Yes, please do that. When you're finished, perhaps you'd come to where I live, smash my windows, come in a steal my TV. I'd appreciate a demonstration of the weakenesses of my security. If you're feeling especially helpful, consider stealing my brand new car. I need to learn how the fancy new key doesn't really protect me from thieves.
Thanks, that would be great.
(Causing trouble for people is not generally the right way to show that trouble can be caused.)
This discussion will continue to falter so long as "mature" remains code for "juvenile." In most cases I've seen "mature" game is one with blood, boobs, and base language. But this is not truly mature; it's really juvenile since it is appealing to a person's base instincts. Likewise, "childish" is code for "cartoon." It has little to do with the game story or themes.
An easy example is found in movies: "Toy Story 2" is considered a "kiddie movie" because it's a cartoon. Though it readily appeals to children, it addresses the mature themes of friendship, loss, and death.
Likewise, most "mature" action movies are largely juvenile, appealing to people's desire to see stuff get blowed up real good. They don't actually have any mature themes.
I welcome truly mature games, and there are some out there. But let's make the discussion easier by not mislabeling the juvenile games as "mature" and not calling games "kiddie" just because they have bright colors.
[i]With a.5% error rate I wouldn't be surprised if we saw this in offices within the next few years[/i] A 1/2% error rate is a 1 in 200 error rate. That's not very good. That means you could walk through a large office and have a fair chance of being falsely recognized by the id system.
"I now feel I want to move into Science to use my skills in a productive"
What do you mean? Are you talking about working for a tech company or a university as a sysadmin? Or working in a scientific research group (univ. or corporate) as the computer tech? Or do you want to return to school and get your M.S. or Ph.D. to start a whole new career in scientfic research, or even pursue a faculty position?
Having just finished my Ph.D. in Optics, my impression is that there is good and interesting work for "techs" with a B.S. or M.S. You can be a critical part of a research group, you get your name on published articles, and you can have the schedule flexibility academics offers. Of course people are people, politics are in everything, and "science" isn't necessarily any more noble than working in industry.
Again, the answer to your question greatly depends on what you're asking. Which is what again?
The article was interesting, and made some interesting assertions. However, it did so without any supporting facts.
Many claims were made, the most important being: - Microsft lost money on each XBOX sold - Sony and Nintendo broke even, or even made money, on the hardware.
The author might be correct, but I wouldn't know, since, as written, these are just assertions, unsupported opinions. the rest of the article is the same -- hypothesize price drops, manufacturing costs, etc, without any hard facts.
Hopefully, the author will provide the appropriate documentation shortly.
I always enjoy seeing creative teaching methods. This sounds like a fun class. And while I've never had a "comic book class", I've seen superhero-type questions ("If Superman has X-Ray vision, what's the smallest object he can see?"), and all physics students like to play with the crazy "what if?" questions ("If centripetal force is constant for constant acceleration, what limits how fast I can drive in a circle?").
It doesn't mention in the article, but I presume they tackle realistic problems along with their superheroic counterparts. That's necessary for developing intuition, and can help evaluate the realism or plausibility of the "Flash" cases.
I also think doing rigorous work on unusual cases helps develop abstract thinking and problem solving skills. And those are very important when later dealing with problems (like at work), where the answer isn't in the back of the book.
Anyway, that's the first problem with any kind of interface user preference: How many of us really know what works better? Most users and most programmers have at best dim and often incorrect ideas in this regard. I know this from lots of experience.
Either Mr. Raskin is speaking about something different than what I understand, or he is missing a fundamental issue: one size does NOT fit all.
My understanding of "skinning" and "themes" is they are the means by which to modify the UI colors, fonts, background images, etc. to my liking. And certainly some choices are generally more effective -- more usable -- than others. But these decisions are made based on aggregate data; they are geared towards the "standard user." But what if you're not a standard user? Are you forced to use an interface that is not optimal for you? If Raskin has his way, then yes.
