I never understood how you guys buy those really big engines (2.5 liter +) and drive so slow. Why buy big engines then? Here 60 km (35-40mph) in town is normal. America it is 25-30mph.
Almost all through streets in American cities have a posted speed limit of 35 MPH, however major commuter corridors frequently allow speeds of 40-50 MPH. Residential roads with no speed limit posted vary by state, but usually the speed limit is 30 MPH.
On country roads 100km is normal (60mph) here. There its more like 45mph. Here highways are at least 120km or more (dependin on country, 80mph+). In America 55mph is common East Coast. 65mph others. Tops is 75mph in big empty states.
The speed limit on most country roads across America is 55 MPH. Our highways are throttled to 60 MPH inside the city limits of metro areas, but usually 70-75 MPH is the norm. In Montana, it's 90 MPH on most of the highways.
In other words, speed limits are about the same here as in Europe. The only difference is that I can drive a car with actual leg-room here.
Big engines are not about speed. If all you want is speed, a "crotch rocket" type motorcycle will serve you best.
I can't possibly explain to a European why I ***love*** my land yacht (a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria LX) but I wouldn't trade it for TWO Mini Coopers (even though I'd be able to fit them both into my Crown Vic's parking space.)
In that case, any MP3 maker would be wise to contact SanDisk to license it from them. Instant compatibility with all "iPod" accessories... Why wouldn't you want that for your device?
Nine bucks for old movies that can be found in the bargain bins for $5 - $10 already is not really going to turn a lot of heads. When they start pushing out current releases with this model, then we'll see if the studios are serious about doing something like this.
To me, it doesn't really look like a serious business strategy, so much as a pre-emptive strike by the studios against eventually being held over a barrel by Apple Computer the way the record labels are right now. They want the infrastructure for something like this in place early in the game, so they don't give up their power to make the rules.
Writing software for a Mac and/or Linux is a very different proposition from fabricating hardware for a niche music player.
As expensive as software development is, it doesn't really compare with tooling a factory for making hardware that works with a specific MP3 player, then programming the firmware for said device.
The iPod has been using pretty much the same dock connector for a couple years now, so if you make a gadget for the iPod dock connector there's damn near 50 Million potential customers out there.
Creative has clawed it's way to be the biggest of "the rest of them" with the Zen, at least in terms of this year's sales, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody came out with a statistic that said there were more iRivers out there than Zens. If you are going to go after the "not an iPod" market, your best bet is to make generic gadgets which plug into the headphone jack of any player, and don't rely on the manufacturer-specific features on one niche player.
The iPod is far from perfect. It needs more RAM, and still lacks gapless playback (a major buzz-kill, IMHO), but between its market dominance and it's dock connector with standardized pin-outs, it's no surprise that it's what most manufacturers are building accessories for.
If I'm the CEO of "SuperCoolOggAndMP3Players, inc.", I'd be talking to Apple about licensing the iPod dock for my player. It probably would not be a cheap deal, but it would give me a leg up over Creative and all the other also-rans out there, including the upcoming player from Microsoft.
Re:Comments from people who actually create Creati
on
Beginning GIMP
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· Score: 1
Oh, and I just googled it. The car company is not "KIA", it's "Kia."
Military term for killed in action: "KIA", pronounced "Kay - I - Ay" Car company: "Kia", pronounced "Kee - ah"
Open-source Photoshop alternative: "GIMP", pronounced "gimp" Offensive term for a handicapped person: "gimp", pronounced "gimp" Dude in a full-body leather suit on a leash: "gimp", pronounced "gimp"
See why it's a problem now?
Re:Comments from people who actually create Creati
on
Beginning GIMP
·
· Score: 1
I think you have to have the kind of personality where you really don't give a fsck about anyone but yourself to rise to these kinds of position and do badly, but don't mind at all telling people you have things going very well and deserve a raise.
NEWSFLASH: The reason the radio is free is because they don't ask the artist's permission before they broadcast their songs.
Actually, that's not even a little bit true.
1. Radio is not always free anymore. 2. Radio stations always secure permission for everything they broadcast.
Re:Comments from people who actually create Creati
on
Beginning GIMP
·
· Score: 1
Just because my truck was built by KIA doesn't stop the fact it hasn't been killed in action yet in it's 11 years of existence
Okay, I'm trying to figure out what that point could possibly have to do with the issue we are discussing: That "GIMP" as a noun is a vulgar slang for "a crippled person" or "an S&M slave", and therefore a horrible name for a software program which people want taken seriously.
