I'm not going to rehash the several posts from before that explain in detail why Real sucks. It does. That's a fact.
To think that it's a victory for OGG that another 'mainstreme' app supports it is assinine.
All this means is, if you have to install Real for certian media, it will take over the file extension and it will take that much longer to load and that much more tracking of your online habits.
We need to stop cheering whenever some big, sloppy crappy application takes a shine to an otherwise good format, and start enjoying the format as it stands.
I cannot stress how few people drive predictably (especially here in Albuquerque)
Here in Phoenix, we are lucky. Everybody drives predictably: They will ignore every other car on the road.
I moved here a few years ago, and was surprised that nobody seems to understand the concept of turn signals.
If you are on the Freeweay, and you need to get over to another lane, and there is a small gap and you turn on your turn signal for a car to see, logic should dictate to other drivers that you do, in fact, intend to change lanes.
But in every instance, I sit there for a quarter mile with my turn signel on and a small but safe gap to change lanes, and when I finally get fed up with waiting for the other driver to slow down, I change lanes.
Inevitably, I get a horn blasted and the bird from the other driver. I give them the bird in return, because now I'm usually steamed too.
I sometimes wish they would follow me, and when I stop, and they get out of the car to yell at me for 'cutting them off', I could point at those funny looking glass things above my break lights.
"You see those? You know, when those things are flashing, that means I'm going to change lanes. You will usually get a warning. 20-30 seconds should be enough. Trust me, those just aren't there to make pretty flashing lights for your amusment, they mean something!"
I know regardless they will screw around for a while, just like I did when I first got my license, but overall, I'd like to think I was a good enough parent to teach them to be responsible.
But it comes down to a very simple equation: If you don't trust your kids enough to handle a car on their own without some electronic device tracking them, you shouldn't let them drive at all.
It irks me whenever something comes out that takes the burden of evaluating the responsibility of childern away from the parents. "Oh, little Johnny is a handful, and he can't be trusted, but this little box will make sure he never does anything wrong".
Right. And while they peel away little Johnnys brains from the dashboard along with his freinds and a carload of innocent moterists, I'm sure that black box will make everything better after the fact.
The difference is the distribution channels in each media. Any guy off the street can put up a web page, and most of the time, yeah, it will be crap. But to get your program on television requires a great deal of funding and industry connections.
The advertising model found on most stations prevents innovation at most points, because it evalulates a program based on mass appeal to target demographics instead of basic quality.
The assumption that which programs are to be aired are only done so because people will like them is false, simply because the industry executives can't seem to figure out what people will like and what they won't. Instead, they tend to fall back on variations of a common formula which can yeild an acceptable level of ratings.
Television in and of itself is not a flawed media, but the practice and procedures of the distribution of the media is. The Internet doesn't have this fault because as a general rule there is no central corporate control over the distribution system. Innovation typically is discovered and spread by word of mouth far more often then in telivision, despite all the crap and noise.
Namely, I never record television programs anymore. If I don't have time to watch them in the first place, it's doubtful I'll get around to watching it later. I tried for a while, and ended up with a collection of tapes I never looked at. Combine this with the fact that the quality of broadcast (or commerical) television continues to go down, and I just sort of shrug.
Somehow, I can see good comming out of this. If commerical television succeeds in upsetting its customer base more and more, I have a feeling consumers will tend to move towards commerical free subscription channels and services. There are great models already in place for this.
1. Pay-per view. For films, this is a great feature. Most services for a one time fee allow you to view a movie as many times and whenever you want in a particular time frame.
2. The 'HBO' model. HBO continues to produce their own content, and as a general rule it's much better then its counterpart on commerical TV. Using digital cable, they can broadcast 10+ channels at the same time (for basically the same fee to the end user). More often then not, if you miss a favorate program, it will be on a dozen more times in the following week.
I wish more commerical stations would take that sort of view, and move towards a subscription service. I can think as an example the TNN channel, which I find myself watching more and more (some neet movies and a ton of star trek re-runs). Would I pay $5 a month for the same content commerical free and unedited despite the fact that its mainly re-runs? Absolutly
Would I pay $5 a month to see the golf channel without commericals? No. I don't need 300 channels of commerical television because 90% of it I won't watch. Would I fight for the right to record the content on those commerical stations? Nope.
I have snooped around my university's computer system when I was younger because I was curious, even though I probably shouldn't.
