2gb an hour sounds like a bit much, to be honest. Use DivX, Xvid, etc, and you could reasonably get it down to 500mb an hour. Use commercial skipping, probably 350. Compromise on quality a bit, maybe 250. That's 6 gb per day per channel... still not small, but it shows it as doable.
Let's see.... Guild Wars offers an online gaming universe for the price of the box; and that's it. No monthly subscriptions. and NCSoft hopes to create a large enough fan base to guarantee sales of sequels and add-ons.
I don't see how no monthly fee equals "more than just a monthly fee". They've already said that you can play forever. If you want to buy the expansion, then you get the advantages of it, but if not, keep playing the game you bought. And this summer, they're putting out a mini expansion - Sorrow's Furnace. For free. Not to mention the weekly patches, fixes, new quests and the like.
I'm not an MMO guy. Far from it. I bought this because I wanted something like Neverwinter Nights, and I haven't been disappointed. Everything but the "cities" (which are basically chat channels and places to form a group) are personalized for you and your group. The only PCs you'll see outside a city are in your group of 4/6/8 people. It's damn cool. Might be enough to make me drop my sig.
The question is, how long does it last? What happens when e-ink/e-paper eventually works and can be purchased in a "book" form, like the Sony thing? At that point, there's no real difference between the book (which you pay for) and the e-book (which you can freely download), except that the author gets paid for one. Yes, yes, I know, alternate business models, etc. I'm just curious.
Re:What I took from the review...
on
The Escapist
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· Score: 1
FWIW I just finished the trilogy of John C. Wright's. Book one is called "The Golden Age". The first 50 pages can be a bit of a slog, but part of that's because they toss all these ideas out there, but without the huge explanations of what everything is, so you can get a bit lost. However, it all gels, all makes sense, and winds up as one hell of a story.
I've heard good things about Charles Stross as well - that's next on my list to pick up. Some other good authors I've found in the past couple years are James Alan Gardner, & Ken MacLeod. Check my old posts - I mention books and the like, while saying what a hack Iain Banks is.
It's a combination of a psychological issue and a realization that the "Bill tax" could be extremely pervasive, if you go down that slippery slope.
Despite having the income to support it, the only MMO I've ever played is Guild Wars (and loving it a whole lot, thanks for asking). My friends & I were looking for something new to do, since we've been doing our "Neverwinter Saturdays" pretty much since the game came out. The idea of _paying_ a monthly fee for something like that is abhorrent to us - we're talking about almost $1000, between all of us. And because we're paying, we'd feel obliged to "get our money's worth". So there's part of it. And hey, I'm not a hardcore game player (although you couldn't tell by the number of hours I've suck into NWN), so that $150 would buy me 3-5 games, each of which I would enjoy immensely. Let's see - do I pay for 'more of the same', or do I go for something different? I'd rather encourage innovation.
Not to mention that we all know that if you allow people to charge you monthly, it'll never stop. That's also part of the reason people are fearful of the "charge $1 a month to read my site" concept... sure, it's only a buck - for your site. I read dozens. I have enough monthly bills, thanks for asking. So I'd have a $15 monthly fee for this, 20 x $1 fees for this site, oh, this new software needs a couple bucks this month...
Nope - it'll probably be (As mentioned by As Seen On TV, though he hasn't been around lately) an update of the Airport Express, with an S-video out or something similar.
Re:It makes you wonder...
on
P2P and TV
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· Score: 1
Actually, someone's been busy this year - more than half a dozen pilots have been posted. Not great quality, but watchable. Some were picked up, some weren't. It's interesting to watch them, if only to see "what might have been". Now if only someone would post the pilot JJ Abrams did. ("Catch"?)
I, and the rest of my weekly NWN group, are ecstatic about this. Why? Unlike the other modules released so far, this one will work in multiplayer. It's all about the co-operative play. That being said, we're planning on seeing if it'll work with the Linux standalone server, if everyone needs to buy a copy, etc, etc.
Now if they'd just make some more epic-level modules!
I remember playing MDK (which, I'm convinced, is a reference to Mekanik Destuktiv Kommando, an album by the group Magma), years and years ago. There was one room where there were several pillars, with a monster on each pillar. (They were also all carrying giant targets and pointing at them.) The premise was to shoot them, and work your way up each pillar, to get to the top then to the next room. The problem was that after x seconds, another one would take its place.
I was stumped as to how to get past it. I turned off my monitor and came back several hours later.
To my surprise, all the monsters (apparently to make sure I could hit them) had all come within 5 feet of my character. All sitting there, pointing at their signs. With none on the pillars. I jumped on each pillar and away. The oddest thing, but I still remember it all these years later.
