I knew a guy in college (back when the anti-cheat programs were just getting popular) who was really good at shooters (particularly UT). In fact, he was too good: if he played on servers that had aimbot detection on he would get banned if he was having a good night. On servers without anti-aimbots the players would decide he was cheating and ban him after a while too. Unfortunately he had to completely retreat from public servers, and only play with people who knew him, although they still bitched about how accurate he was. I actually sat behind him and watched as he would catch a glimpse of someone on the other side of the map, move to a better location, and then heatshot them a few seconds later. He mostly used the sniper rifle, but just because of it's increased power (he got body or head on 90% of shots, so he mostly didn't need more than one shot), he usually made most of the flag caps for his team too.
The ISS became from one of the greatest scientific endevours to one of the most expensive diplomatic tokens ever
I'm not even going to go into your spelling, but did it ever occur to you that maybe including nations other than the US was for our benefit, not theirs? MIR was doing okay (by their standards), but the US forced the Russians to kill it so they could put their resources into the ISS. And, with America gripped by the fear and political hoopla generated by the Columbia disaster, the Russians are pretty much the only way up or down right now.
Sure the Space Shuttle's a deathtrap (won't go into this either), but if it seems as if this "diplomacy" is saving our asses right now. Laugh at how dated their tech is, but that's because they solved a problem once and didn't decide to start all over just for fun. Yes, diplomacy is important (and often opposite scientific goals), but there are a lot of valid reason for including the Russians (and Europe, and Japan).
And I'm a die-hard Mac nut. I've been playing games on the Mac since Brickles, but actually started thinking about games when I bought new Macs since Warcraft. However, the last time I felt like I needed a new machine, I realized that to feed my need, a Mac wasn't going to do it. I still prefer my Mac, and use it for everything else (which it does just fine at). It (350Mhz B&W G3) can still handle the Mac-only games like the various Ambrosia titles, so I really have the best of both worlds. It's been a pain in the ass learning how to lock down a PC, but I've got friends who are a great help. It sucks, but if you really want to game, you gotta un-switch.
Granted this was back on OS 9, and I only had two (internal) drives on my Yosemite, but I just set iTunes up to rip on insert, and eject when done. It'd finish a CD, and I'd pop the next one in my stack in and continue doing what I was doing. It was nice because even if I was off in another room, it would still be crunching away on the next CD, so I kept the processor at 100% all evening long. Took me a week or so (over 100 CDs). I think you'd probably spend more time trying to find software that allows simultaneous ripping (and does a good job) than you'd save just doing it sequentially in iTunes (esp as iTunes is so automated).
Okay, so it isn't really an add for any particular product, but I can't imagine any better advertising for a car. Not only do you get to see it and read specs on it, but then you get to drive it faster than you normally would dare around courses you'd never have access too, and all without red lights or cops.
And, when it was time for me to buy my first new car, I picked my favorite from the game and called my local dealers. Took a test drive, and am fairly sure I at least made the dealer's hair stand on end - nothing like years of practice to know your car. Sure, it's not for everyone, but I know I'm not the only one who can say "I bought my ____ because of a video game".
That's really the way to go - natural product placement. That way the gamer doesn't feel like it's product placement. The same way the industry figured out that you don't have to gratutiously show the logo of the beverage a star is drinking. Most people are smart enough to see through the paid celebrity endorsement, you want to believe that the celebrities *actually* use these products. Hey, if you saw a pic of CowboyNeal drinking Sprite, wouldn't you want some?
"I'll bet some horrifying data could be gathered on the speed with which riders' heads impact the pavement after an accident."
Umm... Wouldn't it be aproximately the same speed that the motercycle was going when it crashed?
Well, technically (and this is slashdot, so...) no, since the pavement is parallel to the direction the rider was (primarily) moving in. The "great speed" of which your head hits the ground doesn't have to be that much, as 15mph (4 minute mile - about as fast as fit person will run (over a short distance) ) will knock you out pretty good (unless you're Homer Simpson). I've seen stuff on TLC talking about the guys who try for the land speed record on bikes, and of course some of them crash; however despite going 200mph+, as long as they don't tumble during the crash they can generally make another try as soon as their skin grows back.
