Hear me out for a minute... the rocket is just going straight up, what's so hard? Just strap a sealed chamber onto a grain silo of fuel, surely? Are you telling me that if I had the best part of $60 million I couldn't design, build and fly my own rocket in to space? Even a brute force solution wouldn't be that expense, surely?
Find $60G and prove that to us. Although there are probably plenty of rocket scientists laughing at you right now, I am sure they love to hear of someone who has achieved cheaper space flight.
There are many factors involved and we are at the current cutting edge of space technology. Until we have a spacecraft that can single stage to orbit and be able to return to orbit in two days, then the costs will be very high.
Another factor that effects the costs of NASA, is that if I remember rightly, all USA states must be included in the program. This is a big factor is cost increases. (BTW I couldn't find a reference to this, so please provide one or correct me).
Or just prevent people contributing anonymously unless they give unconditional licence to reuse the prose, and affirm that they both own the content or have been granted permission to use it, or have fair use to it, under current copyright law.
Or just apply creative commons, with an attribution state.
Didn't we have something like this already... it was called the Star Wars Christmas Special. Some of us are even old enough to have had to experience it.
Next he will want us believing that talking about his site is the same as showing it on TV.
If he doesn't want anyone linking to his site, then there are two solutions:
- Don't have a web site
- If there is a 'referrer' header, kick people to site that would appreciate the traffic
Either way, if this doesn't get thrown out, then we will need Geist to and knock some sense into those judges.
I should add that there are other implementations of Java available:
- JRockit
- Apache's, though I forget the name
what would be handy is if the JVM's bytecode was standarised, by submitting it to ISO. I would be interested to see who is making the best JVM out there.
For anyone mentioning Smalltalk, I believe the biggest nail in that coffin was incompatible VMs and the lack of types.
The AppleTV is the first step in a new direction. The problem is that neither Apple or anyone else has found the right formula. Actually, Free.fr seems to be one step in the right direction with their FreeBox HD: http://www.free.fr/adsl/index.html
At least the articles of the last few days suggest that it real name should be Ipadmodo. And hope that it dont happens here. "Ipaddot, news for ipad users, stuff that matters to Apple" just dont sound right.
Or Applemodo. Then again, when ever there is a lot of hype around something Gizmodo tends to over indulge, but if you are you are regular reader of Gizmodo you would known that;)
"Socialism GOOD, capitalism BAD! Kill THEM for FREEDOM!". Umm oh wait, sorry that was on the other side, whatever, just invert it.
Then again, neither is necessarily bad or good. It all depends on how it is run. For me the only good spot is somewhere in the middle, accepting social needs and human motivation.
Global harmonization through treaties is creating a race to the bottom as far as the citizen's general welfare is concerned.
When I see films, or read books, such as Judge Dredd I wonder how could this shit become reality? I ask myself whether there would be enough external sources to ensure a general liberty and rights of it citizens? Then I see shit like ACTA and this happening and I suddenly understand - scary.
Perfect software is like a perfect person: hard to find. Even if you did find it, then it probably wouldn't be doing things in the way you want it to.
If I am asked to add a set a features and make it perfect, then I will do the best job I can, but in the end the question to be asked is "do you want perfect software or a deliverable?". Perfect software is also like a derivative, in that you can always get closer to your integer the more you work at it, but still not be there, it simply tends to infinity.
Console = 5 years old PC hardware with locked options.
Yes and no. In reality this an Apples vs Oranges argument, since on the one hand you have specialised hardware design to do one task well, and on the other you have generic hardware to do most things well enough. As to the locked options, this is actually beneficial for games developers since they can focus on a single platform configuration and this makes it much easier to find the bugs. You are also not paying the same amount for a console either. A console generally tops out at around $400 USD, ignoring extra controllers, whereas you are usually spending $1000+ for your gaming PC.
Programming resources are finite and (since the gamer gets more bang-for-his-buck) consoles enjoy greater market penetration. If you were coding where would you aim your efforts?
The other advantages that consoles have are zero install (just pop in the disk and go) and a fixed target. PC, no matter the OS they are running, tend to be a moving target and a whole bunch of unknowns on any given installation. These are are by no means unsolvable, but I am not aware of any company that has provided a solution to this problem. I sometimes wonder whether a special gaming VM would provide some sort of benefit on a PC?
Cross platform support is not relevant when speaking of consoles. They are proprietary hardware. In the Case of PC's, the cross platform aspect is between OS's not between systems containing entirely different hardware.