Ditto on the Tandberg. I had looked at the smart whiteboards, tandberg 6000s, etc, etc. We wound up getting Fractional T-1s and the "standalone" Tandberg (the 1000, I believe) - it fits in a large briefcase, you send it to whomever, they plug it into their network, it picks up DHCP, you get their IT people to allow it through the firewall, and you're done. It even does wireless, though it has issues.
Let's see if we can keep this thread going. If not, feel free to email me. my last name (my first initial is M) at gmail.
Echolyn may be very hard to find, but the newest album is supposed to be amazing.
If you're talking about "Mei", it is. Not much of a fan of Spock's Beard or Flower Kings. (I'm also assuming you have stuff like Anekdoten, Anglagard, etc, which aren't metal and probably not Modern, but are damn good anyhow)
Ozric Tentacles is interesting if you like instrument rock Yeah, I love 'em. Seen them live once - aside from the getting-high-from-simply-breathing, it was a blast. I always describe them as "Space Reggae". My first exposure (and fave album) was Jurassic Shift, but I like the albums you've mentioned. You might try Erpland - that one is really good as well.
If you want a completely unpredictable band from album to album, by all means, get Porcupine Tree.
Oh, yeah. Just got my limited-edition-AC3-dvd-book-cd of Deadwing. My fave albums are probably Sky Moves Sideways, Stupid Dream (which is hilarious, since I remember telling my wife, after the first listen, that they'd "lost it" and put out a crap album)
For progressive metal, I still recommend Dream Theater. Yup, though I haven't been impressed at all with the last two. A shame, since 6 Degrees was pretty damn good, and I&W and Awake are classics. The only downside to them is all the knockoff bands.
Speaking of which.. If you want an interesting DT ripoff, I would suggest Dali's Dilemma, "Manifesto for Futurism". LOL. Agreed. I wouldn't mind, except that in interviews they were so... perturbed that people, for some Unknown Reason, thought they were influenced (or knocking off) Dream Theater. Um, yeah. Pull the other one, guys. Admit that you love them, and get on. Don't pretend otherwise. I would've liked a second album. While I'm thinking of it, a couple recommendations: Bozzio/Levin/Stevens, (I'll assume you have or know about Liquid Tension Experiment) & Gordian Knot.
As for DT supergroups, I would go with O.S.I. They don't sound so much like DT, but rather a heavy Pink Floyd. Agreed. Kevin Moore did a fantastic job, though I equally enjoy the original jam that was "processed" by Kevin to become OSI. Kevin's solo stuff (at least the first two albums) were excellent, though I haven't listened in a while.
If you don't like the DT sound, but still want progressive metal, try Symphony X. Yup. Of the modern neo-classical prog-metal bands out there, they're probably my favorite. (Close second - Blind Guardian, especially "Nightfall in Middle Earth". Third - either Angra's Holy Land or Rhapsody's Symphony of Enchanted Lands. All of those are neo-classical prog metal)
like DT, their first album is awful. No kidding. You can see the potential, but it's not there yet. I am _so_ damn glad they keep getting better with each album. Each one is fantastic, and then the next one is Even Better. I love The Odyssey, but I think you're right about V being the best thus far. Eagerly awaiting the new one.
If you want a cheesy space opera inspired album, go with Star One's "Space Metal". Or anything else by Ayreon. My fave is probably The Final Experiment, or maybe Into the Electric Castle (if you cut it down to 1 CD - Fish was awesome on that). Cheesy beyond belief, but that's part of the fun.
If you like the Progressive Death Metal thing, I recommend Opeth. Seen them live once, own everything. Some others I heartily recommend: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - have to be seen to be believed, but their CDs will almost do. Check out their web site. Cross between metal and avant-garde, with a healthy helping of strange. Meshuggah (get Destroy Erase Improve, I, Nothing, or Catch 33), Therion (awesome symphonic/orchestral black metal with opera singers - start with Theli or Vovin), Dan Swano (Moontower - Neo-pr
Yes, seeing Nightwish at a Borders is surreal. And thanks for making me feel old - I haven't heard Ranjit (okay, or a.m.p) mentioned in, gods, over a decade.
Speaking of which, I need to call Greg tonight and order some stuff - any recommendations? Tonight is Greg, tomorrow is Ken. On my list, I have Present, White Willow, Univers Zero, Isildur's Bane, Meshuggah, Pain of Salvation, Deus Ex Machina (if they've done anything new in a while), and a few others.