And it's not really the force your head hits with, but more the torque on your neck, as most deaths/blackouts happen as a result of damage to the spinal column in the neck (either twisting or snapping forward/backward). C'mon, the Special Ops guys in the movies don't bludgeon prople over the head, they snap their neck because it's much easier to kill someone that way.
Hey, a bit off the wall, but wouldn't this be the answer to unemployment as well? Sure you'd have to figure out something to represent you so you don't have to be defrosted for every interview (as I assume the frosting/defrosting part is the worst), but I think that can be solved.
Think about it, you get fired, and instead of heading to the bar and spending your last paycheck on booze, you step into a freezer and then when you wake up someone's ready to do final negotiations on salary & benefits with you. You've probably even made money from the unemployment checks. Now, if they could only figure out a way to have you virtually play video games the entire time you're frozen.
(And no, I'm not serious, although it's cool to think about)
(Before you mod me down, at least read half the comment)
Gates has realized that Microsoft cannot hold the crown of the software world forever. It's great at competing against companies that it can buy out or undercut, but it can't do either of those to Linux. IBM lost their crown when it failed to realize the PC, and the software running on it, were the new champs of the computing business. Ironically, I think this is the first step in Microsoft converting from a software company to a services company. It's pretty hard to make money on software if some geeks are giving it away for free.
The decade of windows is about to close, it became the best OS for the average (non-programmer) user when Win 95 was released, and before that Macintosh had their decade. Linux's decade hasn't started yet, but Windows only has a few years left, and Bill realizes that. If you look at the way the economy is turning, you can see that while the pure programming jobs may go overseas, services can't. Many companies are already using the "give the software away, charge for services" model of doing business (actually, the company I work for is selling the software, services, and a required maintainance contract - I'm feeling pretty safe), and are surviving just fine.
Not that Microsoft hasn't turned every one of these initiatives in the past into either an "embrace-and-extend" or "embrace-and-block" (by being one of the founders and then never giving final approval to the standard) strategy. Maybe they'll go through with this one this time, but expect to see Microsoft make an about-face on software in the next ten years like they did with their position on the internet back in '97. It's just a matter of time.
Remember, the Nobel prize was set up by somebody that felt guilty about inventing dynamite!
You're right, partially. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite as a mining tool, because the explosives of the time were too dangerous (actually dynamite was a bit unstable, but once reformed to TNT was fairly safe), and hand-mining was too tedious. The reason he set up the Nobel prize is because he was horrified by the way the military used his invention to kill people. Hey, what would you do if every dollar you made represented a person killed by your invention?
Gates 'suggested to Canepa that perhaps they could federalize the car by buying a number of sacrificial 959s to "crash and test."'
Funny how Bill only suggests doing the right thing by certifying the car through NTSA crash-testing (despite how much extra it'd cost) when it's something that he'll actually be using. I guess it only makes him more of a prick because he's intellgent enough to know the right way to do something, but chooses not to so he can buy nicer toys.
The problem is that some people can drive while talking on the phone and some can't (some can't even drive, period). The ones who can drive while talking on a cell phone you never notice (as it should be). As I live in California, where everyone has a cell phone, and frequently use them in cars, I've actually spent time (when riding as a passenger) noting who are talking on their cell phones and who aren't. About half of the solo drivers are typically on their phones, and yet I only see one or two people per trip who get themselves in trouble because of the phone.
Granted, anyone can talk on the phone while driving in a straight line at a constant speed (I've actually known guys who've fallen asleep on long straight roads and done fine), but it's the emergency situations that the people on phones can't deal with. And the problem is 1) they forget the basic rule of driving of looking as far ahead as you can see and 2) they won't stop their conversation to deal with the situation. Since talking on a cell phone should be equivalent to talking to a passenger, they need to realize that when talking to a passenger, you both stop talking when someone cuts you off.
Personally, I've told people to hold on, put the phone down, done what I had to do, and then resumed the conversation (with explination). I also drive 10-15 mph slower (I like to drive 80-90 mph) when on the phone, as I realize that they are a distraction and my reaction speed will be slowed (I do the same when I have passengers in the car, too). I'd also like to mention that I don't use cell phones on local roads, as there are too many things that could happen that can't in the controlled environment of a freeway. A little bit of thought (often lacking) and cell phones aren't as much of a problem as you think they are.
