To all the people accusing LJ of being stupid for not having UPS systems, Internap has 3 fully redundant power systems (yes, I know, didn't help much) so most people probably don't feel the need to run their own ups.
Indeed. In addition, adding local UPS systems often reduces the mean time before failure when used with suitably protected power systems, because the local UPS isn't as reliable as the building power.
I couldn't agree more - I watched TW in my early years (pre-teens) and loved watching items featuring new inventions. Their physical sciences stories were an aside at the time but undoubtedly contributed to my interest in physics in later life.
I especially liked the pieces they did with an eccentric inventor - odd inventions that tended to be construced from random household items!
But you're spot on with your analysis - they are the exact reasons I stopped watching it.
Our local network only allows authorised MAC addresses to connect, but using the switches rather than a DHCP server. The switches we use only allow x changes before locking out the port, so for most "admin" machines x is set to 1, so only the machine connected at the time the switch is setup/reset is allowed to connect.
There are exceptions to this for development machines etc. so we can swap boxes around etc.
I had this same argument with an Xbox-owning friend. (I agreed with you, incidentally)
Apparently, MS have something in their license with developers which prevents them from patching games using the HD. The reason for this is that MS would prefer developers get it right first time rather than release buggy products and endlessly patch them.
I can see the rationale behind this, but I agree that it would be worth making an exception to the rule in situations like this, where patching is needed to add a feature to a game, especially one which MS are promoting so heavily.
I think there is some real potential in this system - having watched a flatmate play alot and played a couple of times myself, it really is cool to be able to play with people in the UK, US, Europe etc. and chat to them in real time.
I think people could end up making close friends using XBL.... my money is on the first XBL marriage next year!
> An action/sports game that would lag so bad as to be unplayable.
MotoGP was one of the Beta test games, and as a non-games player I was very cynical about performance. But from what I have seen it's been possible to have 16 players in a game without any noticable problems.
I've seem lag problems once - in this case the player in question was "interpolated" into their race position and suddenly jumped to their actual position when the data was transferred - not ideal but it didn't really affect the gameplay.
Re:could this be the xbox "killer app"?
on
Xbox Live Goes Online
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· Score: 5, Interesting
I think so. The Xboxer's I know have really been jumping up and down at this and from my own experience with a friends machine I can tell you it's very addictive: much more so than playing alone.
One thing that I have considered is how good an internet telephony app this is - i've already heard of friends who would normally make long distance calls using the lobby of one of the games to chat in.
I wonder whether Microsoft will develop a specific telephony app using the Live system as a backend... AFAICT the demand is there and this would be a really killer app.
Re:Will this work with any fast IP connection?
on
Xbox Live Goes Online
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
It works fine here in the UK on a Univerity dorm connection. If you are able to get out of your Uni network on port 3074 you should be okay. I tested it for a friend before the service went live using a little perl script listening on that port running on an off-campus machine.
I think the first step on the road to this kind of convergence is to fit all consumer electronics with a common interface. Obviously it's a long way off what with the manufacturers constantly bickering but it would be the first step.
That way, your video can tell your satellite tuner to change channels when it's needed, your amp can switch between the digital out from the decoder box and the standard Stereo from the tuner as you change between terrestial and satellite/cable.
In the longer run, we can throw a PC into this mix. You have an handheld which gets TV schedules from your PC via wireless, and you can use it to control all your equipment, reconfiguring as you move between rooms.
And we can write nifty programs to control it all.
There's a car already in production (well, built to order) which features a 150kb/s link. It uses a multiplexed system of GSM phones. And it's rather nice..............
The University of Manchester (where I am a student) claim to have invented the first "stored program computer". The SSEM (known as the "Baby" to it's friends) was invented in 1948 and used a CRT screen as memory.
I agree with this. It also doesn't remove the problem of the wire based network (which, incidentally, is preventing thousands of square feet of UK office space being used because of the difficulty of laying Cat5 in them).
IMHO any company considering this system would be more advised to go for a thin client XWindows system - it's more esablished, more stable and easier to implement.
