As the world becomes more and more connected and integrated, I find myself becoming more disconnected. Yes, I have my broadband connection and cell phone, but I can, and do, turn them off when I want to. The increased sense of urgency in the world of having to do everything by yesterday has only encouraged me to turn my electronics off. And its not like the world's going to end if you can't see the latest version of last nights sports scores, your friend can't call you a l00z3r on IM, or check the latest duplicate on/.; although maybe for some, it would.
As for spit, I really don't plan on getting VoIP anytime soon as I'm satisfied by my POTS landline. Do I have to pay taxes on it, yes; so what? We pay taxes on everything, including VoIP indirectly. You might not have taxes on VoIP, yet, but I'll bet there are taxes and surcharges on your Cable/DSL bill. The article itself does not have much content past the rhetorical comments regarding growth and registries. And the moment that I get a virus on my telephone is the moment I dig out an old beige mechanical AT&T phone. Seriously, how many features does your household phone need? Caller ID, sure; Call Waiting, nah, if its important, they'll call back; voicemail, get an answering machine and save $5/mo.; etc.
Take a deep breath people and realize that humans and our respected cultures have existed for thousands of years and by turning your electronic toys, at least for a few minutes, you might find peaceful relaxation or learn something that does not have power requirement.
But what do I know, it seems the Slashdot audience lives behind the glow rather than under the sun, so I may be preaching to the wrong crowd. --Amigori
I see alot of these posts about cell phones, down with convergence, and PS2/xbox as dvd players, and I agree with all of them. By now, my cell phone should have a perfect address book that I can sync via Bluetooth with my Powerbook, have a battery that has 20 hours of talk time and 2 weeks standby time, and always has a good signal. Instead, I have a phone that is as powerful as my last computer, but isn't nearly as useful. 2 hours max of talk time, 1 day of standby, games that suck, web browser that's never used, and its way easier to just call someone instead of texting them. Motorola, Nokia are you listening? Please please please make a phone with a great address book, long battery life, and the best reception and sound on the market; no mp3 player, no camera, no games.
As for consoles, I've seen alot of comparisons here regarding sub-$50 DVD players. For many of us, we bought the xbox/ps2 a while ago and the DVD player was like a bonus because DVD players started at $100. I still use my xbox as my dvd player, but when I buy an HDTV, I'll buy a better quality DVD player. I really don't want a convergence box under my tv that is my stereo, tivo, dvd-rw, game console. I can afford a $15 power strip in case I run out of plugs. Plus I can purchase components as I need them. $100 here, $200 there is alot easier to swallow than $1000 right at the start.
In this age of powerful computers, we still don't have a box that does everything because everyone is focused on how fast/new/super the hardware is and not on how to make their software better. Only to add more and more and more useless features (Office Suites, Quicken, etc.). More features is not always better. And I'm rambling...
Amigori
I'm sure I'm not alone with this thought, but I remember a time when you could sit down and play through a game in a few hours, and yet, it was fun enough that you wanted to play through it again and again. Most of those games were not very complex with stories that took 10+ hours to develop, didn't have characters you can relate (or not) to, and have so many side quests that by the time you got back to the main mission, you forgot what you were doing. Think Contra, Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, Sonic, and Mario Kart. These games were simple to play, fun, and had high replay value. I still play them today. I just don't have the time anymore to go off on some mega-hour quest to save the planet from doom. If I want a good story, I'll get a book from the library and save myself $50.
I think this formula would sell alot of games: Decent graphics/music, Simple concepts/control, High replay value. EA knows this and it shows in their sports series.
Amigori
This is one of the best system mods that I have ever seen. Congradulations! This was obviously a lot of work and an incredible attention. Absolutely amazing.
I'm am about to finish my BBA and I would also consider myself extremely intelligent, when I want to be. I also have a broad range of interests, found high school to be a bore, and have friends who believe I am a true genius. I used to love computers and they took a large portion of my time and I even did them professionally for a while after high school. However, I did not go down the road to a CS or computer-related degree for various personal reasons.
So here is my advice. Try not to enroll in a program that has all 4 years planned out to the t for you. There will be nothing fun in that schedule. Setup your first year or two as liberal as you like. Take some English classes, even if numbers are your game, take an art class and a creative writing course to help your creativity. Those classes will indirectly help your coding skills by showing you how to develop creative solutions to complex problems. If you're not going into science, chances are you will need a science or two plus lab, so take something you are fascinated with or something you know nothing about. Take a PE class to help stay in shape because that urban myth, "The Freshman Fifteen" is certainly true; plus it will help introduce you into people outside of your field of study. Take a class that will force into discussions with women, as we know, this is/. and we aren't known for our wonderful social skills. Doing so will help your social skills, if you let yourself, plus you never know who you might meet. A few friends of mine who are in engineering school rarely see women in their classes, but my nursing friends see women everyday.
I guess my best advice is that when you get to school, go meet people, join some clubs, and for the love of your sanity, DO NOT sit behind your computer all day, every day. Socialize! It will be worth it in the long-run.
