[off-topic] It's a glitch in the Matrix, you don't need to worry, much...
[on-topic] Some laptops can be upgraded, at least the video-card can. Additionally for what laptops are used for, medium-end models today do pretty much everything you need it to do, even 3 years from now. I think we passed the point where we need to buy the latest and greatest every 6-months unless you're a hardcore gamer, in which case just get a PC already. I was asked which netbook was better and my answer was simple. They all do about the same thing which is almost nothing more than word processing and internet. If battery is the most important thing, which clearly should be for what it is, then you may want to go with the one with the better battery. Just don't spend any less than $300 for a netbook and you'll be OK. Laptops are almost the same these days. If they can play videos on full HD smoothly, browse the web, capable of multi-tasking like a pro, and more than able to run Doom, then that's all you really need, the rest is just bells and whistles in my opinion.
I used F-11 but Ctrl+O is fine too;) I only used full-screen mode when my computer screen had 800x600 pixel resolution. These days with 1920x1200 it becomes almost impossible to find a website that demands all of that real-estate. I'm a fan of the status and address bars and if I don't have those then I start to get paranoid while browsing since I don't use an antivirus / malware protector. Sure, I'll know when I get a virus or something but it can be prevented by viewing where the url will lead to before clicking it and I know that both firefox and chrome does an excellent job at warning you about malicious websites but because it's not easy or obvious to report malicious sites, the system isn't -that great-.
I saw on a BBC documentary how humans and dolphins would work together. The dolphins would push the fish inside the fisherman's giant nets and in the end, the dolphins get to eat a few fish for the day. But then again, that's just like training a dog, kind of... Another one was when the African tribal men would speak to birds to locate honey, and the bird would let them know. In the end, the bird does get a good cut. Some animals will work with each other to reach their goals too and I think that is the case with any animal that has the instinct of feeling more comfortable when there is partnership (like wolves, lions, elephants, etc).
Going back on topic, life doesn't always have to be carbon based and that has been proven last year by NASA, and there are definitively "life" in the most extreme parts of the world. It wouldn't be a surprise if there is life on Mars, in fact I'm 99.9% confident that there is, except it's not really an exciting kind of life form. The great thing about space travel now is that we don't have to be there to explore it. We've sent probes and robots to do the scouting for us, so if we need to scout planets with other human / non-human colonies which we will eventually, we're likely going to do it in the shadows.
I loled hard at this. Thank you sir! Although... I'm just surprised that such a website is allowed to exist. I could have sworn that if a domain name was used for hate it could be revoked and banned by ICANN or whoever it is because there is a form somewhere, where you can file a complaint against a domain name. I'm getting very confused on who Anonymous is these days. Are they the ones where you shouldn't break rules 1&2 or that other group of anonymouses?
Let's just hope that the other August_zero on the internet aren't pedophiles =P But, there are alternatives for cyberstalking. I believe one would start by your e-mail address or your alias if they knew and end up finding sites that match up like http://www.gamespot.com/users/august_zero/ Eventually you might get enough info about that person to find your FB account if you had one. Another quick google search says you have a Twitter account but I didn't click on it or know too much on how to confirm this.
In the end, no employer has the right to stalk you just like other people shouldn't be allowed to do it, and this is from being an employer myself. I respect the privacy of those working for me because they are like family. They decided to select my company as one of the places they wanted to work at and after seeing them around for a while, you KNOW that their heart is in the right place, and it would be a shame to take advantage of that and turn it all upside down. What happens outside the office is their business unless they are doing something malicious that I should be worried about (like if they get caught stealing). A company should be willing to take care of those who help it grow, and the government should be willing to do the same. I'm sure there are these old business dogs thinking that I'm insane right now =P
My personal account can't be searched for on FB and nobody can see my posts unless they are my "friend". I think it would be ridiculously hard for my employer to learn that I have a FB account. Oh wait, I don't have an employer and if they demanded something stupid like this I would quit on the spot (I've put my foot down before). Boohyah!
