You are an american jackass buying a beautiful, lusty phone, but that doesn't have lots of standard features people expect on phones,
Every time someone says or writes this, I crack up inside.
"Standard features people expect on phones"? Dude, all the features I expect in a PHONE is the ability to make phone calls, store phone numbers, and occasionally send and receive a text message. Do you seriously think "Flash and Java support in the browser" is a STANDARD phone feature? Most portable phones still don't have a web browser at all.
Bluetooth isn't high-bandwidth enough that I'd want to use it for file transfers. It's easier to download the email on my iPhone AND my computer.
You don't NEED to use the thing as a modem because it's practically a Mac already.
When you figure out a good way to implement copy-and-paste using two fingers on a touch screen, let me know.
Realistically, the only big holes in the iPhone's feature set are IM support (everyone would probably complain that AOL and iChat are the only ones supported), but they're really only a downloadable widget away; and GPS, which would require additional hardware and a bigger iPhone and will doubtless be sold by Belkin any time now. Outside of those, every major complaint you have can be fixed with a 2.0 software update.
Could someone please indulge me as to why there is such a dire focus on child pornography?
Because it tends to be associated, justly or unjustly, with child sexual abuse. (Of course, in a broader sense of the word, it is child sexual abuse.)
And while I am a parent and therefore biased about such things, there are few crimes that equate with the permanent psychological damage child abuse causes. It doesn't take a life, but it does damage an innocent one in a way that is impossible to erase.
"snuff films, brutal rape, torture, etc."... horrible things, no doubt, but they don't seem to have quite the dark popularity, either.
The cops are on duty, their income is supplied by individuals like this man.
No, this is a common misconception. Their income is supplied by the police department, which is budgeted for by the local government, which is funded by taxpayers like this man.
It's equally true that the police enforce the laws which protect my property, my life, and my job, but I wouldn't dare to argue that this implies that my income is supplied by police officers.
if these things can't stand up to the pounding that a normal mobile phone takes in the course of a day, you're going to see sales tail off pretty damned fast.
Wow. Y'know, I'll bet Apple -- who for years has been making their iPods durable enough that you can drop it six feet while jogging without causing any internal damage -- never even thought about that when they designed this thing.
"Blah blah greasy fingerprints on monitors" Yeah, anyone with half a brain can think of 10 reasons why this is dumb
The biggest reason, of course, is cost. The bigger the touch screen, the faster its cost goes up.
On the other hand, I can see the value of a small touchscreen under the actual display for lesser functions, like iTunes controls or Dashboard widgets.
Why not make a full screen iPod or iPhone Nano, and put an operational touchpanel on the back side?
Hmm. I don't like the idea of a screen on the front while you manipulate a scroll wheel on the back, out of your sight. It's novel, but it breaks so many ergonomic principles I wouldn't know where to begin.
$1,000,000 is quite ambiguous, doesn't specify US legal tender...
I doubt you'd get away with Monopoly money, but it's true it doesn't specify US dollars. Perhaps you could make a road trip to Canadia for their new million dollar coin?
Heck, as much as I love the show I could have passed on season 5 of Babylon 5. Maybe a 4 year plan is a good thing?
Oh, you know that's not their fault. JMS crammed most of season 5 into season 4 because the show wasn't certain to be renewed. By the time it was renewed, it was far too late, and he had to do the best he could with making season 5 interesting.
On the other hand, this is a stellar example of why most tv shows don't follow JMS' model for B5. Any show, anywhere, is only guaranteed one season at a time. Same goes for your actors--you shouldn't plan storylines for a character three seasons into the future if they might leave after two.
Out of all the fiction shows on the air today, I think "24" has things working perfectly. Much like British and Japanese shows (and most novels), they plan a complete and closed story for one season and one season only, but leave the characters open to a new season and a new story next year.
You can either make a very good show with long plot arcs that has time to tell an interesting story, or you can make a crappy episodic show that strings together a bunch of poor quality rushed stories.
The compromise, though, is that you are mainly episodic for the first two or three seasons, and become more serialized as your viewer base establishes itself. When you're a new show, you don't want episode 1 to be required viewing for episodes 2 and 3, nor should you leave major plotlines from episode 1 dangling until episodes 4 and 5. "Galactica" did both.
"Babylon 5" worked this way, as do most shows. "Star Trek: TNG" was episodic all the way through, but "DS9" became more serialized only in the later seasons.
the Google study analyzed the main methods by which criminals inject malicious code on to innocent web pages. It found that the code was often contained in those parts of the website not designed or controlled by the website owner, such as banner adverts and widgets
I am shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that a company that makes money selling ads on other websites would want to highlight malware-spouting ads by other companies.
