UI: It's grand. I dunno, some people claim they can't use it one handed, but that doesn't make sense to me. On the iPod, the distance your thumb has to stretch to reach all the buttons is much greater than for the Karma (which is barely at all), and it sits very well in my right hand (which is quite small). The wheel is a very nice way to navigate long lists, as you can just flick it at the appropriate speed to go any distance at all (the cursor "accelerates"). Weight? Err... the iPod 20 is 5.6 oz, while the Karma 20 is 5.5 oz... It certainly feels fine, and is much smaller than it looks in most pictures. Check riovolution.com for a good set of pics.
The menu system looks very pretty.:) While some of the UI is not immediately obvious, it becomes real intuitive real fast.
Sound: Many people say it's good. I really wouldn't know better, but the numbers (SNR, power, all that jazz) suggest it. Not quite powerful enough for my Senn 580s, but certainly has the bass (assuming you mess with the 5-band para eq appropriately). A number of improvements have been made -- the Karma supports --nogap mp3s, and now supports playing vorbis gaplessly (something the iRiver doesn't), as well as gapless FLAC and, well, as much as WMA supports it, any way.
Features: I don't think this has been touted enough: the Karma's "on-the-go" playlist support ROCKS. You can append an item (song/album/artist/etc.) to and insert an item into the currently playing list of tracks. You can remove tracks (or albums, etc.) from the list. You can reorder the list (a track at a time, any way). You can save the list as a playlist (and name it) for permanent storage. The RioDJ feature is not quite to the level of "smartlists" in iPod, but the devs have said that all that's missing is the UI -- the backend code is all there.
Configurability: It's not a PC or anything, but compared to other DAPs I've seen it's quite configurable. I believe IGN has a menu breakout?
Service: Well, the unofficial service is great. The developers visit a number of boards (empeg, rioworld, riovolution) and actually listen to ideas and take suggestions (they added one of mine!) when they're not troubleshooting, etc. This is all, of course, unofficial, but it's still really cool.
Cons: Until, well, the firmware just released yesterday, there were problems with crashing for a number of people. The plastic case isn't "sealed" like the iPod. When building up a playlist on the player, you have to go back through the menu each time after you add an item (be it a track or an entire album, artist, genre, etc.). No real case or remote. Well, pretty much *insert feature request here*.
Mr. Winstein said that the equipment cost about $10,000, and the music, which was bought through a company that provides music on hard drives for the radio industry, for about $25,000.
Yes, really! Well, no. Not proud of it. Look, I was, like, 10, and my parents got it! My brother and I once sent a greeting card featuring an animated beer mug to my dad for his birthday! He doesn't drink, but that was the best they had.
Any way, yeah, poor CompuServe. Seeing how AOL pwns CompuServe, and it still runs as a budget dialup ISP, I guess this means goodbye CompuServe.
THX has nothing to do with creativity; no certification process can. It has to do with technical production quality. Lucas has very high standards in this area.
Do a little searching. His e-mail addy gives away most of it, and there's a search engine right on the wayne.org front page. The first hit is http://hal.physics.wayne.edu/, and it's understandable that they want that page redone.
Look at the Sokoban levels in Nethack 3.4 and up -- they're always the same, simply because writing a generalized puzzle generator for such a thing would be very difficult.
Maybe so, but it's been done, at least on a smaller scale.
The Video Game Ombudsman does what this article did on a regular basis, with more structure, in the form of a (we)blog. Plus, Kyle has heard of the word "ombudsman" before, so that gives him a little more cred.
(Personally, episodic games would make me as happy as a million rats dying, but opposite-style. That might have to do with how repetitive, and filler-filled I think most games are, or it might just be that a short attention span was the reason I liked ICO so much.;)
It's sad that the questionable origins of this game overshadows the fact that this is another attempt at episodic gaming. Episodic games are one of those holy grails for small-scale developers, by cutting down on up front costs, and ensuring that revenue lasts longer than a few weeks. In another sense, we've still been looking for something to make online gaming stick -- maybe providing new content on a regular basis is the way?
Seeing how this is a more "mainstream" title than previous attempts, I will be interested to see if this works out, or if it goes the way of Majestic instead.
Heh, I envision a future where automated ESA/RIAA bots will send out e-mails to alleged infringers with "X-Copyright-Infringement" tags, and mailservers at the ISP will detect those tags and automatically close the account of recipients of such e-mails.:P
Slashdot Mirror
My vimrc is littered with all sorts of small (and probably un-vimish [viccan?]) hacks. Here are three:
" Tab mappings: :exec tabpagenr() % tabpagenr('$') . "tabm" :exec (tabpagenr() == 1 ? "" : tabpagenr() - 2) . "tabm"
map <Tab> gt
map <S-Tab> gT
map <silent> <Esc><Tab>
map <silent> <Esc><S-Tab>
" Undo close tab:
let s:last_closed = []
augroup UndoClose
au!
au BufUnload * call add(s:last_closed, expand("<afile>"))
augroup END
command! UndoClose exec (tabpagenr()-1) . "tabe " . remove(s:last_closed, -1)
" Source current selection as vimscript:
map gS "sy:@s<CR>
And I'm quite happy with it. Where to start?
:) While some of the UI is not immediately obvious, it becomes real intuitive real fast.