Anyway, with the majority of office users simply using office software, I can see a day when we return to a central server/local terminal system. Most users don't need a high powered PC for their work, and could share with others across the company. A wireless version of this would result in a very simplified system for IT managers.
Of course, there are problems with this idea (a single point of failure, for example), but i'm just thinking out loud....
I disagree. I know that deep underneath they are te same product but NS are simply picking at bits of the mozilla code to use in their releases. Mozilla will continue to evolve on a daily basis, whereas NS will get updated every couple of months. In the meantime, they will compete against each other.
This sounds like a brilliant idea. Does anybody know if anything like this is being organised in the UK? We usually get a fair number of computer expos, why not this?
If not, maybe this will spur on people to try something like this. Still, I'd love to be able to pursuade my employer that it is worth paying to send me to Oz for it!
I haven't tried NS6, but i've been keeping a close eye on the nightly builds of Mozilla. With a few speed and stability enhancements I think Mozilla will become the de-facto standard browser for Linux. NS will have to pull off something special for that to change.
On the windows front, Mozilla is going to have more of a struggle against MSIE (which, funnily enough, is about the only MS product I can tolerate). How NS will fit into this battle is anyone's guess, but it should be interesting finding out.
BT announced today that their patent on the hyperlink results in Amazons claim becoming invalid.
BT claims that their patent covers any text displayed on a surface which when pressed has an action. Light switch manufacturs are alledged to be one of the next targets for BT's lawyers.
We shouldn't need a major share buyout to get interoperatability between major apps. If Microsfot stuck to open standards, or published details of new API's in the first place we wouldn't have a problem.
The only comfort I draw from this is that they are non-voting shares.
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To all the people accusing LJ of being stupid for not having UPS systems, Internap has 3 fully redundant power systems (yes, I know, didn't help much) so most people probably don't feel the need to run their own ups.
Indeed. In addition, adding local UPS systems often reduces the mean time before failure when used with suitably protected power systems, because the local UPS isn't as reliable as the building power.
It's been there since at least Oct 1999.
I couldn't agree more - I watched TW in my early years (pre-teens) and loved watching items featuring new inventions. Their physical sciences stories were an aside at the time but undoubtedly contributed to my interest in physics in later life.
I especially liked the pieces they did with an eccentric inventor - odd inventions that tended to be construced from random household items!
But you're spot on with your analysis - they are the exact reasons I stopped watching it.
Our local network only allows authorised MAC addresses to connect, but using the switches rather than a DHCP server. The switches we use only allow x changes before locking out the port, so for most "admin" machines x is set to 1, so only the machine connected at the time the switch is setup/reset is allowed to connect.
There are exceptions to this for development machines etc. so we can swap boxes around etc.
I had this same argument with an Xbox-owning friend. (I agreed with you, incidentally)
Apparently, MS have something in their license with developers which prevents them from patching games using the HD. The reason for this is that MS would prefer developers get it right first time rather than release buggy products and endlessly patch them.
I can see the rationale behind this, but I agree that it would be worth making an exception to the rule in situations like this, where patching is needed to add a feature to a game, especially one which MS are promoting so heavily.
The Xbox Live service supports auto-configuration of Universal PnP routers. You can manually configure other routers, though.
I think there is some real potential in this system - having watched a flatmate play alot and played a couple of times myself, it really is cool to be able to play with people in the UK, US, Europe etc. and chat to them in real time.
I think people could end up making close friends using XBL.... my money is on the first XBL marriage next year!
> An action/sports game that would lag so bad as to be unplayable.
MotoGP was one of the Beta test games, and as a non-games player I was very cynical about performance. But from what I have seen it's been possible to have 16 players in a game without any noticable problems.
I've seem lag problems once - in this case the player in question was "interpolated" into their race position and suddenly jumped to their actual position when the data was transferred - not ideal but it didn't really affect the gameplay.
I think so. The Xboxer's I know have really been jumping up and down at this and from my own experience with a friends machine I can tell you it's very addictive: much more so than playing alone.