Yes, I agree that identifying these ads is a Good Thing. No, I don't think publicly-traded Google's intentions are entirely noble.
I wonder if they would have gotten more viewers if the show were on a "major" network as opposed to the SciFi Channel.
Doubtful. Being on HBO certainly hasn't hurt the popularity of "The Sopranos".
I tried watching BG early on, but just couldn't get into it. The show was too serialized (episodes were chapters of a larger story, not stories in themselves), too dark, and too confusing to newcomers. There wasn't any hope that things would get better or come to a positive end for any of the characters. Why would most people want to watch a show like that?
Also, the jerky "reality-show" camera techniques got really annoying really fast.
That's a journal article complete with references. You're forgiven for missing it since VentureBeat doesn't underline their links to make them more visible.
The VSTF method also helps readers identify the syntactic structure of a sentence. Syntax is more complex than a simple, concatenated sequence of one phrase after another; rather, it is hierarchical, much like a set of Russian dolls in which smaller dolls, or phrase-groups, are "nested" inside ever-larger ones. The human mind's capacity to build sentences through the recursive process of nesting language units inside other units is the essential feature that enables human language to represent an infinite number of meanings
I had to re-read that a few times to get what it means. But if we reformat it, like so:
The VSTF method
also helps readers
identify the syntactic structure
of a sentence.
Syntax
is more complex
than a simple, concatenated sequence
of one phrase
after another; rather,
it is hierarchical,
much like a set of Russian dolls
in which smaller dolls,
or phrase-groups,
are "nested"
inside ever-larger ones.
The human mind's capacity
to build sentences
through the recursive process
of nesting language units
inside other units
is the essential feature
that enables human language
to represent
an infinite number
of meanings.
I find it hard to argue that that's not easier to understand on first inspection than the original.
Well, it's not just indenting -- you can see from the highlights that they're breaking lines according to where the verbs are, kinda like those sentence diagrams you hated doing in junior high, and indenting according to the role that verb plays.
(On the flip side, this seems to suggest that the engine needs to work entirely differently based on what language you're reading.)
I'm kind of impressed, actually, in that the engine makes any kind of text look and read like non-rhyming poetry, implying that poets figured this technique out centuries before anyone actually codified it.
MRT and Bluebeat said the failure to use an available copyright protection solution contravenes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the manufacture of any product or technology designed to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work or protects the rights of copyright owners.
Oh... I see what you did there.
1. DCMA prohibits technology designed to circumvent DRM. 2. Failure to use DRM = active circumvention 3. Profit!
They appear to be assuming that copyright law is itself a DRM technology, and therefore digitizing copyrighted information without protecting it qualifies as "technology designed to circumvent".
The problem, of course, is that if there isn't any DRM in place, you can't circumvent it, and therefore the DMCA doesn't apply. P implies Q, but not-Q doesn't imply not-P.
Even if it isn't that good can we have some new Sci-Fi? Something that isn't a "franchise".
We have lots. "The Last Mimzy", most recently. "Pan's Labyrinth" was a terrific fantasy work, too, and "Stardust" is on the way in August.
The problem is that unless it's an action blockbuster, sci-fi and fantasy are tough sells -- partly because they have a special effects budget, but mostly because they have a small audience. My wife has a hard time enjoying any story that isn't rooted in the reality she lives every day, and most moviegoers are of the same mind. (That's a big part of why Spider-Man is always a bigger seller than the Fantastic Four.)
The best way to sell sci-fi and fantasy in Hollywood is to make it a mega-summer blockbuster, and the best kind of blockbuster is one that Hollywood KNOWS will sell tickets, and that means sequels to previous hits.
It's not as if literature is that much different. Many successful fantasy and sci-fi authors operate franchises of their own -- J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, and Tolkien Jr. and Herbert Jr. all spring immediately to mind.
Book readers and moviegoers always SAY they want something new, but what they really want most of the time is something old.
Slashdot Mirror
....that they are going to elaborate on the electrical device?
Well, in the movie, there was that brief joke where Sam's dad thought the mess in his backyard was caused by a falling power transformer.
The joke completely bypassed most of the audience, of course.
You are an american jackass buying a beautiful, lusty phone, but that doesn't have lots of standard features people expect on phones,
Every time someone says or writes this, I crack up inside.
"Standard features people expect on phones"? Dude, all the features I expect in a PHONE is the ability to make phone calls, store phone numbers, and occasionally send and receive a text message. Do you seriously think "Flash and Java support in the browser" is a STANDARD phone feature? Most portable phones still don't have a web browser at all.