I have made a joke about the sobriety of the pilot on an America West flight.
I also am a patriot and love America. Why the fuck does the government, media, and corporate world keep wanting to throw me in the same catagory as a bunch of psychopathic assheads who fly airplanes into buildings?
Let me predicate this by saying I have used or seen a Transmeta product. And in that, I think is the problem.
Going back a few years, I remember the buzz surrounding Transmeta. 'There is this company that's developing something ground-breaking... and Linus Torvolds is working there!' If memory serves me, investors--any investor would give their eye teeth to just be able to put money into something 'groundbreaking' being worked on by Torvolds.
Then we finally saw what it was. A chip. Oh. . . Well, what makes the chip so special? It uses less power. Oh. . . Does that change anything for us? Sure, your laptop batteries will last a little longer, and if you run a server your electric bills might be a little lower. Oh.
Of course, I'm not a programmer or do work on hardware, but for me this was a letdown after so much hype second only to learning 'It' was nothing more then scooter that was hard to tip over.
That was two years ago, and despite the fact that there is some benefit to the otherwise ho-hum technology, where is it? I buy a lot of computers, and I don't even know where to buy a Transmeta equipped machine (then again, I've never really looked, and have never been given a good reason to look).
So, again, this seems obvious. A company pours a big chunk of change into a product that never sees the light of day on a mainstream store shelf... a product that I quickly forget about and am only reminded from time to time on Slashdot stories.
I suppose, scanning the posts, that there are a handful of gee-wiz products out there (albeit not in the United States) with a Caruso chip, but I just don't see them, or see any reasoning to spend the extra money on them.
And so Transmeta starts laying off people. It just seems to be the next logical choice.
or three feature length movies, optimization for cool runnings
I can think of a few better movies to optimize a computer for....
But seriously, I like this idea, or at least the direction its going, and I don't think it really needs to be vaporware (if these guys don't do it, someone else will). As tech gets more advanced, smaller, and cheaper, more will be intergrated into a personal device.
Currently I'm happy with my laptop and palm, but I could see buying something like this if all these features were included:
A modern easy to use OS and interface that can read multiple audio/vidio formats, can view and modify standard spreadsheet and text documents, and a simple e-mail client.
A suite of wireless interfaces (8011x, digital cellualar etc) that allows voice and data communications to existing pay cell networks and the growing wireless networks.
Easy and inexpensive docking hardware that allows you to have access to more triditional PC input/output devices.
Decent handwriting interpritation software to take notes on.
Make it small enough to fit inside a coat pocket, give it a realistic 12 hour battery life, and sell it for less then $200, and I'll buy it.
I really expect something like this to come about in 5 years.
Remember - it's not malicious interference if you actually intended to use it for something ("I wanted to access my network from my... porch, yard, etc.)
For now. But I have a sinking feeling that it will be in the future. Companies have ways of taking something people do for fun and pleasure, finding a way to make money off of it, and removing the freedom from individuals.
What will scare me is when big companies start taking up all the wireless 'channels'.
I live on the edge of a pretty heavy commerical district. Company decides to set up a wireless lan on the channel I use for mine. There is really nothing I can do about it; either switch channels (despite the fact that I was there first) or keep using my channel and cause the potential for both our networks to interfere with each other. However, if my laptop happens to see some of thier network traffic as I walked from one end of the house to the other, somehow I'm a criminal.
What I see in the future is, companys sets up nation-wide lan. Decide amoung themselves how to divy up the channels, get their lobbyists to go to congress and tell them 'We are running a business, there are private individuals who are broadcasting that interfere with our business'.
Suddenly, my WAP is illegal. It interfers with a company, I get fined by the FCC.
I sat down and did some math. With all the different HBOs/Cinemax and the package deals, I end up paying about $1 per channel per month. In that, I get movies and orgininal shows uncensored and commerical free.
Outside of those channels, I only watch about ten of the ~200 'normal' channels, with very little frequency. So I get to pay about $4 per channel with edited movies and ever increasing advertising.
Granted, some of that money from basic packaging goes directly for the cable overhead, but still, why am I paying more per watched channels with advertising then the better ad-free channels??
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor when a joke is made.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting via HIS followers to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments. If the retarded mods spend their time modding down the comments of Migor, they can not use their points modding down relevent comments.