So, what would you have said 2 weeks ago, before the Yahoo music service came out (and so the nearest thing was 3 times more - and don't forget that's an intro price)? Considering that Tivo is $15 or so a month, that's a pretty good deal. And if you don't like it, use Zap2It and fill out the survey instead.
Are you on crack? I had the chance to play with one a few weeks ago, and it almost convinced me to go buy one. The Old Time Radio channel (of which there were two, btw) was playing stuff that probably hasn't been on the radio in decades. (And yes, I've caught a couple OTR shows on the radio) And the Audio Lab channel had stuff you'll _never_ hear on Clear Channel. I think you listened to the pop channel, and I'm sure that's intentionally like Clear Channel. But go find a real channel, and be amazed.
I run with it this was - Mozilla and Firefox both ask you if you're sure you want to install the software (Moz even includes a two second "wait period"), and (IIRC) Firefox should auto-block installation of anything unless you've added the site to your approved whitelist.
A more pertinent question - how much RAM's it use?
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Google Web Accelerator
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· Score: 1
On my new XP machine right now, doing nothing, I have...
Mozilla using 33mb of ram
Explorer using 28.5 mb of ram
svchost using 19mb of ram
CCAPP using 10mb of ram
Corecenter using 8.5
etc, etc. My "commit charge" is 225mb, and my system "only" has 512. It sounds interesting, but so does not buying more ram.
What I listened to was a combo of Christian Country and Christian Pop - I'm not knowledgable enough to know. The "poppyturd" does describe what I heard, though, that's for sure.
And yes, there can be good Christian rock. I heard a power metal band called "Persuader" (album was "Evolution Purgatory"), and was really impressed. The only reason I knew was because I looked them up after getting a couple lines stuck in my head ("maybe there's more to life than decay"). Not the stuff I heard, which sounded like a love song with the word "Jesus" at the end. "I want to make sweet love to you.... Jesus".
My initial thought was this was a symptom of CCM, but I guess it could be applied to the RIAA in general.
Slashdot Mirror
2gb an hour sounds like a bit much, to be honest. Use DivX, Xvid, etc, and you could reasonably get it down to 500mb an hour. Use commercial skipping, probably 350. Compromise on quality a bit, maybe 250. That's 6 gb per day per channel... still not small, but it shows it as doable.
Let's see....
Guild Wars offers an online gaming universe for the price of the box; and that's it. No monthly subscriptions.
and
NCSoft hopes to create a large enough fan base to guarantee sales of sequels and add-ons.
I don't see how no monthly fee equals "more than just a monthly fee". They've already said that you can play forever. If you want to buy the expansion, then you get the advantages of it, but if not, keep playing the game you bought. And this summer, they're putting out a mini expansion - Sorrow's Furnace. For free. Not to mention the weekly patches, fixes, new quests and the like.
I'm not an MMO guy. Far from it. I bought this because I wanted something like Neverwinter Nights, and I haven't been disappointed. Everything but the "cities" (which are basically chat channels and places to form a group) are personalized for you and your group. The only PCs you'll see outside a city are in your group of 4/6/8 people. It's damn cool. Might be enough to make me drop my sig.
The question is, how long does it last? What happens when e-ink/e-paper eventually works and can be purchased in a "book" form, like the Sony thing? At that point, there's no real difference between the book (which you pay for) and the e-book (which you can freely download), except that the author gets paid for one. Yes, yes, I know, alternate business models, etc. I'm just curious.
FWIW I just finished the trilogy of John C. Wright's. Book one is called "The Golden Age". The first 50 pages can be a bit of a slog, but part of that's because they toss all these ideas out there, but without the huge explanations of what everything is, so you can get a bit lost. However, it all gels, all makes sense, and winds up as one hell of a story.
I've heard good things about Charles Stross as well - that's next on my list to pick up. Some other good authors I've found in the past couple years are James Alan Gardner, & Ken MacLeod. Check my old posts - I mention books and the like, while saying what a hack Iain Banks is.
How's the gameplay?
My wife's comment: why's she doing most of the work? Sure enough...
It's a combination of a psychological issue and a realization that the "Bill tax" could be extremely pervasive, if you go down that slippery slope.
Despite having the income to support it, the only MMO I've ever played is Guild Wars (and loving it a whole lot, thanks for asking). My friends & I were looking for something new to do, since we've been doing our "Neverwinter Saturdays" pretty much since the game came out. The idea of _paying_ a monthly fee for something like that is abhorrent to us - we're talking about almost $1000, between all of us. And because we're paying, we'd feel obliged to "get our money's worth". So there's part of it. And hey, I'm not a hardcore game player (although you couldn't tell by the number of hours I've suck into NWN), so that $150 would buy me 3-5 games, each of which I would enjoy immensely. Let's see - do I pay for 'more of the same', or do I go for something different? I'd rather encourage innovation.