In Japan there was a big controversy about GPS in cell-phones and pedophiles a few years ago which is why I brought it up. After searching Google for a few minutes it seems that there are a lot of websites that are willing to attest that such a system is plausible while others think it's not. I'm not saying that it is, I'm just saying what I've heard and briefly seen. As for your last question, I don't worry about GPS tracking anyone or myself. I'm as much as part of the cloud in my daily life as anything else. Lastly, I don't get why I was rated as a troll for my post, it has nothing to do with trolling.
Not just that but those who regularly skip class tend to have issues at home. To track kids who don't have problems is not resolving the issue and the issue is always what happens at home unless there is really bad bullying going on preventing the kid to go to school. This tracking system also gives predators a bigger toy to play with as GPS signals can be traced relatively easily and if you don't know how you can Google it like anything else and get your answer. MAYBE they can track those who have problems showing up just to see if the problem is at home or gang related, but if you only have these two options (I'm not a psychology major) and the parent knows it can only be either or, then they might not want their child being tracked and schools have no right to mandate it unless California decides to become even more socialist by ten-fold, in which case the parent won't have a choice. In result, this would cause parents to have their children more likely to be home-schooled or sent to a private school. Home schooling would cause more kids have bad education because it requires either a lot of money for tutoring or a good sense of teaching with the knowledge to back it up. Private school would certainly better overall and is pretty much the best way in America for an education (college is the exception here folks) so more power to the parents who send their kids to private school in protest. lol (sorry if this has terrible grammar, It's 7am and I haven't slept at all and can't concentrate too well)
The problem with Apple is that Steve Jobs is like that one guy that people will love and follow his words. If he says this phone is revolutionary when it isn't, people will buy it. If he says this tablet is innovative and is the future of all mankind, people will bite and get it. Heck, I remember a few years ago, the "grand" announcement at the yearly Apple Convention was something insanely stupid like a $100 case or something but people loved it anyways. Apple doesn't make bad products and they certainly appeal to a specific group of individuals, but in reality Apple doesn't have what Microsoft has and it certainly can't compete against Linux RHE kind of distros.
So in the end of it all... Apple is relying mostly on the one man that they fired long ago. This is ironic and if Jobs dies and Apple goes along with him, then I'll be obviously sad that Jobs will have died but I'll be happy for Steve that Apple got what they deserved after what they did to him. He's basically being used and he's known this since he got hired again back in was it 2002?
The Beetles once said that they were bigger than Jesus and they got excellent pre--- oh wait... Never mind... I always feel bad for jobs. I bet you anything he hates Apple and wants to leave that place but he's chained there like a dog.
We're more amazing than ants overall. The human brain alone is a marvel in evolutionary history and is significantly by at least a quadrillion fold more impressive than an ant creating colonies. Presumably these ants create these networks by the resonance of the walls (think a bat understanding how thick a wall is) so it's not terribly impressive if that's how they do it. We may not have this or that from animals but we have one thing that allows us to essentially become gods, a human brain. It's now 2076 and you need to get in line to get assimilated for the next stage of human evolution =)
Ohhhh! No room for Bender huh? FINE! I'll go build my own lunar lander, with blackjack, aaaand hookers. In fact, forget the blackjack. Ah, screw the whole thing...
I would change our relationship status up to the next level but I'm too scared on what might happen if I keep our status to "It's complicated" instead of "just friends" because once it's been changed, everyone will see it =(
Probably because they didn't know how to make their profile private and unsearchable so now they are getting friend requests from their bosses, family members etc... You really can't be yourself around them usually and a lot of people get fired over saying silly things like that one thing on the news today "teacher gets suspended over saying that some of her students are lazy whiners on her blog". lol, it is amazing how easy it is to get fired or suspended these days over trivial matter.
Actually, the advertiser gets demographic information including the amount of times your advert was viewed. But these are just numbers and aren't associated to anyone specifically. If you saw an ad that I made, I wouldn't be able to tell it was you. You would be one out of millions without even an IP associated to any of it. People are listed only around regions but it's so you can better decide to who you want to advertise to. If you're getting a CTR that yields a higher return in Florida than in Arkansas, then you'll want to focus your money in Florida instead.