Given that you said you drive 50mph I take it you're not in California, and probably not anywhere with much traffic, or hour+ long commutes that really have turned the cell phone into a necessity (I don't even have a land line, 'cause I'm never home except to sleep). Maybe instead of assuming everyone is like you (I salute you if you recognize that you don't have the ability to talk on the phone and drive at the same time), realize how diverse people are in their abilities. Hey, someone was doing alright at running a country, but thought that fooling around with an intern in the White House would stay a secret.
I'd recently been playing the "Final Fantasy: Origins" (FF1 & FF2) re-release for the PS1 while I was unemployed, and found the game to be vastly easier with the introduction of the save-anywhere "Memo" save. Now this didn't actually save your progress if you turned the power off, so it was actually almost strictly a "cheater's" save.
But, given that the mechanic of the game seemed to be that yo had to be lucky enough to not face off against the "killer" monster groups in each dungeon, it was very welcome to me. (How Killer? My party could kill 95% of the monster groups in 1-2 turns, but these would kill or put my guys at critical levels) But, every time I used it because I had just gotten unfortunately destroyed, I felt the pang of guilt as I pressed the reload, but followed immediately by the relief that I didn't have to go through the first 3 floors again. That part was more fun (repetition is punishment), but the accomplishment wasn't as great because of it.
So, I've actually been thinking of this, and it hit me during the reading of the article, why not have a timed auto-save (in addition to the end-of-level saves)? For an RPG this might be more on the order of every 10-15 minutes, for an action game it might be every few minutes. The trick is finding a time that's far apart enough so that the player isn't going to sit around waiting for the save to kick in, but short enough so that the player doesn't feel like they've lost significant progress if they die between them (but still enough to be a punishment).
So, if it takes me 2 hours to get through a dungeon, and it saves every 15 minutes, I can feel safe in "expecting" to die once or twice from circumstances I wasn't prepared for. I'd "lose" about 15 minutes of time, which really wouldn't be that bad compared to having to re-do the whole two-hour bit. Much better, and I think it strikes a good balance between the designer's ability to put surprises in, and the player not feeling overly punished with each new surprise.
Hrm... what are the two popular consoles? X-Box and PS2.
What console is mostly dying? The console that doesn't allow you to play DVDs on it.
Why? Well, I was looking at buying one myself a year ago, and like a good slashdotter, I immediately crossed off the Evil-Box, so it came down to the PS2 vs. the GameCube. Since I didn't have a DVD player (except for on my computers) it made the choice real easy, as each platform had an equal selection of games I wanted (at that time). Besides, the cube is top-loading, so I'd either have to put it on top of the TV (yeah, that's a great idea) or pull it out and put it back each time I want to switch games. I guess the idea of being "not only the president, but also a client" isn't so laughable.
I don't quite remember the night, but I saw it on tv recently, and it kind of got me thinking.
Now I've got a sports car with some noise dampering, but generally I can hear everything. The nice thing is it's shaped really smoothly, so I hardly get any wind noise, so just about all the noise coming in from outside my car is from the road. The thing I notice is that even with current roads (I live in San Diego), the biggest difference is on the ones that are concrete - since they don't buckle like asphalt-covered ones do. Sure, I've noticed that some of them have grooves, which is where I suppose the air is going (and to help with skidding in the rare event of rain) - those ones seem to be the most quiet. But even those get loud if they're not graded right.
Hey, think about it, most of the time a car is fairly quiet, but when you go over a bump, your car is usually louder after you land and reach the minimum point. The other thing I'd say is that maybe it's due to the weight of the vehicles, as there's a huge difference between cars and SUVs/Trucks - and motorcycles are silent except for their engines. So maybe the solution is to stop selling SUVs... yeah, I'll keep dreaming.
Sorry, I don't have a web address for them, but I know they have exactly what you're looking for - cheap, thin, low power, no ports, and is very flexible in terms of what you can do with it. I think they called it "Paper".