That isn't totally true. If you want to be able to port your games to another platform, then your game engine is going to need an abstraction layer, with a specific low-level implementation for each console. Games companies often do this, because they don't necessarily want to find themselves being limited to one platform. There will always be work to do in porting a game, but if your engine can be made in way that it accounts for the most common points, then you have already saved yourself a whole bunch of work.
The sheer volume of applicants makes it infeasible for a single bureaucracy to effectively test physical hardware.
Certainly, but there should at least be spot checks and the possibility of fining manufacturers, if consumers report inconsistencies. I would go even further, that if a manufacturer has been caught intentionally publishing incorrect data, multiple times, then they should lose all their energy star badges and then have to pay an Energy Star certified lab to prove their products are complaint.
You can test you appliances with devices such as 'Kill-A-Watt'. Maybe its even time that a web site was put together where people can list what readings they were getting during different activities?
If they just stick a clause in the EULA the prohibits people from doing just that, they could stop it. Although I am not sure if they could go after the author, just those who use it. How they would detect that, I'm not sure, but I know there are a few sites that can detect AdBlock.
Would that make it illegal to view their web site through IE6 or Netscape 1.0? The point is that once something is data on your computer a program's author should not be sued because of personal content filtering or a web browser that is not rendering things faithfully. Facebook has the right to print something, and the viewer should have the right to not view something in its original form if they chose not to. Facebook should work out how to defeat this plug-in if they really want to do away with it, using technical solutions. Until then Facebook has just enacted the Streisand effect, since a whole bunch more people are aware of the tool.
BTW Even with a EULA, there are limitations to what can legally be stated without invalidating it.
I too will stop doing my business in China immediately. The fact I haven't started doing business there is irrelevant. The fact I might start again when nobody is paying attention is also irrelevant. All that matters now is that I grab some headlines and some free advertising;)
I don't want to sound negative, but I was always worried about Oracle buying Sun, for how it would impact negatively on Sun's business. For me the Oracle web site is so convoluted that it stinks of 'we designed this so that you to pay use to find it'. Everything feels designed to nickle and dime everything you try doing with them. This is based on experience of having get specific updates to fix certain known issues. If you don't agree with my perspective, I would gladly appreciate hearing about your experience.
I am a Java developer and I hope that they don't extend this to Java or any other Sun technologies with a more 'open' culture.
Because it costs money for the socket, and to pay someone to wire the socket to the board. Means one less hole in the case, too. It may well persist in desktop machines, where its cost is truly negligible, because it's part of the back-panel of sockets, but on a laptop the cost of providing is more significant, so we'll probably see it vanish. I won't miss it.
As I said, it is only significant on lower end models. On higher end models where everything is about 'media' and you are already paying $1000+, taking off a 10c solution with no suitable alternative is just asking for annoyed customers. As for using something such as a Bluetooth microphone, a friend of mine who works with professional audio confirms that, it is a poor replacement.
What they are proposing is not a demo. The headline on Gamasutra even indicates that this is a form of DLC (DownLoadable Content): "EA To Release Paid DLC Prior To Packaged Game Launches". If I read things right this sounds very much like American monthly comic books and the "zero" issue or in terms of a TV series more of a pilot. There is also an update in the article indicating "None of the proposals call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos."
I have seen other companies release semi-episodic games, where the first one is a taster to let the developers know whether it is worth continuing the development. What EA is doing is not really new. Its just being badly presented here.
Once again the only real flame bait is the/. summary. I am not new here, I just keep on kidding myself that it might be otherwise;)
The line-in jack will disappear with physical audio. Honestly, unless you're a DJ, it's pretty unlikely that you have any audio that doesn't exist as something digital (MP3, AAC, WAV, etc.)
Why drop it? Its not as if it is any major cost to the machine these days. I don't use my line-in that often but it is certainly useful and it would be a pain to have to go an get a USB adapter for something so basic.
I suspect that the models that don't have them are low end computers where the manufacture tries to cut costs in the most extreme ways.
Slashdot Mirror
Find $60G and prove that to us
I believe you're a few orders of magnitude off.
Doh, indeed. That should be $60M.
Hear me out for a minute... the rocket is just going straight up, what's so hard? Just strap a sealed chamber onto a grain silo of fuel, surely? Are you telling me that if I had the best part of $60 million I couldn't design, build and fly my own rocket in to space? Even a brute force solution wouldn't be that expense, surely?
