I'm sure that discarded computers are pretty low on the list of things filling our dumps. Are there taxes on other things like cars or home appliances to cover the cost of disposing of them?
Sort of, but that's still allowing anyone to edit and make entries - just being monitored by "experts". I'd say start at the source of the information. Only allow experts to make changes.
They could host a second wikipedia site, edu.wikipedia.org or some such, using all the same software started with an empty database. In order to get an editors account you'd have to provide credentials from an upstanding college or university. Then see if it ever gets used.
I guess that's just Louisiana. We're keeping our Baton Rouge and Metairie locations, but we can't get a Fry's or an Apple Store to save our lives.
I guess that's a good demonstration of the mean intelligence level here. People would rather go into ChumpUSA and be abused by surly salespeople than order something online to save a few bucks. Or maybe that's all that is available to work in a computer retail store in Louisiana.
"The only intuitive interface is the nipple. Everything else is learned."
It takes time. And like other people have stated, I don't know that efficiency was necessarily the goal anyway.
Apple claims that OS X / Aqua is super easy to use, but I think more important to them and their users is that it looks pretty. People probably aren't going to take the time to learn an interface if they don't enjoy looking at it in the first place.
The iPod was overpriced, underpowered, and in a wickedly restricted market. They were into their third year before they even began to see sales increases, fourth year before it was significant, and wasn't until the fifth and sixth year that it began defining the industry.
Give this phone time and changes. Initial adoption will be slim, but Apple just needs a foot in the door and the device will become more obtainable and universal.
The difference between the original iPod and the original iPhone is that the original iPod didn't kick ass. It was just another Mp3 player, but had a very small target audience. The iPhone can easily be used by anyone willing to cough up the cash, and is one of the most amazing devices we've seen. Starting out it's a better iPod than the original iPod!
Where in this post I picked on three factors the iPod had to deal with, I'll only pick on one for the iPhone.
Raise your hand if you can afford a $600 phone.
I'd give it two years and every feature will be dramatically improved on including the price. Better camera, more storage, higher resolution display, hell... colors;), better wireless, more networks, significantly increased battery life, and better applications.
In no way am I an early adopter, but I thank all the rich folk who pour money into the pockets of the developers so that they can improve a toy for me (:
I'm ok with this. After all it's called "YouTube", not "TheirTube". People should be posting original works only. That was the point of YouTube in the first place.
> it's the second biggest pain in the ass that I have to deal with
What's the first? Probably fonts on Macs, both OS X and previous. But really I used that sentence to sound more valid, when in reality I haven't had many problems out of Lotus Notes / Domino in quite some time (: It used to be a daily battle to get the server to do what I wanted. Perhaps the real reason I don't have as many problems with it anymore is because I gave up trying to comprehend its bastardized configuration file. I also threw more than triple the hardware at it than is recommended for the level of my deployment.
The problems, for me as a user, that still linger with Lotus apps are ones that revolve around user interface. It doesn't use the Windows Explorer 'Open / Save' dialog boxes - instead it creates its own which are clunky. Also, it uses F9 to refresh a view instead of F5. What does F5 do? It locks the application and requests authentication. Pretty much the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish with that key press. Internal folder handling is super wonky, and setting permissions are like a dog chasing its own tail.
They (ambiguous 'they') say Lotus Notes is more secure and safe than Exchange with Outlook. Probably because anytime someone thinks about writing a malicious worm for Notes it gives them a headache.
The people that really need to watch out are Lotus. I've been admining a Domino server for about 8 years now and let me tell you, it's the second biggest pain in the ass that I have to deal with. Google's solution would fully replace Lotus for all the things we use it for and actually do it better.
Both formats have gone beyond the resolution of my eyes (and ears). Where I find this both funny and true, we need to keep in mind that higher resolutions are primarily intended for larger display area, which means the pixels per inch aren't really going up much at all.
As televisions are getting commonly larger so is the amount of data required to fill their display area. If a TV is now six times as big as it was fifteen years ago, should there not be six times as much information to display on it?