When I left for school, all I could afford was a PM4400 (first Mac with IDE), I struggled through with that, shipping it home in the summer. I had repacked it in the original box, with the original foam padding, plus sticking some of my t-shirts in the spaces for extra padding. But then when I got it at home the second summer of college, I could easily see it had been dropped... (every time you ship something, the box is going to get a little torn up, but this was worse) my Mac was DOA (something with the motherboard). I had insured it for $1000, but after much fighting (and a *month* without my computer) they would only pay me $750 'cause that was all it was worth at the time. The HD survived, so I took that (hey, they were selling it as junk anyways), their cash, and some more money and bought myself a new B&W G3.
I'm far happier with that, and still use it. But I learned and so hand carried all 50 or so lbs of it (Got a lot of comments on my "luggable":-) ). I'm 6'0, 200 lbs and athletic, so it wasn't a problem for me (my brother, 6'1', 160 lbs, also athletic, decided it was too much bother and stored his computer after the first summer). I used a strap from an old soccer bag looped through the top handles. It was a tight squeeze through some airport x-ray machines, and I'm sure it's a little less stable from getting fried so many times. You're getting vibration either way, but I like to think there was less when I hand carried it. I also got the advantage of being able to use my computer right up until I left, and then again right when I got home, without having to pay an exorbitant amount for overnight shipping. I also took it home for winter break since I wasn't paying shipping (was about $50 each way).
One thing that you gotta do is buy a second monitor. Since it would be another ~$100 to ship that home and back, just plow that money into another monitor (assuming you don't already have a spare at home), or buy yourself a new monitor and have it delivered to school (and use your current one for summers). Oh yeah, and try to make friends with someone who lives locally that could store your stuff over the summer... it's amazing how much crap you accumulate.
Hey, you should get one of the new Mac G5's... the cheapest one would only take up half of your budget. Are you in high school? I know appearances are everything in high school - you can't let other clubs have a better looking computer than yours. And one of the advantages to being a Mac is no one really uses them, so you'd have less people trying to screw with your stuff (security through obscurity, right?). And don't forget how fast it is running Photoshop... you just can't get that kind of performance from a PC.
Uh, what do you mean you're not running Photoshop?
Thanks Tim, I like it 'cause it's original, fits me, and is relevant for slashdot. I've been through a few, but I like this best... so far. Although I hope my signature doesn't overshadow what I actually post;-)
A few bits of ergonomics will help you out significantly (hopefully).
Get a high quality monitor
If you can't get one at work, at least have a good one at home. I went looking for a 19" monitor that could do 1600x1200 four years ago, and while I could have paid $450 (prices in USD), I instead opted for a $600 model (I used pricewatch for these prices). Why? Because any eye care and related discomfort to me wasn't worth $150. And the monitor really should be able to do at least 70Hz at the resolution you use, I can't tell you how many people I know who've had monitor-related headaches that were fixed by upping the refresh rate.
Balance your color settings
I've used Macs for a long time, which come with excellent color-balancing software. But PCs don't have this, and I'll often notice they present an image onscreen that is horribly out of whack. A lot of monitors allow you to adjust the strength of the color outputs, and I assume there's some software to do the same (try Adobe?). You shouldn't notice any adjustment in your eyes between looking at the monitor and the real world (such as if you putting on or taking off tinted glasses). That's not good for your eyes either.
Don't sit too close to the monitor
You're supposed to have your eyes 2 feet from the screen. I don't know anyone who actually does this, but most people are at least 1 foot away. If you're sitting closer, or finding that you often have to lean in to see things (such as small text), you should probably get a larger (physically) monitor, or run at a lower resolution (or, adjust the sizes of how all your fonts display). This will make a big difference, and you'll see results almost immediately.
Align your monitor with your eyes
Your eyes should be even with the top of the screen (not the bevel). Ok, this doesn't have to be precise, but if you are constantly looking down or up it's going to suck for not only your eyes, but your neck and back, too. It's easy to fix, too, mostly people have monitors that are too small, so they stack books or bricks or whatever underneath to raise it up.
Eliminate glare
Almost forgot this one. If you're getting too much glare from windows or overhead lights you're going to be squinting constantly while using your monitor. You probably don't even notice it, as (like all of these things) your eyes just adjust to it automatically and you don't notice until they're bloodshot or you've got headaches. But if you find that you're squinting, get a filter on your monitor, or buy one that has some sort of anti-relectivity technology built-in. Well worth it.