I was always a big fan of the original Rayman. That was absolutely beautiful 2D platformer that was tough, but fun to play. I saw someone mention Jumping Flash already, another quirky, but fun game. Daytona USA launched with the Saturn was the best racing game until...Wipeout was incredible for the time and I'd love to see a sequel on the three platforms. With the newer graphics/CPU power, I'm sure it could be fantastic. I'm sure there were many more that took too much of my time when I was younger, but its too late to remember anymore.
As someone who worked several white-collar admin/professional jobs and currently working a blue-collar manufacturing job, I disagree with your logic. Just because you have a degree, it does not guarantee you anything other than spending alot of money on one piece of paper. It does not guarantee you your dream job, an oversized house with an oversized mortgage, two luxury cars, and whatever else you want to consider to be items bought by white-collar people. What if the bottle-capper can't afford higher education, decides that he does not want $50k in debt for the next 20 years, likes what he's doing, or isn't mentally capable of the stresses of higher education? Many of the people that I work with are quite happy with making $35k/yr working on the same production lines or driving the same forklift everyday. Nobody forces you into higher education, its merely strongly emphasized by our parents, media, and peers.
Firing/Laying-off an employee is no different in any sector. I can't say which sector it has a bigger impact on, but being from the Toledo/Detroit area, I've seen first hand what happens when plants here shut down. Right now, both the whole job market sucks, both blue- and white-collar. Its just something that we have to deal with and you can either sit at home playing UT2004/Evercrack/etc., or you can be proactive in finding new work. Yeah, it sucks to be that PhD who researched some obscure field with few job prospects and unwilling to relocate who has to take a job at Starbucks or Walmart because of the choices they've made, but I'm not going to feel sorry for him.
One thing that I have learned pursuing my BBA, is that higher education should broaden your horizons and to help you become more flexible. If you think you can get a technical degree in programming, work 3 years as a developer in a specific language, and expect to not learn anything new, then you will absolutely be replaced/outsourced/fired/layed-off/retired (take your pick). Think of where the IT industry was 10-, 5-years ago and just try to imagine where its going to be 5-10 years in the future. You must continually learn new things if you want to stay competitive. We do not live in a static world and you must adapt to the world as it changes. Even the manufacturing guys where I work must change because of the huge investment in new production equipment my company just installed.
As far as f'n a whole generation, that has already been accomplished by the education system and MTV, not by the lack of a.com style economic boom.
I was thinking the same thing. Enough with the MIDI already, its so 16-bit systems. Just hire a live band to record the music, then compress it to fit on the mini-dvd. Even with all the fancy graphics, I'm sure they can find 150MB-250MB on that disc to stuff in some real music. I've been a GC owner for a while, and one of the biggest drawbacks is the extensive use of MIDI. Fine, if you're a musician with no friends who play other instruments or a composer trying out something new before teaching someone to play it, MIDI is just fine. But this is 2004 professional video games! NOT 1994! If nothing else, buy an Apple and use GarageBand. Just please ditch the MIDI.
I miss my old C64. I can't imagine how many hours I played so many games on. California Games was always one of my favorites, even though it doesn't seem popular around here. My wish list on the other games would include:
Montezuma's Revenge, Impossible Mission (patched so you can finish it), Carmen Sandiego, Skate or Die, Hardball, Maniac Mansion, Alphabet Zoo, Rockford aka Boulderdash, & the hacked C64 version of Super Mario Brothers.
I'll definitely be buying one when they hit the streets. Ah nostalgia! What a feeling.
Amigori
With so many different types of media competing for my entertainment dollar, the music industry needs step up and realize they are not alone any longer. People want flexibility with their music because there's many more ways to play a song today than 10 or even 5 years ago. The day of the discman is nearly over. Hello iPod! If you can't provide me with the type and format of music that I desire, I will find it elsewhere. The iTunes Music Store is great and its where I've bought 95% of my music since it was launched last year. The only place that I use CDs anymore is in my car, and they're almost all custom mixes. That will change when I decide to get an FM modulator or the line-in jacks for my iPod.
The other factor bringing down my music purchases, other than higher prices and a lower paycheck, is lack of quality. Most of what I listen too, you would never find in Best Buy or FYE. You're too concerned with "golden money makers" than with providing us with interesting original music. I understand the business principles behind trying to make a profit, but when you minimize your risk, you potentially minimize your return. Think of all the CDs in the past 2 years that you (RIAA) have released? I can't really name any that I've liked the entire CD, except for Coldplay's A Rush of Blood To the Head. One. Oh well, you may learn someday, and someday may be too late.
I did apologize for the subscription/cable rant at the end of the comment, but you probably couldn't waste another 5 seconds to finish reading my comment.
As far as any bias is concerned, I give every system a fair chance at my hard earned dollars. And since returning to school, I have far fewer dollars to spend on entertainment than when I was in the working world. I've owned several PSXs, including the original with all the A/V jacks and the newest PSOne and logged many hours of enjoyable game time. PS2 games just have not attracted my attention enough to qualify me spending cash on the system. I have an Xbox for Halo and a Gamecube for several games. I may buy a PS3 or PSP yet, its way too early to tell.
