I wouldn't say that it "isn't functional."
It is nichey. Here's the three things that it's useful for: 1) some areas have poor cell phone reception, 2) international calls are far more expensive on a cell phone, 3) you can act like you're home even if you aren't:)
If the 90kbs bandwidth is a concern for you, they do offer other codecs. The lowest one uses 30kbs. The middle one is 50kbs. I use the 90k one, so I don't know how much of a difference the lower ones make on sounds quality. The 90kbs codec sounds just like a regular phone.
"That could be interesting -- sounds like a/. project waiting to happen, all it needs is someone willing to sacrifice a DLP projector in the name of science!"
Sorry,/. projects only happen when linux is somehow involved. If you want to get your TV to boot linux or something, then this is the place.
Considering what they can do with graphics and sound today, does anyone actually expect these kids to be impressed by this stuff? It's like asking someone to use a pulse dial phone and think its rad. No, it sucks.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Galaga and all that shit but I certainly wouldn't expect kids to like it when they can play things like HL2, WoW, etc. The only thing I *might* hope the kids get out of it is an appreciation of where the current games evolved from and gaming history. That's it.
"The 2004 domestic Video and Computer Game Industry is estimated to be around $10B. This is a slightly misleading figure because it includes the sales of the console machines, in addition to the sales of the software, but we'll go with it."
First he states, that it's BS because it includes console gaming. Ok, a stretch but I'll let it go.
"The domestic US box office is estimated to be around $9B for 2004, and this is where the myth starts to take life. The problem is the movie industry is a lot bigger then just the U.S. box office. DVD sales and rentals for 2003 topped $16B. VHS sales and rentals for 2003 was $6.4B. VHS sales are declining fast, but most of that will just shift over to DVDs, which brings the grand total for non-box office movie sales to over $20B, twice the figure for the entire game industry."
Now he says, that the movie biz is worth 20 billion if you take in to account international sales, dvd sales, etc. He says it's important to take into account intertantional sales but then he fails to take into account internation sales of video games. What is that number? Last I heard, it was close to 30 BILLION. (I'll try and dig up an official number later.)
Anyway, he then compares international gross of various movies with NATIONAL gross of video games. Yeah, that's fair. Halo 2 he says made $160 million. Hmm...that's strange, according to my research it made $125 million its FIRST DAY of release in North America alone. I suppose it's possible it only made another $35 million (which is only 700,000 copies) world wide past the first day but I'm doubtful. He says GTA: San Andreas grossed $178 million. I can find several internet sources with one google search that will tell you it made that much OPENING WEEKEND. That's not the total amount it will make.
Then Grumpy Gamer wonders where are all the limosines and fast cars that the gaming companies have. I guess since there's no giant premier on E showing these people coming out of limosines or exotic cars, they must not exist.
You can go on and on with this, but if this guy is going to try and debunk a "myth" (that only geeks know about anyway), at least try and be accurate instead of creating your own myth. This guy is completely talking out of his ass as far as I can tell. He has no hard evidence to prove anything. Apparently, Grumpy Gamer believes you destroy myths by mere speculation, lack of hard evidence, and incorrect figures. (Notice he didn't provide any sources for where his game gross' came from.)
I'm American, and I agree with you. Most people here have no idea what coffee is supposed to taste like. However, there is a growing number of us figuring it out.:)
Well, Blue-Footed Boobie, looks like you got your wish and I got modded down. Of course, the mod that did that and you are completely out of place. Saying my post is "flamebait" because I don't want to support a company that exploits its workers is a stretch to the extreme. My post wasn't worded in an inflamatory manner. I should have said, "Ubi is now a piece of shit just like EA, fuck them both cuz I'm not giving them any of my money."
Anyway, fuck both of you. THIS IS FLAMEBAIT, morons.
"Also, any Slashdotters have recommendations on going with a plasma vs an lcd? Power usage, heat, image quality, overall life of product?"
LCD has better image quality, lower power usage, double the life of plasma, and it doesn't suffer from burn-in like plasma. The only thing I really give plasma is that it's faster. LCD is the superior technology by a long shot, imo.
