Yeah right they would use Western Union or Paypal so it would be easily traceable... and especially transfers of $100.. wow that is a serious sum, maybe for someone out of the us, but for sure you would not make it to the US on that amount from any asian country, even if you tried to swim over...
You're right about Paypal, but Western Union is one of the few remaining ways to transfer money anonymously (if you go about it correctly), at least up to a sum of several thousand (the exact number eludes me at the moment).
Something you failed to mention - Python, as compared to other interpreted languages, is particularly slow, and yet is still fast enough for commercial game development. A.NET language would have even better results (I have actually used C# quite extensively in a game engine), as well as having the added benefit of a much more pleasant DirectX API than the native COM interface provides.
having a better physics simulator simply enables more accurate numerical integration of the equations in question (as more accurate collision detection
Of course, that should have read "as well as more accurate collision detection." Bah humbug.
I never said anything about realism making games fun. I was simply replying to the parent poster's inquiry about whether we're going to reach a point where graphics engines cannot be advanced further. For the record, I agree with you.
As far as physics goes, though, a powerful physics engine does not necessarily mean "realistic" physics. The equations and constants can be changed - having a better physics simulator simply enables more accurate numerical integration of the equations in question (as more accurate collision detection), thus providing a more consistent and engaging experience. The equations that govern game behavior don't necessarily have to mirror how real-world objects behave.
(ex-game developer who has worked on both graphics and physics engines)
Do you think it is possible that one day in the not too distant future there will be a point where graphics and physics engines cannot be advanced further, and at that point these engines will become available for a low cost.
It'll never happen. Engines will get closer and closer to simulating reality, but they'll never (in the forseeable future) actually get there, so there will always be room for improvement.
As far as engines being available for low cost, that's already happening. But it has nothing to do with the fact that there's no more room for improvement.
The Christian Science Monitor is one of the better online news sources. Everything's well-written and well-researched, and bias is kept to a minimum (and what bias there is tends to be left-leaning, which is surprising considering the source).
Don't judge it based on its name - it's a great site.
Independent content authors of any kind have never had bigger opportunities to topple the big guys. Of course, by "topple the big guys" I really mean "become one of the big guys," but that's really the goal anyway.
Call it "Network Surfer", "Network Browser", whatever.
Erm, network browsing is just a side feature of Finder. Its real job is file browsing. As much as it needs to be rewritten (I was actually complaining about this just last night), the name is fine. It's used, among other things, for "finding" files.
You can still get at the original uploaded image (unless the person who uploaded it specifically disabled that). And they're not that badly compressed anyway.
It's because of the blogosphere (as much as I hate that word). It's the fact that you can get an overview of the current thoughts and emotions of the entire human population (or at least a huge chunk of it, certainly well above the boundaries of "statistically significant").
It's not his opinion, it's a fact - what other word would you have for an OS in this day and age that does not provide:
Memory protection
Preemptive multitasking
Any security features to speak of
A filesystem, for crying out loud
... and the list goes on. I've been a Palm user since the Palm III, but I ditched my Treo about 6 months ago and haven't looked back. The operating system has hardly evolved in the years since the Palm III (they've added what, color support?) There's a reason PalmOS devices are so crash-prone - because any application can write all over everything if it wants to (or if there's a bug that causes it to do so), and if an application happens to get into an infinite loop, the entire thing locks up.
It is still the device that I turn to for portable information-management with long battery-life.
What you want is a BlackBerry (with a hosted BES account if you won't be using a company-provided one). Instant wireless push-syncing of email, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes. Long battery life, due to the fact that it doesn't maintain a constant network connection while waiting for data - it comes down via a server-initiated push only when new data is available.
BlackBerries are the ultimate in geek devices, too - they don't try to do everything, but what they do, they do better than any other solution out there. They don't waste time and money on needless frills - just the functionality. Mine has NEVER crashed, never missed an email, never missed a phone call (the 8700 is a far better phone than the Treo, by the way). And since the software is all Java/J2ME-based, 3rd-party programs are far more stable as well.
My only real beef with my BlackBerry is the ugly fonts.
... for one simple reason. None of the spiffy AJAX-ified online calendars (and some are quite nice) have the ability to sync wirelessly to a mobile device. Once I got used to having instant, two-way push-syncing between my desktop and my BlackBerry, there's really no going back.
Outlook and Exchange themselves blow. But this is one killer feature that I simply cannot, and do not want to, live without. Unfortunately it's also going to be a tough one for open source or small companies to break into, due to the politics (and financial demands) of wireless hardware and networks these days.
Well, the obvious answer is to use the iTunes music store with an iPod - most podcasts worth listening to are on iTunes. The problem is that there are very few worth listening to. Most of them are consist of some guy with a nasal voice and no broadcasting skills, talking about something that would be better served by a regular blog post, and saying it poorly - "Uh... er... well..." and so on.
I've found that the only podcasts I end up listening to on a regular basis are the NPR ones (you can either get to them through npr.org or through iTunes).
I haven't looked specifically, but I'm sure there are plenty of J2ME RPN calculators (and that's all the BlackBerry is - a J2ME device with a bunch of added APIs. All the standard J2ME APIs are there, though, so you can run any old J2ME application).
And in any case, it's not like an RPN calculator is at all complicated - assuming you're a half-decent programmer, you could write one that behaves how you'd like in a weekend.
Heh. Then get yourself a calculator, or pay another $15 for an RPN calculator progarm on a more stable platform (having a PDA/Smartphone platform that doesn't crash all the time would be worth spending $15 if you ask me...)
But hell, it's your life. If you can live with an unstable and extremely insecure environment, knock yourself out. Myself, I need to be able to rely on my PDA/phone, and PalmOS just isn't up to the task (just like I wouldn't run XP on, say, the computer running a life support system).
I had a 7100 before I returned it for an 8700, and the fonts were no better there (actually they were pretty much exactly the same, but the 8700 has a few the 7100 didn't). Yes, there is the option for antialiasing, but it's half-assed antialiasing that barely does anything and doesn't help improving the appearance of the fonts. They're extremely readable, but hideously ugly (when BBMillbank Tall, size 8 bold is the nicest-looking font on there, something's wrong). Compare the fonts on a BlackBerry to those of a Windows Mobile 5 device, and there's just no comparison (text on my Axim looks almost like ink on paper).
As for an SSH client, there are a few, but this is the best one I've found.
A quick Google search shows you can do that on the BlackBerry too - DynoPlex claims to be able to do it, although I've never used it.
And is there really an Opera for Palm? When I had my Treo, the word from Opera was that PalmOS was so lame and ass-backwards that they weren't going to even attempt a port. I hadn't heard anything about it since then (and that really wasn't that long ago).
I used Chattermail back when I had my Treo, and yes, it is a fantastic email program. It's not exactly push, but it's more or less the same end result - it keeps an IMAP connection open using the IMAP IDLE command, so it's notified as soon as mail comes in (no delay caused by periodic fetching). The only problem, and it's a problem common to all pseudo-push solutions, is that it kills the battery life by keeping the network connected at all times. BlackBerry, and other true push solutions, don't keep a network connection open - one is opened by the server when mail arrives, and then closed again when it's done sending the message to the device.
I had a Treo 650 for about 6 months. It crashed CONSTANTLY, even with ZERO third-party software on it. PalmOS just does not have the memory protection and multitasking needed for modern applications. Now I have a BlackBerry and nothing could convince me to go back to Palm (actually I've been a Palm user since the dawn of time [ok, 1997] and the Treo debacle made me swear off their products forever). I can't use a device that I can't rely on (crashing when trying to answer an incoming call is simply unacceptable).
The Treo is the most versatile device I've ever used, wrapped in a great, simple, and above all usable interface. A great phone, great synchronization with my computer (I use Missing Sync on Mac OS X for sync with Address Book, iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, file sync, etc), it has full internet access, multimedia capability, games, you name it. I now have a single address book that supplies my phone, PDA, e-mail, instant messaging, etc. And did I mention it wraps all of this functionality in a really, really usable easy interface?
Just try to do a *fraction* of this on a BlackBerry. On a BlackBerry you get... e-mail. Yay.
Um... on my BlackBerry I have all that, minus the audio/video stuff. I have an RSS reader, I have Google Maps, I have an SSH client, I can read Office docs and PDFs, and I have a better web browser [Opera] than anything that exists on the Palm platform... and the syncing with Exchange is MILES ahead of what you can do with a Treo (make a change in Outlook, and it's there in my BlackBerry a minute later, and vice versa). All my contacts, calendars, email, notes, everything. It's all synced wirelessly and automatically. I've had this thing for 4-5 months now and it's never even been plugged into a computer (and it hasn't crashed once).
