Uhh, no. They wanted to keep the skeleton buried on the property, not sell it off or create some attraction out of it. At most it would have been a conversation topic for a little while then ignored.
True, however, one can research the recent history of a property and have an environmental assessment done before purchasing. There's no equivalent for that when it comes to 400 year old unmarked burial sites.
Then when I first heard the MSP phase out plans I consulted the official MS FAQ on xbox.com and found it contained a line about converted funds expiring after 1 year. I then emailed the details to the consumer protection agency and they had me call them to discuss the issue which was ended with "that's a very interesting scenario and does appear to be under our mandate - we will assign an agent to the issue and call you back if we require further details"
Citation: I called the agencies and started the processes personally and they agreed that there was sufficient reason to investigate as a) there appears to be collusion going on between the publishers and b) their MSP phase out plan violates the no-expiry on gift card laws.
The USB latency times would degrade the performance of the games significantly and likely increase crash times. I won't be buying a console in the next generation - I'll be sticking with the 360 and PC gaming. I hate the X1 because of the facts which are:
1) Phone home lockouts means I can't play on vacation 2) Anti-lending scheme means I can't share with my family/friends 3) Mandatory installs and the inability to upgrade the internal hdd means unacceptable wait times and content juggling which is a waste of my ever shrinking free time for gaming 4) Violating exhaustion rights is an insult to everyone who buys games. 5) Price. $500 is insane for a console - especially an x86 one which I can out spec for less money (this year old laptop out specs it which now costs $550). And within a couple months I'd have to buy another $200 worth of hardware to decrease the experience because MS couldn't bother to add a hot swappable expansion slot or reasonable size hdd. 6) It has a lot of features I have no interest in: I could care less about Kinect 2 or cloud computing. I'm not an MMO player - I like to play a lot of variety not a single grindy game. The form factor is pathetic. The EULA is ridiculous. To top it all off the one feature I wanted to see didn't show up: smaller controllers so I can play with my fiance/nephew - unfortunately they find the controllers for the 360 too large and get hand cramps.
No, I did my research and found it was a piece of shit.
2 different government agencies are already investigating them for violations of the competition act and the consumer protection act.
And so what, now I need to buy an expensive external hdd on top of the console purchase to be able to store the games, except that for them to run properly they'll have to be on the main drive so it'll be moving content back and forth constantly. Sounds like a wonderful experience.
There are so many things wrong with it and their policies that I wouldn't use one if it were free.
500gb disc will get eaten up in no time. You'll be micromanaging your installs/DLC before you hit 50 games - I currently have over 700 xbox 360 games and can't even fit the DLC/GoD/XBLA across 640gb.
Spending more time installing/deleting is a stupid idea - one of the reasons I went for 360 instead of PS3, I could just put it in and play where the PS3 could take up to 2 hours to download system updates/install/download game updates/etc. before you could actually play the game.
That's the thing about terrorist - they don't necessarily want to hit a specific target - blowing up a plane as it goes over an urban area would be enough. The goal is terror not taking out strategic targets.
The thing with rust is that it goes in waves - people were freaking out over the rust sweeping through the evergreen population in Ontario and for a while it was bad, but then nature sorted it out and it's still present but not everywhere/killing all the trees like it was.
I wonder if James Logan is any relation to Barry Logan of Canipre notoriety?
Most software patents are garbage - doing math/iterations/etc in a computer is no different than doing them on paper. It's just faster. Copyright protection, sure. Not patent protection.
I doubt Canadian law enforcement is going outside the law... they don't need to since the US has no problem spying on foreign countries - we just happen to be in the "lucky" situation that they'll share the intel with us.
My 60+ year old mother had that same attitude until she got a Playbook then a Nook. Now it's a mix - book when she can, electronic for travel/convenience. Fiance has a massive collection of paper books but does almost all of her reading on electronic devices.
Personally I don't care either way - I tend not to read books (I read articles + studies instead).
Certain publishers are DRM free to keep their pricing low. While not my cup of tea, I happen to know that Entangled Publishing http://www.entangledpublishing.com/ is DRM free (fiance is interning there). I'm sure there are other smaller publishing houses that do the same... as with most things it's the big companies that have forgotten their customers.