In contrast, a most staid of industries, the automobile companies, have been moving away from such an attitude over the years. The seat size, pedal placement, steering-wheel tilt angle, etc. (car UI) are all based on a standard driver; an average human. But recently, they've been providing drivers features to modify these parameters: tilt steering wheel, 8-way adjustable power seats with lumbar support, pedal positions (we can "theme" our car). This is because one size does not fit all. And if I can tweak the interface to best fit myself, my physical function, and my tastes (for comfort), then I will better enjoy the device and better use it.
His claim that changing the desktop will hinder productivity is largely like claiming that our ability to drive different cars is hurt by their various colors. I suppose Raskin and Henry Ford would get along famously, but I want to choose the color of my car.
And somehow, I don't think my mom will have problems driving my green car, even though hers is "skinned" with a white theme.
I wonder how many people are signing the petition to save Futurama, who don't watch the show.
Consider, best case scenario:
- 80 gazillion people sign the petition.
- FOX says, "Great Googly-moogly! We didn't know we had all these viewers. Keep Futurama on the air!"
- Futurama stays on the air
- After a year, ratings, surveys, etc. reveal that, as FOX originally thought, only 80 people actually watch Futurama.
- FOX yanks Futurama.
- FOX never listens to a petition again.
If you are signing the petition, but have not and will not watch the show, you're really not helping.
Thanks for saying the sensible. The news agency reported the news: some guy claims to have invented a revolutionary idea. Experts are skeptical. Demo was performed. Reporter reported it.
Michael comments on the 4500W drawn by three 100W bulbs. That's not how I understood it. Rather, the "Jakster" drew 4500W, with which it powered the three 100W bulbs and "created" at least 4500W to resupply the batteries. Thus: it acted as a "free" energy device.
Though I don't understand why a free energy machine needs a power source. That seems a bit counter-intuitive;)
I do not advoate software piracy. I've been weaning myself off of illigitimately copied programs for several years now, and encourage friends to also not use pirated materials.
That said, I believe that the equivalent dollar cost in pirated products is highly mis-leading. People who pirate software wouldn't buy the programs if they lost access to it. They would just do without.
Chizen said in the article that it can cost up to $750,000 to produce a Chinese-language version of a product, and extensive piracy makes it difficult for Adobe to recoup those costs. That said, I can appreciate theirt reasons for leaving. If they spend $750k to produce the Asian version, and don't sell sufficient copies to recoup costs and profit, then they should leave. My understanding is that most companies require a 15% return-on-investment from a product, or they shut it down.
Two years ago:
Napster is King of the World!
Dot-com boom
People rolling in money
"New Economy"
The "business cycle" is dead
People buying many CDs
The past six months:
Napster is in third-class cargo
Dot-com bust
People getting laid-off in recession
Same old Economy
The business cycle isn't quite dead
People aren't buying as many CDs.
Correlation does not always mean Causation. I personally think that Napster is indicative, not causative, of music sales.
Fundamentally, you need to be pushing a solution to a problem people care about. Or you need to provide a better way of doing things, that is worth the hassle of accepting. Change for change's sake is scary to voters. And if you're trying to push Linux just because it's l33t and r00lz, then quit now; you're just wasting people's time.
If you can demonstrate that using Linux will...
- Reduce computer costs and free up more money for education...
- Make it easier for kids to get computers, to play and learn with (and so develop future job skills)...
- Have a proven track record of being more secure against attackers...
- Will enable computers and related services to more available, more quickly to e.g. rural areas than otherwise...
...then you've got something you can sell to non computer-geek voters.
You need to simply identify how using OSS well improve your would-be constituents' lives.
Well, to trot out another free-market cliche, there's No Free Lunch. Ever try to get a domain transferred from one host to another, and it turns out your registrar is staffed entirely by trained chimps? Or lose a domain because nobody notified you that it had expired? (That one actually happened to passport.com!) Given the value of a top-level domain name, $35/year seems awfully cheap.