Ok, that's not going to solve everyone's problems, but it will help. And most of the adjustments you make once, and then forget about. Seriously, you really don't want to cheap out when buying a monitor. $50 more spent on a monitor is going to affect your life significantly more than $50 on any other part of the computer.
What I really don't get is why they're considering some all-new (expensive) method of taxing people for driving. If the 24-cent tax on gas isn't keeping up with inflation, why not just adjust the 24-cent tax for inflation? It'd seem a whole lot easier to work with the dozen or so gas companies than the millions of residents. And you'll keep the incentive to drive smaller, lighter vehicles.
...is when the terrorists (don't groan, keep reading) attack our nation (I'm from the USA) for being so free and giving our citizens so many rights, and our politicians respond by passing laws taking away our rights (DMCA, TIA, etc) in record-setting fashion. Terrorists win when they scare their targets; they certainly scared our politicians.
Oh, and while I'm ranting: (Disclaimer: personally, I have no problem with the few French-Americans I've met) Did you know that France is the most policed nation? They have more internal spies and cops than any other nation and keep volumes of data on their citizens. So with all the recent political hatred of the French, what are we doing? Modelling our nation after theirs. Now I know you're supposed to "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer", but since when are you supposed to try to turn yourself into those you despise?
Slashdot Mirror
I knew a guy in college (back when the anti-cheat programs were just getting popular) who was really good at shooters (particularly UT). In fact, he was too good: if he played on servers that had aimbot detection on he would get banned if he was having a good night. On servers without anti-aimbots the players would decide he was cheating and ban him after a while too. Unfortunately he had to completely retreat from public servers, and only play with people who knew him, although they still bitched about how accurate he was. I actually sat behind him and watched as he would catch a glimpse of someone on the other side of the map, move to a better location, and then heatshot them a few seconds later. He mostly used the sniper rifle, but just because of it's increased power (he got body or head on 90% of shots, so he mostly didn't need more than one shot), he usually made most of the flag caps for his team too.
Sure the Space Shuttle's a deathtrap (won't go into this either), but if it seems as if this "diplomacy" is saving our asses right now. Laugh at how dated their tech is, but that's because they solved a problem once and didn't decide to start all over just for fun. Yes, diplomacy is important (and often opposite scientific goals), but there are a lot of valid reason for including the Russians (and Europe, and Japan).
...you really should have got a PC.
And I'm a die-hard Mac nut. I've been playing games on the Mac since Brickles, but actually started thinking about games when I bought new Macs since Warcraft. However, the last time I felt like I needed a new machine, I realized that to feed my need, a Mac wasn't going to do it. I still prefer my Mac, and use it for everything else (which it does just fine at). It (350Mhz B&W G3) can still handle the Mac-only games like the various Ambrosia titles, so I really have the best of both worlds. It's been a pain in the ass learning how to lock down a PC, but I've got friends who are a great help. It sucks, but if you really want to game, you gotta un-switch.
Granted this was back on OS 9, and I only had two (internal) drives on my Yosemite, but I just set iTunes up to rip on insert, and eject when done. It'd finish a CD, and I'd pop the next one in my stack in and continue doing what I was doing. It was nice because even if I was off in another room, it would still be crunching away on the next CD, so I kept the processor at 100% all evening long. Took me a week or so (over 100 CDs). I think you'd probably spend more time trying to find software that allows simultaneous ripping (and does a good job) than you'd save just doing it sequentially in iTunes (esp as iTunes is so automated).
Okay, so it isn't really an add for any particular product, but I can't imagine any better advertising for a car. Not only do you get to see it and read specs on it, but then you get to drive it faster than you normally would dare around courses you'd never have access too, and all without red lights or cops.
And, when it was time for me to buy my first new car, I picked my favorite from the game and called my local dealers. Took a test drive, and am fairly sure I at least made the dealer's hair stand on end - nothing like years of practice to know your car. Sure, it's not for everyone, but I know I'm not the only one who can say "I bought my ____ because of a video game".