Quite interesting stuff. It should be a lot cheaper than existing methods where you have highly trained staff spending large amounts of time doing this work. Instead, you get a robot to do it for far less (and cut out trips to the hospital so patients can convalesce at home or in a nursing home).
They also allow precise measurement of the progress you're making. How much force, how accurate your motion, how steady your speed - everything can be recorded and optimised for even better therapies.
I wouldn't think of it so much as a replacement for therapists as really a tool for therapists to do their jobs even better. Even more important than the mechanical restoration of physical abilities is the rebuilding of a person's self worth. A pretty strong effect of strokes is depression - people think there is nothing they can contribute any longer and they are purely a drain on their loved ones. Therapists are trained to repair the physical damage, but most importantly the emotional and psychological. If the stroke victim emotionally doesn't want to physically get better, these new technologies are just wasted on them.
Actually, I usually buy the NCAA Football and Madden games every year. There's nothing wrong necessarily with sports games, but it sucks when something with that little "substance" takes such a large share of the pie every single year. At least they're relatively good games, though. It's even worse when crap like Star Wars Episode 3, Spider-Man The Move, or *shudder* the Matrix games sell a lot only because of their title and graphics. Remember Masters of Teras Kasi or Episode 1: Pod Racer? God those were some awful games. Even Hollywood gets original movies in more often than the video game industry. Sure Happy Feet and Night at the Museum sucked, but at least they're not goddamned sequels. I think what blows me away is that the sequel sports games are usually 'full price', for what is essentially a database update. New team / player stats, and a handful of new features. They're not really creating anything, they're just digitizing it. And once they have a foundation it's basically a money train.
Have you or have you not had a chance to try Wii Sports yet? Actually I haven't, but a Wii is on my next Christmas list. The last Nintendo console I owned was a NES. It's probably time to revisit the great Nintendo empire.
Ah, so it wasn't about releasing the game with the features they thought it should have. It was about getting it out for sale by the date the marketing people had set. I spent about a year at a small town news paper. One day, out of frustration, I asked my boss if it was more important that the paper be on time or of quality.
Without hesitation she said, "On time".
I was shocked. "You mean that we shouldn't wait five, ten minutes to actually have a page correct? That we care more about delivering something than delivering something we're proud of?"
"Yes."
A friend of mine dubbed the time we live in as The Microwave Generation. Everything has to be Now! Now! Now! and quality seems to have lost its hold on creativity.
Fortunately now I work for an advertising agency (how is this fortunate?) where quality does indeed matter. Nothing leaves the building without multiple peer reviews and the stamp of approval from the head boss man, who is in his own right a creative genius. We don't make crap ads here - we're proud of what we do.
Re:Licensing, licensing, marketing
on
Why Do Games Sell?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
1/3 are EA Sports titles. That's pretty sad. Sports are a proven entertainment industry. There is a fan base of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions. A lot of them are cross sectioned with video game players. It just makes good business sense, really.
Personally I hate sports video games. The only ones I've really ever found myself enjoying (so far) are Techmo Bowl (NES) and Virtua Tennis (DC) and Gran Turismo 3 & 4 (PS2).
It's like Lego hooking up with the Star Wars franchise. Lego is cool. Star Wars is cool. Make Lego Star Wars sets and everybody wins. The three largest (if not more) Lego sets ever produced are all Star Wars - the newest of which is brand new (~5200 piece Millennium Falcon!!).
So if you want to dethrone EA Sports as the largest 'genre' of popular games you need to find something that is as popular with people who like video games as sports and start producing good games. I'd suggest Star Wars, but they've pretty much fucked up that industry with games that continually fall short.
They only need to look as far as the crew on a submarine to see what makeup can last a year. AFIK they are all male crew. The difference there is those guys are professional killers, trained to move about in total silence while stalking and eventually killing their prey. Lisa Nowak (the psychotic astronaut), however, is not, and completely fucked up a perfectly good killin` (:
And besides, we know everyone in the Navy is gay. So no real problems there anyway.