It sounds like you've never actually registered a domain name. By all accounts, NSI is staffed entirely by trained chimps who make it impossible to manage or transfer a dn registered with them.
In contrast, the low-cost registrars have provided quite good service to many.
In any case, paying NSI $35 is *not* worth it. Pay less, get more.
Cartridges have their own problems (size, weight, breakable connectors). Plus, Nintendo was the lone cartridge holdout with the N64. But now even they have gone to an optical disc medium. Why? Because capacity is vastly larger than cartridges and cost is much less.
How does this WO memory change that balance? Is the storage there? Is the cost low enough?
- Write Once Memory: CD-ROM is 10x larger, and is very cheap. DVD-ROM will eventually be about 100x larger.
- Solid-state storage for Digital Cameras: Write-Many memory chips are readily available. They are expensive, but reusable. Will this write-once chip be cheap enough to make it worth while? Or are these chips much smaller, making this interesting to travelers?
- Computer Memory: Obviously not useful there (I don't see a market ofr single-use computers:)
Is there other info about this memory, showing why this is of any use?
The thing saving Slashdot is that it has a clear, identifiable audience that spends big bucks on stuff.
Yeah, all these Napster-using, MP3-ripping, RIAA/MPAA-boycotting, free-software-advocating, anti-patent/copyright-shouting, DirecTV-pirating, web-ad-busting, "Information wants to be free!"-sloganeering people sure sound like a big-spending group.
(Sadly, I don't know if I'm sarcastic or dead-serious.)
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, please do that. When you're finished, perhaps you'd come to where I live, smash my windows, come in a steal my TV. I'd appreciate a demonstration of the weakenesses of my security. If you're feeling especially helpful, consider stealing my brand new car. I need to learn how the fancy new key doesn't really protect me from thieves.
Thanks, that would be great.
(Causing trouble for people is not generally the right way to show that trouble can be caused.)
You're going to be Rip van Winkle, since Kodak killed the GEMS project. (A pity too. Friends were working on it and it was pretty nice.)
It seems this review is mostly synopsis.
I guess I hope for an informed, opinionated discussion of the book's material and its value, rather than a chapter summary.
Three hours and no replies? Did I miss a memo?
This discussion will continue to falter so long as "mature" remains code for "juvenile." In most cases I've seen "mature" game is one with blood, boobs, and base language. But this is not truly mature; it's really juvenile since it is appealing to a person's base instincts. Likewise, "childish" is code for "cartoon." It has little to do with the game story or themes.
An easy example is found in movies: "Toy Story 2" is considered a "kiddie movie" because it's a cartoon. Though it readily appeals to children, it addresses the mature themes of friendship, loss, and death.
Likewise, most "mature" action movies are largely juvenile, appealing to people's desire to see stuff get blowed up real good. They don't actually have any mature themes.
I welcome truly mature games, and there are some out there. But let's make the discussion easier by not mislabeling the juvenile games as "mature" and not calling games "kiddie" just because they have bright colors.
Do People Really Use Their PDAs?
Yes.
(schedule, address book, tracking cash expenses, games during boring meetings)
what do I do?
Like the title says, stop bitching and get on with your life.
[i]With a .5% error rate I wouldn't be surprised if we saw this in offices within the next few years[/i] A 1/2% error rate is a 1 in 200 error rate. That's not very good. That means you could walk through a large office and have a fair chance of being falsely recognized by the id system.
"I now feel I want to move into Science to use my skills in a productive"
What do you mean? Are you talking about working for a tech company or a university as a sysadmin? Or working in a scientific research group (univ. or corporate) as the computer tech? Or do you want to return to school and get your M.S. or Ph.D. to start a whole new career in scientfic research, or even pursue a faculty position?
Having just finished my Ph.D. in Optics, my impression is that there is good and interesting work for "techs" with a B.S. or M.S. You can be a critical part of a research group, you get your name on published articles, and you can have the schedule flexibility academics offers. Of course people are people, politics are in everything, and "science" isn't necessarily any more noble than working in industry.