" I taped it for a good friend of mine who _worships_ Earthsea, so I really want to see the look of horror on his face when I show it to him (yes, I am that evil)."
Damn, you're my kind of people. What's that german word for "enjoys the pain and suffering of others"?
you would go to a movie and the only thing resembaling a commercial would be a preview. I remember travelling to England and seeing commercials at the beginning of a movie and thinking how odd it was that these people paid to see a movie and had to sit through commercials before they could see what they paid for. This was the mid-80's. Now it's the same way here and it totally sucks.
They always said that television was free only because of the advertising revenue. I pay for my TV stations via Time Warner, however, I still watch the same commercials as the guy watching tv via antenna. So, we get to pay for our movies and pay to watch commercials, and we get to pay for our tv and pay to watch commercials. If you have a TiVo, you also get to pay to send them information on your viewing habits.
Then these fuckheads wonder why we don't trust them and don't like them. I've all but given up on going to movies. I give it another year before I give up watching regular tv broadcasts.
Actually, it takes an extremely small amount of explosives (like RDX which is used to make plastic explosives) to punch a hole in the side of an plane. The electronics necessary to show the illusion of a working cell phone is minimal. Unless the security people actually try and make a call, it's worthless. Security is still a joke in our airports.
It's possible to out-do Gene Wilder, but it's not possible to out-do Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. He was quite simply perfect. There is literally nothing in his performance I would change. I love Depp, I like Burton, but they're gonna take a fall on this one. Why they need to remake classics is beyond my comprehension...
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Actually the sound quality is quite good.
I wouldn't say that it "isn't functional." :)
It is nichey. Here's the three things that it's useful for: 1) some areas have poor cell phone reception, 2) international calls are far more expensive on a cell phone, 3) you can act like you're home even if you aren't
If the 90kbs bandwidth is a concern for you, they do offer other codecs. The lowest one uses 30kbs. The middle one is 50kbs. I use the 90k one, so I don't know how much of a difference the lower ones make on sounds quality. The 90kbs codec sounds just like a regular phone.
"That could be interesting -- sounds like a /. project waiting to happen, all it needs is someone willing to sacrifice a DLP projector in the name of science!"
/. projects only happen when linux is somehow involved. If you want to get your TV to boot linux or something, then this is the place.
Sorry,
There's no phosphers in LCD tv's, and they seem to manage just fine. Sure, it's not the same thing but neither is your comparison. :P
Yeah...well, they could just shoot the goalkeepers with sniper rifles too. That technology is readily available.
Considering what they can do with graphics and sound today, does anyone actually expect these kids to be impressed by this stuff? It's like asking someone to use a pulse dial phone and think its rad. No, it sucks.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Galaga and all that shit but I certainly wouldn't expect kids to like it when they can play things like HL2, WoW, etc. The only thing I *might* hope the kids get out of it is an appreciation of where the current games evolved from and gaming history. That's it.
Actually, CNN has been headlining this the last couple of days and the focus hasn't been on the few Americans that died. And guess what, it's the top news item today http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/asia.q uake/index.html
"The 2004 domestic Video and Computer Game Industry is estimated to be around $10B. This is a slightly misleading figure because it includes the sales of the console machines, in addition to the sales of the software, but we'll go with it."
First he states, that it's BS because it includes console gaming. Ok, a stretch but I'll let it go.
"The domestic US box office is estimated to be around $9B for 2004, and this is where the myth starts to take life. The problem is the movie industry is a lot bigger then just the U.S. box office. DVD sales and rentals for 2003 topped $16B. VHS sales and rentals for 2003 was $6.4B. VHS sales are declining fast, but most of that will just shift over to DVDs, which brings the grand total for non-box office movie sales to over $20B, twice the figure for the entire game industry."
Now he says, that the movie biz is worth 20 billion if you take in to account international sales, dvd sales, etc. He says it's important to take into account intertantional sales but then he fails to take into account internation sales of video games. What is that number? Last I heard, it was close to 30 BILLION. (I'll try and dig up an official number later.)