That's really the way to go - natural product placement. That way the gamer doesn't feel like it's product placement. The same way the industry figured out that you don't have to gratutiously show the logo of the beverage a star is drinking. Most people are smart enough to see through the paid celebrity endorsement, you want to believe that the celebrities *actually* use these products. Hey, if you saw a pic of CowboyNeal drinking Sprite, wouldn't you want some?
And it's not really the force your head hits with, but more the torque on your neck, as most deaths/blackouts happen as a result of damage to the spinal column in the neck (either twisting or snapping forward/backward). C'mon, the Special Ops guys in the movies don't bludgeon prople over the head, they snap their neck because it's much easier to kill someone that way.
Hey, a bit off the wall, but wouldn't this be the answer to unemployment as well? Sure you'd have to figure out something to represent you so you don't have to be defrosted for every interview (as I assume the frosting/defrosting part is the worst), but I think that can be solved.
Think about it, you get fired, and instead of heading to the bar and spending your last paycheck on booze, you step into a freezer and then when you wake up someone's ready to do final negotiations on salary & benefits with you. You've probably even made money from the unemployment checks. Now, if they could only figure out a way to have you virtually play video games the entire time you're frozen.
(And no, I'm not serious, although it's cool to think about)
The 5 second rule is a social rule, and varies according to how much "ew, that's so icky" factor there is with your crowd.
(Before you mod me down, at least read half the comment)
Gates has realized that Microsoft cannot hold the crown of the software world forever. It's great at competing against companies that it can buy out or undercut, but it can't do either of those to Linux. IBM lost their crown when it failed to realize the PC, and the software running on it, were the new champs of the computing business. Ironically, I think this is the first step in Microsoft converting from a software company to a services company. It's pretty hard to make money on software if some geeks are giving it away for free.
The decade of windows is about to close, it became the best OS for the average (non-programmer) user when Win 95 was released, and before that Macintosh had their decade. Linux's decade hasn't started yet, but Windows only has a few years left, and Bill realizes that. If you look at the way the economy is turning, you can see that while the pure programming jobs may go overseas, services can't. Many companies are already using the "give the software away, charge for services" model of doing business (actually, the company I work for is selling the software, services, and a required maintainance contract - I'm feeling pretty safe), and are surviving just fine.
Not that Microsoft hasn't turned every one of these initiatives in the past into either an "embrace-and-extend" or "embrace-and-block" (by being one of the founders and then never giving final approval to the standard) strategy. Maybe they'll go through with this one this time, but expect to see Microsoft make an about-face on software in the next ten years like they did with their position on the internet back in '97. It's just a matter of time.
Granted, anyone can talk on the phone while driving in a straight line at a constant speed (I've actually known guys who've fallen asleep on long straight roads and done fine), but it's the emergency situations that the people on phones can't deal with. And the problem is 1) they forget the basic rule of driving of looking as far ahead as you can see and 2) they won't stop their conversation to deal with the situation. Since talking on a cell phone should be equivalent to talking to a passenger, they need to realize that when talking to a passenger, you both stop talking when someone cuts you off.
Personally, I've told people to hold on, put the phone down, done what I had to do, and then resumed the conversation (with explination). I also drive 10-15 mph slower (I like to drive 80-90 mph) when on the phone, as I realize that they are a distraction and my reaction speed will be slowed (I do the same when I have passengers in the car, too). I'd also like to mention that I don't use cell phones on local roads, as there are too many things that could happen that can't in the controlled environment of a freeway. A little bit of thought (often lacking) and cell phones aren't as much of a problem as you think they are.
Given that you said you drive 50mph I take it you're not in California, and probably not anywhere with much traffic, or hour+ long commutes that really have turned the cell phone into a necessity (I don't even have a land line, 'cause I'm never home except to sleep). Maybe instead of assuming everyone is like you (I salute you if you recognize that you don't have the ability to talk on the phone and drive at the same time), realize how diverse people are in their abilities. Hey, someone was doing alright at running a country, but thought that fooling around with an intern in the White House would stay a secret.
I'd recently been playing the "Final Fantasy: Origins" (FF1 & FF2) re-release for the PS1 while I was unemployed, and found the game to be vastly easier with the introduction of the save-anywhere "Memo" save. Now this didn't actually save your progress if you turned the power off, so it was actually almost strictly a "cheater's" save.