Again, the answer to your question greatly depends on what you're asking. Which is what again?
The article was interesting, and made some interesting assertions. However, it did so without any supporting facts.
Many claims were made, the most important being:
- Microsft lost money on each XBOX sold
- Sony and Nintendo broke even, or even made money, on the hardware.
The author might be correct, but I wouldn't know, since, as written, these are just assertions, unsupported opinions. the rest of the article is the same -- hypothesize price drops, manufacturing costs, etc, without any hard facts.
Hopefully, the author will provide the appropriate documentation shortly.
I always enjoy seeing creative teaching methods. This sounds like a fun class. And while I've never had a "comic book class", I've seen superhero-type questions ("If Superman has X-Ray vision, what's the smallest object he can see?"), and all physics students like to play with the crazy "what if?" questions ("If centripetal force is constant for constant acceleration, what limits how fast I can drive in a circle?").
It doesn't mention in the article, but I presume they tackle realistic problems along with their superheroic counterparts. That's necessary for developing intuition, and can help evaluate the realism or plausibility of the "Flash" cases.
I also think doing rigorous work on unusual cases helps develop abstract thinking and problem solving skills. And those are very important when later dealing with problems (like at work), where the answer isn't in the back of the book.
Anyway, that's the first problem with any kind of interface user preference: How many of us really know what works better? Most users and most programmers have at best dim and often incorrect ideas in this regard. I know this from lots of experience.
Either Mr. Raskin is speaking about something different than what I understand, or he is missing a fundamental issue: one size does NOT fit all.
My understanding of "skinning" and "themes" is they are the means by which to modify the UI colors, fonts, background images, etc. to my liking. And certainly some choices are generally more effective -- more usable -- than others. But these decisions are made based on aggregate data; they are geared towards the "standard user." But what if you're not a standard user? Are you forced to use an interface that is not optimal for you? If Raskin has his way, then yes.
In contrast, a most staid of industries, the automobile companies, have been moving away from such an attitude over the years. The seat size, pedal placement, steering-wheel tilt angle, etc. (car UI) are all based on a standard driver; an average human. But recently, they've been providing drivers features to modify these parameters: tilt steering wheel, 8-way adjustable power seats with lumbar support, pedal positions (we can "theme" our car). This is because one size does not fit all. And if I can tweak the interface to best fit myself, my physical function, and my tastes (for comfort), then I will better enjoy the device and better use it.
His claim that changing the desktop will hinder productivity is largely like claiming that our ability to drive different cars is hurt by their various colors. I suppose Raskin and Henry Ford would get along famously, but I want to choose the color of my car.
And somehow, I don't think my mom will have problems driving my green car, even though hers is "skinned" with a white theme.
Not review but overview (as you can see, it underwent the standard Slashdot-Keyword-Munging operation.
I wonder how many people are signing the petition to save Futurama, who don't watch the show.
Consider, best case scenario:
- 80 gazillion people sign the petition.
- FOX says, "Great Googly-moogly! We didn't know we had all these viewers. Keep Futurama on the air!"
- Futurama stays on the air
- After a year, ratings, surveys, etc. reveal that, as FOX originally thought, only 80 people actually watch Futurama.
- FOX yanks Futurama.
- FOX never listens to a petition again.
If you are signing the petition, but have not and will not watch the show, you're really not helping.
Yeah, but in Boy Scouts, they didn't let you use Sniper Rifles or Rocket Launchers as part of the game.
Thanks for saying the sensible. The news agency reported the news: some guy claims to have invented a revolutionary idea. Experts are skeptical. Demo was performed. Reporter reported it.
;)
Michael comments on the 4500W drawn by three 100W bulbs. That's not how I understood it. Rather, the "Jakster" drew 4500W, with which it powered the three 100W bulbs and "created" at least 4500W to resupply the batteries. Thus: it acted as a "free" energy device.