Not to mention that we all know that if you allow people to charge you monthly, it'll never stop. That's also part of the reason people are fearful of the "charge $1 a month to read my site" concept... sure, it's only a buck - for your site. I read dozens. I have enough monthly bills, thanks for asking. So I'd have a $15 monthly fee for this, 20 x $1 fees for this site, oh, this new software needs a couple bucks this month...
It'll never end.
Nope - it'll probably be (As mentioned by As Seen On TV, though he hasn't been around lately) an update of the Airport Express, with an S-video out or something similar.
Actually, someone's been busy this year - more than half a dozen pilots have been posted. Not great quality, but watchable. Some were picked up, some weren't. It's interesting to watch them, if only to see "what might have been". Now if only someone would post the pilot JJ Abrams did. ("Catch"?)
I've watched the pilot. Clever, but the first half _sucks_. Uses pretty much every cliche in the book.
About halfway in, though, it really starts to shine, and my wife (who came in at that point) mentioned that she'd like to see more episodes of it.
I, and the rest of my weekly NWN group, are ecstatic about this. Why? Unlike the other modules released so far, this one will work in multiplayer. It's all about the co-operative play. That being said, we're planning on seeing if it'll work with the Linux standalone server, if everyone needs to buy a copy, etc, etc.
Now if they'd just make some more epic-level modules!
movie studios are barred from owning movie theatres
Okay, I'll bite. Who owns United Artist movie theaters, then?
I remember playing MDK (which, I'm convinced, is a reference to Mekanik Destuktiv Kommando, an album by the group Magma), years and years ago. There was one room where there were several pillars, with a monster on each pillar. (They were also all carrying giant targets and pointing at them.) The premise was to shoot them, and work your way up each pillar, to get to the top then to the next room. The problem was that after x seconds, another one would take its place.
I was stumped as to how to get past it. I turned off my monitor and came back several hours later.
To my surprise, all the monsters (apparently to make sure I could hit them) had all come within 5 feet of my character. All sitting there, pointing at their signs. With none on the pillars. I jumped on each pillar and away. The oddest thing, but I still remember it all these years later.
Ditto on the Tandberg. I had looked at the smart whiteboards, tandberg 6000s, etc, etc. We wound up getting Fractional T-1s and the "standalone" Tandberg (the 1000, I believe) - it fits in a large briefcase, you send it to whomever, they plug it into their network, it picks up DHCP, you get their IT people to allow it through the firewall, and you're done. It even does wireless, though it has issues.
Thank you, Cmdr Taco.
Let's see if we can keep this thread going. If not, feel free to email me. my last name (my first initial is M) at gmail.
Echolyn may be very hard to find, but the newest album is supposed to be amazing.
If you're talking about "Mei", it is. Not much of a fan of Spock's Beard or Flower Kings. (I'm also assuming you have stuff like Anekdoten, Anglagard, etc, which aren't metal and probably not Modern, but are damn good anyhow)
Ozric Tentacles is interesting if you like instrument rock
Yeah, I love 'em. Seen them live once - aside from the getting-high-from-simply-breathing, it was a blast. I always describe them as "Space Reggae". My first exposure (and fave album) was Jurassic Shift, but I like the albums you've mentioned. You might try Erpland - that one is really good as well.
If you want a completely unpredictable band from album to album, by all means, get Porcupine Tree.
Oh, yeah. Just got my limited-edition-AC3-dvd-book-cd of Deadwing. My fave albums are probably Sky Moves Sideways, Stupid Dream (which is hilarious, since I remember telling my wife, after the first listen, that they'd "lost it" and put out a crap album)
For progressive metal, I still recommend Dream Theater.
Yup, though I haven't been impressed at all with the last two. A shame, since 6 Degrees was pretty damn good, and I&W and Awake are classics. The only downside to them is all the knockoff bands.
Speaking of which..
If you want an interesting DT ripoff, I would suggest Dali's Dilemma, "Manifesto for Futurism".
LOL. Agreed. I wouldn't mind, except that in interviews they were so... perturbed that people, for some Unknown Reason, thought they were influenced (or knocking off) Dream Theater. Um, yeah. Pull the other one, guys. Admit that you love them, and get on. Don't pretend otherwise. I would've liked a second album. While I'm thinking of it, a couple recommendations: Bozzio/Levin/Stevens, (I'll assume you have or know about Liquid Tension Experiment) & Gordian Knot.