Bluetooth isn't high-bandwidth enough that I'd want to use it for file transfers. It's easier to download the email on my iPhone AND my computer.
You don't NEED to use the thing as a modem because it's practically a Mac already.
When you figure out a good way to implement copy-and-paste using two fingers on a touch screen, let me know.
Realistically, the only big holes in the iPhone's feature set are IM support (everyone would probably complain that AOL and iChat are the only ones supported), but they're really only a downloadable widget away; and GPS, which would require additional hardware and a bigger iPhone and will doubtless be sold by Belkin any time now. Outside of those, every major complaint you have can be fixed with a 2.0 software update.
Ever notice how hot a UPS gets during normal operation? That's power going to waste.
Maybe for you. I've been using mine as a nacho-cheese warmer for months.
If someone involved in neuropsychology is looking for a good thesis, pinpointing exactly what is causing this effect would be wonderful.
It's not neuropsychology, it's basic sociology. Any culture that doesn't put its children's interests above its adults' will soon have neither.
Could someone please indulge me as to why there is such a dire focus on child pornography?
Because it tends to be associated, justly or unjustly, with child sexual abuse. (Of course, in a broader sense of the word, it is child sexual abuse.)
And while I am a parent and therefore biased about such things, there are few crimes that equate with the permanent psychological damage child abuse causes. It doesn't take a life, but it does damage an innocent one in a way that is impossible to erase.
"snuff films, brutal rape, torture, etc."... horrible things, no doubt, but they don't seem to have quite the dark popularity, either.
Those look like spam-mail fodder to me, to tell the truth.
The cops are on duty, their income is supplied by individuals like this man.
No, this is a common misconception. Their income is supplied by the police department, which is budgeted for by the local government, which is funded by taxpayers like this man.
It's equally true that the police enforce the laws which protect my property, my life, and my job, but I wouldn't dare to argue that this implies that my income is supplied by police officers.
if these things can't stand up to the pounding that a normal mobile phone takes in the course of a day, you're going to see sales tail off pretty damned fast.
Wow. Y'know, I'll bet Apple -- who for years has been making their iPods durable enough that you can drop it six feet while jogging without causing any internal damage -- never even thought about that when they designed this thing.
Yes. It used to be this :-) now it's this :(
I thought it was changing into something more like this ^_^
When guns are patented, only patent clerks will own guns.
Don't buy anything with DRM on it. Let their accountants do your talking.
What, you want me to give up DVDs completely? Fat chance of that, I'm still waiting to get the "Doctor Who: Season 2" box set.
Do you look at hand when you move your mouse?
No, but when I control my mouse I don't have my big thumb obstructing most of the monitor, either.
"Blah blah greasy fingerprints on monitors" Yeah, anyone with half a brain can think of 10 reasons why this is dumb
The biggest reason, of course, is cost. The bigger the touch screen, the faster its cost goes up.
On the other hand, I can see the value of a small touchscreen under the actual display for lesser functions, like iTunes controls or Dashboard widgets.
Why not make a full screen iPod or iPhone Nano, and put an operational touchpanel on the back side?
Hmm. I don't like the idea of a screen on the front while you manipulate a scroll wheel on the back, out of your sight. It's novel, but it breaks so many ergonomic principles I wouldn't know where to begin.
$1,000,000 is quite ambiguous, doesn't specify US legal tender...
I doubt you'd get away with Monopoly money, but it's true it doesn't specify US dollars. Perhaps you could make a road trip to Canadia for their new million dollar coin?
Heck, as much as I love the show I could have passed on season 5 of Babylon 5. Maybe a 4 year plan is a good thing?
Oh, you know that's not their fault. JMS crammed most of season 5 into season 4 because the show wasn't certain to be renewed. By the time it was renewed, it was far too late, and he had to do the best he could with making season 5 interesting.
On the other hand, this is a stellar example of why most tv shows don't follow JMS' model for B5. Any show, anywhere, is only guaranteed one season at a time. Same goes for your actors--you shouldn't plan storylines for a character three seasons into the future if they might leave after two.
Out of all the fiction shows on the air today, I think "24" has things working perfectly. Much like British and Japanese shows (and most novels), they plan a complete and closed story for one season and one season only, but leave the characters open to a new season and a new story next year.
You can either make a very good show with long plot arcs that has time to tell an interesting story, or you can make a crappy episodic show that strings together a bunch of poor quality rushed stories.