But, given that the mechanic of the game seemed to be that yo had to be lucky enough to not face off against the "killer" monster groups in each dungeon, it was very welcome to me. (How Killer? My party could kill 95% of the monster groups in 1-2 turns, but these would kill or put my guys at critical levels) But, every time I used it because I had just gotten unfortunately destroyed, I felt the pang of guilt as I pressed the reload, but followed immediately by the relief that I didn't have to go through the first 3 floors again. That part was more fun (repetition is punishment), but the accomplishment wasn't as great because of it.
So, I've actually been thinking of this, and it hit me during the reading of the article, why not have a timed auto-save (in addition to the end-of-level saves)? For an RPG this might be more on the order of every 10-15 minutes, for an action game it might be every few minutes. The trick is finding a time that's far apart enough so that the player isn't going to sit around waiting for the save to kick in, but short enough so that the player doesn't feel like they've lost significant progress if they die between them (but still enough to be a punishment).
So, if it takes me 2 hours to get through a dungeon, and it saves every 15 minutes, I can feel safe in "expecting" to die once or twice from circumstances I wasn't prepared for. I'd "lose" about 15 minutes of time, which really wouldn't be that bad compared to having to re-do the whole two-hour bit. Much better, and I think it strikes a good balance between the designer's ability to put surprises in, and the player not feeling overly punished with each new surprise.
Hrm... what are the two popular consoles? X-Box and PS2.
What console is mostly dying? The console that doesn't allow you to play DVDs on it.
Why? Well, I was looking at buying one myself a year ago, and like a good slashdotter, I immediately crossed off the Evil-Box, so it came down to the PS2 vs. the GameCube. Since I didn't have a DVD player (except for on my computers) it made the choice real easy, as each platform had an equal selection of games I wanted (at that time). Besides, the cube is top-loading, so I'd either have to put it on top of the TV (yeah, that's a great idea) or pull it out and put it back each time I want to switch games. I guess the idea of being "not only the president, but also a client" isn't so laughable.
I don't quite remember the night, but I saw it on tv recently, and it kind of got me thinking.
Now I've got a sports car with some noise dampering, but generally I can hear everything. The nice thing is it's shaped really smoothly, so I hardly get any wind noise, so just about all the noise coming in from outside my car is from the road. The thing I notice is that even with current roads (I live in San Diego), the biggest difference is on the ones that are concrete - since they don't buckle like asphalt-covered ones do. Sure, I've noticed that some of them have grooves, which is where I suppose the air is going (and to help with skidding in the rare event of rain) - those ones seem to be the most quiet. But even those get loud if they're not graded right.
Hey, think about it, most of the time a car is fairly quiet, but when you go over a bump, your car is usually louder after you land and reach the minimum point. The other thing I'd say is that maybe it's due to the weight of the vehicles, as there's a huge difference between cars and SUVs/Trucks - and motorcycles are silent except for their engines. So maybe the solution is to stop selling SUVs... yeah, I'll keep dreaming.
Sorry, I don't have a web address for them, but I know they have exactly what you're looking for - cheap, thin, low power, no ports, and is very flexible in terms of what you can do with it. I think they called it "Paper".
My momma always told me two wrongs don't make a right. However, in this case, I don't so much mind - the irony is entertaining enough.
When I left for school, all I could afford was a PM4400 (first Mac with IDE), I struggled through with that, shipping it home in the summer. I had repacked it in the original box, with the original foam padding, plus sticking some of my t-shirts in the spaces for extra padding. But then when I got it at home the second summer of college, I could easily see it had been dropped... (every time you ship something, the box is going to get a little torn up, but this was worse) my Mac was DOA (something with the motherboard). I had insured it for $1000, but after much fighting (and a *month* without my computer) they would only pay me $750 'cause that was all it was worth at the time. The HD survived, so I took that (hey, they were selling it as junk anyways), their cash, and some more money and bought myself a new B&W G3.
I'm far happier with that, and still use it. But I learned and so hand carried all 50 or so lbs of it (Got a lot of comments on my "luggable"
One thing that you gotta do is buy a second monitor. Since it would be another ~$100 to ship that home and back, just plow that money into another monitor (assuming you don't already have a spare at home), or buy yourself a new monitor and have it delivered to school (and use your current one for summers). Oh yeah, and try to make friends with someone who lives locally that could store your stuff over the summer... it's amazing how much crap you accumulate.
