People who believe that their "personal information" isn't being sold are just being ignorant. These are probably the same people who believe that ALL the money they deposit is sitting in the vault at the bank.
Idealism is not dead: The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets. I hope everybody will help out in that and realize that this is the best option for all. Don't worry - be happy!
Read: This money is going to pay our legal fees as we try to save our asses!
You're actually correct in that the human eye cannot tell the difference between 1080p and 720p at a certain distance.
I read an article many moons ago when the format war was still in high gear on Audioholics (link) which was titled "1080p and the Acuity of Human Vision". It's an interesting article because it cuts through all the marketing and gets down to the science of HD and if it ACTUALLY matters.
A good summary line from the article would be:
"Put bluntly, from 8 feet away while watching a 50 inch plasma TV, the human eye is generally incapable of reliably distinguishing any detail finer than that shown on a true 720p display!"
Most "quality" differences people see between the formats (unless they're sitting in the first row of their home movie theater) come from richer colors and cranked up contrast and brightness on sales displays.
Honestly, the reason you don't see any market for 3rd party CableCARD devices is because of two reasons:
1) TiVo 2) CableCARDs are not user friendly
The first one is obvious. TiVo Series3 and TiVoHD are the only set top units that are currently on the market because there isn't a call for any others. TiVo has been able to make ends meet because of a loyal fan base and recurring monthly charges. A competing product would probably not be able to even grab 0.5% market share between cable companies and TiVo. So it makes sense that there's no other commercial units out there.
The second reason was something I learned after purchasing a TiVoHD. CableCARDs are not user friendly, period. You'd think it would be as simple as inserting a PCMCIA card and calling the cable company to turn them on, but there's more. Firmware updates, signal quality issues, hardware failure. The list can go on. Basically, you will need a cable tech to make sure your house has a strong enough signal for CableCARDs and then, while they're there, might as well have them install it. Sure, the $50+ installation fee is BS, but that's the price you pay I suppose.
So in the end, I think that Cable Companies will continue to try and push their shitty DVR's with their firmware lacking features TiVo has had for over five years onto ignorant consumers. CableCARDs will become a niche market that Cable Companies only service because of federal regulation.
The biggest problem I have with Harmonix and their PR with downloadable content is they really burned XBox360 users with GH2. Their PR campaign before the games release was that GH2 for the 360 would have "more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game..." (link to interview). This gave people who had already spent $100+ on GH2 for the PS2 (Game/Controller + Additional Controller) a valid reason to buy it again.
Here we are six after GH2 for the XBox360 was released. What downloadable content do we have? Four song 'packs' with songs that were already in GH1, and a song pack of indie bands few have heard of.
So, although the offer of copious amounts of downloadable content for Rock Band is tempting and easy to get excited about, it should be taken with a big, big big big grain of salt.
I had a monster sized serial trackball I got with my 286. I kept it a long, long time (up to Windows 2000) because I enjoyed using it so much. I decided to switch over to a Microsoft Trackball Explorer. I have two of them and over the six years I've been using them, I've only had to replace one for a short in the cable (my fault, I suppose).
I find it easier to use than thumb balls because it uses my pointer and middle finger for navigation of the ball itself. I find I have much greater control and dexterity with these fingers, which my wife will attest to (GIGGITY GIGGITY).
It also has a lifetime warranty, so I just had to call Microsoft and give them the Product ID and they cross shipped me a new one at no cost.
Anyways, if you're looking for something OTHER than a thumb ball, I suggest taking a look into the Microsoft Trackball Explorer.
I think this is an attempt to combine the Nintendo Mii aspect of personalizing an online gaming persona with the gaming prestige aspect of the Microsoft Gamer Score.
My biggest problem with Sony's implementation of these new enhancements and roll out of new features is that it's a little late in the game to be doing so. The console has been on the market now for roughly four months, things such as online markets and features like the Sony Playstation Home should have been completed at launch much like the Nintendo Mii and Microsoft XBox Gamer Tags.
Rolling out major features like this after launch makes it seem like Sony just rushed to release the PS3 with a, "we'll add things as they're finished" mentality. Call them 'catch-up features'.