^This. University enrollment is much the same too - Queens U CS started out with 180 I believe - whittled down to 40 every year. Tiny tiny department considering the value of the degree.
#1 thing I could recommend: Don't treat them like idiots. Give them challenges you don't think they'll be able to complete and let them surprise you. #2 Get the arts involved too. Many computer projects require graphics - get them working on these separate things and show them how they can work together to create something truly awesome in their eyes.
That's true but that's also what I do on a daily basis in any language - every day I learn a new quirk/detail of a new API/method/language I'm working with - no matter how much time I spend with a language there's always more to learn about it. I'd write a few hobby programs before I claimed to "know" a language just to get a feel for it but I wouldn't hesitate to jump right in on a project as a code monkey in a language I've just picked up. I wouldn't offer myself as a lead without experience though.
As my professor put it: If you learn 10 methods every day you'll be dead before you learn everything that's in Java.
I don't know how accurate that is but I agree with the sentiment: a typical programmer simply can't keep that much in memory and remember all the relevant details - the big picture is definitely an asset but that can be learned fairly quickly. Knowing where to start looking and drawing on past experience is definitely an asset, though I think that's part of why older programmers don't fare as well... the more they rely on past experience the less drive they have to learn new things and try new techniques/etc. Obviously this is a generalization and personal opinion not based in anything but conjecture.
I couldn't agree more. Once you "get it" the language details are just that - details. When someone says they know ".NET" but don't know how to code Java I think to myself "this person really doesn't get programming". Sure the syntax is different, there are different quirks & ways of doing things but in the end it all boils down to learning the same sorts of details you learn all the time using an API or a new part of the language you've never used before.
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Uhh, no. They wanted to keep the skeleton buried on the property, not sell it off or create some attraction out of it. At most it would have been a conversation topic for a little while then ignored.
True, however, one can research the recent history of a property and have an environmental assessment done before purchasing. There's no equivalent for that when it comes to 400 year old unmarked burial sites.
Ethics and injustice tend to be topics geeks like, especially when it pertains to unusual subject matter.
It's ok, I happily admit I'm the source of the investigations. Once the facts were confirmed http://www.trueachievements.com/n13475/xbox-one-privacy-connectivity-and-game-licensing.htm I immediately consulted the competition act and found possible violations of sections 45, 75, 77 and the competition bureau added in 78, 80, and 90.1
Then when I first heard the MSP phase out plans I consulted the official MS FAQ on xbox.com and found it contained a line about converted funds expiring after 1 year. I then emailed the details to the consumer protection agency and they had me call them to discuss the issue which was ended with "that's a very interesting scenario and does appear to be under our mandate - we will assign an agent to the issue and call you back if we require further details"
Citation: I called the agencies and started the processes personally and they agreed that there was sufficient reason to investigate as a) there appears to be collusion going on between the publishers and b) their MSP phase out plan violates the no-expiry on gift card laws.
The USB latency times would degrade the performance of the games significantly and likely increase crash times. I won't be buying a console in the next generation - I'll be sticking with the 360 and PC gaming. I hate the X1 because of the facts which are:
1) Phone home lockouts means I can't play on vacation
2) Anti-lending scheme means I can't share with my family/friends
3) Mandatory installs and the inability to upgrade the internal hdd means unacceptable wait times and content juggling which is a waste of my ever shrinking free time for gaming
4) Violating exhaustion rights is an insult to everyone who buys games.
5) Price. $500 is insane for a console - especially an x86 one which I can out spec for less money (this year old laptop out specs it which now costs $550). And within a couple months I'd have to buy another $200 worth of hardware to decrease the experience because MS couldn't bother to add a hot swappable expansion slot or reasonable size hdd.
6) It has a lot of features I have no interest in: I could care less about Kinect 2 or cloud computing. I'm not an MMO player - I like to play a lot of variety not a single grindy game. The form factor is pathetic. The EULA is ridiculous. To top it all off the one feature I wanted to see didn't show up: smaller controllers so I can play with my fiance/nephew - unfortunately they find the controllers for the 360 too large and get hand cramps.
No, I did my research and found it was a piece of shit.
2 different government agencies are already investigating them for violations of the competition act and the consumer protection act.