Hey, you should get one of the new Mac G5's... the cheapest one would only take up half of your budget. Are you in high school? I know appearances are everything in high school - you can't let other clubs have a better looking computer than yours. And one of the advantages to being a Mac is no one really uses them, so you'd have less people trying to screw with your stuff (security through obscurity, right?). And don't forget how fast it is running Photoshop... you just can't get that kind of performance from a PC.
Uh, what do you mean you're not running Photoshop?
read my sig... putting "anti" in front of something makes it sound like a bad thing
Thanks Tim, I like it 'cause it's original, fits me, and is relevant for slashdot. I've been through a few, but I like this best... so far. Although I hope my signature doesn't overshadow what I actually post ;-)
- Get a high quality monitor
- Balance your color settings
- Don't sit too close to the monitor
- Align your monitor with your eyes
- Eliminate glare
Ok, that's not going to solve everyone's problems, but it will help. And most of the adjustments you make once, and then forget about. Seriously, you really don't want to cheap out when buying a monitor. $50 more spent on a monitor is going to affect your life significantly more than $50 on any other part of the computer.If you can't get one at work, at least have a good one at home. I went looking for a 19" monitor that could do 1600x1200 four years ago, and while I could have paid $450 (prices in USD), I instead opted for a $600 model (I used pricewatch for these prices). Why? Because any eye care and related discomfort to me wasn't worth $150. And the monitor really should be able to do at least 70Hz at the resolution you use, I can't tell you how many people I know who've had monitor-related headaches that were fixed by upping the refresh rate.
I've used Macs for a long time, which come with excellent color-balancing software. But PCs don't have this, and I'll often notice they present an image onscreen that is horribly out of whack. A lot of monitors allow you to adjust the strength of the color outputs, and I assume there's some software to do the same (try Adobe?). You shouldn't notice any adjustment in your eyes between looking at the monitor and the real world (such as if you putting on or taking off tinted glasses). That's not good for your eyes either.
You're supposed to have your eyes 2 feet from the screen. I don't know anyone who actually does this, but most people are at least 1 foot away. If you're sitting closer, or finding that you often have to lean in to see things (such as small text), you should probably get a larger (physically) monitor, or run at a lower resolution (or, adjust the sizes of how all your fonts display). This will make a big difference, and you'll see results almost immediately.
Your eyes should be even with the top of the screen (not the bevel). Ok, this doesn't have to be precise, but if you are constantly looking down or up it's going to suck for not only your eyes, but your neck and back, too. It's easy to fix, too, mostly people have monitors that are too small, so they stack books or bricks or whatever underneath to raise it up.
Almost forgot this one. If you're getting too much glare from windows or overhead lights you're going to be squinting constantly while using your monitor. You probably don't even notice it, as (like all of these things) your eyes just adjust to it automatically and you don't notice until they're bloodshot or you've got headaches. But if you find that you're squinting, get a filter on your monitor, or buy one that has some sort of anti-relectivity technology built-in. Well worth it.
What I really don't get is why they're considering some all-new (expensive) method of taxing people for driving. If the 24-cent tax on gas isn't keeping up with inflation, why not just adjust the 24-cent tax for inflation? It'd seem a whole lot easier to work with the dozen or so gas companies than the millions of residents. And you'll keep the incentive to drive smaller, lighter vehicles.
...is when the terrorists (don't groan, keep reading) attack our nation (I'm from the USA) for being so free and giving our citizens so many rights, and our politicians respond by passing laws taking away our rights (DMCA, TIA, etc) in record-setting fashion. Terrorists win when they scare their targets; they certainly scared our politicians.
Oh, and while I'm ranting: (Disclaimer: personally, I have no problem with the few French-Americans I've met) Did you know that France is the most policed nation? They have more internal spies and cops than any other nation and keep volumes of data on their citizens. So with all the recent political hatred of the French, what are we doing? Modelling our nation after theirs. Now I know you're supposed to "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer", but since when are you supposed to try to turn yourself into those you despise?