And then, upon the day of conclusion, Migor shall eat the soul of the retarded mods. He will have a great feast, and will BBQ the souls of the retarded mods in his mighty spaceship. There will be plastic forks and spoons. There will be pasta salad. Cake will also be served.
I am NOT Migor, only a vessel through which Migor speaks.
What record companies have forgotten is that word of mouth is a very powerful thing
They havn't forgotten, they just know that their canned distribution model is a lot more powerful (at least for profits).
You are exactly what they are afraid of. I don't know if your music is any good or not, but some guy who just came from the ivy league and sits in a chair behind an executive desk at a record company hasn't given you his seal of approval, and therefore a record company can't plug you into a formula (x dollers for promtion, x dollers for a video = y dollers in profits regardless of the bands talent).
I wish you luck on your tour, and am very excited to see a band make it because of the Internet.
A better question should be can local music save newspapers. When I used to buy a paper, I typically did so to look for something in particular; classfied ads, movie listings, the latest electronic store ads, even the comics. Occasionally if I had a few hours to kill, I'd actualy read the news.
But the net has given all of those things to me for free, and a heck of a lot faster. So newspapers have to find new ways to bring in revenue. I don't (and currently won't) pay for a local newspaper online, but I would if it were to provide new avenues of information like local band MP3s. This is such a great and fantastic idea.
If my local newspaper were to still provide the news and information I want online and add mp3s from local bands (and who knows what else), I'd have no reservations about plunking down $15 a month for it.
This whole thing worries me. I sure as heck feel bad for anyone who has to work the phones at the Wal Mart tech support line.
"I cant get this to work" Did you read the man page on it? "Huh? Whats that?" Ok, fine. Drop to shell, I'll walk you through it. "What the heck is that? Where is my start button? Where is the control panel? My pockets hurt."
It really depends on the curriculum. I have this image of thousands of high schools making their kids construct from an assigned and approved text. I'm sure companies will come along and start marking 'kits' that work with these assigned texts and designs.
The downside to this would be virtually identical bots in uninspiring battles. I really hope we don't see this. It would be nice if the course focused on basic engineering fundamentals and then found ways to foster innovation.
In either event, I'm happy to see this. Get people proficient in robotics at an early age, and by the time they become adults we will see some really amazing things.
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor when a joke is made.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments. If the retarded mods spend their time modding down the comments of Migor, they can not use their points modding down relevent comments.
And then, upon the day of conclusion, Migor shall eat the soul of the retarded mods. He will have a great feast, and will BBQ the souls of the retarded mods in his mighty spaceship. There will be plastic forks and spoons. There will be pasta salad. Cake will also be served.
I am NOT Migor, only a vessel through which Migor speaks.
Sounds like an interesting book
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High Score
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· Score: 4, Funny
But is it filled with the same sort of in-your-face 'look this is important because it compleatly re-defined our culture' that the review is? Or is it a good text that objectivly outlines the history and development of video games that the modern historian would find interesting and perhaps as a source text for future historians after the real cultural impact of video games has been discovered?
If it's the former, I would'nt want to read it. Speculitive works on the cultural attributes of technologies that are still emerging are typically usless. It would be like writing a book in 1909 on the cultural impact of the automobile.
Somehow I suspect this is more of the reviewer inserting his own 'golly gee look how technology is changing our lives' world view... but you never know.
Has irresponsible and ill-conceived advertising on the desktop left users unreceptive to this form of advertising?
I would say absolutly, and I agree with you compleatly. The legitimate ad industry has all but abandoned the Internet, leaving it filled with so many fly-by-night scams on one side and in your face annoyances on the other that the only time they have a real impact is when the user gets so annoyed he or she goes out of their way to get rid of them.
What's worse is, so many websites already are stuck in a business model that relies exclusivly on these ads (that nobody looks at anymore) as their only form of income.
I'd like to hope OSS does'nt go down that same path, for it's own sake.
About a year ago, I was fat. Not gross, but definatly verging on the relm of unattractive.
I looked into all these diets and there was so much conflicting information, that I just made up my own.
It was very, very simple. 1. No booze except on the weekends. 2. No matter what, no fast food (I still ate out quite a bit, just at sit down resturants where the nutritional value was a little better). 3. Walk for an hour a night. 4. If you ever are full, don't be afraid to stop eating (I had the bad habit of always needing to finish off my plate, even if I was'nt hungry).