As for the rant, it might have been slightly off the main topic, but I feel is relevant because of the push towards online gaming with the next generation of systems, whether from Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. And with that push comes online and subscription fees which are a good way for game companies to increase revenue, but are too much for my wallet. I bought Xbox Live last year, but I'm not going to renew when it expires. I used to play Asheron's Call, but decided to drop it when I felt that I wasn't getting my gaming dollar out of it any longer. Plus it feels good to not stare at a tv/monitor for a while and do something else like read or cook or, gasp!, leave the house and do something physical. Maybe I'm just realizing there's more to life than video games. A shocking thought coming from a gamer who has owned and/or played every system you can think of since 1985.
Control, Control, Control! That seems to be the message from most media companies lately. Sony wants to control the whole chain, from production to playback, right now, the only thing Sony doesn't have is an ISP. Who knows, maybe they'll buy Earthlink or ATT Worldnet. Guess what Sony? This complete control scheme didn't work for Beta or MiniDisc or MemoryStick or MagicGate or whatever else you can think of. Why do you seem to think that its going to work with this new generation of products? Because you're pitching it to Hollywood as a "secure" solution? One that has all of the known pitfalls worked out of it? Somehow I don't think its going to work. Why? Because I'm not going to buy your crappy overpriced box. I don't like your PS2 so why should I buy a PSP or PS3? So I can have yet another monthly service bill for a service that I don't need or want? I don't think so. and I don't want to spend $300 on a system that's going to be stripped down and probably act like the games in the hotels that are at least $5/hr to play.
If it ever gets to the point that I can't purchase a system and a game and outright play them at no cost beyond the initial costs, then I'm going back to books and media that do not have recurring costs and subscription fees. Otherwise, I already have enough monthly bills to deal with, telephone, insurance, rent, utilities, etc., I certainly don't need one dealing with entertainment. The only reason I have a cable bill is for my broadband connection. My cable tv is the most basic package that I can get because I don't want a $120/mo cable bill. What are those theories that competition brings prices down? I certainly haven't seen it with the 500 channels competing against one another, target markets and demographics be damned, my cable bill has only gone up, so it was time to get rid of it. Sorry for the rant....
Amigori
I submitted this article yesterday afternoon, but it was rejected. But here's what I thought yesterday:
Growing up with a keyboard or controller in my hand since my first computer at age 3 in 1983, I am definitely part of this "Missing Men" demographic. Its not so much that I am anti-television, but when there are so many other things to keep me entertained, including, gasp!, physical activities like cycling and rollerblading, I don't have much use for a television except as a monitor for my game systems and DVD. I would rather do something interactive and not passive. The only time I seem to watch TV is when CNBC is on in the background while I'm working on the computer during the day, or if my girlfriend is watching something.
The other two things that have gotten me to turn off the tv are rising cable costs and lack of decent programming, which the article does not address. I'm sorry, but I got tired of paying $120/mo for my cable tv & modem, a few years ago. And today, about the only thing that I want to watch on TV is SportsCenter, CNBC, and the occasional cartoon. There's not very much on that I want to watch. Certainly not reality shows, tired/rubber-stamped sitcoms, or "terrifying" news programs. I'm not sure what I want to watch, but the broadcast networks don't have any primetime programming that I want to watch, and I don't feel like paying for 400 channels only to watch 4.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one with these opinions, I just wish that all the major news articles would say the programming sucks, but that would be a conflict of interest with their parent company. Oh well, I'll just get back at 'em by turning my set off.
Amigori
Back in the day...
on
Real's Reality
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Back in the day, say G2 and earlier, Real was pretty decent. The radio stations were nice and I listened quite often, until they started making you register and/or pay to listen to the stations. The had a fair amount of features, no spyware/adware/etc., it wasn't microsoft, and worked with linux. It played the clips that I wanted it to play and didn't try to be everything. But then, either a later rev of G2 or whatever was next, sucked, and sucked hard. It tried to be my CD/MP3/Video/everything utility. Toss in some friendly spyware and adware, substatially decrease the general performance, and voila! One POS software that wasn't coming anywhere near my computer. I'm glad that I have a few archived versions of RealPlayer5 so that when I need Real for something, which is very very rarely, I don't have to use a shitty version.
Just for a reference for what I use now:
Win: MP3-Winamp, iTunes soon; CD-CDPlayer or WMP; iradio-WMP; Video-QT or WMP
Mac: Audio-iTunes; Video-QT; ocassionally WMP
Some might say that I gave in to the corporate machine; no, I'm simply using the best product for my needs and in WinXP, WMP works very well for most stuff; except for MP3s which I use Winamp 2.x or iTunes. And on Mac, you must give Apple credit for building some good software because iLife '04 rocks. As for linux, I don't use it as a desktop anymore because i can pretty much do it on OSX. Linux: Server yes, Desktop no.
Amigori
I definitely agree with this. I still play Tetris on my GB Color pretty often. Gameplay should take a higher priority to graphics, but too often, especially on PS2 and xbox, the game looks gorgeous, but have little gameplay and/or poor controls.
Nintendo has always emphasized gameplay and I have owned every one of their systems over the years, including the Virtual Boy. They have original games with innovative gameplay, and not just sequel/prequel readymade template games. And the 1st party sequels are some of the best games in the industry. They usually only carry over the characters and maybe a bit of story.
Anyways, I'm sure the marketplace will decide who will win this upcoming war.