UI: It's grand. I dunno, some people claim they can't use it one handed, but that doesn't make sense to me. On the iPod, the distance your thumb has to stretch to reach all the buttons is much greater than for the Karma (which is barely at all), and it sits very well in my right hand (which is quite small). The wheel is a very nice way to navigate long lists, as you can just flick it at the appropriate speed to go any distance at all (the cursor "accelerates"). Weight? Err... the iPod 20 is 5.6 oz, while the Karma 20 is 5.5 oz... It certainly feels fine, and is much smaller than it looks in most pictures. Check riovolution.com for a good set of pics.
The menu system looks very pretty.
Sound: Many people say it's good. I really wouldn't know better, but the numbers (SNR, power, all that jazz) suggest it. Not quite powerful enough for my Senn 580s, but certainly has the bass (assuming you mess with the 5-band para eq appropriately). A number of improvements have been made -- the Karma supports --nogap mp3s, and now supports playing vorbis gaplessly (something the iRiver doesn't), as well as gapless FLAC and, well, as much as WMA supports it, any way.
Features: I don't think this has been touted enough: the Karma's "on-the-go" playlist support ROCKS. You can append an item (song/album/artist/etc.) to and insert an item into the currently playing list of tracks. You can remove tracks (or albums, etc.) from the list. You can reorder the list (a track at a time, any way). You can save the list as a playlist (and name it) for permanent storage. The RioDJ feature is not quite to the level of "smartlists" in iPod, but the devs have said that all that's missing is the UI -- the backend code is all there.
Configurability: It's not a PC or anything, but compared to other DAPs I've seen it's quite configurable. I believe IGN has a menu breakout?
Service: Well, the unofficial service is great. The developers visit a number of boards (empeg, rioworld, riovolution) and actually listen to ideas and take suggestions (they added one of mine!) when they're not troubleshooting, etc. This is all, of course, unofficial, but it's still really cool.
Cons: Until, well, the firmware just released yesterday, there were problems with crashing for a number of people. The plastic case isn't "sealed" like the iPod. When building up a playlist on the player, you have to go back through the menu each time after you add an item (be it a track or an entire album, artist, genre, etc.). No real case or remote. Well, pretty much *insert feature request here*.
Mr. Winstein said that the equipment cost about $10,000, and the music, which was bought through a company that provides music on hard drives for the radio industry, for about $25,000.
Nice job, NY Times.
Yeah, but you've got to admit it's pretty fucking cool.
Yes, really! Well, no. Not proud of it. Look, I was, like, 10, and my parents got it! My brother and I once sent a greeting card featuring an animated beer mug to my dad for his birthday! He doesn't drink, but that was the best they had.
Any way, yeah, poor CompuServe. Seeing how AOL pwns CompuServe, and it still runs as a budget dialup ISP, I guess this means goodbye CompuServe.
Oops. RCA, too. (Not to whore; just being completionist...)
Just in time to compete with the new Rio, iRiver, and Philips hard drive players.
Get him a nice ultra-expensive chair and sit in it when he's OOO.
Until you look at their games.. :P
Do a little searching. His e-mail addy gives away most of it, and there's a search engine right on the wayne.org front page. The first hit is http://hal.physics.wayne.edu/, and it's understandable that they want that page redone.
September 12th to this list.
"This bill will pass faster than a consumer hanging up on a telemarker at dinner time."
:D)
Do they have to call us consumers? Can they not refer to us as people, or at least constituents? *sigh*
(if unsure, mod "Funny"
Another thing due to popular demand:
:)
Old design
New design
They changed it from modem to LAN.
On IGN.
Maybe so, but it's been done, at least on a smaller scale.
The Grim Fandango trailer, no questions. What a real trailer should be.
Do yourself a favor and subscribe to Edge magazine. It's a British affair, but they'll ship to the US.
The Video Game Ombudsman does what this article did on a regular basis, with more structure, in the form of a (we)blog. Plus, Kyle has heard of the word "ombudsman" before, so that gives him a little more cred.
Websites like GameCritics, Joystick101, and GameGirlAdvance have gotten notable mentions from industry and academic heavyweights, such as the venerable Henry Jenkins.
I encourage smarter game/gamedev/gamebiz/gameculture/gameacademia journalism, but to say this is new and unique is an insult to those that have come before.
*insert Grim Fandango plug here* :P
This is a clever trick by the phone companies to try and sell text messaging as something that's actually *useful*.
Also, Tim Schafer likes episodic gaming.
;)
(Personally, episodic games would make me as happy as a million rats dying, but opposite-style. That might have to do with how repetitive, and filler-filled I think most games are, or it might just be that a short attention span was the reason I liked ICO so much.
It's sad that the questionable origins of this game overshadows the fact that this is another attempt at episodic gaming. Episodic games are one of those holy grails for small-scale developers, by cutting down on up front costs, and ensuring that revenue lasts longer than a few weeks. In another sense, we've still been looking for something to make online gaming stick -- maybe providing new content on a regular basis is the way?
Seeing how this is a more "mainstream" title than previous attempts, I will be interested to see if this works out, or if it goes the way of Majestic instead.
That algorithm is property of SCO. Expect a call from our lawyers.
Heh, I envision a future where automated ESA/RIAA bots will send out e-mails to alleged infringers with "X-Copyright-Infringement" tags, and mailservers at the ISP will detect those tags and automatically close the account of recipients of such e-mails. :P
Bets are the bot is *only* C&Ding on files over 100MB.