Is there something wrong with the name "KIA" which I'm not kinky enough to be aware of?
If something seems outrageous, we might look for some corroboration
Outrageous... like somebody claiming to be frying an egg on their laptop? There wasn't even a need to "look for some corroboration." Just read the goddamn article.
I'm not saying it's right, just that you really shouldn't be surprised. It's always been this way.
And I'm not saying it hasn't always been this way, nor that I'm surprised.
Obviously. The Slashdot editors have proven, once again, that they suck at what they do. Actually, worse than that, they don't actually DO what they do!
For fuck's sake, the "article" is shorter than most emo kids' blog entries, and says "This is a joke" in bold, oversized text at the end!
VA Linux should fire every last/. editor, and hire a whole new staff. They don't need to be geeks, or even slightly tech-aware. They just need to be literate, and it would be a huge step up.
Re:Comments from people who actually create Creati
on
Beginning GIMP
·
· Score: 1
Obvious, but not helpful. "GNU Image Manipulation Program" might *briefly* fly in a corporate environment, but if asked by a graphic designer what a good alternative to Photoshop is, it still comes around to the fact that this app is saddled by a HORRIBLE name, which is an acronym for a string of words which most people are not likely to remember. If you say "GNU Image Manipulation Program", most people will think they've never heard of that, even if it's already loaded on their drives.
"Photoshop" is a terrific example of a program name. Easy to remember, describes what it's for, and isn't an offensive slang reference for an S&M slave and/or crippled person.
Whoever came up with "GIMP" probably thought it was hilariously funny and that somebody else would have come up with "the real" name for it sometime before it became even slightly popular. That person was wrong on both counts.
Re:Comments from people who actually create Creati
on
Beginning GIMP
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Also, it's impossible to recommend a program called "GIMP" to anybody without sounding like a complete tool.
Honestly... Isn't it time somebody came up with a name for this app which can be spoken out loud in polite society???
Really? That's pretty bad news for all these space-tourism schemes. No way in hell I'm taking a vacation where there's a one-in-fifty chance of not ever coming back. It would be safer to take a vacation in Iraq.
Except for the fact that seeing a great wide receiver dash across the field at Olympic-sprinter speeds to catch a ball a split-second before getting drilled in the ribs and hanging on to it is exciting. To see a video game character shoot another video game character... not so much.
As for watching people play cards: There's a reason why those shows are all on tiny cable stations, instead of prime time broadcasts on Monday nights.
Your link mostly proved how fantastically boring it is to watch people play video games. That was even more dull than I would have guessed.
As for the quick shot of what appeared to be maybe 70 people attending the event... It was obviously a convention crowd. Go to any sci-fi or anime convention in Japan, Korea, or the US, and you can get a crowd that big to gather for just about anything. There was a far bigger crowd than that at this year's Anime Expo for the sushi-cooking demonstration.
Since the dawn of civilization, sports have been watched by more people than were playing. The Mayans had huge audiences for their ball games, as did the ancient Greeks with their Olympics.
Start up a basketball game in a park, and a few people might sit down on the nearby benches and watch. Hold a little-leage baseball game, and parents will sit in bleachers with video cameras.
So with the rich tradition of people finding enjoyment in watching sports, it was natural that broadcast media would pick it up. First on the radio, then on TV.
The only tradition of people watching other people play computer games comes from people in arcades waiting for their turn to play.
Nobody in the history of mankind has ever said, "hey, I've got an idea. Let's go out and watch people play computer games. That would be the perfect way to spend an evening!"
And if you put EVE Online play-by-play on the radio, nobody would listen.
People who think that broadcasting a game of NBA Jam could ever be as popular as an actual NBA game do not have a very firm hold on reality.
This is not just watching "some people play EVE." These are quick, 5-on-5, tournament style battles between alliances
So... It's "watching 10 people play EVE."
Wow. That sounds way better. It would be exactly like being the 11th person to show up at a 10-computer LAN party, only you can't talk to the players while you watch them, none of them know you, and the only fridge to raid is your own.
The old NES light gun didn't really have much problem with changing distance; neither did the Sega Genesis light gun, and that used a set top sensor like this one will.
SHHH!