Being somebody who spends 90% of his waking hours behind a computer in a desk chair (not to mention quite a few in my sleeping hours), it probably was the perfect fit.
I lost 45 pounds in 7 months, I feel much better, got to learn a lot more about my town (by walking), and have been told I look 'really good' by a number of very nice women.
I doubt this would work for somebody who was highly obese, or somebody who has a eating disorder... but chances are that for your average geek whos putting on the pounds, it just might work.
At least not anymore. A quick scan of his resume shows outside of Star Wars, Lucas has'nt been at the helm of a film in the directors chair since 1973's American Graffiti.
29 years, with the execption of a couple trys at Star Wars can leave you a little rusty. (And in my opinion, it shows). Thats not to say that Lucas is'nt an excellent craftsman, and his contributions to the field of special effects, amoung countless other acheivements should not be discounted.
But, just because your really good and building violins does'nt mean you're the best choice to conduct a symphony.
Spielberg on the other hand has had a lot more practice wearing a directors hat (despite some unfortunate misses). His work with the late Kubric has rubbed off on him, which shows in the spactacular visual style in A.I. and the more recent minority report (albeit with some disapointing storylines).
Personally I think Spielberg's experience as a director would provide the perfect compliment to the imagination and storytelling that Lucas can put out when he's at his best. It's really a shame this won't happen.
I've tried a few times to run star office in a business envrionment, and have found that while importing documents and spreadsheets is very easy with the more common MS office, exporting these leaves something to be desired.
Specifically, formatting seems to be lost or changed. As a writer, I would assume that how your works are formated would be important to you. Have you had any issues of interoperability with Star Office and other platforms that your publisher/editor might use?
Or, have you reached the point where you can make those people sort of 'deal with it'.
In my neck of the woods (Phoenix metro area), I often hear ads on the local NPR station for networking and security seminars at the local community college.
These are typically touted as free or very inexpensive. Not being a security guy I can't really comment on how good they are, but it probably could'nt hurt to check one out.
My guess would be many small community colleges offer something like this.
Kill your Karma for Migor
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Perl 6 Synopsis 5
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· Score: -1, Offtopic
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not going to rehash the several posts from before that explain in detail why Real sucks. It does. That's a fact.
To think that it's a victory for OGG that another 'mainstreme' app supports it is assinine.
All this means is, if you have to install Real for certian media, it will take over the file extension and it will take that much longer to load and that much more tracking of your online habits.
We need to stop cheering whenever some big, sloppy crappy application takes a shine to an otherwise good format, and start enjoying the format as it stands.
I cannot stress how few people drive predictably (especially here in Albuquerque)
Here in Phoenix, we are lucky. Everybody drives predictably: They will ignore every other car on the road.
I moved here a few years ago, and was surprised that nobody seems to understand the concept of turn signals.
If you are on the Freeweay, and you need to get over to another lane, and there is a small gap and you turn on your turn signal for a car to see, logic should dictate to other drivers that you do, in fact, intend to change lanes.
But in every instance, I sit there for a quarter mile with my turn signel on and a small but safe gap to change lanes, and when I finally get fed up with waiting for the other driver to slow down, I change lanes.
Inevitably, I get a horn blasted and the bird from the other driver. I give them the bird in return, because now I'm usually steamed too.
I sometimes wish they would follow me, and when I stop, and they get out of the car to yell at me for 'cutting them off', I could point at those funny looking glass things above my break lights.
"You see those? You know, when those things are flashing, that means I'm going to change lanes. You will usually get a warning. 20-30 seconds should be enough. Trust me, those just aren't there to make pretty flashing lights for your amusment, they mean something!"
At some point, my kids will be of driving age.
I know regardless they will screw around for a while, just like I did when I first got my license, but overall, I'd like to think I was a good enough parent to teach them to be responsible.
But it comes down to a very simple equation: If you don't trust your kids enough to handle a car on their own without some electronic device tracking them, you shouldn't let them drive at all.
It irks me whenever something comes out that takes the burden of evaluating the responsibility of childern away from the parents. "Oh, little Johnny is a handful, and he can't be trusted, but this little box will make sure he never does anything wrong".
Right. And while they peel away little Johnnys brains from the dashboard along with his freinds and a carload of innocent moterists, I'm sure that black box will make everything better after the fact.
The difference is the distribution channels in each media. Any guy off the street can put up a web page, and most of the time, yeah, it will be crap. But to get your program on television requires a great deal of funding and industry connections.
