
<mode="silly conspiracy theory mode">
mind you - since we can't see the dark side, who's to say there isn't one there already?
</mode>
I've always thought that aircraft wings are one of the most obvious places to put solar cells. On a day-time flight, you're practically garuanteed maximum sunshine for the whole duration.
Even if you don't use it directly to power the engines, there's still plenty of electronics on your average aircraft that could use it.
Does anyone remember Microsoft BOB? It was an ill-fated attempt to hide the complexity of the OS behind a silly front-end.
And then there was that insane navigation screen used in Jurassic Park. The girl managed to use it easily enough in the movie, but it didn't look like the easiest system in the world.
In short - there have been plenty of attempts to come up with something better than the desktop, but although they're all very pretty and innovative, most of them have been pretty useless to actually use.
If you think my computer's desktop is a mess, you should see the real desk that my computer is sitting on!
In fact, my desktop's backdrop image is a picture piles of paper, magazines, and coffee rings... it's a photo of my desk.
Hmmm.... time for that spring-cleaning I keep procrastinating about...
Great. I'm planning to buy this. My "one game per year". But I think maybe I'll wait till the premium price copies have been snapped up by the insanely eager. ;-)
It'll be cheaper in six months, folks!
(hmmm... and I wonder how long before FreeCiv catches up?)
So, if code isn't speech, why not write it up as speech - write it in English, as a series of bullet points - "How to decode DCSS".
That isn't code, so it must be speech, right?
Now that must surely demonstrate the problem...?
A few years back, I wrote a game on the Amiga which implimented exactly this - two mice operating two pointers, both on the same screen.
The game in question was a two-player variant of Pipeline. If the truth be told, I never actually finished the game properly, but the two-players/two-pointers thing worked brilliantly.
Unfortunately, the method I used won't translate to another platform; I used a third-party extension to an existing language, which offered the commands to access a second mouse (and various other good stuff).
My point is that I've proved it can be done, and that it works well when it is done properly.
I've also seen an art package demonstrated that used a second mouse, with the second mouse being used to move palettes. Interesting concept, though maybe a little hard to get used to.
I'm not sure, though, how useful it would be on a general desktop. If one pointer does something that occuldes the screen space the other pointer is using (maybe it opens a new window, or something), it could cause problems.
"They're like locusts. They move from planet to planet, consuming every natural resource, and then the move on to the next."
[mis?]quote from the movie Independance Day. He was referring to the aliens, but who else was reminded of it when they read this article?
Well according to that book, Women are from Venus anyway, so they should be able to survive here when it gets like that....
:-)
As stated in the text above, lists like this are really useless. It's just such an objective thing.
To be fair, it's hard to imagine a list like this not including Bill Gates, but how long has Linus been 'important'? Long enough to be number 3 in the top ten most important people of the decade? Hmmm...
And it depends how you define 'important'. Should Saddam Hussein be in there? How about Vladimir Putin, or any of a range of world leaders who've had their say over the last ten years.
My top ten list will be completely different to another person's. That's the way it is.
<irony mode=on>
Now, if I put up a top-ten list of most important people, would I have been mentioned on Slashdot? Probably only if I put Linus in there somewhere...
</irony>
good gracious, I thought I was the only one to remember those!
I'm sure everyone remembers them, but as with so many of the things "we used to do", people seem to have blocked them out of their collective conciousness.
I think it's some kind of embarrassment. It's bad enough having today's generation (ooh, now I feel old!) laughing at 'Monkey Island' when we dig it up from the bottom of the hard drive, but if I tried to show them a text adventure, I'd get looked at as if I was some sort of prehistoric fossil.
Just so the record doesn't hold me too badly in light of the above, I should mention that I do still enjoy text adventures. I'm one of the few who still actually writes the things. I'm quite pleased with the parser I've managed to create, and some of the stories, although in truth, I doubt they're really very advanced.
That guy on the corner mumbling to himself isn't really crazy, he's just talking to his accountant.
;-)
Naaah... probably his therapist...
The issue with this software, as I understand it, is similar to the issue with DVD - ie, you can have the files, but you have to play them with the "approved" software.
Now from where I'm sitting, that means that breaking the encryption really isn't of much relevance; the issue is of making player-software available cross platform. This could be done by cracking the encryption, but lets face it: it's a whole lot easier just to reverse-engineer the player-software that is released, which is exactly what was done for DVDs.
Okay, so the powers that be don't especially like that tactic either, but in truth it's better for them too.