Find $60G and prove that to us. Although there are probably plenty of rocket scientists laughing at you right now, I am sure they love to hear of someone who has achieved cheaper space flight.
There are many factors involved and we are at the current cutting edge of space technology. Until we have a spacecraft that can single stage to orbit and be able to return to orbit in two days, then the costs will be very high.
Another factor that effects the costs of NASA, is that if I remember rightly, all USA states must be included in the program. This is a big factor is cost increases. (BTW I couldn't find a reference to this, so please provide one or correct me).
I still don't understand why the Stock Market can't run 24/7.
Trading is still done by people, who have a horrible tendency to want to do things like eat, sleep and such forth.
It would be cool if someone could scan them, and then put them online. For the collector, having the original would still be worth something.
Or just prevent people contributing anonymously unless they give unconditional licence to reuse the prose, and affirm that they both own the content or have been granted permission to use it, or have fair use to it, under current copyright law.
Or just apply creative commons, with an attribution state.
Didn't we have something like this already... it was called the Star Wars Christmas Special. Some of us are even old enough to have had to experience it.
After hearing about it, I decided to do a search for it, and then watched as much as could bare. Its really bad, and I don't mean that in a good way. Its on Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=323909610753051544#
Next he will want us believing that talking about his site is the same as showing it on TV.
If he doesn't want anyone linking to his site, then there are two solutions:
- Don't have a web site
- If there is a 'referrer' header, kick people to site that would appreciate the traffic
Either way, if this doesn't get thrown out, then we will need Geist to and knock some sense into those judges.
I should add that there are other implementations of Java available:
- JRockit
- Apache's, though I forget the name
what would be handy is if the JVM's bytecode was standarised, by submitting it to ISO. I would be interested to see who is making the best JVM out there.
For anyone mentioning Smalltalk, I believe the biggest nail in that coffin was incompatible VMs and the lack of types.
It was said about the Apple TV too.
The AppleTV is the first step in a new direction. The problem is that neither Apple or anyone else has found the right formula. Actually, Free.fr seems to be one step in the right direction with their FreeBox HD: http://www.free.fr/adsl/index.html
At least the articles of the last few days suggest that it real name should be Ipadmodo. And hope that it dont happens here. "Ipaddot, news for ipad users, stuff that matters to Apple" just dont sound right.
Or Applemodo. Then again, when ever there is a lot of hype around something Gizmodo tends to over indulge, but if you are you are regular reader of Gizmodo you would known that ;)
Yeah, problem with that? I can happily choose to not run Flash on my computer. With the iPad, I don't get the option.
You can happily choose not to buy the iPad.
"Socialism GOOD, capitalism BAD! Kill THEM for FREEDOM!". Umm oh wait, sorry that was on the other side, whatever, just invert it.
Then again, neither is necessarily bad or good. It all depends on how it is run. For me the only good spot is somewhere in the middle, accepting social needs and human motivation.
Global harmonization through treaties is creating a race to the bottom as far as the citizen's general welfare is concerned.
When I see films, or read books, such as Judge Dredd I wonder how could this shit become reality? I ask myself whether there would be enough external sources to ensure a general liberty and rights of it citizens? Then I see shit like ACTA and this happening and I suddenly understand - scary.
Perfect software is like a perfect person: hard to find. Even if you did find it, then it probably wouldn't be doing things in the way you want it to.
If I am asked to add a set a features and make it perfect, then I will do the best job I can, but in the end the question to be asked is "do you want perfect software or a deliverable?". Perfect software is also like a derivative, in that you can always get closer to your integer the more you work at it, but still not be there, it simply tends to infinity.
Console = 5 years old PC hardware with locked options.
Yes and no. In reality this an Apples vs Oranges argument, since on the one hand you have specialised hardware design to do one task well, and on the other you have generic hardware to do most things well enough. As to the locked options, this is actually beneficial for games developers since they can focus on a single platform configuration and this makes it much easier to find the bugs. You are also not paying the same amount for a console either. A console generally tops out at around $400 USD, ignoring extra controllers, whereas you are usually spending $1000+ for your gaming PC.
Programming resources are finite and (since the gamer gets more bang-for-his-buck) consoles enjoy greater market penetration. If you were coding where would you aim your efforts?