Nobody is supposed to realize that the Wii-mote is just a light gun bolted on to a wireless joystick. Nintendo INNOVATES!!! Everything about the Wii is radical and new. It is not just a slightly-improved GameCube with a light gun, it's a "Revolution." Freedom is slavery. Big Brother is watching.
I'd rather have a device that will work 10 years from now when those batteries have gone tits-up and can't be recharged anymore.
Plus, with standard AA/AAA size batteries, I'd get to take advantage of any new battery technology that may appear. Can't do that with a proprietary pack.
Thanks for the FUD.
With any proprietary battery, you change it every two years or so (depending on the size, how many charge cycles it goes through, etc), which means there's no reason the device won't work in 10 years. You would be on your 5th replacement battery, but that's a hell of a lot fewer battery changes than you would put up with if you used AA cylinders.
Also, new battery tech DOES reach proprietary replacements. For example, the $30 replacement battery I dropped into my 3rd-gen iPod lasts considerably longer than the one it shipped with a few years ago.
So neither of your points are valid, but thanks for playing.
What relevant gains does firewire have that justifies its higher cost over USB 2.0 for the average consumer? Firewire is superior to USB 2.0 but unless you are using all external devices and doing a whole lot of digital video editing or other activity that needs large amounts of bandwidth then the extra cost versus the performance gained is not worth it.
You just answered your own question. Firewire is superior and better for handling lots of external devices and digital video editing.
You might fire back by saying that an "average consumer" doesn't do digital A/V editing, but an "average Mac consumer" most certainly does. That's why iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband comes with every Mac.
But that's exactly what will happen if Sony "wins."
There is no "wins." The market has supported 2-3 consoles for decades now, and will continue to in the future. When Microsoft's "Argo" comes out (assuming it gains any ground at all), the DS and PSP will not simply go away.
They are toys. Play the ones you like, ignore the ones you don't. Being a fanboy for one heartless corporation over another is asinine.
Slashdot Mirror
Any keypress? No. Require that they enter 4 8 15 16 23 42... every 108 minutes. :)
I never understood how you guys buy those really big engines (2.5 liter +) and drive so slow. Why buy big engines then? Here 60 km (35-40mph) in town is normal. America it is 25-30mph.
Almost all through streets in American cities have a posted speed limit of 35 MPH, however major commuter corridors frequently allow speeds of 40-50 MPH. Residential roads with no speed limit posted vary by state, but usually the speed limit is 30 MPH.
On country roads 100km is normal (60mph) here. There its more like 45mph. Here highways are at least 120km or more (dependin on country, 80mph+). In America 55mph is common East Coast. 65mph others. Tops is 75mph in big empty states.
The speed limit on most country roads across America is 55 MPH. Our highways are throttled to 60 MPH inside the city limits of metro areas, but usually 70-75 MPH is the norm. In Montana, it's 90 MPH on most of the highways.
In other words, speed limits are about the same here as in Europe. The only difference is that I can drive a car with actual leg-room here.
Big engines are not about speed. If all you want is speed, a "crotch rocket" type motorcycle will serve you best.
I can't possibly explain to a European why I ***love*** my land yacht (a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria LX) but I wouldn't trade it for TWO Mini Coopers (even though I'd be able to fit them both into my Crown Vic's parking space.)
In that case, any MP3 maker would be wise to contact SanDisk to license it from them. Instant compatibility with all "iPod" accessories... Why wouldn't you want that for your device?
Nine bucks for old movies that can be found in the bargain bins for $5 - $10 already is not really going to turn a lot of heads. When they start pushing out current releases with this model, then we'll see if the studios are serious about doing something like this.
To me, it doesn't really look like a serious business strategy, so much as a pre-emptive strike by the studios against eventually being held over a barrel by Apple Computer the way the record labels are right now. They want the infrastructure for something like this in place early in the game, so they don't give up their power to make the rules.
Writing software for a Mac and/or Linux is a very different proposition from fabricating hardware for a niche music player.
As expensive as software development is, it doesn't really compare with tooling a factory for making hardware that works with a specific MP3 player, then programming the firmware for said device.
The iPod has been using pretty much the same dock connector for a couple years now, so if you make a gadget for the iPod dock connector there's damn near 50 Million potential customers out there.