Although Nintendo has had several 'catch up features' added, such as the Wii channels finally being completed months after launch, I have to give it to Microsoft in that the changes to XBox Live and the dashboard have more or less just been an evolution over the last year and a half since the 360 was introduced. Sure, much more content has been added since it's inception, but nothing radically new has been added.
So my hat goes off to Sony for being able to spin these new 'features' in a positive light, but I guess the question should be asked, Why weren't these features released with the console when the competitors already had them in place?
The one thought that keeps swirling through my mind when I browse through the HD movie section at my local Best Buy is, Who the HECK figures out the pricing for these things?!
How can Little Man cost $29 but the Fifth Element is only $19!?
I've owned the HD-DVD drive for the XBox360 now since it's launch and the only HD disc I currently own is the free copy of King Kong that came with it.
I'm floored that new titles aren't being released in both DVD and in their respective HD format at the same time. The studios seem too busy trying to 'catch up', releasing titles already available on DVD. I know they're doing this in hopes that people purchase both the DVD version and HD version when it's released later, in an effort to double their money.
I've also used the Parallax boards and I have to agree that they are the best for simple robotics and teaching low level computing in the classroom.
Personally, I would suggest using their Java based Stamp, only because your students would not only be learning robotics and electronics, but also a standard language in use everywhere today.
Their other controllers use a language much like BASIC but is unique to the Parallax hardware, not much value there.
Dell has stopped installing floppy drives in desktops by default now for the better part of two years now.
I think what should be news is that although everyone is retiring the floppy drive and sending all the disks to the bone yard, nobody has come up with an alternative way to flash device BIOS's. Companies for RAID, Network and other devices sometimes still only release a floppy self-writing image file.
You think that Blu-Ray is expensive, you just wait until a 3rd party not only has to develop and manufacture an optic that will read both HD-DVD AND Blu-Ray while also paying royalties on BOTH technologies.
I suspect that this mystical wonder player will cost somewhere around $1,300. I base this price on absolutely nothing.
I mean, I'm no game development expert, but 25GB of assets? I'm sure a good portion of that is video content just encoded at super high bitrate, but if by chance half of that is game assets, wouldn't that lead to horrid load times?
So does this article back up the claim that Pluto isn't a planet, but more a free floating dwarf planet that was captured by our suns gravitational pull? I had read an article that supported the theory because it stated that Pluto was the only "planet" that didn't orbit on the same circumstellar disk as the rest of our solar systems planets.
I hate that these days parents are by no means accountable for their childs actions. To this, I think that Rockstar should counter sue the parents for parental negligence in allowing their 14 year-old son play a game that is rated M for Mature (17+ years of age). On top of this, I think Rockstar should also ask who actually PURCHASED this game for their son. I'm betting there's a good chance that the parents are 100% to blame for their childs actions. I'm sure that the killings were caused by this video game and were by no means assisted by shitty parenting.
Suits like this can only be compared to people suing Gun Companies, Cigarette and Car Manufacturers for deaths caused by their products.
That the Xbox360 has a video scaling chip in it. This means that most games are sill rendered at 720p, but are then scaled up to 1080i or whatever output resolution you have specified in your console settings. This is the same scaling technology that newer cable boxes use.
What does this REALLY mean?
Well, first off it means that Microsoft will finally be releasing an HDMI cable for the Xbox360, which many, many people have requested. People who do not use the HDMI hookup will not be able to take advantage of 1080p.
Also this does not mean that gamers who have televisions that support 1080p will not see an immediate quality boost from their Xbox360. Games that say they're 720p will still be rendered at 720p, so game image quality will not go up. BUT, what this does allow for is content that is mastered in 1080p (HD-DVD or perhaps a future game, but that is doubtful) can now be displayed at full resolution.
I hate how I see more and more people these days discussing the upgrade from 'Standard Definition' DVD's to HD-DVD (and the ilk) as being comparable to the upgrade from dialup to broadband, audio tape to CD or VHS to DVD.
The HD-DVD format doesn't bring many other new features to the table other than higher quality audio and video.
A more accurate comparison would push from VHS to SVHS (link). The SVHS medium did not offer many new features other than an increase in quality.
If anything, that only proved that consumers do not see value in a simple increase in quality.
Not to flame, but seriously, are these jokers serious?