The other advantages that consoles have are zero install (just pop in the disk and go) and a fixed target. PC, no matter the OS they are running, tend to be a moving target and a whole bunch of unknowns on any given installation. These are are by no means unsolvable, but I am not aware of any company that has provided a solution to this problem. I sometimes wonder whether a special gaming VM would provide some sort of benefit on a PC?
Cross platform support is not relevant when speaking of consoles. They are proprietary hardware. In the Case of PC's, the cross platform aspect is between OS's not between systems containing entirely different hardware.
That isn't totally true. If you want to be able to port your games to another platform, then your game engine is going to need an abstraction layer, with a specific low-level implementation for each console. Games companies often do this, because they don't necessarily want to find themselves being limited to one platform. There will always be work to do in porting a game, but if your engine can be made in way that it accounts for the most common points, then you have already saved yourself a whole bunch of work.
The sheer volume of applicants makes it infeasible for a single bureaucracy to effectively test physical hardware.
Certainly, but there should at least be spot checks and the possibility of fining manufacturers, if consumers report inconsistencies. I would go even further, that if a manufacturer has been caught intentionally publishing incorrect data, multiple times, then they should lose all their energy star badges and then have to pay an Energy Star certified lab to prove their products are complaint.
You can test you appliances with devices such as 'Kill-A-Watt'. Maybe its even time that a web site was put together where people can list what readings they were getting during different activities?
If they just stick a clause in the EULA the prohibits people from doing just that, they could stop it. Although I am not sure if they could go after the author, just those who use it. How they would detect that, I'm not sure, but I know there are a few sites that can detect AdBlock.
Would that make it illegal to view their web site through IE6 or Netscape 1.0? The point is that once something is data on your computer a program's author should not be sued because of personal content filtering or a web browser that is not rendering things faithfully. Facebook has the right to print something, and the viewer should have the right to not view something in its original form if they chose not to. Facebook should work out how to defeat this plug-in if they really want to do away with it, using technical solutions. Until then Facebook has just enacted the Streisand effect, since a whole bunch more people are aware of the tool.
BTW Even with a EULA, there are limitations to what can legally be stated without invalidating it.
I too will stop doing my business in China immediately. The fact I haven't started doing business there is irrelevant. The fact I might start again when nobody is paying attention is also irrelevant. All that matters now is that I grab some headlines and some free advertising ;)
DNA resolution failure
Clearly they thought captchas were too easy to defeat.
I don't want to sound negative, but I was always worried about Oracle buying Sun, for how it would impact negatively on Sun's business. For me the Oracle web site is so convoluted that it stinks of 'we designed this so that you to pay use to find it'. Everything feels designed to nickle and dime everything you try doing with them. This is based on experience of having get specific updates to fix certain known issues. If you don't agree with my perspective, I would gladly appreciate hearing about your experience.
I am a Java developer and I hope that they don't extend this to Java or any other Sun technologies with a more 'open' culture.
Because it costs money for the socket, and to pay someone to wire the socket to the board. Means one less hole in the case, too. It may well persist in desktop machines, where its cost is truly negligible, because it's part of the back-panel of sockets, but on a laptop the cost of providing is more significant, so we'll probably see it vanish. I won't miss it.
As I said, it is only significant on lower end models. On higher end models where everything is about 'media' and you are already paying $1000+, taking off a 10c solution with no suitable alternative is just asking for annoyed customers. As for using something such as a Bluetooth microphone, a friend of mine who works with professional audio confirms that, it is a poor replacement.
What they are proposing is not a demo. The headline on Gamasutra even indicates that this is a form of DLC (DownLoadable Content): "EA To Release Paid DLC Prior To Packaged Game Launches". If I read things right this sounds very much like American monthly comic books and the "zero" issue or in terms of a TV series more of a pilot. There is also an update in the article indicating "None of the proposals call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos."
I have seen other companies release semi-episodic games, where the first one is a taster to let the developers know whether it is worth continuing the development. What EA is doing is not really new. Its just being badly presented here.
Once again the only real flame bait is the /. summary. I am not new here, I just keep on kidding myself that it might be otherwise ;)
The line-in jack will disappear with physical audio. Honestly, unless you're a DJ, it's pretty unlikely that you have any audio that doesn't exist as something digital (MP3, AAC, WAV, etc.)
Why drop it? Its not as if it is any major cost to the machine these days. I don't use my line-in that often but it is certainly useful and it would be a pain to have to go an get a USB adapter for something so basic.
I suspect that the models that don't have them are low end computers where the manufacture tries to cut costs in the most extreme ways.