As a former Airman who was a Systems Administrator, I definitely saw this first hand. Granted I got out 3 years ago, but that's definitely where it was headed. We were replacing rock-solid *nix boxes with buggy NT4 servers because "they ran windows." It certainly made some aspects of my job much more PITA. I'm sure you can imagine the wonderful experience of upgrading base-wide email servers to a central MS Exchange server. The one nice side to all the equipment "upgrading" is that before I left, I had a stack of Sun SparcStations, a few spare racks, some RAID arrays and a two high speed switiches, and some time on my hands. A few late nights, and voila! The best server on base thanks to Linux and clustering software. I even put OpenBSD on another one to act as a firewall. My commanders were impressed, but it would never go on the live network because the OSes weren't "certified." We also had 18 new Sun boxes sitting there ready to go with a custom USAF application loaded that we never used because a new "faster, better, cheaper" solution, that was slower, crashed all the time, & feature-lacking, was coming for the the new NT4 servers. Oh well...typical gov't spending...
Amigori
hrbrmstr: The config that I bought is perfect for my needs. The bigger models have a little more power, but I wanted the smaller size. As for when the current version will be updated, I cannot say, but I would expect sometime in the next 3 months. The Powerbooks recently have had a little longer life cycle than perhaps is necessary or normal.
As far as software goes, Office v.X runs better on my PB than Office XP on my universities new 2.4Ghz Dells. I suppose most people wouldn't notice the difference, but I've been using Office since its Win3.1 days and I notice the little things. For music software, I pretty much only use iTunes right now, but Garageband looks sweet and I'm going to be buying a new guitar and some new M-Audio gear soon, so I'll know more in the future.
For Safari, I should point out that I have Jaguar 10.2.8 and Safari 1.0.1, I don't notice any slow downs with SSL sites, but I do notice heavy slowdowns on flash intensive sites, like IGN (who has become worse over the years instead of better). Most of the time for that website, I use Mozilla or OmniWeb 5 Beta 2 and it loads much much faster. I suspect that the Flash in Safari is much faster since the release of Panther. I decided that I would just wait until 10.4 before I upgrade because 10.3 came out a few weeks after I bought my PB and Apple didn't give me a free upgrade (I think I missed the cutoff by a week or so), and 10.2.8 works well enough.
Hope this helps. At this point, I'd say just wait until the new rev. is released. It shouldn't be too much longer. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me.
I see alot of posts here saying that the iBook and Powerbooks are underpowered. I guess it all depends on what you use it for. Last fall, I bought the new 12" PB 1Ghz/512Mb/AirportExtreme/Bluetooth/DVD-R, and there wasn't anything close from Dell or Gateway in terms of size, performance, and features. Anyways...
The people yelling "Underpowered!" are probably game freaks with lots of disposable income who completely rebuild their PC every 6-9 months. I'm not sorry that school is taking all of my money and I can only afford to upgrade every 2-3 years. Besides, 30 fps gains when your already above 200 fps really isn't necessary. The new UT2004 Demo runs just fine on my PB. I'm sure if you tried the PC version on a similarly spec'd PC (1Ghz AMD/512Mb/32Mb nVidia 5200FX) it wouldn't run near as fast. And I'm sure those playing on a Centrino laptop will find that UT2004 will definitely drain your battery in less than 4 hours. Probably closer to 1-1.5 hours and a much lower framerate due to the integrated Intel Graphics on many of those laptops.
People, its all about selecting the best product for your needs. Apple's laptops primary target market is NOT gamers, overclockers, or anyone whose on a Ghz rulz powertrip. Its much closer to people who just want their computer to work extremely well and are simple to use and not have to f* around with drivers for 2 hours just to get the damned thing to boot right.
I'm not even sure I should bother with this argument because everytime we get an thread on Apple hardware, I see the same "Underpowered!" and "Too expensive!" posts. And the people who make these arguments just don't understand what Apple, as a business, is trying to do. Make a profit, and build a computer that's easy to use.
...why offshoring has become so popular. Americans don't want these jobs, effectively the janitors of the computer world. And honestly, I'd rather spend my nights improving my spanish with the mexicans cleaning Walmart or [insert large chain retailer] than spending 8 hours under the watchful eye of the telecomm system. At least mopping floors has some physical exercise and your not stuck in cubicle world and less stress too.
The high turnover rate of employment is cause of concern for me. However, it won't end until people realize that the job is horrible and shouldn't go after it because of the money. $8/hr to flip burgers at McDonalds or $9/hr to get screamed at, both by management and the caller, and have to worry how to get "customers" off the phone as quickly as possible, I'd take burger-flippin' any day. I may come home smelling like french fries, but a quick shower will fix that and that extra dollar just isn't worth it to me.
HOLLYWOOD, CA--In other news today, several of the Hollywood studios have released financial figures dealing with the new, all digital projection systems. After the initial cost of the projection hardware and the VPN servers is paid for, say 12 months with todays ticket prices, and the fact that they no longer have to buy film from Eastman Kodak to make distribution copies, their overhead costs drop significantly. What does this mean to us, the consumer?
More price gouging!