Since the card runs Linux would it REALLY be that hard to have it intercept incoming 'ping' requests and respond from it's TCP/IP stack immediately, thus lowering the ping time if your CPU is under load?
My bet is it does what I suggested, then proceeds to pass the response to the OS TCP/IP stack and intercepts the response and disposes of it.
In the past, the PC market would advance at an alarming rate. If you bought a PC in 1995, lets say a 486, then three years later it would make total sense to upgrade to the newer P2 processors that were out at the time because the performance leap was huge and commercial software was taking advantage of the new speed.
These days, i find the average home PC for Average Joe Family need no more than a >2Ghz CPU, = 1GB RAM, ~80GB, GeForce 6200 or the likes. This computer would handle Word Processing, Internet Browsing, email and even simple multimedia (digital photos, whatnot). I think it's fair to estimate this PC was a decent 'new' computer back in 2003.
What has changed for the home user? Windows XP is still the operating system in use. IE hasn't changed much, nor has Office. With that in mind, is it entirely necessary for this family to purchase a new PC? Probably not.
It boils down to the only thing driving new PC sales is new games, honestly.. and since many home PC users aren't into the latest games at the HIGHEST FPS possible, then of course PC sales are going to sag.
Oh man, because xbox live games are all DRM'd, I can't copy them to my other compatible platform based on the custom xbox 360 hardware... err... never mind:-(
I'm just curious, but if these titles WEREN'T DRM'd, which platform pray tell would you play them on? Lasy checked most of these titles coming out (Frogger, PacMan, SFII) have been available on the PC via emulation or PC versions for -years-, most being had for free.
So for those complaining about the DRM, just get a free version on another platform. And to the others who are complaining that XBox Live Arcade has been really lack luster lately with the games being released, perhaps you should ask the actual development studios?
Slashdot Mirror
People who believe that their "personal information" isn't being sold are just being ignorant. These are probably the same people who believe that ALL the money they deposit is sitting in the vault at the bank.
... but most of all, samy is my hero.
Idealism is not dead: The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets. I hope everybody will help out in that and realize that this is the best option for all. Don't worry - be happy!
Read: This money is going to pay our legal fees as we try to save our asses!
Oh yeah, because Ubuntu has never had remote exploit. Ever.
Who mods this crap?
You're actually correct in that the human eye cannot tell the difference between 1080p and 720p at a certain distance.
I read an article many moons ago when the format war was still in high gear on Audioholics (link) which was titled "1080p and the Acuity of Human Vision". It's an interesting article because it cuts through all the marketing and gets down to the science of HD and if it ACTUALLY matters.
A good summary line from the article would be:
"Put bluntly, from 8 feet away while watching a 50 inch plasma TV, the human eye is generally incapable of reliably distinguishing any detail finer than that shown on a true 720p display!"
Most "quality" differences people see between the formats (unless they're sitting in the first row of their home movie theater) come from richer colors and cranked up contrast and brightness on sales displays.
No?
Apple is a hardware company first and a software company second. They want you to buy their hardware so you can use their software.
Hardware first, Software second.
If you didn't have to buy their hardware to use their (free) software.... how do they even make money?
So no, Apple should not open source anything (and nor should they!)
Honestly, the reason you don't see any market for 3rd party CableCARD devices is because of two reasons:
1) TiVo
2) CableCARDs are not user friendly
The first one is obvious. TiVo Series3 and TiVoHD are the only set top units that are currently on the market because there isn't a call for any others. TiVo has been able to make ends meet because of a loyal fan base and recurring monthly charges. A competing product would probably not be able to even grab 0.5% market share between cable companies and TiVo. So it makes sense that there's no other commercial units out there.
The second reason was something I learned after purchasing a TiVoHD. CableCARDs are not user friendly, period. You'd think it would be as simple as inserting a PCMCIA card and calling the cable company to turn them on, but there's more. Firmware updates, signal quality issues, hardware failure. The list can go on. Basically, you will need a cable tech to make sure your house has a strong enough signal for CableCARDs and then, while they're there, might as well have them install it. Sure, the $50+ installation fee is BS, but that's the price you pay I suppose.
So in the end, I think that Cable Companies will continue to try and push their shitty DVR's with their firmware lacking features TiVo has had for over five years onto ignorant consumers. CableCARDs will become a niche market that Cable Companies only service because of federal regulation.
