Maybe some knowledgeable/.ers can explain why VR seems to have died/stillborn on the personal computer? If we can get 100+ fps in Doom3 at 1600x1200 and wireless networking and battery consumption have dramatically improved, what's the deal? Is it consumer apathy? Is there some other technological hurdle that needs to be overcome (LCD's seem to be getting pretty damn small and good, ie PSP)
This is a logical step for them. Their 19" and higher LCD's are great (I have the 1905FP and love it), and would definitely feel comfortable buying a TV from them if the quality was comparable.
I don't know if you remember the trailer for The Phantom Menace, but it had the Duel of the Fates song in the background and that trailer was amazing! After 20 years or whatever since Return of the Jedi, it made my knees week. That alone is proof that you can take a crappy two hour movie and turn it into an awesome 1 minute commercial.
I am not a fanatic about ST. TNG was my favourite by far, the original series was great for camp value and the occasional thought provoking episode. DS9 and Voyager had great potential, but for me disappointed. Even early TNG was pretty bad from a writing and acting point of view, but they got better after a couple of seasons. The actors are talented on this show, but they aren't given much to work with. When this show was announced I was jazzed up, I thought it would be pretty low tech star trek. The problem is they have phasers, they have transporters, they have met the borg. It just seems that they didn't really take advantage of the 'prequelness' of the main story. The episode where they met the borg ultimately did it in for me. I figured they had truly run out of ideas and I don't think I have watched a full episode since. They need to fire the producers, fire most of the writing staff, and take a break for a year or two then come back fresh.
As a kid I remember heading out to airport in Toronto for the annual WoC, where we could see all the latest Amiga and C64 stuff. It was a huge event, and seemed more like a place for people who actually 'enjoyed' this stuff rather than just for people who are in the business. I remember picking up my Amiga 500 HD and extra ram there, the thing was really ahead of it's time, I remember reluctantly purchasing my first Wintel box (386) and it was definitely a downgrade! *sniff*
A sample size of one is ridiculous, I'm surprised a Harvard President would even mention it in a speech. And gender neutral upbringing by giving the girl toy trucks? I assume that the child was also not allowed to watch any television or read any books which do not practice gender neutrality. If all he wanted controversy, he sure got it.
Unfortunately, humans will increasingly have to deal with the conflicting realities of 'equal under the law' and 'not equal under biology'
That install procedure for XP has many unnecessary steps and at least one is in the wrong place.
Instead of using this opportunity to bash Microsoft, we should realize that open source is susceptible to the same types of security issues that they are, but the open source community seems to have a model which is for the most part much better at dealing with them in a timely fashion.
If RFID becomes as prevalent as everyone seems to think it will be...someone (I'm FAR too lazy to patent this so be my guest)...will invent and market a home RFID tester...maybe a dish or something you put your passport/wallet/credit card holder etc in/on it and it will blink green if it was unable to activate any rfid chips, or red if you are leaking...or maybe even something more sophisticated as a sensor in your front doorway so that it warns you when you leave that you are potentially leaking personal information.
No...the analog hole only applies to your eyes and ears (in the case of a movie)...if you are trying to record then you will need a recording device. If all recording devices manufactured (some time in the future) also contain DRM enabled hardware/software, you are once again screwed. As media companies get larger and larger and fewer companies control an increasing proportion of the manufacturing, distribution and presentation of media (Sony is a VERY good example of this) they can pretty much close the so called analog hole to 99.9% of consumers.
The above statement is 100% bang on...the purpose of television is to provide a forum for advterisers to hock their wares to as large an audience as possible. The purpose of television is not to be entertaining, it just happens to be that the best way to provide large audiences is to provide an entertaining show.
This is not exactly true. Colleges and Universities are just as capable of churning out lemmings as High School, except with larger debt burdens and damaged livers. I was a double major in Comp Sci and Phys Ed and neither faculty really rewarded independent thought. Some of the courses I took in other departments (Sociology springs to mind, and Philosophy to a lesser extent) had professors which seemed to promote it, but the teaching assistants are the ones that mark your papers and they just do what they are told.
Re:RoTK with the good bits restored (finally!)
on
ROTK:EE Trailer Released
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I doubt he cut them out of the movie without alot of soul searching. Of those 4 scenes I would say that only the mouth of Sauron and Aragorn revealing himself to sauron should have remained in the movie (theatrical version). Aragorn revealing himself to Sauron puts the seed of doubt in Saurons mind and kept his gaze more focused on the black gate than searching for the ring (he probably assumes that Aragorn actually has the ring, since I believe it either explains in the book or the appendices that Sauron's contempt for the free people of Middle Earth that anyone would consider actually destroying the ring). The mouth of Sauron scene is critical because it makes it more emotional in that Sauron wants them to believe that the spy has been captured and killed, but Gandalf uses this information against Sauron because of Frodo had truly been captured Sauron would have the ring already and they wouldn't even be having that conversation. It also makes the scene in the theatrical version make more sense when Aragorn turns to face his army and looks like he has been crying and says 'For Frodo' or something like that.