Then you have those who actually places the ads on their website. They have access to all the information they need about their current visitors with a general idea on who's coming by so they can properly place advertisements around the site depending strictly on demographics. If your website is about technology gear, then you'll want to target ads for girls if you're in a girl-centric category, same goes for guys. At the end of the day, it benefits both the visitor and the companies involved because without advertising (that works), there wouldn't be many free sites on the net. The lack of -some- privacy, even though it's completely anonymous, is a small price to pay for a generally open internet.
"-The 1st person view of forcing you to jump or wall-jump makes the game more difficult then it needs to be. Seriously, who wants or needs a 1st person 360 camera spin squatting forward roll ??"
Are you saying you didn't like it how you saw exactly how you would see something when you jump and roll? I personally liked it but then again I much prefer 1st person camera over 3rd person any day for these kind of games (especially racing).
"- The escapism is just too blatant with the invisible armor. You can take 3 or 4 direct bullet hits, but yet the same weapon kills a cop in 1 shot?? This total break of immersion hard to put aside."
I never really shot anyone in this game except on some replays when I got bored. I always liked to play with the challenge of not using a gun.
IMO this game was one of my most favorites and I would recommend anyone to buy it at $49, but alas the game is worth like $5 or $10 these days. Like others said, this game was like Aassasins Creed 1. It had potential and failed in certain areas, became repetitive and boring but Assasins Creed 2 made the series worth it. Of course you had Brotherhood which was even better than 1 & 2. Oh well, that's what happens when you sell your soul to EA. They can all the good games and work with what's the cheapest to make for good profit. Thanks Ubisoft for not turning to the dark side =) oh wait... I do remember that EA owns a small amount of shares in them... Curses!
So basically what you're saying is that the user goes to facebook but before the end up on facebook, the ISP creates a fake facebook page that resembles that of facebook and when the user enters their credentials the ISP logs it and submits it to facebook? I'm probably misunderstanding completely =/
Points for that, I agree completely. SharePoint is like the devil's advocate in the computer world. The only gripe that I have with MS products is anything that has to do with managing tasks, files and SVN. Sure, it may end up being very convenient and the software is amazing once you learn how to use it properly (insert 8000 page manual here) but setting the darn thing up requires a degree in alien technology. linux is as simple as yum -i subversion and boom, half way there and there's a lot of software that will do what MS can do for cheaper (sometimes free) but not always in the same app, but that's fine for most people I think. Oh well, while many believe that Nokia is not going in the right direction, they are going in a better direction IMO =P
I tend to like peeing in my pants to stay warm as much as the next guy but I don't think that's going to resolve anything. There are two paths that companies can take to make a hardware/platform successful. You can either act like a pope and tell the world that it's the single most greatest thing in all existence and everyone will follow you like a cult, or you can create a developer friendly environment that makes your heart warm from working with the system. Microsoft has never come out with software that makes your teeth crunch for software development, XNA for example is an incredible environment and it isn't fixated on Java like Google. So there is more potential simply because it's not using Java, and more people will love working with it.
However you do run into some exceptions... Sony offers terrible platforms, like the PS2, PSP, and PS3. A friend who is developing for the PSP2 told me it's just as bad but Sony has a lot of backup. PS2 was one of the most successful systems in gaming history, in fact, it probably still is. If it were up to me, I would love to see phones developed under WP7 instead of Android, Symbian, and iOS, just because from experience, it's a better system to work with. However, the mass-market is already all over iOS and Android already which makes it really hard for Microsoft to keep up and Palm recently announced that their trying to be the third wheel so to speak. As a developer, there are too many options and you will ultimately pick the platform that will make you the most money. That's why in reality, Microsoft isn't a good platform to take, at least not yet.
Symbian was fine 15 years ago... Seriously, that POS OS has been around for too long. Microsoft has a lot of potential, a hundred thousand times more than what Palm/HP has. They better go big or go home.
Slashdot Mirror
[off-topic] It's a glitch in the Matrix, you don't need to worry, much...
