Everyone's slating Creative for this, but I'm waiting until they actually try to get money out of anyone for this. A lot of companies apply for patents purely to stop other people applying for one and potentially suing them.
The use of DRM per se is perfectly reasonable in this context(at least until we create my socialist utopia), but the choice of the specific DRM technology isn't.
Oh and btw, anyone who claims that java is good because you can run it on every OS has never written more than a few lines... any real java program falls into the "if this OS do this" problem
I've been working on Enterprise Java applications for about 6 years now, and apart from a bit of old JNI code which we used to talk to a Windows app (long since replaced with a Web Service), I can't think of a single line of platform specific Java code in our apps. For most of the, we develop on Windows, and run on Unix (mostly HP/UX) - with no rewrite, or even recompile, necessary.
As I mentioned, each has part of the market to themselves (Nintendo with youngsters and Sony with the Media player angle), but there's a big overlap in the general hand-held games market.
I know that there's a lot of people out there who are in the market for one or other of these. Do you honestly believe that a senior VP in Sony doesn't? Harrison clearly knows what he's doing, and by trying to dismiss the DS as nothing more than a platform for Pokemon he's obviously trying to taint its image in that area.
Put it another way: if you had $400, you could buy 400 bags of chips or 400 cans of soda.
That's a pretty poor analogy. I can't imagine many people wonder whether they should buy a can of soda or a bag of chips. If you are hungry, you have the chips. If you are thirsty, you have the soda. If you are both, you buy both.
On the other hand, I fancy having a funky new handheld gaming device. I was probably going to get a DS until I saw Pro Evolution Soccer was coming out for the PSP, so I'm buying one of those instead.
The target audiences are not 100% the same (I suspect Nintendo, as ever, is looking more towards the younger market and with Nintendogs is probably aiming at girls, whereas Sony is looking to target the PSP as more of an all round portable entertainment device for teens and 20-somethings), but there is still a pretty big group of people that could easily have decided to buy either of them, but won't bother buying both.
For a far better analogy - I work in the credit card industry. Credit cards are a significantly different product to personal loans, but I can absolutely assure you that our marketing department will be actively targetting people who are typical loan customers and trying to convince them that a credit card is a better option.
It's not pleasant at all. I had it about 3 months ago (at which point my mum decided to mention that I'd never been vaccinated against it). For the first week, I couldn't lie down properly as my throat was so swollen that it hurt when I put my head on the pillow, but that wasn't too bad. Second week, however, it spread and I had an entire week feeling like someone had given me a good kick between the legs. I would strongly advise you to get a vaccine ASAP.
Offshoring in itself is a good thing for the global economy. However, when cheaper wages are achieved by moving to countries with little or no workers rights/health and safety etc, then it's not.
Also, at the moment there is usually free movement of jobs (to the lowest wage, least regulated countries), but not free movement of workers (to the higher wage countries with better working conditions), so there is a complete imbalance in the system.
Yes, but by that token why did we need new-fangled words like television (or your l33t-speak abreviation 'TV':) )? There was nothing particularly new about TV apart from the delivery mechanism. TV is basically nothing more than long distance plays and town criers.
Language moves on, and what sounds like trendy new words now will seem perfectly natural in a few years time.
Personally, I've got somewhere in the region of 2,000 "legal, bought-and-paid-for" CDs. I've currently ripped just about 40GBs worth of MP3s from them, and when I get round to completing the process, I will comfortably have over the 60GB available on my Zen (and I haven't even started on my wife's CD collection).
The problem is that you don't usually want the windows to always be on top - if I tab to another app, I expect that to be on top, but if I then go back to Gimp I'd expect to have to tab to a single app, which contains all of the windows in the same position as when I left them.
Does your phone not have any form of volume control on it? Alternatively, you could always wear headphones. Personally, I've got pretty good at ignoring phone calls (along with emails and any other form of technological interruption) when I'm busy. That includes at home - if I don't want to talk, I don't answer.
It's a lot easier than politely getting rid of the person sitting on the end of your desk who won't take the hint that you don't want to talk to them right now.
The problem is that this is not going to just be used against rioters. It will be used to disperse any large crowd that the authorities don't like (and being 'non-lethal', they'll claim that they were being humane.
I've more than once been tear gassed or soaked with water cannons when involved in peaceful protests (at one of them, a group of us were doing nothing more threatening than sitting on a wall under a bridge in Prague after the demonstration had finished when the tear gas and batton charge arrived).
It means that the level of uranium 235 (compared to U234/U236) is reduced to below the levels found in nature. It is around 60% as radiocative as natural uranium, and once inside the body has exactly the same effects as natural uranium (mostly lung/kidney damage). Not as dangerous as enriched uranium it's true, but still not particularly nice stuff.