Creative has clawed it's way to be the biggest of "the rest of them" with the Zen, at least in terms of this year's sales, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody came out with a statistic that said there were more iRivers out there than Zens. If you are going to go after the "not an iPod" market, your best bet is to make generic gadgets which plug into the headphone jack of any player, and don't rely on the manufacturer-specific features on one niche player.
The iPod is far from perfect. It needs more RAM, and still lacks gapless playback (a major buzz-kill, IMHO), but between its market dominance and it's dock connector with standardized pin-outs, it's no surprise that it's what most manufacturers are building accessories for.
If I'm the CEO of "SuperCoolOggAndMP3Players, inc.", I'd be talking to Apple about licensing the iPod dock for my player. It probably would not be a cheap deal, but it would give me a leg up over Creative and all the other also-rans out there, including the upcoming player from Microsoft.
Oh, and I just googled it. The car company is not "KIA", it's "Kia."
Military term for killed in action: "KIA", pronounced "Kay - I - Ay"
Car company: "Kia", pronounced "Kee - ah"
Open-source Photoshop alternative: "GIMP", pronounced "gimp"
Offensive term for a handicapped person: "gimp", pronounced "gimp"
Dude in a full-body leather suit on a leash: "gimp", pronounced "gimp"
See why it's a problem now?
In other words, no.
I think you have to have the kind of personality where you really don't give a fsck about anyone but yourself to rise to these kinds of position and do badly, but don't mind at all telling people you have things going very well and deserve a raise.
Step 1. Leave conscience at the door.
Done, and done!
Now, what's step 2?
NEWSFLASH: The reason the radio is free is because they don't ask the artist's permission before they broadcast their songs.
Actually, that's not even a little bit true.
1. Radio is not always free anymore.
2. Radio stations always secure permission for everything they broadcast.
Just because my truck was built by KIA doesn't stop the fact it hasn't been killed in action yet in it's 11 years of existence
Okay, I'm trying to figure out what that point could possibly have to do with the issue we are discussing: That "GIMP" as a noun is a vulgar slang for "a crippled person" or "an S&M slave", and therefore a horrible name for a software program which people want taken seriously.
Is there something wrong with the name "KIA" which I'm not kinky enough to be aware of?
If something seems outrageous, we might look for some corroboration
Outrageous... like somebody claiming to be frying an egg on their laptop? There wasn't even a need to "look for some corroboration." Just read the goddamn article.
I'm not saying it's right, just that you really shouldn't be surprised. It's always been this way.
And I'm not saying it hasn't always been this way, nor that I'm surprised.
Obviously. The Slashdot editors have proven, once again, that they suck at what they do. Actually, worse than that, they don't actually DO what they do!
/. editor, and hire a whole new staff. They don't need to be geeks, or even slightly tech-aware. They just need to be literate, and it would be a huge step up.
For fuck's sake, the "article" is shorter than most emo kids' blog entries, and says "This is a joke" in bold, oversized text at the end!
VA Linux should fire every last
Obvious, but not helpful. "GNU Image Manipulation Program" might *briefly* fly in a corporate environment, but if asked by a graphic designer what a good alternative to Photoshop is, it still comes around to the fact that this app is saddled by a HORRIBLE name, which is an acronym for a string of words which most people are not likely to remember. If you say "GNU Image Manipulation Program", most people will think they've never heard of that, even if it's already loaded on their drives.
"Photoshop" is a terrific example of a program name. Easy to remember, describes what it's for, and isn't an offensive slang reference for an S&M slave and/or crippled person.
Whoever came up with "GIMP" probably thought it was hilariously funny and that somebody else would have come up with "the real" name for it sometime before it became even slightly popular. That person was wrong on both counts.
Also, it's impossible to recommend a program called "GIMP" to anybody without sounding like a complete tool.
Honestly... Isn't it time somebody came up with a name for this app which can be spoken out loud in polite society???
"A 2% failure rate is to be expected"
Really? That's pretty bad news for all these space-tourism schemes. No way in hell I'm taking a vacation where there's a one-in-fifty chance of not ever coming back. It would be safer to take a vacation in Iraq.
Except for the fact that seeing a great wide receiver dash across the field at Olympic-sprinter speeds to catch a ball a split-second before getting drilled in the ribs and hanging on to it is exciting. To see a video game character shoot another video game character... not so much.
As for watching people play cards: There's a reason why those shows are all on tiny cable stations, instead of prime time broadcasts on Monday nights.