Because of the "higher quality" of the "films," ticket prices will rise approximately 25% every six months. Why you might ask? "Because we can and I need to help drive up real estate prices here on the West coast by purchasing my 4th summer house," said one executive. "Its all about profits, not quality or affordability," said another. A third had this to say, "I personally believe the high prices are worth every penny. The consumer sees better quality movies. This should increase demand by 10% a year." What he failed to mention is that all of his studios' movies this year were prequels, sequels, remakes, or new adaptations; not one new original movie.
Sarcasm aside, once the new digital systems are in place, even with maintenance costs, total overhead costs should drop. I'm sure that the studios will make sure that they don't pass on that benefit to consumers. Instead they will pad their own pockets and those stars on the $20m+/movie list. They could spend the savings on hiring some new writers who have some original ideas. Just a thought...
Amigori
I didn't want Xbox when it first came out. I still don't like the PS2 (sequel this, prequel that). When the current generation of systems was released, I bought a GameCube about 6 months after its release. SSBM, Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine are all great games that I wanted to play. Xbox and PS2 didn't have anything I really wanted to play, except GTA3 and Halo. Eventually, I got a job at Sears and I needed a DVD player, so with all my discounts and coupons, I got an Xbox for about $120. Yes, PS2 enthusiasts, I did look at your system, and you're going to say, "Well, you still have to buy the DVD remote." So?? I have to buy a memory card with your system, so what's your point. Either way, another $25 was leaving my pocket and I like the hard drive in the xbox because it does more than your piddly memory card. Anyways...
Now I've had my xbox a little more than a year, I bought xbox live last summer and to my disappointment, my university broadband connection is too slow to play Xbox live with, so much for high "technology" fees. I've been waiting for a new game to turn my head and be amazing to play on xbox, but I'm still waiting. Halo? Finished it, awesome game, good multiplayer, but I'm getting bored with it. GTA3 double pack, finished it. So instead of buying a new game, I dug out my Dreamcast and my vast selection of titles with high replay values, Samba de Amigo (with 2 sets of maracas), Virtual Tennis, NFL 2k2, Soul Caliber, MSR, Tony Hawk 2, Crazy Taxi 1&2, and JSR.
Right now, my Gamecube gets most of the action with NFS: Underground (yes, its available on xbox, but its identical and no special features), Super Monkey Ball 1&2 (can you say addicting), Mario Kart DD, and Mario Sunshine (some of those classic style levels are pretty tough).
In summary, here's my xbox pluses:
Excellent DVD Player
Nice S Controller
Better graphics than PS2 (and some GC titles)
Halo
Xbox Live (It works on my cable modem at home)
Hard Drive (Custom Soundtracks rock. Why don't we see this feature more often, it can't be that hard to implement.)
Microsoft loses money on the console, or at least used to.
minuses:
Lack of a new Killer Game
Halo 2 delays
Size (the thing is huge)
Xbox Live (doesn't work at school)
Thanks for the links. About an hour after I posted my comment, I saw that the mac version was released the same day. On my 12"/1Ghz/512Mb PB, it runs pretty well, and it runs great when you turn some of the details off.
ok...just a silly comment, but could you imagine playing quake3 on an 81GHz machine! Even UT2004 would run at a decent framerate...and do it all in software mode no less.
Just a thought...no need to explain all the technical mumbo jumbo on why it won't work.
Since I have a Powerbook as my newest computer, and my PC is vastly out of date and unable to play this game, I'm stuck watching the trailer, for the time being. Also, I'm a big fan of Halo, so this might sound a little biased, but when you watch the trailer from the website, there seem to be many, (too many?) similarities with Halo, especially with the vehicles. I guess a tank is a tank and the basic design doesn't vary too much, but I swear they licensed the Warthog from Bungie because it looks nearly identical. The flying vehicles also look very similar to those used in Halo. And the snowy canyon used for the vehicle scene in the trailer, looks just like "Assault on the Control Room" & "Two Betrayals". I suspect the vehicle modes is one of the new types of battle. Otherwise, it looks like good-ol', fast-paced mayhem that'll give your computer, your broadband, and your trigger finger a workout.
Amigori
It sounds to me like an easy way for NASA to contract/outsource. Hobbiest come up with solutions for the problems, then NASA buys the IP from them for the set prize amount. Depending on your point of view, this is good or bad. Good in that it spurs innovation in the private sector, gives NASA some nice PR, gives someone a sizeable check for their work, and lowers some costs at NASA. Bad in that the same schmuck that sold his IP probably sold his rights to patent and market his/her design. I realize that this is/. and it seems that all patents are bad, but when used properly, they can be more beneficial than destructive. Software patents, IMO, are an entirely different story for some other thread.
Amigori
Slashdot Mirror
As for spit, I really don't plan on getting VoIP anytime soon as I'm satisfied by my POTS landline. Do I have to pay taxes on it, yes; so what? We pay taxes on everything, including VoIP indirectly. You might not have taxes on VoIP, yet, but I'll bet there are taxes and surcharges on your Cable/DSL bill. The article itself does not have much content past the rhetorical comments regarding growth and registries. And the moment that I get a virus on my telephone is the moment I dig out an old beige mechanical AT&T phone. Seriously, how many features does your household phone need? Caller ID, sure; Call Waiting, nah, if its important, they'll call back; voicemail, get an answering machine and save $5/mo.; etc.
Take a deep breath people and realize that humans and our respected cultures have existed for thousands of years and by turning your electronic toys, at least for a few minutes, you might find peaceful relaxation or learn something that does not have power requirement.