Gandalf and Saruman meeting doesn't really do much..Saruman's part in the main storyline is already over (the scouring of the shire is a great part of the book but absolutely unnecessary in the movie, the same way Tom Bombadils section is beautiful, but doesn't bring the plot forward or develop any of the main characters). Gandalf meeting the witch king at Minas Tirith is pure geek fodder but doesn't do much for the story as a whole. I just want Peter Jackson to do The Hobbit while he is still on the A-List. If King Kong bombs he might do it to regain his cache in Hollywood, or conversly if King Kong is a success they might throw so much damn money at him for the hobbit that he can't refuse!
You certainly don't need to stuff a 3ghz P4 inside a media center PC. I have a geforce 3 for the svideo out and dvd playback assist, a low end athlon xp and a 200gb HD inside an antec aria case and noise and heat are not issues. My biggest gripe are case manufacturers who continue to put LED's all over their 'media center' cases. When you are watching a movie in the dark, the LED's can be quite distracting.
By forcing manufacturers to lock out any commands on their remote control/dvd player/future technology while the 'advertising bit' of the digital broadcast is on. Could see this happening in the very near future. Sure there will be hacks, as there always are, but Jane and Joe Sixpack will not be hacking their systems and simply let it happen.
Dunno if you have kids or not, but if you do you will learn to love the DVD burner! Making videos is a major pain in the rear end (for me anyways, who since the first person shooter was created has no sense of patience.) Transferring video from my digicam to my pc then editing/converting to dvd is excruciatingly dull. Burning the dvd's with my NEC is the least troublesome part of the entire process, and the end result, watching my kid sit on the carpet and do jack $h1t for an hour is worth every second.
That kind of thinking is going to leave the United States (assuming you are an America) in the dust. The U.S. is a small fraction of the global population and when other nations like China and India grow a consumer culture larger than (y)ours, the question will be 'Does China need the US?' and it seems increasingly that the answer is no. (Yes I know your original post was about Microsoft specifically)
Slashdot Mirror
Sanmina-SCI (yes I work for them, not in sales though) has a very nice solution for cooling:
. html
http://www.ecobay.com/catalogs/enc_catalog/ecobay
Maybe some knowledgeable /.ers can explain why VR seems to have died/stillborn on the personal computer? If we can get 100+ fps in Doom3 at 1600x1200 and wireless networking and battery consumption have dramatically improved, what's the deal? Is it consumer apathy? Is there some other technological hurdle that needs to be overcome (LCD's seem to be getting pretty damn small and good, ie PSP)
This is a logical step for them. Their 19" and higher LCD's are great (I have the 1905FP and love it), and would definitely feel comfortable buying a TV from them if the quality was comparable.
I don't know if you remember the trailer for The Phantom Menace, but it had the Duel of the Fates song in the background and that trailer was amazing! After 20 years or whatever since Return of the Jedi, it made my knees week. That alone is proof that you can take a crappy two hour movie and turn it into an awesome 1 minute commercial.
I am not a fanatic about ST. TNG was my favourite by far, the original series was great for camp value and the occasional thought provoking episode.
DS9 and Voyager had great potential, but for me disappointed.
Even early TNG was pretty bad from a writing and acting point of view, but they got better after a couple of seasons. The actors are talented on this show, but they aren't given much to work with.
When this show was announced I was jazzed up, I thought it would be pretty low tech star trek. The problem is they have phasers, they have transporters, they have met the borg. It just seems that they didn't really take advantage of the 'prequelness' of the main story.
The episode where they met the borg ultimately did it in for me. I figured they had truly run out of ideas and I don't think I have watched a full episode since.
They need to fire the producers, fire most of the writing staff, and take a break for a year or two then come back fresh.
If you were an Apple shareholder at the time you would consider it a failure.
As a kid I remember heading out to airport in Toronto for the annual WoC, where we could see all the latest Amiga and C64 stuff. It was a huge event, and seemed more like a place for people who actually 'enjoyed' this stuff rather than just for people who are in the business.
I remember picking up my Amiga 500 HD and extra ram there, the thing was really ahead of it's time, I remember reluctantly purchasing my first Wintel box (386) and it was definitely a downgrade!
*sniff*
A sample size of one is ridiculous, I'm surprised a Harvard President would even mention it in a speech. And gender neutral upbringing by giving the girl toy trucks? I assume that the child was also not allowed to watch any television or read any books which do not practice gender neutrality. If all he wanted controversy, he sure got it.
Unfortunately, humans will increasingly have to deal with the conflicting realities of 'equal under the law' and 'not equal under biology'
Who says most non slaves get flat screens?
That install procedure for XP has many unnecessary steps and at least one is in the wrong place.
Instead of using this opportunity to bash Microsoft, we should realize that open source is susceptible to the same types of security issues that they are, but the open source community seems to have a model which is for the most part much better at dealing with them in a timely fashion.