Your link mostly proved how fantastically boring it is to watch people play video games. That was even more dull than I would have guessed.
As for the quick shot of what appeared to be maybe 70 people attending the event... It was obviously a convention crowd. Go to any sci-fi or anime convention in Japan, Korea, or the US, and you can get a crowd that big to gather for just about anything. There was a far bigger crowd than that at this year's Anime Expo for the sushi-cooking demonstration.
Since the dawn of civilization, sports have been watched by more people than were playing. The Mayans had huge audiences for their ball games, as did the ancient Greeks with their Olympics.
Start up a basketball game in a park, and a few people might sit down on the nearby benches and watch. Hold a little-leage baseball game, and parents will sit in bleachers with video cameras.
So with the rich tradition of people finding enjoyment in watching sports, it was natural that broadcast media would pick it up. First on the radio, then on TV.
The only tradition of people watching other people play computer games comes from people in arcades waiting for their turn to play.
Nobody in the history of mankind has ever said, "hey, I've got an idea. Let's go out and watch people play computer games. That would be the perfect way to spend an evening!"
And if you put EVE Online play-by-play on the radio, nobody would listen.
People who think that broadcasting a game of NBA Jam could ever be as popular as an actual NBA game do not have a very firm hold on reality.
This is not just watching "some people play EVE." These are quick, 5-on-5, tournament style battles between alliances
So... It's "watching 10 people play EVE."
Wow. That sounds way better. It would be exactly like being the 11th person to show up at a 10-computer LAN party, only you can't talk to the players while you watch them, none of them know you, and the only fridge to raid is your own.
The old NES light gun didn't really have much problem with changing distance; neither did the Sega Genesis light gun, and that used a set top sensor like this one will.
SHHH!
Nobody is supposed to realize that the Wii-mote is just a light gun bolted on to a wireless joystick. Nintendo INNOVATES!!! Everything about the Wii is radical and new. It is not just a slightly-improved GameCube with a light gun, it's a "Revolution." Freedom is slavery. Big Brother is watching.
I'd rather have a device that will work 10 years from now when those batteries have gone tits-up and can't be recharged anymore.
Plus, with standard AA/AAA size batteries, I'd get to take advantage of any new battery technology that may appear. Can't do that with a proprietary pack.
Thanks for the FUD.
With any proprietary battery, you change it every two years or so (depending on the size, how many charge cycles it goes through, etc), which means there's no reason the device won't work in 10 years. You would be on your 5th replacement battery, but that's a hell of a lot fewer battery changes than you would put up with if you used AA cylinders.
Also, new battery tech DOES reach proprietary replacements. For example, the $30 replacement battery I dropped into my 3rd-gen iPod lasts considerably longer than the one it shipped with a few years ago.
So neither of your points are valid, but thanks for playing.
What relevant gains does firewire have that justifies its higher cost over USB 2.0 for the average consumer? Firewire is superior to USB 2.0 but unless you are using all external devices and doing a whole lot of digital video editing or other activity that needs large amounts of bandwidth then the extra cost versus the performance gained is not worth it.
You just answered your own question. Firewire is superior and better for handling lots of external devices and digital video editing.
You might fire back by saying that an "average consumer" doesn't do digital A/V editing, but an "average Mac consumer" most certainly does. That's why iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband comes with every Mac.
My fastest desktop at home, a P4 2.6 GHz w/ 1GB RAM, was built 3 years ago and still works just fine. Why upgrade?
Damn. My low-end laptop has nearly double the CPU speed (a 2 GHz Intel Dual-core), and twice the RAM of your speed-demon PC... YET YOU LACK NOTHING!
Pretty much sums up why the industry is hurting.
But that's exactly what will happen if Sony "wins."
There is no "wins." The market has supported 2-3 consoles for decades now, and will continue to in the future. When Microsoft's "Argo" comes out (assuming it gains any ground at all), the DS and PSP will not simply go away.
They are toys. Play the ones you like, ignore the ones you don't. Being a fanboy for one heartless corporation over another is asinine.
Pointing and moving the controller are entirely new control techniques for the player, using them as gameplay elements is innovation.
As opposed to pointing and moving with a thumbstick?
The Wiimote is interesting from an engineering point of view, but from a gaming point of view it's the most over-hyped "innovation" ever.
(Bracing now to get bitch-slapped in equal measure by fanboys and astroturfers.)