Nowadays companies expect employees to be available from 7.30am to 6.30pm,
Really? And people actually do it? I don't think I've worked longer than 40 hrs/week (usually I stick with my contracted 37.5) in the past 5 years, except around something like go-live weekends, and that's pretty much the way everyone works around our office.
The only time I've ever worked significantly over my contracted hours was when I used to get well paid overtime.
Why is clicking on a picture of an apple to select the menu required to shut down the computer any more intuitive to a beginner than clicking on Start? Don't get me wrong - I love the Mac, and suspect that it is probably easier for a beginner than Windows, but the apple/Start button is not one of the reasons for that.
I do wonder about some people's parents, though. It took me one demonstration to my mum - click on the Start button to begin doing anything, including shutting the computer down - she got it straight away (trying to explain when to click and let go, and when to click-and hold, or when to use the right button, was a bit trickier, but that's a different story).
Back in the day, the IRA used to use recognised codewords when giving warnings. Never seen any mention of anything similar with Al-Qaeda.
Sometimes (particularly in places like Israel/Palestine and Iraq), there's several organisation that initally claim to have been the ones behind an attack, and as far as I can tell, it's often verified through details that appear in the real claim that have not actually been reported.
The difference is that pizza shops don't typically have to deal with antisocial teenagers actively trying to get e-coli into their ovens.
It's not natural phenomena that M$ are dealing with, it's deliberate wanton vandalism. I'm no great lover of Microsoft (and agree that they have some responsibility), but it always amazes me that whenever this kind of topic comes up, the blame seems to be aimed almost exclusively at them and rarely at the people that actually create the worms/virii (or the society that has led them to behave in this way).
That's almost certainly true in most countries - I suspect (and the last election prety much backs it up) that most people aren't happy with Labour in power in the UK.
Much as I agree with your general sentiment, I do have to point out that the US (or at least Alaska) was only around 85 KM from the USSR across the Bering Strait. Europe is not the only way that they could have got there.
I wouldn't bother with the extra for an SLR initially. These days, low(ish) end digital cameras are, in my view, good enough for almost anyone. I use my bog standard digital compact for almost all photos I take these days, and there's only the very rare occasion where I think I could have taken a better photo with an SLR (I'm even more convinced of this when I see photos that people have taken with their digital SLRs).
For some people, for some photos, they are probably worth it. But for what the average person, and certainly the average beginner, a compact at 1/2 (or less) the cost would be far more suitable.
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Everyone's slating Creative for this, but I'm waiting until they actually try to get money out of anyone for this. A lot of companies apply for patents purely to stop other people applying for one and potentially suing them.
The use of DRM per se is perfectly reasonable in this context(at least until we create my socialist utopia), but the choice of the specific DRM technology isn't.
I think you mean You're.
I'm not normally a spelling/grammar Nazi, but when you're complaining about someone else's English, you ought to be a little more careful.
any real java program falls into the "if this OS do this" problem
I've been working on Enterprise Java applications for about 6 years now, and apart from a bit of old JNI code which we used to talk to a Windows app (long since replaced with a Web Service), I can't think of a single line of platform specific Java code in our apps. For most of the, we develop on Windows, and run on Unix (mostly HP/UX) - with no rewrite, or even recompile, necessary.
As I mentioned, each has part of the market to themselves (Nintendo with youngsters and Sony with the Media player angle), but there's a big overlap in the general hand-held games market.
I know that there's a lot of people out there who are in the market for one or other of these. Do you honestly believe that a senior VP in Sony doesn't? Harrison clearly knows what he's doing, and by trying to dismiss the DS as nothing more than a platform for Pokemon he's obviously trying to taint its image in that area.
That's a pretty poor analogy. I can't imagine many people wonder whether they should buy a can of soda or a bag of chips. If you are hungry, you have the chips. If you are thirsty, you have the soda. If you are both, you buy both.
On the other hand, I fancy having a funky new handheld gaming device. I was probably going to get a DS until I saw Pro Evolution Soccer was coming out for the PSP, so I'm buying one of those instead.
The target audiences are not 100% the same (I suspect Nintendo, as ever, is looking more towards the younger market and with Nintendogs is probably aiming at girls, whereas Sony is looking to target the PSP as more of an all round portable entertainment device for teens and 20-somethings), but there is still a pretty big group of people that could easily have decided to buy either of them, but won't bother buying both.
For a far better analogy - I work in the credit card industry. Credit cards are a significantly different product to personal loans, but I can absolutely assure you that our marketing department will be actively targetting people who are typical loan customers and trying to convince them that a credit card is a better option.
It's not pleasant at all. I had it about 3 months ago (at which point my mum decided to mention that I'd never been vaccinated against it). For the first week, I couldn't lie down properly as my throat was so swollen that it hurt when I put my head on the pillow, but that wasn't too bad. Second week, however, it spread and I had an entire week feeling like someone had given me a good kick between the legs. I would strongly advise you to get a vaccine ASAP.