But what do I know, it seems the Slashdot audience lives behind the glow rather than under the sun, so I may be preaching to the wrong crowd. --Amigori
As for consoles, I've seen alot of comparisons here regarding sub-$50 DVD players. For many of us, we bought the xbox/ps2 a while ago and the DVD player was like a bonus because DVD players started at $100. I still use my xbox as my dvd player, but when I buy an HDTV, I'll buy a better quality DVD player. I really don't want a convergence box under my tv that is my stereo, tivo, dvd-rw, game console. I can afford a $15 power strip in case I run out of plugs. Plus I can purchase components as I need them. $100 here, $200 there is alot easier to swallow than $1000 right at the start.
In this age of powerful computers, we still don't have a box that does everything because everyone is focused on how fast/new/super the hardware is and not on how to make their software better. Only to add more and more and more useless features (Office Suites, Quicken, etc.). More features is not always better. And I'm rambling...
Amigori
I think this formula would sell alot of games: Decent graphics/music, Simple concepts/control, High replay value. EA knows this and it shows in their sports series.
Amigori
This is one of the best system mods that I have ever seen. Congradulations! This was obviously a lot of work and an incredible attention. Absolutely amazing.
So here is my advice. Try not to enroll in a program that has all 4 years planned out to the t for you. There will be nothing fun in that schedule. Setup your first year or two as liberal as you like. Take some English classes, even if numbers are your game, take an art class and a creative writing course to help your creativity. Those classes will indirectly help your coding skills by showing you how to develop creative solutions to complex problems. If you're not going into science, chances are you will need a science or two plus lab, so take something you are fascinated with or something you know nothing about. Take a PE class to help stay in shape because that urban myth, "The Freshman Fifteen" is certainly true; plus it will help introduce you into people outside of your field of study. Take a class that will force into discussions with women, as we know, this is /. and we aren't known for our wonderful social skills. Doing so will help your social skills, if you let yourself, plus you never know who you might meet. A few friends of mine who are in engineering school rarely see women in their classes, but my nursing friends see women everyday.
I guess my best advice is that when you get to school, go meet people, join some clubs, and for the love of your sanity, DO NOT sit behind your computer all day, every day. Socialize! It will be worth it in the long-run.
Amigori
I was always a big fan of the original Rayman. That was absolutely beautiful 2D platformer that was tough, but fun to play. I saw someone mention Jumping Flash already, another quirky, but fun game. Daytona USA launched with the Saturn was the best racing game until...Wipeout was incredible for the time and I'd love to see a sequel on the three platforms. With the newer graphics/CPU power, I'm sure it could be fantastic. I'm sure there were many more that took too much of my time when I was younger, but its too late to remember anymore.
Firing/Laying-off an employee is no different in any sector. I can't say which sector it has a bigger impact on, but being from the Toledo/Detroit area, I've seen first hand what happens when plants here shut down. Right now, both the whole job market sucks, both blue- and white-collar. Its just something that we have to deal with and you can either sit at home playing UT2004/Evercrack/etc., or you can be proactive in finding new work. Yeah, it sucks to be that PhD who researched some obscure field with few job prospects and unwilling to relocate who has to take a job at Starbucks or Walmart because of the choices they've made, but I'm not going to feel sorry for him.
One thing that I have learned pursuing my BBA, is that higher education should broaden your horizons and to help you become more flexible. If you think you can get a technical degree in programming, work 3 years as a developer in a specific language, and expect to not learn anything new, then you will absolutely be replaced/outsourced/fired/layed-off/retired (take your pick). Think of where the IT industry was 10-, 5-years ago and just try to imagine where its going to be 5-10 years in the future. You must continually learn new things if you want to stay competitive. We do not live in a static world and you must adapt to the world as it changes. Even the manufacturing guys where I work must change because of the huge investment in new production equipment my company just installed.
As far as f'n a whole generation, that has already been accomplished by the education system and MTV, not by the lack of a .com style economic boom.
I was thinking the same thing. Enough with the MIDI already, its so 16-bit systems. Just hire a live band to record the music, then compress it to fit on the mini-dvd. Even with all the fancy graphics, I'm sure they can find 150MB-250MB on that disc to stuff in some real music. I've been a GC owner for a while, and one of the biggest drawbacks is the extensive use of MIDI. Fine, if you're a musician with no friends who play other instruments or a composer trying out something new before teaching someone to play it, MIDI is just fine. But this is 2004 professional video games! NOT 1994! If nothing else, buy an Apple and use GarageBand. Just please ditch the MIDI.
Amigori
The other factor bringing down my music purchases, other than higher prices and a lower paycheck, is lack of quality. Most of what I listen too, you would never find in Best Buy or FYE. You're too concerned with "golden money makers" than with providing us with interesting original music. I understand the business principles behind trying to make a profit, but when you minimize your risk, you potentially minimize your return. Think of all the CDs in the past 2 years that you (RIAA) have released? I can't really name any that I've liked the entire CD, except for Coldplay's A Rush of Blood To the Head. One. Oh well, you may learn someday, and someday may be too late.