The advertising model found on most stations prevents innovation at most points, because it evalulates a program based on mass appeal to target demographics instead of basic quality.
The assumption that which programs are to be aired are only done so because people will like them is false, simply because the industry executives can't seem to figure out what people will like and what they won't. Instead, they tend to fall back on variations of a common formula which can yeild an acceptable level of ratings.
Television in and of itself is not a flawed media, but the practice and procedures of the distribution of the media is. The Internet doesn't have this fault because as a general rule there is no central corporate control over the distribution system. Innovation typically is discovered and spread by word of mouth far more often then in telivision, despite all the crap and noise.
And for good reason.
Namely, I never record television programs anymore. If I don't have time to watch them in the first place, it's doubtful I'll get around to watching it later. I tried for a while, and ended up with a collection of tapes I never looked at. Combine this with the fact that the quality of broadcast (or commerical) television continues to go down, and I just sort of shrug.
Somehow, I can see good comming out of this. If commerical television succeeds in upsetting its customer base more and more, I have a feeling consumers will tend to move towards commerical free subscription channels and services. There are great models already in place for this.
1. Pay-per view. For films, this is a great feature. Most services for a one time fee allow you to view a movie as many times and whenever you want in a particular time frame.
2. The 'HBO' model. HBO continues to produce their own content, and as a general rule it's much better then its counterpart on commerical TV. Using digital cable, they can broadcast 10+ channels at the same time (for basically the same fee to the end user). More often then not, if you miss a favorate program, it will be on a dozen more times in the following week.
I wish more commerical stations would take that sort of view, and move towards a subscription service. I can think as an example the TNN channel, which I find myself watching more and more (some neet movies and a ton of star trek re-runs). Would I pay $5 a month for the same content commerical free and unedited despite the fact that its mainly re-runs? Absolutly
Would I pay $5 a month to see the golf channel without commericals? No. I don't need 300 channels of commerical television because 90% of it I won't watch. Would I fight for the right to record the content on those commerical stations? Nope.
I have used file sharing software.
I have purchased illegal drugs.
I have snooped around my university's computer system when I was younger because I was curious, even though I probably shouldn't.
I have made a joke about the sobriety of the pilot on an America West flight.
I also am a patriot and love America. Why the fuck does the government, media, and corporate world keep wanting to throw me in the same catagory as a bunch of psychopathic assheads who fly airplanes into buildings?
Let me predicate this by saying I have used or seen a Transmeta product. And in that, I think is the problem.
Going back a few years, I remember the buzz surrounding Transmeta. 'There is this company that's developing something ground-breaking... and Linus Torvolds is working there!' If memory serves me, investors--any investor would give their eye teeth to just be able to put money into something 'groundbreaking' being worked on by Torvolds.
Then we finally saw what it was. A chip. Oh. . . Well, what makes the chip so special? It uses less power. Oh. . . Does that change anything for us? Sure, your laptop batteries will last a little longer, and if you run a server your electric bills might be a little lower. Oh.
Of course, I'm not a programmer or do work on hardware, but for me this was a letdown after so much hype second only to learning 'It' was nothing more then scooter that was hard to tip over.
That was two years ago, and despite the fact that there is some benefit to the otherwise ho-hum technology, where is it? I buy a lot of computers, and I don't even know where to buy a Transmeta equipped machine (then again, I've never really looked, and have never been given a good reason to look).
So, again, this seems obvious. A company pours a big chunk of change into a product that never sees the light of day on a mainstream store shelf... a product that I quickly forget about and am only reminded from time to time on Slashdot stories.
I suppose, scanning the posts, that there are a handful of gee-wiz products out there (albeit not in the United States) with a Caruso chip, but I just don't see them, or see any reasoning to spend the extra money on them.
And so Transmeta starts laying off people. It just seems to be the next logical choice.
or three feature length movies, optimization for cool runnings
I can think of a few better movies to optimize a computer for....
But seriously, I like this idea, or at least the direction its going, and I don't think it really needs to be vaporware (if these guys don't do it, someone else will). As tech gets more advanced, smaller, and cheaper, more will be intergrated into a personal device.
Currently I'm happy with my laptop and palm, but I could see buying something like this if all these features were included:
A modern easy to use OS and interface that can read multiple audio/vidio formats, can view and modify standard spreadsheet and text documents, and a simple e-mail client.