I'm just glad MSN didn't come out on top. That would have ruined my day. Besides that, meh, it's an educated guess. So long as they can tell me "it's gonna be hot" or "it's gonna be cold", I'm cool with it. The weather forecasts for my area are almost always more incorrect than his findings, especially when it comes to precipitation.
If they can make a fucking card game a spectator's sport then surely watching video games can be a spectator's sport.
Depending on the game, there are some people I prefer to watch than play the game myself. A friend of mine is a killing machine in Halo - I'm good, but I've watched him play for hours online and not die. That's good TV.
But I'm not going to watch someone roll their Katamari into the same wall five times in a row without bitch slapping the controller out of their hands.
Likewise I'm not going to watch someone build a city. Nor am I going to watch someone ride their pet tiger across a green landscape.
It has to be fast paced and action packed. First person shooters with good viewing perspectives, real time strategies with massive battles, possibly even head to head puzzle games, but they'll all need constant stats, and really aggressive players.
How about the lumberjack competitions? It's a guy chopping down a tree. WTF. But it's how it's presented and all the information they give with it.
I cant imagine a real company allowing its data to be housed outside its control. You'd probably be surprised. A lot of small businesses have absolutely no clue about computers and just want everything to work. I did some work for an accountant who's computer was directly connected to the internet - refused to have a network installed because it broke his ISP's "one computer" rule (poorly worded by the ISP). Wouldn't even let me put a router device, Linksys / D-Link, etc, to block incoming traffic.
But if Google sells a server in a box that houses all the apps needed to meet most of the documents needed, it could make sense. IT takes care of maintaining this big server. I thought Google used to provide a local Google search server that did web caching and also would catalog the internal file servers?
That's the way to go. they need a tower version too, though. But $30,000 for searching 500,000 documents? Shit, in my company of ~50 employees we have 10x that much. And Google searching them isn't worth $30k over using the built in OS searchers. If it provided all the Google services, customized for a domain, that would kick ass. And the cases even look cool;)
And besides, we don't search our file servers much anymore. About six years ago I laid down the law on how files would be stored. Department > client > job > job phase > file. If it isn't there, it isn't there.
While I understand why these people are upset, why do people always feel the need to sue? I used to agree. Sueing seemed childish to me. Like tattling for your own benefit. But honestly, a lot of times a company won't listen until you get their attention with a lawsuit. And more than that they're getting lots of publicity about it. Whether they win or lose the lawsuit, the customers have hurt NVidia's public image and that's perhaps enough to satisfy them.
I always wait for a price break on the video game equipment. Hell, any electronics for that matter. Early adoption is both expensive and often a bit of a gamble. Might as well wait a year or two and get more for your money.
I would imagine it's because a HUGE population out there just doesn't understand or care what a "default page" is, how to change it, or that someone (or some kitty'n'virus download executable) left their computer with such a page as the default. They know they want to "look it up on the Googles" so they get to it by typing google in the "slot" or "address bar" that's right there in the middle of the screen every time they launch "the Internet." Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!
As a system administrator and local geek, I have hundreds of people who function exactly like this. You tell them to "Type it in the address bar", and they respond, "The what?" I've watched people use a search engine as if it were the address bar. I've even watched them type in the entire web address, http://www.google.com/ into Yahoo!'s search field and click 'Search', then click the Google search result. Though I suppose now they'd just go back to Yahoo!'s search page again?
Of all the things we hate Microsoft for, naming their web browser "Internet Explorer" is on the top of my list. However! At least they label the address bar, where as Mozilla's Firefox is just a white box with a green arrow.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sure that discarded computers are pretty low on the list of things filling our dumps. Are there taxes on other things like cars or home appliances to cover the cost of disposing of them?
Sort of, but that's still allowing anyone to edit and make entries - just being monitored by "experts". I'd say start at the source of the information. Only allow experts to make changes.
They could host a second wikipedia site, edu.wikipedia.org or some such, using all the same software started with an empty database. In order to get an editors account you'd have to provide credentials from an upstanding college or university. Then see if it ever gets used.