Amigori
As far as any bias is concerned, I give every system a fair chance at my hard earned dollars. And since returning to school, I have far fewer dollars to spend on entertainment than when I was in the working world. I've owned several PSXs, including the original with all the A/V jacks and the newest PSOne and logged many hours of enjoyable game time. PS2 games just have not attracted my attention enough to qualify me spending cash on the system. I have an Xbox for Halo and a Gamecube for several games. I may buy a PS3 or PSP yet, its way too early to tell.
As for the rant, it might have been slightly off the main topic, but I feel is relevant because of the push towards online gaming with the next generation of systems, whether from Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. And with that push comes online and subscription fees which are a good way for game companies to increase revenue, but are too much for my wallet. I bought Xbox Live last year, but I'm not going to renew when it expires. I used to play Asheron's Call, but decided to drop it when I felt that I wasn't getting my gaming dollar out of it any longer. Plus it feels good to not stare at a tv/monitor for a while and do something else like read or cook or, gasp!, leave the house and do something physical. Maybe I'm just realizing there's more to life than video games. A shocking thought coming from a gamer who has owned and/or played every system you can think of since 1985.
If it ever gets to the point that I can't purchase a system and a game and outright play them at no cost beyond the initial costs, then I'm going back to books and media that do not have recurring costs and subscription fees. Otherwise, I already have enough monthly bills to deal with, telephone, insurance, rent, utilities, etc., I certainly don't need one dealing with entertainment. The only reason I have a cable bill is for my broadband connection. My cable tv is the most basic package that I can get because I don't want a $120/mo cable bill. What are those theories that competition brings prices down? I certainly haven't seen it with the 500 channels competing against one another, target markets and demographics be damned, my cable bill has only gone up, so it was time to get rid of it. Sorry for the rant....
Amigori
Growing up with a keyboard or controller in my hand since my first computer at age 3 in 1983, I am definitely part of this "Missing Men" demographic. Its not so much that I am anti-television, but when there are so many other things to keep me entertained, including, gasp!, physical activities like cycling and rollerblading, I don't have much use for a television except as a monitor for my game systems and DVD. I would rather do something interactive and not passive. The only time I seem to watch TV is when CNBC is on in the background while I'm working on the computer during the day, or if my girlfriend is watching something.
The other two things that have gotten me to turn off the tv are rising cable costs and lack of decent programming, which the article does not address. I'm sorry, but I got tired of paying $120/mo for my cable tv & modem, a few years ago. And today, about the only thing that I want to watch on TV is SportsCenter, CNBC, and the occasional cartoon. There's not very much on that I want to watch. Certainly not reality shows, tired/rubber-stamped sitcoms, or "terrifying" news programs. I'm not sure what I want to watch, but the broadcast networks don't have any primetime programming that I want to watch, and I don't feel like paying for 400 channels only to watch 4.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one with these opinions, I just wish that all the major news articles would say the programming sucks, but that would be a conflict of interest with their parent company. Oh well, I'll just get back at 'em by turning my set off.
Amigori
Just for a reference for what I use now:
Some might say that I gave in to the corporate machine; no, I'm simply using the best product for my needs and in WinXP, WMP works very well for most stuff; except for MP3s which I use Winamp 2.x or iTunes. And on Mac, you must give Apple credit for building some good software because iLife '04 rocks. As for linux, I don't use it as a desktop anymore because i can pretty much do it on OSX. Linux: Server yes, Desktop no.Amigori
Nintendo has always emphasized gameplay and I have owned every one of their systems over the years, including the Virtual Boy. They have original games with innovative gameplay, and not just sequel/prequel readymade template games. And the 1st party sequels are some of the best games in the industry. They usually only carry over the characters and maybe a bit of story.
Anyways, I'm sure the marketplace will decide who will win this upcoming war.
Amigori
As a former Airman who was a Systems Administrator, I definitely saw this first hand. Granted I got out 3 years ago, but that's definitely where it was headed. We were replacing rock-solid *nix boxes with buggy NT4 servers because "they ran windows." It certainly made some aspects of my job much more PITA. I'm sure you can imagine the wonderful experience of upgrading base-wide email servers to a central MS Exchange server. The one nice side to all the equipment "upgrading" is that before I left, I had a stack of Sun SparcStations, a few spare racks, some RAID arrays and a two high speed switiches, and some time on my hands. A few late nights, and voila! The best server on base thanks to Linux and clustering software. I even put OpenBSD on another one to act as a firewall. My commanders were impressed, but it would never go on the live network because the OSes weren't "certified." We also had 18 new Sun boxes sitting there ready to go with a custom USAF application loaded that we never used because a new "faster, better, cheaper" solution, that was slower, crashed all the time, & feature-lacking, was coming for the the new NT4 servers. Oh well...typical gov't spending...
Amigori
As far as software goes, Office v.X runs better on my PB than Office XP on my universities new 2.4Ghz Dells. I suppose most people wouldn't notice the difference, but I've been using Office since its Win3.1 days and I notice the little things. For music software, I pretty much only use iTunes right now, but Garageband looks sweet and I'm going to be buying a new guitar and some new M-Audio gear soon, so I'll know more in the future.