A suite of wireless interfaces (8011x, digital cellualar etc) that allows voice and data communications to existing pay cell networks and the growing wireless networks.
Easy and inexpensive docking hardware that allows you to have access to more triditional PC input/output devices.
Decent handwriting interpritation software to take notes on.
Make it small enough to fit inside a coat pocket, give it a realistic 12 hour battery life, and sell it for less then $200, and I'll buy it.
I really expect something like this to come about in 5 years.
Remember - it's not malicious interference if you actually intended to use it for something ("I wanted to access my network from my... porch, yard, etc.)
For now. But I have a sinking feeling that it will be in the future. Companies have ways of taking something people do for fun and pleasure, finding a way to make money off of it, and removing the freedom from individuals.
What will scare me is when big companies start taking up all the wireless 'channels'.
I live on the edge of a pretty heavy commerical district. Company decides to set up a wireless lan on the channel I use for mine. There is really nothing I can do about it; either switch channels (despite the fact that I was there first) or keep using my channel and cause the potential for both our networks to interfere with each other. However, if my laptop happens to see some of thier network traffic as I walked from one end of the house to the other, somehow I'm a criminal.
What I see in the future is, companys sets up nation-wide lan. Decide amoung themselves how to divy up the channels, get their lobbyists to go to congress and tell them 'We are running a business, there are private individuals who are broadcasting that interfere with our business'.
Suddenly, my WAP is illegal. It interfers with a company, I get fined by the FCC.
I sat down and did some math. With all the different HBOs/Cinemax and the package deals, I end up paying about $1 per channel per month. In that, I get movies and orgininal shows uncensored and commerical free.
Outside of those channels, I only watch about ten of the ~200 'normal' channels, with very little frequency. So I get to pay about $4 per channel with edited movies and ever increasing advertising.
Granted, some of that money from basic packaging goes directly for the cable overhead, but still, why am I paying more per watched channels with advertising then the better ad-free channels??
What a country.
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor when a joke is made.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting via HIS followers to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments. If the retarded mods spend their time modding down the comments of Migor, they can not use their points modding down relevent comments.
And then, upon the day of conclusion, Migor shall eat the soul of the retarded mods. He will have a great feast, and will BBQ the souls of the retarded mods in his mighty spaceship. There will be plastic forks and spoons. There will be pasta salad. Cake will also be served.
I am NOT Migor, only a vessel through which Migor speaks.
What record companies have forgotten is that word of mouth is a very powerful thing
They havn't forgotten, they just know that their canned distribution model is a lot more powerful (at least for profits).
You are exactly what they are afraid of. I don't know if your music is any good or not, but some guy who just came from the ivy league and sits in a chair behind an executive desk at a record company hasn't given you his seal of approval, and therefore a record company can't plug you into a formula (x dollers for promtion, x dollers for a video = y dollers in profits regardless of the bands talent).
I wish you luck on your tour, and am very excited to see a band make it because of the Internet.
Can Newspapers Save Local Music?
A better question should be can local music save newspapers. When I used to buy a paper, I typically did so to look for something in particular; classfied ads, movie listings, the latest electronic store ads, even the comics. Occasionally if I had a few hours to kill, I'd actualy read the news.
But the net has given all of those things to me for free, and a heck of a lot faster. So newspapers have to find new ways to bring in revenue. I don't (and currently won't) pay for a local newspaper online, but I would if it were to provide new avenues of information like local band MP3s. This is such a great and fantastic idea.
If my local newspaper were to still provide the news and information I want online and add mp3s from local bands (and who knows what else), I'd have no reservations about plunking down $15 a month for it.
because customers are stupid
Exactly.
This whole thing worries me. I sure as heck feel bad for anyone who has to work the phones at the Wal Mart tech support line.
"I cant get this to work"
Did you read the man page on it?
"Huh? Whats that?"
Ok, fine. Drop to shell, I'll walk you through it.
"What the heck is that? Where is my start button? Where is the control panel? My pockets hurt."
It really depends on the curriculum. I have this image of thousands of high schools making their kids construct from an assigned and approved text. I'm sure companies will come along and start marking 'kits' that work with these assigned texts and designs.
The downside to this would be virtually identical bots in uninspiring battles. I really hope we don't see this. It would be nice if the course focused on basic engineering fundamentals and then found ways to foster innovation.