And so what, now I need to buy an expensive external hdd on top of the console purchase to be able to store the games, except that for them to run properly they'll have to be on the main drive so it'll be moving content back and forth constantly. Sounds like a wonderful experience.
There are so many things wrong with it and their policies that I wouldn't use one if it were free.
500gb disc will get eaten up in no time. You'll be micromanaging your installs/DLC before you hit 50 games - I currently have over 700 xbox 360 games and can't even fit the DLC/GoD/XBLA across 640gb.
Spending more time installing/deleting is a stupid idea - one of the reasons I went for 360 instead of PS3, I could just put it in and play where the PS3 could take up to 2 hours to download system updates/install/download game updates/etc. before you could actually play the game.
Xbox Lame One is a failure through and through.
That's the thing about terrorist - they don't necessarily want to hit a specific target - blowing up a plane as it goes over an urban area would be enough. The goal is terror not taking out strategic targets.
Small bomb + large plane + gravity = significantly more damage than small bomb alone.
Not to mention the noise factor.
They could still blow it up and send debris crashing and burning into buildings.
citation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec2i9sr6vRs&t=3m9s ;)
I was thinking Thunderbirds #2 ship
The thing with rust is that it goes in waves - people were freaking out over the rust sweeping through the evergreen population in Ontario and for a while it was bad, but then nature sorted it out and it's still present but not everywhere/killing all the trees like it was.
^This.
I wonder if James Logan is any relation to Barry Logan of Canipre notoriety?
Most software patents are garbage - doing math/iterations/etc in a computer is no different than doing them on paper. It's just faster. Copyright protection, sure. Not patent protection.
I love the unmarked US helicopters running up and down the out islands in the Bahamas too.
I doubt Canadian law enforcement is going outside the law... they don't need to since the US has no problem spying on foreign countries - we just happen to be in the "lucky" situation that they'll share the intel with us.
Also, even if they can't patch it quickly the point is to inform users so they can take appropriate precautions.
When you sell for $0.99 to $2.99 every penny matters.
My 60+ year old mother had that same attitude until she got a Playbook then a Nook. Now it's a mix - book when she can, electronic for travel/convenience. Fiance has a massive collection of paper books but does almost all of her reading on electronic devices.
Personally I don't care either way - I tend not to read books (I read articles + studies instead).
Certain publishers are DRM free to keep their pricing low. While not my cup of tea, I happen to know that Entangled Publishing http://www.entangledpublishing.com/ is DRM free (fiance is interning there). I'm sure there are other smaller publishing houses that do the same... as with most things it's the big companies that have forgotten their customers.
^This. University enrollment is much the same too - Queens U CS started out with 180 I believe - whittled down to 40 every year. Tiny tiny department considering the value of the degree.
#1 thing I could recommend: Don't treat them like idiots. Give them challenges you don't think they'll be able to complete and let them surprise you.
#2 Get the arts involved too. Many computer projects require graphics - get them working on these separate things and show them how they can work together to create something truly awesome in their eyes.
That's true but that's also what I do on a daily basis in any language - every day I learn a new quirk/detail of a new API/method/language I'm working with - no matter how much time I spend with a language there's always more to learn about it. I'd write a few hobby programs before I claimed to "know" a language just to get a feel for it but I wouldn't hesitate to jump right in on a project as a code monkey in a language I've just picked up. I wouldn't offer myself as a lead without experience though.
As my professor put it: If you learn 10 methods every day you'll be dead before you learn everything that's in Java.
I don't know how accurate that is but I agree with the sentiment: a typical programmer simply can't keep that much in memory and remember all the relevant details - the big picture is definitely an asset but that can be learned fairly quickly. Knowing where to start looking and drawing on past experience is definitely an asset, though I think that's part of why older programmers don't fare as well... the more they rely on past experience the less drive they have to learn new things and try new techniques/etc. Obviously this is a generalization and personal opinion not based in anything but conjecture.
I couldn't agree more. Once you "get it" the language details are just that - details. When someone says they know ".NET" but don't know how to code Java I think to myself "this person really doesn't get programming". Sure the syntax is different, there are different quirks & ways of doing things but in the end it all boils down to learning the same sorts of details you learn all the time using an API or a new part of the language you've never used before.