The biggest problem I have with Harmonix and their PR with downloadable content is they really burned XBox360 users with GH2. Their PR campaign before the games release was that GH2 for the 360 would have "more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game..." (link to interview). This gave people who had already spent $100+ on GH2 for the PS2 (Game/Controller + Additional Controller) a valid reason to buy it again.
Here we are six after GH2 for the XBox360 was released. What downloadable content do we have? Four song 'packs' with songs that were already in GH1, and a song pack of indie bands few have heard of.
So, although the offer of copious amounts of downloadable content for Rock Band is tempting and easy to get excited about, it should be taken with a big, big big big grain of salt.
I had a monster sized serial trackball I got with my 286. I kept it a long, long time (up to Windows 2000) because I enjoyed using it so much. I decided to switch over to a Microsoft Trackball Explorer. I have two of them and over the six years I've been using them, I've only had to replace one for a short in the cable (my fault, I suppose).
I find it easier to use than thumb balls because it uses my pointer and middle finger for navigation of the ball itself. I find I have much greater control and dexterity with these fingers, which my wife will attest to (GIGGITY GIGGITY).
It also has a lifetime warranty, so I just had to call Microsoft and give them the Product ID and they cross shipped me a new one at no cost.
Anyways, if you're looking for something OTHER than a thumb ball, I suggest taking a look into the Microsoft Trackball Explorer.
I think this is an attempt to combine the Nintendo Mii aspect of personalizing an online gaming persona with the gaming prestige aspect of the Microsoft Gamer Score.
My biggest problem with Sony's implementation of these new enhancements and roll out of new features is that it's a little late in the game to be doing so. The console has been on the market now for roughly four months, things such as online markets and features like the Sony Playstation Home should have been completed at launch much like the Nintendo Mii and Microsoft XBox Gamer Tags.
Rolling out major features like this after launch makes it seem like Sony just rushed to release the PS3 with a, "we'll add things as they're finished" mentality. Call them 'catch-up features'.
Although Nintendo has had several 'catch up features' added, such as the Wii channels finally being completed months after launch, I have to give it to Microsoft in that the changes to XBox Live and the dashboard have more or less just been an evolution over the last year and a half since the 360 was introduced. Sure, much more content has been added since it's inception, but nothing radically new has been added.
So my hat goes off to Sony for being able to spin these new 'features' in a positive light, but I guess the question should be asked, Why weren't these features released with the console when the competitors already had them in place?
How does parent not get modded to flame?
A high end gaming video card alone costs as much as the PS3.
In all fairness, Samy is still allowed to use the internet for work reasons.
He never used it in his spare time because he was always too busy being a sexy man picking up women with his hot body.
We love you Samy!
- #L
The one thought that keeps swirling through my mind when I browse through the HD movie section at my local Best Buy is, Who the HECK figures out the pricing for these things?!
How can Little Man cost $29 but the Fifth Element is only $19!?
I've owned the HD-DVD drive for the XBox360 now since it's launch and the only HD disc I currently own is the free copy of King Kong that came with it.
I'm floored that new titles aren't being released in both DVD and in their respective HD format at the same time. The studios seem too busy trying to 'catch up', releasing titles already available on DVD. I know they're doing this in hopes that people purchase both the DVD version and HD version when it's released later, in an effort to double their money.
Makes me want to vomit.
I've also used the Parallax boards and I have to agree that they are the best for simple robotics and teaching low level computing in the classroom.
Personally, I would suggest using their Java based Stamp, only because your students would not only be learning robotics and electronics, but also a standard language in use everywhere today.
Their other controllers use a language much like BASIC but is unique to the Parallax hardware, not much value there.
Cheers!
Dell has stopped installing floppy drives in desktops by default now for the better part of two years now.
I think what should be news is that although everyone is retiring the floppy drive and sending all the disks to the bone yard, nobody has come up with an alternative way to flash device BIOS's. Companies for RAID, Network and other devices sometimes still only release a floppy self-writing image file.
PMP: Makin' sure you get paid!
You think that Blu-Ray is expensive, you just wait until a 3rd party not only has to develop and manufacture an optic that will read both HD-DVD AND Blu-Ray while also paying royalties on BOTH technologies.