His initial comment was correct...I doubt (m)any motherboards designed for a Pentium 1 133Mhz processor can handle a 500GB hard drive.
I for one like the fact that my 32" Sony weighs twice as much as me! Makes it much harder to steal.
http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/e n/lc/vaio//pdfs/Sony_VAIO-X505.pdf
1.8 kilos, amazingly thin, and a bucketload of features. Pretty expensive at the moment but it will get cheaper!
If RFID becomes as prevalent as everyone seems to think it will be...someone (I'm FAR too lazy to patent this so be my guest)...will invent and market a home RFID tester...maybe a dish or something you put your passport/wallet/credit card holder etc in/on it and it will blink green if it was unable to activate any rfid chips, or red if you are leaking...or maybe even something more sophisticated as a sensor in your front doorway so that it warns you when you leave that you are potentially leaking personal information.
No...the analog hole only applies to your eyes and ears (in the case of a movie)...if you are trying to record then you will need a recording device. If all recording devices manufactured (some time in the future) also contain DRM enabled hardware/software, you are once again screwed.
As media companies get larger and larger and fewer companies control an increasing proportion of the manufacturing, distribution and presentation of media (Sony is a VERY good example of this) they can pretty much close the so called analog hole to 99.9% of consumers.
Sorry I thought someone would have beaten me to this by now...
The above statement is 100% bang on...the purpose of television is to provide a forum for advterisers to hock their wares to as large an audience as possible. The purpose of television is not to be entertaining, it just happens to be that the best way to provide large audiences is to provide an entertaining show.
Because all studies are controversial it is a waste of time to put it in the title, particularly any study that attempts to predict the future.
This is not exactly true. Colleges and Universities are just as capable of churning out lemmings as High School, except with larger debt burdens and damaged livers. I was a double major in Comp Sci and Phys Ed and neither faculty really rewarded independent thought. Some of the courses I took in other departments (Sociology springs to mind, and Philosophy to a lesser extent) had professors which seemed to promote it, but the teaching assistants are the ones that mark your papers and they just do what they are told.
I doubt he cut them out of the movie without alot of soul searching. Of those 4 scenes I would say that only the mouth of Sauron and Aragorn revealing himself to sauron should have remained in the movie (theatrical version). Aragorn revealing himself to Sauron puts the seed of doubt in Saurons mind and kept his gaze more focused on the black gate than searching for the ring (he probably assumes that Aragorn actually has the ring, since I believe it either explains in the book or the appendices that Sauron's contempt for the free people of Middle Earth that anyone would consider actually destroying the ring).
The mouth of Sauron scene is critical because it makes it more emotional in that Sauron wants them to believe that the spy has been captured and killed, but Gandalf uses this information against Sauron because of Frodo had truly been captured Sauron would have the ring already and they wouldn't even be having that conversation. It also makes the scene in the theatrical version make more sense when Aragorn turns to face his army and looks like he has been crying and says 'For Frodo' or something like that.
Gandalf and Saruman meeting doesn't really do much..Saruman's part in the main storyline is already over (the scouring of the shire is a great part of the book but absolutely unnecessary in the movie, the same way Tom Bombadils section is beautiful, but doesn't bring the plot forward or develop any of the main characters).
Gandalf meeting the witch king at Minas Tirith is pure geek fodder but doesn't do much for the story as a whole.
I just want Peter Jackson to do The Hobbit while he is still on the A-List. If King Kong bombs he might do it to regain his cache in Hollywood, or conversly if King Kong is a success they might throw so much damn money at him for the hobbit that he can't refuse!
You certainly don't need to stuff a 3ghz P4 inside a media center PC. I have a geforce 3 for the svideo out and dvd playback assist, a low end athlon xp and a 200gb HD inside an antec aria case and noise and heat are not issues. My biggest gripe are case manufacturers who continue to put LED's all over their 'media center' cases. When you are watching a movie in the dark, the LED's can be quite distracting.
By forcing manufacturers to lock out any commands on their remote control/dvd player/future technology while the 'advertising bit' of the digital broadcast is on. Could see this happening in the very near future.
Sure there will be hacks, as there always are, but Jane and Joe Sixpack will not be hacking their systems and simply let it happen.
I expected at least one... :(
Dunno if you have kids or not, but if you do you will learn to love the DVD burner! Making videos is a major pain in the rear end (for me anyways, who since the first person shooter was created has no sense of patience.)
Transferring video from my digicam to my pc then editing/converting to dvd is excruciatingly dull. Burning the dvd's with my NEC is the least troublesome part of the entire process, and the end result, watching my kid sit on the carpet and do jack $h1t for an hour is worth every second.
That kind of thinking is going to leave the United States (assuming you are an America) in the dust. The U.S. is a small fraction of the global population and when other nations like China and India grow a consumer culture larger than (y)ours, the question will be 'Does China need the US?' and it seems increasingly that the answer is no.
(Yes I know your original post was about Microsoft specifically)