In either event, I'm happy to see this. Get people proficient in robotics at an early age, and by the time they become adults we will see some really amazing things.
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor when a joke is made.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments. If the retarded mods spend their time modding down the comments of Migor, they can not use their points modding down relevent comments.
And then, upon the day of conclusion, Migor shall eat the soul of the retarded mods. He will have a great feast, and will BBQ the souls of the retarded mods in his mighty spaceship. There will be plastic forks and spoons. There will be pasta salad. Cake will also be served.
I am NOT Migor, only a vessel through which Migor speaks.
But is it filled with the same sort of in-your-face 'look this is important because it compleatly re-defined our culture' that the review is? Or is it a good text that objectivly outlines the history and development of video games that the modern historian would find interesting and perhaps as a source text for future historians after the real cultural impact of video games has been discovered?
If it's the former, I would'nt want to read it. Speculitive works on the cultural attributes of technologies that are still emerging are typically usless. It would be like writing a book in 1909 on the cultural impact of the automobile.
Somehow I suspect this is more of the reviewer inserting his own 'golly gee look how technology is changing our lives' world view... but you never know.
Has irresponsible and ill-conceived advertising on the desktop left users unreceptive to this form of advertising?
I would say absolutly, and I agree with you compleatly. The legitimate ad industry has all but abandoned the Internet, leaving it filled with so many fly-by-night scams on one side and in your face annoyances on the other that the only time they have a real impact is when the user gets so annoyed he or she goes out of their way to get rid of them.
What's worse is, so many websites already are stuck in a business model that relies exclusivly on these ads (that nobody looks at anymore) as their only form of income.
I'd like to hope OSS does'nt go down that same path, for it's own sake.
About a year ago, I was fat. Not gross, but definatly verging on the relm of unattractive.
I looked into all these diets and there was so much conflicting information, that I just made up my own.
It was very, very simple. 1. No booze except on the weekends. 2. No matter what, no fast food (I still ate out quite a bit, just at sit down resturants where the nutritional value was a little better). 3. Walk for an hour a night. 4. If you ever are full, don't be afraid to stop eating (I had the bad habit of always needing to finish off my plate, even if I was'nt hungry).
Being somebody who spends 90% of his waking hours behind a computer in a desk chair (not to mention quite a few in my sleeping hours), it probably was the perfect fit.
I lost 45 pounds in 7 months, I feel much better, got to learn a lot more about my town (by walking), and have been told I look 'really good' by a number of very nice women.
I doubt this would work for somebody who was highly obese, or somebody who has a eating disorder... but chances are that for your average geek whos putting on the pounds, it just might work.
At least not anymore. A quick scan of his resume shows outside of Star Wars, Lucas has'nt been at the helm of a film in the directors chair since 1973's American Graffiti.
29 years, with the execption of a couple trys at Star Wars can leave you a little rusty. (And in my opinion, it shows). Thats not to say that Lucas is'nt an excellent craftsman, and his contributions to the field of special effects, amoung countless other acheivements should not be discounted.
But, just because your really good and building violins does'nt mean you're the best choice to conduct a symphony.
Spielberg on the other hand has had a lot more practice wearing a directors hat (despite some unfortunate misses). His work with the late Kubric has rubbed off on him, which shows in the spactacular visual style in A.I. and the more recent minority report (albeit with some disapointing storylines).
Personally I think Spielberg's experience as a director would provide the perfect compliment to the imagination and storytelling that Lucas can put out when he's at his best. It's really a shame this won't happen.
They have been for Mesa, if I remember correctly, and I've heard them on KJZZ, typically in mid-afternoons/evenigns.
I've tried a few times to run star office in a business envrionment, and have found that while importing documents and spreadsheets is very easy with the more common MS office, exporting these leaves something to be desired.
Specifically, formatting seems to be lost or changed. As a writer, I would assume that how your works are formated would be important to you. Have you had any issues of interoperability with Star Office and other platforms that your publisher/editor might use?
Or, have you reached the point where you can make those people sort of 'deal with it'.
In my neck of the woods (Phoenix metro area), I often hear ads on the local NPR station for networking and security seminars at the local community college.
These are typically touted as free or very inexpensive. Not being a security guy I can't really comment on how good they are, but it probably could'nt hurt to check one out.
My guess would be many small community colleges offer something like this.
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments.