OK, if I don't have a Constitutionally protected right to be free from surveillance, why is the FBI entitled to be free from MY surveillance? In other words, if they are entitled to surveil me anonymously, why am I not allowed to read books anonymously?
As a side note, can this new measure be justified by historical precedent of Bad Guys using libraries to do Bad Things, or is it simply a power grab by the FBI?
Stolen, huh? Stolen, like Mr. Carmack no longer has the code on his hard drive? Stolen, like somebody has removed the capacity from somebody else to use the product?
Stolen how, exactly? What was removed from somebody's ownership? What does the owner no longer have the full and unfettered use of?
Copying!=stealing, and anybody who thinks that this alpha leak is going to dampen enthusiasm for D3 is silly.
That's funny. I don't buy anything id puts out, because I know it won't be anything other than an engine technology demonstrator with deathmatch built in, and oh yeah maybe a couple single player levels thrown in as an afterthought.
I make it a point to buy games that people who are not id make with id's engines.
I believe I'm not alone, too. But I'm not sure you guys will count my invisible rabbit.
OK, I'll bite. What rewritable format are you going to use? What is your rationale? What have you read that informed your decision?
I'm honestly curious. I'm pretty good with this computer thing, and I am utterly perplexed by why and how the DVD writer market has become SO INSANELY FRAGMENTED.
There are lots of games that are fun that have no well-defined access to multiplay. Yes, just playing the same damn deathmatch game with new models and weapons (ref. the deathmatch in every POV shooter since the dawn of time) might extend the time people spend using your product. However, I don't believe that just making your game buzzword compliant (by saying MULTIPLAYER INCLUDED on the box) is a feature.
I, for one, admire the game developers who say "Hey, we're making this game with a focus on the single-player experience. We might add a deathmatch option at some point, but our efforts are focused on making this title a fun and unique single player game."
In other words, if by "paying attention to multiplay" you mean "glom in the same lame deathmatch option that's been done to death since Quake 1", no, I don't think that's important for success.
Adding multiplayer to a racing game or a shooter just isn't that big of a development effort, while making the game fun and engaging IS a big development effort. Do the second before you do the first.
The thing that really chaps my hide is that people keep buying the SAME GAME from iD over and over.
Yes, iD makes game engines, not games. The technology is pretty darn amazing when it comes out. But I haven't played an iD game that I've LIKED since Doom 1, and that's largely because it was so atmospheric and engrossing. Lately, it's just been mo'deathmatch, which frankly bores me to tears.
My hat's off to Carmack and his team. They're technical masters, and they've built a legion of slavering fanboys that will buy anything that has the iD logo on it. Good job.
But I won't buy their stuff. Unless the box contains a GOOD GAME, instead of a cool technology demonstrator.
If I didn't know it, and I read it, it's news. Just because it's not news to YOU doesn't make a damn bit of difference to anybody who's NOT YOU.
The obsessoin with scooping the competition is a legacy feature of print journalism, and to my mind, a very detrimental one./. is not designed to be just a news site...it's also a place to DISCUSS news. That means, in order to have a discussion, they have to post the story. If that/. post happens a few days after the story breaks, you STILL get the utility of the discussion.
So/. isn't always first with the story. What difference does that make? How does that decrease/.'s utility? I mean, I read a lot of poeple pissing and moaning about how bad this site sucks...But those same people are still reading, so obviously the site is doing something right.
As far as why I'm making such a big thing about it, this thread just tripped on my pet peeve, so I ranted about it. That's what happens around here.
Again, so what? I'm pretty sure that there were at least one or two people who hadn't heard about this, until they read about it on Slashdot. How exactly does it hurt you that/. posts it? Or are you one of those people who think things are cool only if you know about them, and everybody else is in the dark?
In other words, what EXACTLY motivated you to share with the universe that you had this a few days ago? Why do you think anybody cares? Or were you just being an ass?
Which is the point of the exercise. We use a similar laser in the lab to do cold machining of silicon. The pulse interval is short, so the laser destroys its target point, but doesn't heat the surrounding material. Ultimately we're going to be focusing the beam onto a point about 1 micron in diameter. Very high energy densities.
Lots of the lefties I know use the mouse in their right. So, say 10% of the population is left handed. Say three-quarters of them like to mouse with their left. (I think both of these figures are inflated) So, by your rationale, nobody should make mice designed for 92.5% of the populace, because you feel left out.
Uh, how about if you use one of the several dozen other mouse and trackball designs that are symmetrical? How's that sound? Or does that hurt your feelings?
See, the point that you're dismissing is the crux of the matter. Each phone company defending their monopoly is the major failure of the cell phone market.
My rhetoric was shoddy. I should have said you can't download any SIGNIFICANT number of USEFUL applications to your phone. I'm not seeing this huge library of phone software you seem to think exists. On the other hand, if you want to peruse http://www.freewarepalm.com (beware popups), you'll see many hundreds of free (beer) apps for my PalmOS device. That software library is an enormous advantage for Palm devices. Phones can't touch that sort of flexibility, period.
OK, you say that maybe someday java-micro will be a unified phone development plan. Groovy. I still don't quite understand how this magic software gets loaded on to my phone. Do I have to buy that $50 serial cable from the phone company? Or do I have to find a phone whose IR port hasn't been lobotomized? Bluetooth is probably the long-term solution to this problem (and one I'm stoked about) but for now, loading software onto phones (and, more critically, backing up the data I've laboriously entered into said phone) is neither inexpensive nor simple.
1) There is not a large, openly available dev environment for "mobile phones" the way there is for "PalmOS PDAs". If you're arguing that the development community for any phone is as active and fruitful as the Palm development community, you're crazy. If there was some platform that developers could use to deploy onto many phones across many service providers, you might be on to something. However, I don't believe that such a platform exists.
Incidentally, the flexibility and power of PalmOS's calendar feature would be quite a feat to duplicate on a phone. I've never seen its equal.
2) When I'm making a purchasing decision for me, I don't care about what YOU think about the product. If _I_ don't like the UI, I'm not going to shell out the cash.
3) I never argued a price difference. The prices of any electronic tool like these are a) malleable and b) usually in the $300-500 neighborhood. And irrelevant to our discussion.
4) If it fits comfortably in my pocket, it's small enough. My Visor Deluxe is just a skosh too big, but most of the new PalmOS devices are as small or smaller, so I feel this is a moot point. As far as convenience goes, a device is convenient if and only if it does everything I'd like it to. Mobile phones (with the exception of the PalmOS based "smart"phones, several of which I like) are not convenient for me, as they don't have sufficient functionality.
As an aside, the pricing structure for wireless apps and service in America is ridiculous. It's stupid for me to pay a monthly fee for the ability to download new ringtones to my phone. They're obviously just trying to soak the customer for every nickel, as opposed to working hard to provide value for the dollar. That leads me to believe that the free market is not being permitted to work, since a competitive environment would tune out this practice. Is this different in Japan? If so, great. Hopefully USian phone companies will stop being stupid. However, I'm not holding my breath.
Just so you know where I am on this price curve, I'm waiting $20/month for unlimited night and weekend minutes, and a reasonable number of daytime minutes. If I'm going to use Internet data services (I'd rather not), I want a very reasonable price per byte. All the prices I've seen so far are absolutely absurd. Anecdote or no, I am not alone. Lots of people use their PDAs to do things that phones have not yet demonstrated an ability to do, so it's not the evolutionary dead-end you seem to want to believe it is. As far as me not being a representative of the market, that's fine. I don't care about what "the market" wants...I care about being able to get products that are useful TO ME. As long as such products keep coming out, the free market economy is working.
You don't seem to use a PDA. That's cool. I am glad you're happy with the functionality that your phone provides. However, if you want that to be enough for "everybody", I think you're being silly.
One phone has a screen the size of a postage stamp. Another was designed by some freak who got bored with the ten-key layout on every phone ever and decided to rearrange it so it's more pretty. We've got a couple folding devices hiding keyboards that people with hands as big as mine can not use. Then we've got two Windows CE devices.
How do any of these improve my life? They're ALL critically flawed. None have the kind of text input I prefer. None run an operating system with a vibrant developer community. None have the sort of flexibility I want.
Behind the times, maybe. But I'm in Palm's target audience.
Slashdot Mirror
One nit to pick. I bet you'll find an amazing correlation between PVR owners and broadband subscribers.
Just because right now both are niche markets, doesn't mean that those markets aren't viable.
OK, if I don't have a Constitutionally protected right to be free from surveillance, why is the FBI entitled to be free from MY surveillance? In other words, if they are entitled to surveil me anonymously, why am I not allowed to read books anonymously?
As a side note, can this new measure be justified by historical precedent of Bad Guys using libraries to do Bad Things, or is it simply a power grab by the FBI?
Ummm...you musta missed that part about it being a phased array DIRECTIONAL transmission.
*wrist to forehead* Think of the programmers' children!
Right.
Programmers are smart. Most humans are. They'll adapt.
And some people spend a lot of time trying to place notions of property on things that are infinitely reproducible.
Time will tell who's right.
Fair enough. Thanks for the info.
Stolen, huh? Stolen, like Mr. Carmack no longer has the code on his hard drive? Stolen, like somebody has removed the capacity from somebody else to use the product?
Stolen how, exactly? What was removed from somebody's ownership? What does the owner no longer have the full and unfettered use of?
Copying!=stealing, and anybody who thinks that this alpha leak is going to dampen enthusiasm for D3 is silly.
Thank you.
Thank you thank you thank you, for proving to me that I am not a voice in the wilderness. You're right, and I'm right, and they're all wrong.
Thank you. : )
That's funny. I don't buy anything id puts out, because I know it won't be anything other than an engine technology demonstrator with deathmatch built in, and oh yeah maybe a couple single player levels thrown in as an afterthought.
I make it a point to buy games that people who are not id make with id's engines.
I believe I'm not alone, too. But I'm not sure you guys will count my invisible rabbit.
OK, I'll bite. What rewritable format are you going to use? What is your rationale? What have you read that informed your decision?
I'm honestly curious. I'm pretty good with this computer thing, and I am utterly perplexed by why and how the DVD writer market has become SO INSANELY FRAGMENTED.
Your rhetoric is nothing short of dazzling.
I'm going to pick on your Point 2.
There are lots of games that are fun that have no well-defined access to multiplay. Yes, just playing the same damn deathmatch game with new models and weapons (ref. the deathmatch in every POV shooter since the dawn of time) might extend the time people spend using your product. However, I don't believe that just making your game buzzword compliant (by saying MULTIPLAYER INCLUDED on the box) is a feature.
I, for one, admire the game developers who say "Hey, we're making this game with a focus on the single-player experience. We might add a deathmatch option at some point, but our efforts are focused on making this title a fun and unique single player game."
In other words, if by "paying attention to multiplay" you mean "glom in the same lame deathmatch option that's been done to death since Quake 1", no, I don't think that's important for success.
Adding multiplayer to a racing game or a shooter just isn't that big of a development effort, while making the game fun and engaging IS a big development effort. Do the second before you do the first.
Nope.
Chris Roberts helmed WC4. He insisted on shooting it on film, just like a "real movie", which in my opinion was a budget-killing Rotten Idea.
WC4 was a good game. The acting was, on occasion, a little wooden, but it was way better than the acting in that movie with Freddie Prinze.
The thing that really chaps my hide is that people keep buying the SAME GAME from iD over and over.
Yes, iD makes game engines, not games. The technology is pretty darn amazing when it comes out. But I haven't played an iD game that I've LIKED since Doom 1, and that's largely because it was so atmospheric and engrossing. Lately, it's just been mo'deathmatch, which frankly bores me to tears.
My hat's off to Carmack and his team. They're technical masters, and they've built a legion of slavering fanboys that will buy anything that has the iD logo on it. Good job.
But I won't buy their stuff. Unless the box contains a GOOD GAME, instead of a cool technology demonstrator.
If I didn't know it, and I read it, it's news. Just because it's not news to YOU doesn't make a damn bit of difference to anybody who's NOT YOU.
/. is not designed to be just a news site...it's also a place to DISCUSS news. That means, in order to have a discussion, they have to post the story. If that /. post happens a few days after the story breaks, you STILL get the utility of the discussion.
/. isn't always first with the story. What difference does that make? How does that decrease /.'s utility? I mean, I read a lot of poeple pissing and moaning about how bad this site sucks...But those same people are still reading, so obviously the site is doing something right.
The obsessoin with scooping the competition is a legacy feature of print journalism, and to my mind, a very detrimental one.
So
As far as why I'm making such a big thing about it, this thread just tripped on my pet peeve, so I ranted about it. That's what happens around here.
Again, so what? I'm pretty sure that there were at least one or two people who hadn't heard about this, until they read about it on Slashdot. How exactly does it hurt you that /. posts it? Or are you one of those people who think things are cool only if you know about them, and everybody else is in the dark?
In other words, what EXACTLY motivated you to share with the universe that you had this a few days ago? Why do you think anybody cares? Or were you just being an ass?
Uh, call me nutty, but I don't remember signing an NDA. So...what's the problem again?
And that means...what? That you have a really big penis?
Methinks not.
Which is the point of the exercise. We use a similar laser in the lab to do cold machining of silicon. The pulse interval is short, so the laser destroys its target point, but doesn't heat the surrounding material. Ultimately we're going to be focusing the beam onto a point about 1 micron in diameter. Very high energy densities.
