the smith must not be terribly proud of it, as it isn't featured anywhere on his site (unlike a lot of other designs)
Well, consider that his core customer base is probably not too interested in him creating replicas of video game swords. In some ways, having that credential could actually be a bad thing for his business. Hardcore enthusiasts might think he doesn't take his craft seriously. Yeah, we're talking about people being anal on multiple levels, but people have gotten bent out of shape over smaller issues.
Another possibility is that the Master Sword is cool to video game players, but it just looks lame to sword enthusiasts. Etc, etc, etc.
Actually, a good amount of anime comes from manga (comics). Manga has a very long and rich history in Japan, so there is a creative well for the anime industry to tap into. From time to time, there are purely original anime works, but a lot of manga comes from pre-existing, established storylines. You could argue that this is kind of what happened with Lord of the Rings. Take an established, popular story and put it into a new format that will attract new audiences. Note, I'm not trying to say that anime played any role in making the LotR movies great.:)
An interesting problem that long anime series run into, though, is when the anime producers catch up to the storyline of the manga. At this point, you either have to end the series, or the anime staff must come up with stories on their own, which don't always match the quality of the original storyteller. Or they can try working with the creator to have the anime and manga try to go along a similar storyline, but it gets really difficult. You could say that this might be the anime industry's form of sequel-itis.
My problem with phone support is that is seems to take so long to establish that I know what i'm talking about, and trying to tell them what I need. It's rare that I call tech support and actually need them to diagnose a problem for me. It would be nice to have a customer profile that incorporates a product proficiency quotient(tm). so that I can go right to an engineer or product replacement on an issue I can diagnose myself.
While you might know what you're talking about, there will be plenty of people out there who don't, but think they do. If automated systems had this option, it'd get so flooded it would basically be useless.
You're basically asking people to admit their ignorance. While there are thankfully some people out there not afraid to admit they don't know something, you'll get plenty of stubborn people who refuse to admit they don't know what's going on, even when calling for tech support.
I imagine Peter Jackson saw the above and was a bit inspired when he released Lord of the Rings several times.
New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson have been very upfront about their release plans for the Lord of the Rings movies. Saying they are doing the same thing as Lucas is inaccurate... at least so far. Plenty of people thinking they will put out some form of mega-collector's set after the final (extended) movie comes out. But, up to now, they have been very fan-friendly in terms of their openness regarding the release plan.
Actually, my biggest pet peeve is to get blamed for computer problems after helping someone out. I helped someone who is basically surfing the web for the nastiest porn he can find. His computer is always chock-full of viruses and other problems. Anyway, he actually started blaming me for his computer problems after I installed some additional RAM for him. He blissfully ignores all of his own actions. *sigh*
First off, does anyone else find it highly disturbing that a PhD is not only posting on Slashdot, but FIRST posting? I think the apocalypse is near.
The little asterisk (*) next to his name tells us all that he's a subscriber, and therefore sees the article a little before us cheapos, so it's not as bad as you might think.:)
Heh, classic gaming is a growing trend. And as you get more people becoming gamers, you're just going to have more people who like what are, to them, classics. You're perfectly welcome to like the new, bright shiny games, but there are plenty of people that find simpler games more fun.
Just to play Devil's Advocate, they will also now have numbers to show how few people are watching your fun, obscure shows. The shows will be cancelled, and they will be replaced with yet another boobie show. Not that I have anything against boobie shows.:) Anyway, my point is that most broadcasters are interested in money first and foremost. And while we all like to make fun of Joe Six-Pack, he has considerably more numbers and buying power, therefore, he is the broadcasters target audience...
This will only to appeal to a small segment of the population, but I speak from experience with anime (this could apply to any foreign works, though). There are times DVDs are released without subtitles in a language you can read or dialogue in a language you can understand. There are people out there (fans) who will go through the trouble of created timed subtitle scripts. So, if you have a PC and a region-compatible or region-free DVD player, you can enjoy this new video (which you payed for) with working subtitles!