As for DT supergroups, I would go with O.S.I. They don't sound so much like DT, but rather a heavy Pink Floyd.
Agreed. Kevin Moore did a fantastic job, though I equally enjoy the original jam that was "processed" by Kevin to become OSI. Kevin's solo stuff (at least the first two albums) were excellent, though I haven't listened in a while.
If you don't like the DT sound, but still want progressive metal, try Symphony X.
Yup. Of the modern neo-classical prog-metal bands out there, they're probably my favorite. (Close second - Blind Guardian, especially "Nightfall in Middle Earth". Third - either Angra's Holy Land or Rhapsody's Symphony of Enchanted Lands. All of those are neo-classical prog metal)
like DT, their first album is awful.
No kidding. You can see the potential, but it's not there yet. I am _so_ damn glad they keep getting better with each album. Each one is fantastic, and then the next one is Even Better. I love The Odyssey, but I think you're right about V being the best thus far. Eagerly awaiting the new one.
If you want a cheesy space opera inspired album, go with Star One's "Space Metal".
Or anything else by Ayreon. My fave is probably The Final Experiment, or maybe Into the Electric Castle (if you cut it down to 1 CD - Fish was awesome on that). Cheesy beyond belief, but that's part of the fun.
If you like the Progressive Death Metal thing, I recommend Opeth.
Seen them live once, own everything. Some others I heartily recommend:
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - have to be seen to be believed, but their CDs will almost do. Check out their web site. Cross between metal and avant-garde, with a healthy helping of strange.
Meshuggah (get Destroy Erase Improve, I, Nothing, or Catch 33),
Therion (awesome symphonic/orchestral black metal with opera singers - start with Theli or Vovin), Dan Swano (Moontower - Neo-pr
Yes, seeing Nightwish at a Borders is surreal. And thanks for making me feel old - I haven't heard Ranjit (okay, or a.m.p) mentioned in, gods, over a decade.
Speaking of which, I need to call Greg tonight and order some stuff - any recommendations? Tonight is Greg, tomorrow is Ken. On my list, I have Present, White Willow, Univers Zero, Isildur's Bane, Meshuggah, Pain of Salvation, Deus Ex Machina (if they've done anything new in a while), and a few others.
So, what would you have said 2 weeks ago, before the Yahoo music service came out (and so the nearest thing was 3 times more - and don't forget that's an intro price)? Considering that Tivo is $15 or so a month, that's a pretty good deal. And if you don't like it, use Zap2It and fill out the survey instead.
Great comments overall. Scary to see someone else listening to all the stuff I listen to. (Well, except for the Ritual - hate the second album).
So, what's Hourglass like? Not familiar with them. Thanks!
Are you on crack? I had the chance to play with one a few weeks ago, and it almost convinced me to go buy one. The Old Time Radio channel (of which there were two, btw) was playing stuff that probably hasn't been on the radio in decades. (And yes, I've caught a couple OTR shows on the radio) And the Audio Lab channel had stuff you'll _never_ hear on Clear Channel. I think you listened to the pop channel, and I'm sure that's intentionally like Clear Channel. But go find a real channel, and be amazed.
Why would it? Multi-platform could easily mean "OS X and Linux and Unix". Don't know why Winders needs to be brought into it.
I run with it this was - Mozilla and Firefox both ask you if you're sure you want to install the software (Moz even includes a two second "wait period"), and (IIRC) Firefox should auto-block installation of anything unless you've added the site to your approved whitelist.
- Mozilla using 33mb of ram
- Explorer using 28.5 mb of ram
- svchost using 19mb of ram
- CCAPP using 10mb of ram
- Corecenter using 8.5
etc, etc. My "commit charge" is 225mb, and my system "only" has 512. It sounds interesting, but so does not buying more ram.I thought that was the name of a UT clan or something.
What I listened to was a combo of Christian Country and Christian Pop - I'm not knowledgable enough to know. The "poppyturd" does describe what I heard, though, that's for sure.
And yes, there can be good Christian rock. I heard a power metal band called "Persuader" (album was "Evolution Purgatory"), and was really impressed. The only reason I knew was because I looked them up after getting a couple lines stuck in my head ("maybe there's more to life than decay"). Not the stuff I heard, which sounded like a love song with the word "Jesus" at the end. "I want to make sweet love to you.... Jesus".
My initial thought was this was a symptom of CCM, but I guess it could be applied to the RIAA in general.