One thing that I have considered is how good an internet telephony app this is - i've already heard of friends who would normally make long distance calls using the lobby of one of the games to chat in.
I wonder whether Microsoft will develop a specific telephony app using the Live system as a backend... AFAICT the demand is there and this would be a really killer app.
It works fine here in the UK on a Univerity dorm connection. If you are able to get out of your Uni network on port 3074 you should be okay. I tested it for a friend before the service went live using a little perl script listening on that port running on an off-campus machine.
Halo isn't one of the games included because it was developed before the Xbox Live service was finalised. However, Halo 2 will be an Xbox Live game.
> you might not get the actual site it links to
If you can't get to the site, how can the Google spider?
There are good reasons for this refusal - check out this post which describes the situation well (but concerns .kids)
I think the first step on the road to this kind of convergence is to fit all consumer electronics with a common interface. Obviously it's a long way off what with the manufacturers constantly bickering but it would be the first step.
That way, your video can tell your satellite tuner to change channels when it's needed, your amp can switch between the digital out from the decoder box and the standard Stereo from the tuner as you change between terrestial and satellite/cable.
In the longer run, we can throw a PC into this mix. You have an handheld which gets TV schedules from your PC via wireless, and you can use it to control all your equipment, reconfiguring as you move between rooms.
And we can write nifty programs to control it all.
There's a car already in production (well, built to order) which features a 150kb/s link. It uses a multiplexed system of GSM phones. And it's rather nice
More details at megacar.com.
Maybe Sony could fit it with a Cue-Cat, and sell it commercially as a stock managment dog.
"Sorry, we haven't got any of those in stock today, our stock dog is in court"
The University of Manchester (where I am a student) claim to have invented the first "stored program computer". The SSEM (known as the "Baby" to it's friends) was invented in 1948 and used a CRT screen as memory.
More info at The Manchester Baby site.
I agree with this. It also doesn't remove the problem of the wire based network (which, incidentally, is preventing thousands of square feet of UK office space being used because of the difficulty of laying Cat5 in them).
....
IMHO any company considering this system would be more advised to go for a thin client XWindows system - it's more esablished, more stable and easier to implement.
Anyway, with the majority of office users simply using office software, I can see a day when we return to a central server/local terminal system. Most users don't need a high powered PC for their work, and could share with others across the company. A wireless version of this would result in a very simplified system for IT managers.
Of course, there are problems with this idea (a single point of failure, for example), but i'm just thinking out loud
I disagree. I know that deep underneath they are te same product but NS are simply picking at bits of the mozilla code to use in their releases. Mozilla will continue to evolve on a daily basis, whereas NS will get updated every couple of months. In the meantime, they will compete against each other.
IMHO, they are *not* the same product at all.
This sounds like a brilliant idea. Does anybody know if anything like this is being organised in the UK? We usually get a fair number of computer expos, why not this?
If not, maybe this will spur on people to try something like this. Still, I'd love to be able to pursuade my employer that it is worth paying to send me to Oz for it!
I haven't tried NS6, but i've been keeping a close eye on the nightly builds of Mozilla. With a few speed and stability enhancements I think Mozilla will become the de-facto standard browser for Linux. NS will have to pull off something special for that to change. On the windows front, Mozilla is going to have more of a struggle against MSIE (which, funnily enough, is about the only MS product I can tolerate). How NS will fit into this battle is anyone's guess, but it should be interesting finding out.
BT announced today that their patent on the hyperlink results in Amazons claim becoming invalid.
BT claims that their patent covers any text displayed on a surface which when pressed has an action. Light switch manufacturs are alledged to be one of the next targets for BT's lawyers.
I'm not sure, I think i'd prefer if neither of them won.
I can hear the crowd now "hit him, kill him, hit him back you fool...."
We shouldn't need a major share buyout to get interoperatability between major apps. If Microsfot stuck to open standards, or published details of new API's in the first place we wouldn't have a problem.
The only comfort I draw from this is that they are non-voting shares.