This becomes more interesting when you learn that a lot of entertainment goes through a localization process when they are being brought over to foreign markets. One prime example is how virtually every Hong Kong movie must have gangster rap in it... >_< So, sometimes people want to watch the original version.
Could it just be that because of America's prosperity has created a "bubble" in the american labor market over the past decades?
Maybe all americans are simply overpaid and we're in for a BIG correction in the coming years?
You bring up an interesting point. One thing I wonder about is cultural differences. In many cultures, it's fairly normal for lots of family to live together. In the US, everyone is always looking to move out on their own. Imagine the savings if you still lived at home with mom and dad (rent/mortgage, utilities, food). Yeah, you'd go insane, but that's another point.
And before you assume that this is something that only happens in third-world countries, I know there are several European countries where multi-generation households are considered normal.
No doubt my rant will get lost in the ocean of other rants, but anyway...
One of my co-workers is an Indian in the US on an H1B visa. I have no problems with that. The problem is that he is probably one of the dumbest people I have ever worked with. He always messes up, kills our production environment, etc. I know there are very intelligent Indian folks out there. I went to high school with some, and one of them is one of my best friends. Unfortunately I don't work with one of these intelligent folks. I just wish people outside of IT would be more aware of the fact that no matter where you go, there will be people of varying quality. Some good, some bad...
Details, details...;) In all seriousness, you make a very good point. An embarrassing oversight on my part. You'd think I would've learned from the dot-com days.
>> I've heard some internships are unpayed these days.:-)
Yes, how do companies get away with this?
Before getting into IT, I was a pre-med in college. Lots of lab jobs are unpaid, and yet there are people continually applying for them. Reason? Because they want the experience and are hopeful that it is an investment in their future (med school applications, publications, etc). When I switched over to IT, I was looking for programming-style internships. I was pleasantly surprised to see how most of the IT ones were paid.:) Well, back about 5 years ago, at least...:( Ultimately, it's a supply and demand thing.
He needs investor money so he can put food on the table. If you are unemployed and looking for work, you have the potential to start making an income again. If you are unemployed and decide to make your own company which will not make a profit in the forseeable future with little to no savings for living expenses... then you're in trouble...
You have a computer, you have the skills, your marketing and selling might not be great, but at least one of you will be street smart and presentable enough to talk to customers.
It took me a few years of work to realize this, but sales and marketing are probably the most powerful force a company can have. Yes, you need the tech folks to create products to sell, but a good sales/marketing force can help make a huge difference. How many stories do we have of "X technology was much better than Y technology, but Y won in the end because more people bought into it?" So, why would people buy into an inferior product? Because they were convinced by the folks we all loathe (sales and marketing) that they were getting a somehow better product (whether it be quality, value-per-dollar, whatever).
And in the case of a smaller company, good sales/marketing is even more important. Sorry, but you're going to have a hard time convincing most companies to buy the product that you developed yourself in your basement because no one has hired you for the past year... but get the right face-people to represent and sell your product, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
I'm not trying to discourage those who want to go this route, but if you want to be your own boss and create a software company, I imagine that you'll spend a lot more time on the business side of things than you might expect.
Either the RIAA can join in and make money, or they can sit back and hopelessly try to defend an oppressive business model that has been rendered technologically obsolete.
Um, isn't the RIAA already involved? From what I remember, they get a pretty large chunk out of that $.99 paid to the iTunes music store. Looks like they are doing both at the moment...
If you are not familiar with the way of Wal-Mart, you really need to read the above article. It goes into detail how Wal-Mart continually pressures its suppliers to drop their prices. Eventually, some of these suppliers decide to off-shore or have to go out of business.
And you know what this leads to? Lost jobs. So, basically US consumers are shopping themselves out of their own jobs. The sad thing is, the average consumer either cannot understand this or simply does not care about it. We live in sad times, where most people have no social conscience (although I suspect this has been a problem throughout the ages).
The really interesting thing to me is that Wal-Mart seems to be a lot more "evil" (acting like a monopoly) than anything I've read from Microsoft. The problem is that Wal-Mart isn't bullying consumers, they are bullying suppliers. But it's only a matter of time before these negative ripples reach consumers...
Besides, on their super low price get you in the store to buy something diffrent items, I feel that i'm doing them harm by buying their ultra mega low price item and not buying something diffrent.
Wal-Mart isn't taking the hit on these low-priced products. The hit is felt by the producers of these products, who are constantly pressured to reduce their prices. This leads to things like off-shoring, etc. There have been a few companies who've allowed Wal-Mart to make up too large a portion of their business, eventually driving themselves out of business as their margins shrink away.
Justin himself seems a little schizo over the issue. On the one hand, Napster using their servers to promote file sharing is "wrong". On the other, Gnutella is "right". Make up your mind, Justin.
The difference is that Napster was a company that hoped to profit from file-sharing. So, you have a company trying to make money off of someone else's products. Gnutella wasn't profit-motivated, therefore you could argue that it had better karma than Napster.
For the record, I agree with you, but I still think people should be aware of the full story. An assumption on my part, but my guess is that a lot of protesters see Nike closing the sweatshops and consider it a victory, unaware of what the closings have resulted in. Lots of times people are guilty of making change, but not really following it through all the way to the end.
While I agree that for the most part, sweatshops are awful things relative to what we see in the US (I can't speak for other countries), I saw a news piece (I think on 60 Minutes) about sweatshops. They pointed out that after one sweatshop had closed, a lot of the workers went into prostitution. This information was provided by UNICEF.
"...in poor countries, the Nike factories that rich American students call sweatshops routinely pay twice what local factories pay, and more than triple what people earn doing much harder and more dangerous work in the fields. Arunga says people in Kenya would volunteer to work in sweatshops for free, just to have access to clean running water and electricity without carrying firewood."
And on the topic of prostitution:
"After the protests against Kathie Lee's clothing line, Wal-Mart withdrew its contract from one of the "sweatshops." American complaints about child labor persuaded factories in Bangladesh to stop hiring adolescents. The result, according to UNICEF, is many of the young girls turned to prostitution."
I'll go out on a limb and say working in a brothel is worse than a sweatshop.
Remember, a lot of the issues around manufacturing jobs going overseas are similar to tech jobs going overseas, i.e. overseas workers are cheaper than domestic workers, and the jobs provide these people with better lives (higher relative incomes than their other options). And for the record, I hate offshoring as much as the next tech geek, although you can't argue that it leads to some good... just not for us...
Not a one-way mission....
on
Mice In Space
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I was initially worried about the ethics of sending mice on a one-way mission to Mars ("gee, let's see the effects of starvation in the low-gravity environment"), but I was glad to see that this will only be a simulation with the intent of bringing the mice back:
The goal of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program is to send the mice into near-Earth orbit inside a one-meter space ship simulating Mars' gravity, then bring them back to Earth... The mouse cages will be designed for comfort and protection with room for the little travelers to lope around for exercise in the simulated gravity of Mars.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, consider that his core customer base is probably not too interested in him creating replicas of video game swords. In some ways, having that credential could actually be a bad thing for his business. Hardcore enthusiasts might think he doesn't take his craft seriously. Yeah, we're talking about people being anal on multiple levels, but people have gotten bent out of shape over smaller issues.
Another possibility is that the Master Sword is cool to video game players, but it just looks lame to sword enthusiasts. Etc, etc, etc.
How about forgetting about VR and going with reality? They are called strip clubs. :)
Actually, a good amount of anime comes from manga (comics). Manga has a very long and rich history in Japan, so there is a creative well for the anime industry to tap into. From time to time, there are purely original anime works, but a lot of manga comes from pre-existing, established storylines. You could argue that this is kind of what happened with Lord of the Rings. Take an established, popular story and put it into a new format that will attract new audiences. Note, I'm not trying to say that anime played any role in making the LotR movies great. :)
An interesting problem that long anime series run into, though, is when the anime producers catch up to the storyline of the manga. At this point, you either have to end the series, or the anime staff must come up with stories on their own, which don't always match the quality of the original storyteller. Or they can try working with the creator to have the anime and manga try to go along a similar storyline, but it gets really difficult. You could say that this might be the anime industry's form of sequel-itis.