The compromise, though, is that you are mainly episodic for the first two or three seasons, and become more serialized as your viewer base establishes itself. When you're a new show, you don't want episode 1 to be required viewing for episodes 2 and 3, nor should you leave major plotlines from episode 1 dangling until episodes 4 and 5. "Galactica" did both.
"Babylon 5" worked this way, as do most shows. "Star Trek: TNG" was episodic all the way through, but "DS9" became more serialized only in the later seasons.
Wouldn't it be far better to have safer browsers than to shut out (as many people or their organizations will do) 10% of the web?
Yes, but there's nothing Google can do about that.
Google does not yet make a web browser that can out-marketshare Internet Explorer.
They do, however, have a search engine that significantly out-marketshares MSN Search.
the Google study analyzed the main methods by which criminals inject malicious code on to innocent web pages. It found that the code was often contained in those parts of the website not designed or controlled by the website owner, such as banner adverts and widgets
I am shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that a company that makes money selling ads on other websites would want to highlight malware-spouting ads by other companies.
Yes, I agree that identifying these ads is a Good Thing. No, I don't think publicly-traded Google's intentions are entirely noble.
I wonder if they would have gotten more viewers if the show were on a "major" network as opposed to the SciFi Channel.
Doubtful. Being on HBO certainly hasn't hurt the popularity of "The Sopranos".
I tried watching BG early on, but just couldn't get into it. The show was too serialized (episodes were chapters of a larger story, not stories in themselves), too dark, and too confusing to newcomers. There wasn't any hope that things would get better or come to a positive end for any of the characters. Why would most people want to watch a show like that?
Also, the jerky "reality-show" camera techniques got really annoying really fast.
Did they do such a shoddy job in the study? Why is there no link to a peer-reviewed study?
s p?HREF=/articles/r_walker/
There was: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.a
That's a journal article complete with references. You're forgiven for missing it since VentureBeat doesn't underline their links to make them more visible.
I had to re-read that a few times to get what it means. But if we reformat it, like so:
The VSTF method
also helps readers
identify the syntactic structure
of a sentence.
Syntax
is more complex
than a simple, concatenated sequence
of one phrase
after another;
rather,
it is hierarchical,
much like a set of Russian dolls
in which smaller dolls,
or phrase-groups,
are "nested"
inside ever-larger ones.
The human mind's capacity
to build sentences
through the recursive process
of nesting language units
inside other units
is the essential feature
that enables human language
to represent
an infinite number
of meanings.
I find it hard to argue that that's not easier to understand on first inspection than the original.
Well, it's not just indenting -- you can see from the highlights that they're breaking lines according to where the verbs are, kinda like those sentence diagrams you hated doing in junior high, and indenting according to the role that verb plays.
(On the flip side, this seems to suggest that the engine needs to work entirely differently based on what language you're reading.)
I'm kind of impressed, actually, in that the engine makes any kind of text look and read like non-rhyming poetry, implying that poets figured this technique out centuries before anyone actually codified it.
MRT and Bluebeat said the failure to use an available copyright protection solution contravenes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the manufacture of any product or technology designed to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work or protects the rights of copyright owners.
Oh... I see what you did there.
1. DCMA prohibits technology designed to circumvent DRM.
2. Failure to use DRM = active circumvention
3. Profit!
They appear to be assuming that copyright law is itself a DRM technology, and therefore digitizing copyrighted information without protecting it qualifies as "technology designed to circumvent".
The problem, of course, is that if there isn't any DRM in place, you can't circumvent it, and therefore the DMCA doesn't apply. P implies Q, but not-Q doesn't imply not-P.
Even if it isn't that good can we have some new Sci-Fi? Something that isn't a "franchise".
We have lots. "The Last Mimzy", most recently. "Pan's Labyrinth" was a terrific fantasy work, too, and "Stardust" is on the way in August.
The problem is that unless it's an action blockbuster, sci-fi and fantasy are tough sells -- partly because they have a special effects budget, but mostly because they have a small audience. My wife has a hard time enjoying any story that isn't rooted in the reality she lives every day, and most moviegoers are of the same mind. (That's a big part of why Spider-Man is always a bigger seller than the Fantastic Four.)
The best way to sell sci-fi and fantasy in Hollywood is to make it a mega-summer blockbuster, and the best kind of blockbuster is one that Hollywood KNOWS will sell tickets, and that means sequels to previous hits.
It's not as if literature is that much different. Many successful fantasy and sci-fi authors operate franchises of their own -- J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, and Tolkien Jr. and Herbert Jr. all spring immediately to mind.
Book readers and moviegoers always SAY they want something new, but what they really want most of the time is something old.