[on-topic] Some laptops can be upgraded, at least the video-card can. Additionally for what laptops are used for, medium-end models today do pretty much everything you need it to do, even 3 years from now. I think we passed the point where we need to buy the latest and greatest every 6-months unless you're a hardcore gamer, in which case just get a PC already. I was asked which netbook was better and my answer was simple. They all do about the same thing which is almost nothing more than word processing and internet. If battery is the most important thing, which clearly should be for what it is, then you may want to go with the one with the better battery. Just don't spend any less than $300 for a netbook and you'll be OK. Laptops are almost the same these days. If they can play videos on full HD smoothly, browse the web, capable of multi-tasking like a pro, and more than able to run Doom, then that's all you really need, the rest is just bells and whistles in my opinion.
I think we're living in dire times and must construct Mooncraft, but beware of the creepers...
I used F-11 but Ctrl+O is fine too ;) I only used full-screen mode when my computer screen had 800x600 pixel resolution. These days with 1920x1200 it becomes almost impossible to find a website that demands all of that real-estate. I'm a fan of the status and address bars and if I don't have those then I start to get paranoid while browsing since I don't use an antivirus / malware protector. Sure, I'll know when I get a virus or something but it can be prevented by viewing where the url will lead to before clicking it and I know that both firefox and chrome does an excellent job at warning you about malicious websites but because it's not easy or obvious to report malicious sites, the system isn't -that great-.
I saw on a BBC documentary how humans and dolphins would work together. The dolphins would push the fish inside the fisherman's giant nets and in the end, the dolphins get to eat a few fish for the day. But then again, that's just like training a dog, kind of... Another one was when the African tribal men would speak to birds to locate honey, and the bird would let them know. In the end, the bird does get a good cut. Some animals will work with each other to reach their goals too and I think that is the case with any animal that has the instinct of feeling more comfortable when there is partnership (like wolves, lions, elephants, etc).
Going back on topic, life doesn't always have to be carbon based and that has been proven last year by NASA, and there are definitively "life" in the most extreme parts of the world. It wouldn't be a surprise if there is life on Mars, in fact I'm 99.9% confident that there is, except it's not really an exciting kind of life form. The great thing about space travel now is that we don't have to be there to explore it. We've sent probes and robots to do the scouting for us, so if we need to scout planets with other human / non-human colonies which we will eventually, we're likely going to do it in the shadows.
(offtopic) It made sense for this guy: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/414175/INMATE-SUES-HIMSELF-FOR-5-MILLION.html
I loled hard at this. Thank you sir! Although... I'm just surprised that such a website is allowed to exist. I could have sworn that if a domain name was used for hate it could be revoked and banned by ICANN or whoever it is because there is a form somewhere, where you can file a complaint against a domain name. I'm getting very confused on who Anonymous is these days. Are they the ones where you shouldn't break rules 1&2 or that other group of anonymouses?
I know right? It's completely against the ToS on most if not all social network sites. I will lol hard if they get banned after trying xD
Let's just hope that the other August_zero on the internet aren't pedophiles =P But, there are alternatives for cyberstalking. I believe one would start by your e-mail address or your alias if they knew and end up finding sites that match up like http://www.gamespot.com/users/august_zero/ Eventually you might get enough info about that person to find your FB account if you had one. Another quick google search says you have a Twitter account but I didn't click on it or know too much on how to confirm this.
In the end, no employer has the right to stalk you just like other people shouldn't be allowed to do it, and this is from being an employer myself. I respect the privacy of those working for me because they are like family. They decided to select my company as one of the places they wanted to work at and after seeing them around for a while, you KNOW that their heart is in the right place, and it would be a shame to take advantage of that and turn it all upside down. What happens outside the office is their business unless they are doing something malicious that I should be worried about (like if they get caught stealing). A company should be willing to take care of those who help it grow, and the government should be willing to do the same. I'm sure there are these old business dogs thinking that I'm insane right now =P
But CHASE demands that you let them know who you are so they can keep sending you 15 invitations to join their bank every week.
My personal account can't be searched for on FB and nobody can see my posts unless they are my "friend". I think it would be ridiculously hard for my employer to learn that I have a FB account. Oh wait, I don't have an employer and if they demanded something stupid like this I would quit on the spot (I've put my foot down before). Boohyah!