For Safari, I should point out that I have Jaguar 10.2.8 and Safari 1.0.1, I don't notice any slow downs with SSL sites, but I do notice heavy slowdowns on flash intensive sites, like IGN (who has become worse over the years instead of better). Most of the time for that website, I use Mozilla or OmniWeb 5 Beta 2 and it loads much much faster. I suspect that the Flash in Safari is much faster since the release of Panther. I decided that I would just wait until 10.4 before I upgrade because 10.3 came out a few weeks after I bought my PB and Apple didn't give me a free upgrade (I think I missed the cutoff by a week or so), and 10.2.8 works well enough.
Hope this helps. At this point, I'd say just wait until the new rev. is released. It shouldn't be too much longer. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me.
Amigori
The people yelling "Underpowered!" are probably game freaks with lots of disposable income who completely rebuild their PC every 6-9 months. I'm not sorry that school is taking all of my money and I can only afford to upgrade every 2-3 years. Besides, 30 fps gains when your already above 200 fps really isn't necessary. The new UT2004 Demo runs just fine on my PB. I'm sure if you tried the PC version on a similarly spec'd PC (1Ghz AMD/512Mb/32Mb nVidia 5200FX) it wouldn't run near as fast. And I'm sure those playing on a Centrino laptop will find that UT2004 will definitely drain your battery in less than 4 hours. Probably closer to 1-1.5 hours and a much lower framerate due to the integrated Intel Graphics on many of those laptops.
People, its all about selecting the best product for your needs. Apple's laptops primary target market is NOT gamers, overclockers, or anyone whose on a Ghz rulz powertrip. Its much closer to people who just want their computer to work extremely well and are simple to use and not have to f* around with drivers for 2 hours just to get the damned thing to boot right.
I'm not even sure I should bother with this argument because everytime we get an thread on Apple hardware, I see the same "Underpowered!" and "Too expensive!" posts. And the people who make these arguments just don't understand what Apple, as a business, is trying to do. Make a profit, and build a computer that's easy to use.
Just a few thoughts...
Amigori
The high turnover rate of employment is cause of concern for me. However, it won't end until people realize that the job is horrible and shouldn't go after it because of the money. $8/hr to flip burgers at McDonalds or $9/hr to get screamed at, both by management and the caller, and have to worry how to get "customers" off the phone as quickly as possible, I'd take burger-flippin' any day. I may come home smelling like french fries, but a quick shower will fix that and that extra dollar just isn't worth it to me.
Amigori
Sarcasm aside, once the new digital systems are in place, even with maintenance costs, total overhead costs should drop. I'm sure that the studios will make sure that they don't pass on that benefit to consumers. Instead they will pad their own pockets and those stars on the $20m+/movie list. They could spend the savings on hiring some new writers who have some original ideas. Just a thought...
Amigori
Now I've had my xbox a little more than a year, I bought xbox live last summer and to my disappointment, my university broadband connection is too slow to play Xbox live with, so much for high "technology" fees. I've been waiting for a new game to turn my head and be amazing to play on xbox, but I'm still waiting. Halo? Finished it, awesome game, good multiplayer, but I'm getting bored with it. GTA3 double pack, finished it. So instead of buying a new game, I dug out my Dreamcast and my vast selection of titles with high replay values, Samba de Amigo (with 2 sets of maracas), Virtual Tennis, NFL 2k2, Soul Caliber, MSR, Tony Hawk 2, Crazy Taxi 1&2, and JSR. Right now, my Gamecube gets most of the action with NFS: Underground (yes, its available on xbox, but its identical and no special features), Super Monkey Ball 1&2 (can you say addicting), Mario Kart DD, and Mario Sunshine (some of those classic style levels are pretty tough).
In summary, here's my xbox pluses:
AmigoriThanks for the links. About an hour after I posted my comment, I saw that the mac version was released the same day. On my 12"/1Ghz/512Mb PB, it runs pretty well, and it runs great when you turn some of the details off.
Just a thought...no need to explain all the technical mumbo jumbo on why it won't work.
Since I have a Powerbook as my newest computer, and my PC is vastly out of date and unable to play this game, I'm stuck watching the trailer, for the time being. Also, I'm a big fan of Halo, so this might sound a little biased, but when you watch the trailer from the website, there seem to be many, (too many?) similarities with Halo, especially with the vehicles. I guess a tank is a tank and the basic design doesn't vary too much, but I swear they licensed the Warthog from Bungie because it looks nearly identical. The flying vehicles also look very similar to those used in Halo. And the snowy canyon used for the vehicle scene in the trailer, looks just like "Assault on the Control Room" & "Two Betrayals". I suspect the vehicle modes is one of the new types of battle. Otherwise, it looks like good-ol', fast-paced mayhem that'll give your computer, your broadband, and your trigger finger a workout.
Amigori
It sounds to me like an easy way for NASA to contract/outsource. Hobbiest come up with solutions for the problems, then NASA buys the IP from them for the set prize amount. Depending on your point of view, this is good or bad. Good in that it spurs innovation in the private sector, gives NASA some nice PR, gives someone a sizeable check for their work, and lowers some costs at NASA. Bad in that the same schmuck that sold his IP probably sold his rights to patent and market his/her design. I realize that this is /. and it seems that all patents are bad, but when used properly, they can be more beneficial than destructive. Software patents, IMO, are an entirely different story for some other thread.
Amigori