I guess that's a good demonstration of the mean intelligence level here. People would rather go into ChumpUSA and be abused by surly salespeople than order something online to save a few bucks. Or maybe that's all that is available to work in a computer retail store in Louisiana.
"The only intuitive interface is the nipple. Everything else is learned."
It takes time. And like other people have stated, I don't know that efficiency was necessarily the goal anyway.
Apple claims that OS X / Aqua is super easy to use, but I think more important to them and their users is that it looks pretty. People probably aren't going to take the time to learn an interface if they don't enjoy looking at it in the first place.
Jeff Probst is the Survivor host. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Probst
Larry Probst is the EA CEO. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Probst
Get your funny named rich people straight, sheesh.
iPod Sales
... colors ;), better wireless, more networks, significantly increased battery life, and better applications.
The iPod was overpriced, underpowered, and in a wickedly restricted market. They were into their third year before they even began to see sales increases, fourth year before it was significant, and wasn't until the fifth and sixth year that it began defining the industry.
Give this phone time and changes. Initial adoption will be slim, but Apple just needs a foot in the door and the device will become more obtainable and universal.
The difference between the original iPod and the original iPhone is that the original iPod didn't kick ass. It was just another Mp3 player, but had a very small target audience. The iPhone can easily be used by anyone willing to cough up the cash, and is one of the most amazing devices we've seen. Starting out it's a better iPod than the original iPod!
Where in this post I picked on three factors the iPod had to deal with, I'll only pick on one for the iPhone.
Raise your hand if you can afford a $600 phone.
I'd give it two years and every feature will be dramatically improved on including the price. Better camera, more storage, higher resolution display, hell
In no way am I an early adopter, but I thank all the rich folk who pour money into the pockets of the developers so that they can improve a toy for me (:
I'm ok with this. After all it's called "YouTube", not "TheirTube". People should be posting original works only. That was the point of YouTube in the first place.
What's the first? Probably fonts on Macs, both OS X and previous. But really I used that sentence to sound more valid, when in reality I haven't had many problems out of Lotus Notes / Domino in quite some time (: It used to be a daily battle to get the server to do what I wanted. Perhaps the real reason I don't have as many problems with it anymore is because I gave up trying to comprehend its bastardized configuration file. I also threw more than triple the hardware at it than is recommended for the level of my deployment.
The problems, for me as a user, that still linger with Lotus apps are ones that revolve around user interface. It doesn't use the Windows Explorer 'Open / Save' dialog boxes - instead it creates its own which are clunky. Also, it uses F9 to refresh a view instead of F5. What does F5 do? It locks the application and requests authentication. Pretty much the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish with that key press. Internal folder handling is super wonky, and setting permissions are like a dog chasing its own tail.
They (ambiguous 'they') say Lotus Notes is more secure and safe than Exchange with Outlook. Probably because anytime someone thinks about writing a malicious worm for Notes it gives them a headache.
The people that really need to watch out are Lotus. I've been admining a Domino server for about 8 years now and let me tell you, it's the second biggest pain in the ass that I have to deal with. Google's solution would fully replace Lotus for all the things we use it for and actually do it better.
As televisions are getting commonly larger so is the amount of data required to fill their display area. If a TV is now six times as big as it was fifteen years ago, should there not be six times as much information to display on it?
Quite interesting stuff. It should be a lot cheaper than existing methods where you have highly trained staff spending large amounts of time doing this work. Instead, you get a robot to do it for far less (and cut out trips to the hospital so patients can convalesce at home or in a nursing home).
... ;)
They also allow precise measurement of the progress you're making. How much force, how accurate your motion, how steady your speed - everything can be recorded and optimised for even better therapies.
I wouldn't think of it so much as a replacement for therapists as really a tool for therapists to do their jobs even better. Even more important than the mechanical restoration of physical abilities is the rebuilding of a person's self worth. A pretty strong effect of strokes is depression - people think there is nothing they can contribute any longer and they are purely a drain on their loved ones. Therapists are trained to repair the physical damage, but most importantly the emotional and psychological. If the stroke victim emotionally doesn't want to physically get better, these new technologies are just wasted on them.