What kind of laser is it? I'm working on a micromachining project with a SpectraPhysics Hurricane. Pretty cool stuff.
Lots of the lefties I know use the mouse in their right. So, say 10% of the population is left handed. Say three-quarters of them like to mouse with their left. (I think both of these figures are inflated) So, by your rationale, nobody should make mice designed for 92.5% of the populace, because you feel left out.
Uh, how about if you use one of the several dozen other mouse and trackball designs that are symmetrical? How's that sound? Or does that hurt your feelings?
Umm, buy a digitizing tablet. They'll set you back about $80.
See, the point that you're dismissing is the crux of the matter. Each phone company defending their monopoly is the major failure of the cell phone market.
My rhetoric was shoddy. I should have said you can't download any SIGNIFICANT number of USEFUL applications to your phone. I'm not seeing this huge library of phone software you seem to think exists. On the other hand, if you want to peruse http://www.freewarepalm.com (beware popups), you'll see many hundreds of free (beer) apps for my PalmOS device. That software library is an enormous advantage for Palm devices. Phones can't touch that sort of flexibility, period.
OK, you say that maybe someday java-micro will be a unified phone development plan. Groovy. I still don't quite understand how this magic software gets loaded on to my phone. Do I have to buy that $50 serial cable from the phone company? Or do I have to find a phone whose IR port hasn't been lobotomized? Bluetooth is probably the long-term solution to this problem (and one I'm stoked about) but for now, loading software onto phones (and, more critically, backing up the data I've laboriously entered into said phone) is neither inexpensive nor simple.
1) There is not a large, openly available dev environment for "mobile phones" the way there is for "PalmOS PDAs". If you're arguing that the development community for any phone is as active and fruitful as the Palm development community, you're crazy. If there was some platform that developers could use to deploy onto many phones across many service providers, you might be on to something. However, I don't believe that such a platform exists.
Incidentally, the flexibility and power of PalmOS's calendar feature would be quite a feat to duplicate on a phone. I've never seen its equal.
2) When I'm making a purchasing decision for me, I don't care about what YOU think about the product. If _I_ don't like the UI, I'm not going to shell out the cash.
3) I never argued a price difference. The prices of any electronic tool like these are a) malleable and b) usually in the $300-500 neighborhood. And irrelevant to our discussion.
4) If it fits comfortably in my pocket, it's small enough. My Visor Deluxe is just a skosh too big, but most of the new PalmOS devices are as small or smaller, so I feel this is a moot point. As far as convenience goes, a device is convenient if and only if it does everything I'd like it to. Mobile phones (with the exception of the PalmOS based "smart"phones, several of which I like) are not convenient for me, as they don't have sufficient functionality.
As an aside, the pricing structure for wireless apps and service in America is ridiculous. It's stupid for me to pay a monthly fee for the ability to download new ringtones to my phone. They're obviously just trying to soak the customer for every nickel, as opposed to working hard to provide value for the dollar. That leads me to believe that the free market is not being permitted to work, since a competitive environment would tune out this practice. Is this different in Japan? If so, great. Hopefully USian phone companies will stop being stupid. However, I'm not holding my breath.
Just so you know where I am on this price curve, I'm waiting $20/month for unlimited night and weekend minutes, and a reasonable number of daytime minutes. If I'm going to use Internet data services (I'd rather not), I want a very reasonable price per byte. All the prices I've seen so far are absolutely absurd.
Anecdote or no, I am not alone. Lots of people use their PDAs to do things that phones have not yet demonstrated an ability to do, so it's not the evolutionary dead-end you seem to want to believe it is. As far as me not being a representative of the market, that's fine. I don't care about what "the market" wants...I care about being able to get products that are useful TO ME. As long as such products keep coming out, the free market economy is working.
You don't seem to use a PDA. That's cool. I am glad you're happy with the functionality that your phone provides. However, if you want that to be enough for "everybody", I think you're being silly.
What am I looking at here?
One phone has a screen the size of a postage stamp. Another was designed by some freak who got bored with the ten-key layout on every phone ever and decided to rearrange it so it's more pretty. We've got a couple folding devices hiding keyboards that people with hands as big as mine can not use. Then we've got two Windows CE devices.
How do any of these improve my life? They're ALL critically flawed. None have the kind of text input I prefer. None run an operating system with a vibrant developer community. None have the sort of flexibility I want.
Behind the times, maybe. But I'm in Palm's target audience.