Anyway, he then compares international gross of various movies with NATIONAL gross of video games. Yeah, that's fair. Halo 2 he says made $160 million. Hmm...that's strange, according to my research it made $125 million its FIRST DAY of release in North America alone. I suppose it's possible it only made another $35 million (which is only 700,000 copies) world wide past the first day but I'm doubtful. He says GTA: San Andreas grossed $178 million. I can find several internet sources with one google search that will tell you it made that much OPENING WEEKEND. That's not the total amount it will make.
Then Grumpy Gamer wonders where are all the limosines and fast cars that the gaming companies have. I guess since there's no giant premier on E showing these people coming out of limosines or exotic cars, they must not exist.
You can go on and on with this, but if this guy is going to try and debunk a "myth" (that only geeks know about anyway), at least try and be accurate instead of creating your own myth. This guy is completely talking out of his ass as far as I can tell. He has no hard evidence to prove anything. Apparently, Grumpy Gamer believes you destroy myths by mere speculation, lack of hard evidence, and incorrect figures. (Notice he didn't provide any sources for where his game gross' came from.)
I'm American, and I agree with you. Most people here have no idea what coffee is supposed to taste like. However, there is a growing number of us figuring it out. :)
Well, Blue-Footed Boobie, looks like you got your wish and I got modded down. Of course, the mod that did that and you are completely out of place. Saying my post is "flamebait" because I don't want to support a company that exploits its workers is a stretch to the extreme. My post wasn't worded in an inflamatory manner. I should have said, "Ubi is now a piece of shit just like EA, fuck them both cuz I'm not giving them any of my money."
Anyway, fuck both of you. THIS IS FLAMEBAIT, morons.
"Also, any Slashdotters have recommendations on going with a plasma vs an lcd? Power usage, heat, image quality, overall life of product?"
LCD has better image quality, lower power usage, double the life of plasma, and it doesn't suffer from burn-in like plasma. The only thing I really give plasma is that it's faster. LCD is the superior technology by a long shot, imo.
Looks like its time to add Ubi to my short list of game companies I won't buy from.
Blue ray has broader industry support than HD DVD (including media giant Sony). If anything is going to die, it's HD DVD.
Amish in the City have telephones.
Thank you, sir.
" I taped it for a good friend of mine who _worships_ Earthsea, so I really want to see the look of horror on his face when I show it to him (yes, I am that evil)."
Damn, you're my kind of people. What's that german word for "enjoys the pain and suffering of others"?
Actually, in the US, your employment can be terminated for any reason (with the exception of discrimination) if you live in a "right to work" state.
you would go to a movie and the only thing resembaling a commercial would be a preview. I remember travelling to England and seeing commercials at the beginning of a movie and thinking how odd it was that these people paid to see a movie and had to sit through commercials before they could see what they paid for. This was the mid-80's. Now it's the same way here and it totally sucks.
They always said that television was free only because of the advertising revenue. I pay for my TV stations via Time Warner, however, I still watch the same commercials as the guy watching tv via antenna. So, we get to pay for our movies and pay to watch commercials, and we get to pay for our tv and pay to watch commercials. If you have a TiVo, you also get to pay to send them information on your viewing habits.
Then these fuckheads wonder why we don't trust them and don't like them. I've all but given up on going to movies. I give it another year before I give up watching regular tv broadcasts.
ATRAC is better but not when you are converting from a lossy format like MP3 to ATRAC.
People actually buy Sony MP3 players? lol
lol...I like his workaround to the UK law.
Actually, it takes an extremely small amount of explosives (like RDX which is used to make plastic explosives) to punch a hole in the side of an plane. The electronics necessary to show the illusion of a working cell phone is minimal. Unless the security people actually try and make a call, it's worthless. Security is still a joke in our airports.
Actually, with the picocell solution, the cell convo would be sent straight to the satellite. There is no ground station involved in the process.
It's possible to out-do Gene Wilder, but it's not possible to out-do Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. He was quite simply perfect. There is literally nothing in his performance I would change. I love Depp, I like Burton, but they're gonna take a fall on this one. Why they need to remake classics is beyond my comprehension...