In Japan there was a big controversy about GPS in cell-phones and pedophiles a few years ago which is why I brought it up. After searching Google for a few minutes it seems that there are a lot of websites that are willing to attest that such a system is plausible while others think it's not. I'm not saying that it is, I'm just saying what I've heard and briefly seen. As for your last question, I don't worry about GPS tracking anyone or myself. I'm as much as part of the cloud in my daily life as anything else. Lastly, I don't get why I was rated as a troll for my post, it has nothing to do with trolling.
Not just that but those who regularly skip class tend to have issues at home. To track kids who don't have problems is not resolving the issue and the issue is always what happens at home unless there is really bad bullying going on preventing the kid to go to school. This tracking system also gives predators a bigger toy to play with as GPS signals can be traced relatively easily and if you don't know how you can Google it like anything else and get your answer. MAYBE they can track those who have problems showing up just to see if the problem is at home or gang related, but if you only have these two options (I'm not a psychology major) and the parent knows it can only be either or, then they might not want their child being tracked and schools have no right to mandate it unless California decides to become even more socialist by ten-fold, in which case the parent won't have a choice. In result, this would cause parents to have their children more likely to be home-schooled or sent to a private school. Home schooling would cause more kids have bad education because it requires either a lot of money for tutoring or a good sense of teaching with the knowledge to back it up. Private school would certainly better overall and is pretty much the best way in America for an education (college is the exception here folks) so more power to the parents who send their kids to private school in protest. lol (sorry if this has terrible grammar, It's 7am and I haven't slept at all and can't concentrate too well)
The problem with Apple is that Steve Jobs is like that one guy that people will love and follow his words. If he says this phone is revolutionary when it isn't, people will buy it. If he says this tablet is innovative and is the future of all mankind, people will bite and get it. Heck, I remember a few years ago, the "grand" announcement at the yearly Apple Convention was something insanely stupid like a $100 case or something but people loved it anyways. Apple doesn't make bad products and they certainly appeal to a specific group of individuals, but in reality Apple doesn't have what Microsoft has and it certainly can't compete against Linux RHE kind of distros.
So in the end of it all... Apple is relying mostly on the one man that they fired long ago. This is ironic and if Jobs dies and Apple goes along with him, then I'll be obviously sad that Jobs will have died but I'll be happy for Steve that Apple got what they deserved after what they did to him. He's basically being used and he's known this since he got hired again back in was it 2002?
The Beetles once said that they were bigger than Jesus and they got excellent pre--- oh wait... Never mind... I always feel bad for jobs. I bet you anything he hates Apple and wants to leave that place but he's chained there like a dog.
We're more amazing than ants overall. The human brain alone is a marvel in evolutionary history and is significantly by at least a quadrillion fold more impressive than an ant creating colonies. Presumably these ants create these networks by the resonance of the walls (think a bat understanding how thick a wall is) so it's not terribly impressive if that's how they do it. We may not have this or that from animals but we have one thing that allows us to essentially become gods, a human brain. It's now 2076 and you need to get in line to get assimilated for the next stage of human evolution =)
Ohhhh! No room for Bender huh? FINE! I'll go build my own lunar lander, with blackjack, aaaand hookers. In fact, forget the blackjack. Ah, screw the whole thing...
I would change our relationship status up to the next level but I'm too scared on what might happen if I keep our status to "It's complicated" instead of "just friends" because once it's been changed, everyone will see it =(
Probably because they didn't know how to make their profile private and unsearchable so now they are getting friend requests from their bosses, family members etc... You really can't be yourself around them usually and a lot of people get fired over saying silly things like that one thing on the news today "teacher gets suspended over saying that some of her students are lazy whiners on her blog". lol, it is amazing how easy it is to get fired or suspended these days over trivial matter.
Actually, the advertiser gets demographic information including the amount of times your advert was viewed. But these are just numbers and aren't associated to anyone specifically. If you saw an ad that I made, I wouldn't be able to tell it was you. You would be one out of millions without even an IP associated to any of it. People are listed only around regions but it's so you can better decide to who you want to advertise to. If you're getting a CTR that yields a higher return in Florida than in Arkansas, then you'll want to focus your money in Florida instead.