Yes, I am married to an occupational therapist and daughter of a stroke survivor
Without hesitation she said, "On time".
I was shocked. "You mean that we shouldn't wait five, ten minutes to actually have a page correct? That we care more about delivering something than delivering something we're proud of?"
"Yes."
A friend of mine dubbed the time we live in as The Microwave Generation. Everything has to be Now! Now! Now! and quality seems to have lost its hold on creativity.
Fortunately now I work for an advertising agency (how is this fortunate?) where quality does indeed matter. Nothing leaves the building without multiple peer reviews and the stamp of approval from the head boss man, who is in his own right a creative genius. We don't make crap ads here - we're proud of what we do.
Personally I hate sports video games. The only ones I've really ever found myself enjoying (so far) are Techmo Bowl (NES) and Virtua Tennis (DC) and Gran Turismo 3 & 4 (PS2).
It's like Lego hooking up with the Star Wars franchise. Lego is cool. Star Wars is cool. Make Lego Star Wars sets and everybody wins. The three largest (if not more) Lego sets ever produced are all Star Wars - the newest of which is brand new (~5200 piece Millennium Falcon!!).
So if you want to dethrone EA Sports as the largest 'genre' of popular games you need to find something that is as popular with people who like video games as sports and start producing good games. I'd suggest Star Wars, but they've pretty much fucked up that industry with games that continually fall short.
And besides, we know everyone in the Navy is gay. So no real problems there anyway.
I'm just glad MSN didn't come out on top. That would have ruined my day. Besides that, meh, it's an educated guess. So long as they can tell me "it's gonna be hot" or "it's gonna be cold", I'm cool with it. The weather forecasts for my area are almost always more incorrect than his findings, especially when it comes to precipitation.
;)
Eh, at least they get the Moon phases right
If they can make a fucking card game a spectator's sport then surely watching video games can be a spectator's sport.
Depending on the game, there are some people I prefer to watch than play the game myself. A friend of mine is a killing machine in Halo - I'm good, but I've watched him play for hours online and not die. That's good TV.
But I'm not going to watch someone roll their Katamari into the same wall five times in a row without bitch slapping the controller out of their hands.
Likewise I'm not going to watch someone build a city. Nor am I going to watch someone ride their pet tiger across a green landscape.
It has to be fast paced and action packed. First person shooters with good viewing perspectives, real time strategies with massive battles, possibly even head to head puzzle games, but they'll all need constant stats, and really aggressive players.
How about the lumberjack competitions? It's a guy chopping down a tree. WTF. But it's how it's presented and all the information they give with it.
Ah, there it is. http://www.google.com/enterprise/
That's the way to go. they need a tower version too, though. But $30,000 for searching 500,000 documents? Shit, in my company of ~50 employees we have 10x that much. And Google searching them isn't worth $30k over using the built in OS searchers. If it provided all the Google services, customized for a domain, that would kick ass. And the cases even look cool
And besides, we don't search our file servers much anymore. About six years ago I laid down the law on how files would be stored. Department > client > job > job phase > file. If it isn't there, it isn't there.
To make sure sex offenders do not have computers, or access to computers? But even easier to just put them in jail together and then leave them there.
I always wait for a price break on the video game equipment. Hell, any electronics for that matter. Early adoption is both expensive and often a bit of a gamble. Might as well wait a year or two and get more for your money.
As a system administrator and local geek, I have hundreds of people who function exactly like this. You tell them to "Type it in the address bar", and they respond, "The what?" I've watched people use a search engine as if it were the address bar. I've even watched them type in the entire web address, http://www.google.com/ into Yahoo!'s search field and click 'Search', then click the Google search result. Though I suppose now they'd just go back to Yahoo!'s search page again?
Of all the things we hate Microsoft for, naming their web browser "Internet Explorer" is on the top of my list. However! At least they label the address bar, where as Mozilla's Firefox is just a white box with a green arrow.