While you might know what you're talking about, there will be plenty of people out there who don't, but think they do. If automated systems had this option, it'd get so flooded it would basically be useless.
You're basically asking people to admit their ignorance. While there are thankfully some people out there not afraid to admit they don't know something, you'll get plenty of stubborn people who refuse to admit they don't know what's going on, even when calling for tech support.
New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson have been very upfront about their release plans for the Lord of the Rings movies. Saying they are doing the same thing as Lucas is inaccurate... at least so far. Plenty of people thinking they will put out some form of mega-collector's set after the final (extended) movie comes out. But, up to now, they have been very fan-friendly in terms of their openness regarding the release plan.
Actually, my biggest pet peeve is to get blamed for computer problems after helping someone out. I helped someone who is basically surfing the web for the nastiest porn he can find. His computer is always chock-full of viruses and other problems. Anyway, he actually started blaming me for his computer problems after I installed some additional RAM for him. He blissfully ignores all of his own actions. *sigh*
The little asterisk (*) next to his name tells us all that he's a subscriber, and therefore sees the article a little before us cheapos, so it's not as bad as you might think. :)
Heh, classic gaming is a growing trend. And as you get more people becoming gamers, you're just going to have more people who like what are, to them, classics. You're perfectly welcome to like the new, bright shiny games, but there are plenty of people that find simpler games more fun.
Just to play Devil's Advocate, they will also now have numbers to show how few people are watching your fun, obscure shows. The shows will be cancelled, and they will be replaced with yet another boobie show. Not that I have anything against boobie shows. :) Anyway, my point is that most broadcasters are interested in money first and foremost. And while we all like to make fun of Joe Six-Pack, he has considerably more numbers and buying power, therefore, he is the broadcasters target audience...
This will only to appeal to a small segment of the population, but I speak from experience with anime (this could apply to any foreign works, though). There are times DVDs are released without subtitles in a language you can read or dialogue in a language you can understand. There are people out there (fans) who will go through the trouble of created timed subtitle scripts. So, if you have a PC and a region-compatible or region-free DVD player, you can enjoy this new video (which you payed for) with working subtitles!
This becomes more interesting when you learn that a lot of entertainment goes through a localization process when they are being brought over to foreign markets. One prime example is how virtually every Hong Kong movie must have gangster rap in it... >_< So, sometimes people want to watch the original version.
That's one advantage I can think of for HTPC.
You bring up an interesting point. One thing I wonder about is cultural differences. In many cultures, it's fairly normal for lots of family to live together. In the US, everyone is always looking to move out on their own. Imagine the savings if you still lived at home with mom and dad (rent/mortgage, utilities, food). Yeah, you'd go insane, but that's another point.
And before you assume that this is something that only happens in third-world countries, I know there are several European countries where multi-generation households are considered normal.
No doubt my rant will get lost in the ocean of other rants, but anyway...
One of my co-workers is an Indian in the US on an H1B visa. I have no problems with that. The problem is that he is probably one of the dumbest people I have ever worked with. He always messes up, kills our production environment, etc. I know there are very intelligent Indian folks out there. I went to high school with some, and one of them is one of my best friends. Unfortunately I don't work with one of these intelligent folks. I just wish people outside of IT would be more aware of the fact that no matter where you go, there will be people of varying quality. Some good, some bad...
Details, details... ;) In all seriousness, you make a very good point. An embarrassing oversight on my part. You'd think I would've learned from the dot-com days.
Before getting into IT, I was a pre-med in college. Lots of lab jobs are unpaid, and yet there are people continually applying for them. Reason? Because they want the experience and are hopeful that it is an investment in their future (med school applications, publications, etc). When I switched over to IT, I was looking for programming-style internships. I was pleasantly surprised to see how most of the IT ones were paid. :) Well, back about 5 years ago, at least... :( Ultimately, it's a supply and demand thing.