I suspect that this mystical wonder player will cost somewhere around $1,300. I base this price on absolutely nothing.
I mean, I'm no game development expert, but 25GB of assets? I'm sure a good portion of that is video content just encoded at super high bitrate, but if by chance half of that is game assets, wouldn't that lead to horrid load times?
So does this article back up the claim that Pluto isn't a planet, but more a free floating dwarf planet that was captured by our suns gravitational pull? I had read an article that supported the theory because it stated that Pluto was the only "planet" that didn't orbit on the same circumstellar disk as the rest of our solar systems planets.
I hate that these days parents are by no means accountable for their childs actions. To this, I think that Rockstar should counter sue the parents for parental negligence in allowing their 14 year-old son play a game that is rated M for Mature (17+ years of age). On top of this, I think Rockstar should also ask who actually PURCHASED this game for their son. I'm betting there's a good chance that the parents are 100% to blame for their childs actions. I'm sure that the killings were caused by this video game and were by no means assisted by shitty parenting.
Suits like this can only be compared to people suing Gun Companies, Cigarette and Car Manufacturers for deaths caused by their products.
That the Xbox360 has a video scaling chip in it. This means that most games are sill rendered at 720p, but are then scaled up to 1080i or whatever output resolution you have specified in your console settings. This is the same scaling technology that newer cable boxes use.
What does this REALLY mean?
Well, first off it means that Microsoft will finally be releasing an HDMI cable for the Xbox360, which many, many people have requested. People who do not use the HDMI hookup will not be able to take advantage of 1080p.
Also this does not mean that gamers who have televisions that support 1080p will not see an immediate quality boost from their Xbox360. Games that say they're 720p will still be rendered at 720p, so game image quality will not go up. BUT, what this does allow for is content that is mastered in 1080p (HD-DVD or perhaps a future game, but that is doubtful) can now be displayed at full resolution.
I hate how I see more and more people these days discussing the upgrade from 'Standard Definition' DVD's to HD-DVD (and the ilk) as being comparable to the upgrade from dialup to broadband, audio tape to CD or VHS to DVD.
The HD-DVD format doesn't bring many other new features to the table other than higher quality audio and video.
A more accurate comparison would push from VHS to SVHS (link). The SVHS medium did not offer many new features other than an increase in quality.
If anything, that only proved that consumers do not see value in a simple increase in quality.
Off topic, but it needed to be said.
Not to flame, but seriously, are these jokers serious?
Since the card runs Linux would it REALLY be that hard to have it intercept incoming 'ping' requests and respond from it's TCP/IP stack immediately, thus lowering the ping time if your CPU is under load?
My bet is it does what I suggested, then proceeds to pass the response to the OS TCP/IP stack and intercepts the response and disposes of it.
I can't believe people still buy this Snake Oil.
In the past, the PC market would advance at an alarming rate. If you bought a PC in 1995, lets say a 486, then three years later it would make total sense to upgrade to the newer P2 processors that were out at the time because the performance leap was huge and commercial software was taking advantage of the new speed.
These days, i find the average home PC for Average Joe Family need no more than a >2Ghz CPU, = 1GB RAM, ~80GB, GeForce 6200 or the likes. This computer would handle Word Processing, Internet Browsing, email and even simple multimedia (digital photos, whatnot). I think it's fair to estimate this PC was a decent 'new' computer back in 2003.
What has changed for the home user? Windows XP is still the operating system in use. IE hasn't changed much, nor has Office. With that in mind, is it entirely necessary for this family to purchase a new PC? Probably not.
It boils down to the only thing driving new PC sales is new games, honestly.. and since many home PC users aren't into the latest games at the HIGHEST FPS possible, then of course PC sales are going to sag.
Oh man, because xbox live games are all DRM'd, I can't copy them to my other compatible platform based on the custom xbox 360 hardware... err... never mind :-(
I'm just curious, but if these titles WEREN'T DRM'd, which platform pray tell would you play them on? Lasy checked most of these titles coming out (Frogger, PacMan, SFII) have been available on the PC via emulation or PC versions for -years-, most being had for free.
So for those complaining about the DRM, just get a free version on another platform. And to the others who are complaining that XBox Live Arcade has been really lack luster lately with the games being released, perhaps you should ask the actual development studios?