Though I don't understand why a free energy machine needs a power source. That seems a bit counter-intuitive
I do not advoate software piracy. I've been weaning myself off of illigitimately copied programs for several years now, and encourage friends to also not use pirated materials.
That said, I believe that the equivalent dollar cost in pirated products is highly mis-leading. People who pirate software wouldn't buy the programs if they lost access to it. They would just do without.
Chizen said in the article that it can cost up to $750,000 to produce a Chinese-language version of a product, and extensive piracy makes it difficult for Adobe to recoup those costs.
That said, I can appreciate theirt reasons for leaving. If they spend $750k to produce the Asian version, and don't sell sufficient copies to recoup costs and profit, then they should leave. My understanding is that most companies require a 15% return-on-investment from a product, or they shut it down.
You just need one copy of that form to fill out. Then make photocopies. Give them one each time your return a CD :)
[Napster's] only use is to pirate music
:)
Is that spin? Or is that reality?
My understanding was that it wasn't spin, for the majority of Napster users. Guess we'll find out.
Two years ago:
Napster is King of the World!
Dot-com boom
People rolling in money
"New Economy"
The "business cycle" is dead
People buying many CDs
The past six months:
Napster is in third-class cargo
Dot-com bust
People getting laid-off in recession
Same old Economy
The business cycle isn't quite dead
People aren't buying as many CDs.
Correlation does not always mean Causation. I personally think that Napster is indicative, not causative, of music sales.
Fundamentally, you need to be pushing a solution to a problem people care about. Or you need to provide a better way of doing things, that is worth the hassle of accepting. Change for change's sake is scary to voters. And if you're trying to push Linux just because it's l33t and r00lz, then quit now; you're just wasting people's time.
If you can demonstrate that using Linux will...
- Reduce computer costs and free up more money for education...
- Make it easier for kids to get computers, to play and learn with (and so develop future job skills)...
- Have a proven track record of being more secure against attackers...
- Will enable computers and related services to more available, more quickly to e.g. rural areas than otherwise...
...then you've got something you can sell to non computer-geek voters.
You need to simply identify how using OSS well improve your would-be constituents' lives.
Well, to trot out another free-market cliche, there's No Free Lunch. Ever try to get a domain transferred from one host to another, and it turns out your registrar is staffed entirely by trained chimps? Or lose a domain because nobody notified you that it had expired? (That one actually happened to passport.com!) Given the value of a top-level domain name, $35/year seems awfully cheap.
It sounds like you've never actually registered a domain name. By all accounts, NSI is staffed entirely by trained chimps who make it impossible to manage or transfer a dn registered with them.
In contrast, the low-cost registrars have provided quite good service to many.
In any case, paying NSI $35 is *not* worth it. Pay less, get more.
But again, I wonder why I want this?
Cartridges have their own problems (size, weight, breakable connectors). Plus, Nintendo was the lone cartridge holdout with the N64. But now even they have gone to an optical disc medium. Why? Because capacity is vastly larger than cartridges and cost is much less.
How does this WO memory change that balance? Is the storage there? Is the cost low enough?
Why should we care about this?
:)
- Write Once Memory: CD-ROM is 10x larger, and is very cheap. DVD-ROM will eventually be about 100x larger.
- Solid-state storage for Digital Cameras: Write-Many memory chips are readily available. They are expensive, but reusable. Will this write-once chip be cheap enough to make it worth while? Or are these chips much smaller, making this interesting to travelers?
- Computer Memory: Obviously not useful there (I don't see a market ofr single-use computers
Is there other info about this memory, showing why this is of any use?
The thing saving Slashdot is that it has a clear, identifiable audience that spends big bucks on stuff.
Yeah, all these Napster-using, MP3-ripping, RIAA/MPAA-boycotting, free-software-advocating, anti-patent/copyright-shouting, DirecTV-pirating, web-ad-busting, "Information wants to be free!"-sloganeering people sure sound like a big-spending group.
(Sadly, I don't know if I'm sarcastic or dead-serious.)