Then you have those who actually places the ads on their website. They have access to all the information they need about their current visitors with a general idea on who's coming by so they can properly place advertisements around the site depending strictly on demographics. If your website is about technology gear, then you'll want to target ads for girls if you're in a girl-centric category, same goes for guys. At the end of the day, it benefits both the visitor and the companies involved because without advertising (that works), there wouldn't be many free sites on the net. The lack of -some- privacy, even though it's completely anonymous, is a small price to pay for a generally open internet.
You reckon Apple will be ballsy enough to try this tactic?
I agree with most of what you said
"-The 1st person view of forcing you to jump or wall-jump makes the game more difficult then it needs to be. Seriously, who wants or needs a 1st person 360 camera spin squatting forward roll ??"
Are you saying you didn't like it how you saw exactly how you would see something when you jump and roll? I personally liked it but then again I much prefer 1st person camera over 3rd person any day for these kind of games (especially racing).
"- The escapism is just too blatant with the invisible armor. You can take 3 or 4 direct bullet hits, but yet the same weapon kills a cop in 1 shot?? This total break of immersion hard to put aside."
I never really shot anyone in this game except on some replays when I got bored. I always liked to play with the challenge of not using a gun.
IMO this game was one of my most favorites and I would recommend anyone to buy it at $49, but alas the game is worth like $5 or $10 these days. Like others said, this game was like Aassasins Creed 1. It had potential and failed in certain areas, became repetitive and boring but Assasins Creed 2 made the series worth it. Of course you had Brotherhood which was even better than 1 & 2. Oh well, that's what happens when you sell your soul to EA. They can all the good games and work with what's the cheapest to make for good profit. Thanks Ubisoft for not turning to the dark side =) oh wait... I do remember that EA owns a small amount of shares in them... Curses!
So basically what you're saying is that the user goes to facebook but before the end up on facebook, the ISP creates a fake facebook page that resembles that of facebook and when the user enters their credentials the ISP logs it and submits it to facebook? I'm probably misunderstanding completely =/
Points for that, I agree completely. SharePoint is like the devil's advocate in the computer world. The only gripe that I have with MS products is anything that has to do with managing tasks, files and SVN. Sure, it may end up being very convenient and the software is amazing once you learn how to use it properly (insert 8000 page manual here) but setting the darn thing up requires a degree in alien technology. linux is as simple as yum -i subversion and boom, half way there and there's a lot of software that will do what MS can do for cheaper (sometimes free) but not always in the same app, but that's fine for most people I think. Oh well, while many believe that Nokia is not going in the right direction, they are going in a better direction IMO =P
I tend to like peeing in my pants to stay warm as much as the next guy but I don't think that's going to resolve anything. There are two paths that companies can take to make a hardware/platform successful. You can either act like a pope and tell the world that it's the single most greatest thing in all existence and everyone will follow you like a cult, or you can create a developer friendly environment that makes your heart warm from working with the system. Microsoft has never come out with software that makes your teeth crunch for software development, XNA for example is an incredible environment and it isn't fixated on Java like Google. So there is more potential simply because it's not using Java, and more people will love working with it.
However you do run into some exceptions... Sony offers terrible platforms, like the PS2, PSP, and PS3. A friend who is developing for the PSP2 told me it's just as bad but Sony has a lot of backup. PS2 was one of the most successful systems in gaming history, in fact, it probably still is. If it were up to me, I would love to see phones developed under WP7 instead of Android, Symbian, and iOS, just because from experience, it's a better system to work with. However, the mass-market is already all over iOS and Android already which makes it really hard for Microsoft to keep up and Palm recently announced that their trying to be the third wheel so to speak. As a developer, there are too many options and you will ultimately pick the platform that will make you the most money. That's why in reality, Microsoft isn't a good platform to take, at least not yet.
Symbian was fine 15 years ago... Seriously, that POS OS has been around for too long. Microsoft has a lot of potential, a hundred thousand times more than what Palm/HP has. They better go big or go home.