Offshoring in itself is a good thing for the global economy. However, when cheaper wages are achieved by moving to countries with little or no workers rights/health and safety etc, then it's not.
Also, at the moment there is usually free movement of jobs (to the lowest wage, least regulated countries), but not free movement of workers (to the higher wage countries with better working conditions), so there is a complete imbalance in the system.
Yes, but by that token why did we need new-fangled words like television (or your l33t-speak abreviation 'TV' :) )? There was nothing particularly new about TV apart from the delivery mechanism. TV is basically nothing more than long distance plays and town criers.
Language moves on, and what sounds like trendy new words now will seem perfectly natural in a few years time.
Personally, I've got somewhere in the region of 2,000 "legal, bought-and-paid-for" CDs. I've currently ripped just about 40GBs worth of MP3s from them, and when I get round to completing the process, I will comfortably have over the 60GB available on my Zen (and I haven't even started on my wife's CD collection).
The problem is that you don't usually want the windows to always be on top - if I tab to another app, I expect that to be on top, but if I then go back to Gimp I'd expect to have to tab to a single app, which contains all of the windows in the same position as when I left them.
Does your phone not have any form of volume control on it? Alternatively, you could always wear headphones. Personally, I've got pretty good at ignoring phone calls (along with emails and any other form of technological interruption) when I'm busy. That includes at home - if I don't want to talk, I don't answer.
It's a lot easier than politely getting rid of the person sitting on the end of your desk who won't take the hint that you don't want to talk to them right now.
Thanks for that. I've now got a hybrid goatse/flute image in my head that I can't get rid of.
The problem is that this is not going to just be used against rioters. It will be used to disperse any large crowd that the authorities don't like (and being 'non-lethal', they'll claim that they were being humane.
I've more than once been tear gassed or soaked with water cannons when involved in peaceful protests (at one of them, a group of us were doing nothing more threatening than sitting on a wall under a bridge in Prague after the demonstration had finished when the tear gas and batton charge arrived).
It means that the level of uranium 235 (compared to U234/U236) is reduced to below the levels found in nature. It is around 60% as radiocative as natural uranium, and once inside the body has exactly the same effects as natural uranium (mostly lung/kidney damage). Not as dangerous as enriched uranium it's true, but still not particularly nice stuff.
Still probably more exciting than the shelf from last week.
Really? And people actually do it? I don't think I've worked longer than 40 hrs/week (usually I stick with my contracted 37.5) in the past 5 years, except around something like go-live weekends, and that's pretty much the way everyone works around our office.
The only time I've ever worked significantly over my contracted hours was when I used to get well paid overtime.
Why is clicking on a picture of an apple to select the menu required to shut down the computer any more intuitive to a beginner than clicking on Start? Don't get me wrong - I love the Mac, and suspect that it is probably easier for a beginner than Windows, but the apple/Start button is not one of the reasons for that.
I do wonder about some people's parents, though. It took me one demonstration to my mum - click on the Start button to begin doing anything, including shutting the computer down - she got it straight away (trying to explain when to click and let go, and when to click-and hold, or when to use the right button, was a bit trickier, but that's a different story).
What's your credit card number?
Back in the day, the IRA used to use recognised codewords when giving warnings. Never seen any mention of anything similar with Al-Qaeda.
Sometimes (particularly in places like Israel/Palestine and Iraq), there's several organisation that initally claim to have been the ones behind an attack, and as far as I can tell, it's often verified through details that appear in the real claim that have not actually been reported.
The difference is that pizza shops don't typically have to deal with antisocial teenagers actively trying to get e-coli into their ovens.
It's not natural phenomena that M$ are dealing with, it's deliberate wanton vandalism. I'm no great lover of Microsoft (and agree that they have some responsibility), but it always amazes me that whenever this kind of topic comes up, the blame seems to be aimed almost exclusively at them and rarely at the people that actually create the worms/virii (or the society that has led them to behave in this way).
That's almost certainly true in most countries - I suspect (and the last election prety much backs it up) that most people aren't happy with Labour in power in the UK.
Much as I agree with your general sentiment, I do have to point out that the US (or at least Alaska) was only around 85 KM from the USSR across the Bering Strait. Europe is not the only way that they could have got there.
I wouldn't bother with the extra for an SLR initially. These days, low(ish) end digital cameras are, in my view, good enough for almost anyone. I use my bog standard digital compact for almost all photos I take these days, and there's only the very rare occasion where I think I could have taken a better photo with an SLR (I'm even more convinced of this when I see photos that people have taken with their digital SLRs).
For some people, for some photos, they are probably worth it. But for what the average person, and certainly the average beginner, a compact at 1/2 (or less) the cost would be far more suitable.
Do you feel the same way about security tags in shops?