He needs investor money so he can put food on the table. If you are unemployed and looking for work, you have the potential to start making an income again. If you are unemployed and decide to make your own company which will not make a profit in the forseeable future with little to no savings for living expenses... then you're in trouble...
It took me a few years of work to realize this, but sales and marketing are probably the most powerful force a company can have. Yes, you need the tech folks to create products to sell, but a good sales/marketing force can help make a huge difference. How many stories do we have of "X technology was much better than Y technology, but Y won in the end because more people bought into it?" So, why would people buy into an inferior product? Because they were convinced by the folks we all loathe (sales and marketing) that they were getting a somehow better product (whether it be quality, value-per-dollar, whatever).
And in the case of a smaller company, good sales/marketing is even more important. Sorry, but you're going to have a hard time convincing most companies to buy the product that you developed yourself in your basement because no one has hired you for the past year... but get the right face-people to represent and sell your product, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
I'm not trying to discourage those who want to go this route, but if you want to be your own boss and create a software company, I imagine that you'll spend a lot more time on the business side of things than you might expect.
Allow me to make a broad generalization... the funny thing I've noticed is that cheaters get very upset when they lose. Oh, bitter irony...
Um, isn't the RIAA already involved? From what I remember, they get a pretty large chunk out of that $.99 paid to the iTunes music store. Looks like they are doing both at the moment...
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.htm l
If you are not familiar with the way of Wal-Mart, you really need to read the above article. It goes into detail how Wal-Mart continually pressures its suppliers to drop their prices. Eventually, some of these suppliers decide to off-shore or have to go out of business.
And you know what this leads to? Lost jobs. So, basically US consumers are shopping themselves out of their own jobs. The sad thing is, the average consumer either cannot understand this or simply does not care about it. We live in sad times, where most people have no social conscience (although I suspect this has been a problem throughout the ages).
The really interesting thing to me is that Wal-Mart seems to be a lot more "evil" (acting like a monopoly) than anything I've read from Microsoft. The problem is that Wal-Mart isn't bullying consumers, they are bullying suppliers. But it's only a matter of time before these negative ripples reach consumers...
Wal-Mart isn't taking the hit on these low-priced products. The hit is felt by the producers of these products, who are constantly pressured to reduce their prices. This leads to things like off-shoring, etc. There have been a few companies who've allowed Wal-Mart to make up too large a portion of their business, eventually driving themselves out of business as their margins shrink away.
The difference is that Napster was a company that hoped to profit from file-sharing. So, you have a company trying to make money off of someone else's products. Gnutella wasn't profit-motivated, therefore you could argue that it had better karma than Napster.
For the record, I agree with you, but I still think people should be aware of the full story. An assumption on my part, but my guess is that a lot of protesters see Nike closing the sweatshops and consider it a victory, unaware of what the closings have resulted in. Lots of times people are guilty of making change, but not really following it through all the way to the end.
While I agree that for the most part, sweatshops are awful things relative to what we see in the US (I can't speak for other countries), I saw a news piece (I think on 60 Minutes) about sweatshops. They pointed out that after one sweatshop had closed, a lot of the workers went into prostitution. This information was provided by UNICEF.
Read this article for more details:g mab_sweatshops031011-1.html
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/GiveMeABreak/
And on the topic of prostitution:
I'll go out on a limb and say working in a brothel is worse than a sweatshop.
Remember, a lot of the issues around manufacturing jobs going overseas are similar to tech jobs going overseas, i.e. overseas workers are cheaper than domestic workers, and the jobs provide these people with better lives (higher relative incomes than their other options). And for the record, I hate offshoring as much as the next tech geek, although you can't argue that it leads to some good... just not for us...
I was initially worried about the ethics of sending mice on a one-way mission to Mars ("gee, let's see the effects of starvation in the low-gravity environment"), but I was glad to see that this will only be a simulation with the intent of bringing the mice back:
Or you could pre-order at some place with a more flexible ordering system. For a company to do that in this day and age is just ridiculous.
/me makes mental note to never shop at Software Etc.