Yes, the Treo is more featureful, and there's far more 3rd party software. But when the basic (and most important) functions are unreliable, all the features and 3rd-party addons in the world don't matter. The BlackBerry is a true geek device - it has a small set of functionality, but it does it perfectly. The Treo tries to be all things to all people and ends up doing nothing well.
That said, I do have one big gripe with the BlackBerry - horrendous (HORRENDOUS!) fonts, and apparently no way to do anything about it. The Treo has horrible fonts out of the box too, but there are addons that add gorgeous, anti-aliased fonts.
The reason VB has been a "beginner's language" for so long is because of two things - garbage collection, and powerful (enough), easy to use standard libraries. While it still has these benefits, so does every other.NET language. The syntax of VB, while different, is not really any "easier." Learn C# - the underlying fundamentals and APIs are the same, it's just the syntax that's different.
And it's a syntax that'll make it easier to transition to another language (like C++ or Java) should the need arise. Not to mention you'll avoid the bizarre VB-isms that'll teach bad habits, like non-short circuiting conditionals and so on.
I have nothing against big words, I do have something against buzzwords, and buzz in general, like blogging, all of which you seem to be embracing very passionately.
Buzzwords can be overused, yes. That doesn't invalidate their legitimate uses. And yes, I'm embracing blogging very passionately, because for the first time in the history of mankind, everybody (well, not everybody, but an enormous segment of the population) can easily communicate with anybody else. That's a big deal.
Your second paragraph seems to answer your third: much of it is just drivel, and if you make it easier for people to blog, it means there will be even more drivel. 90% (by the way, from which orifice did you pull this number?) of 10 blogs is just 9 bad blogs, but 90% of 100 blogs means 90 shitty blogs.
Obviously. But nobody's forcing you to read that 90%. And that number comes from a rather famous saying, although I can't think of it off the top of my head.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah right they would use Western Union or Paypal so it would be easily traceable ... and especially transfers of $100 .. wow that is a serious sum, maybe for someone out of the us, but for sure you would not make it to the US on that amount from any asian country, even if you tried to swim over ...
You're right about Paypal, but Western Union is one of the few remaining ways to transfer money anonymously (if you go about it correctly), at least up to a sum of several thousand (the exact number eludes me at the moment).
Something you failed to mention - Python, as compared to other interpreted languages, is particularly slow, and yet is still fast enough for commercial game development. A .NET language would have even better results (I have actually used C# quite extensively in a game engine), as well as having the added benefit of a much more pleasant DirectX API than the native COM interface provides.
having a better physics simulator simply enables more accurate numerical integration of the equations in question (as more accurate collision detection
Of course, that should have read "as well as more accurate collision detection." Bah humbug.
I never said anything about realism making games fun. I was simply replying to the parent poster's inquiry about whether we're going to reach a point where graphics engines cannot be advanced further. For the record, I agree with you.
As far as physics goes, though, a powerful physics engine does not necessarily mean "realistic" physics. The equations and constants can be changed - having a better physics simulator simply enables more accurate numerical integration of the equations in question (as more accurate collision detection), thus providing a more consistent and engaging experience. The equations that govern game behavior don't necessarily have to mirror how real-world objects behave.
(ex-game developer who has worked on both graphics and physics engines)
Do you think it is possible that one day in the not too distant future there will be a point where graphics and physics engines cannot be advanced further, and at that point these engines will become available for a low cost.
It'll never happen. Engines will get closer and closer to simulating reality, but they'll never (in the forseeable future) actually get there, so there will always be room for improvement.
As far as engines being available for low cost, that's already happening. But it has nothing to do with the fact that there's no more room for improvement.
The Christian Science Monitor is one of the better online news sources. Everything's well-written and well-researched, and bias is kept to a minimum (and what bias there is tends to be left-leaning, which is surprising considering the source).
Don't judge it based on its name - it's a great site.
Independent content authors of any kind have never had bigger opportunities to topple the big guys. Of course, by "topple the big guys" I really mean "become one of the big guys," but that's really the goal anyway.
Call it "Network Surfer", "Network Browser", whatever.
Erm, network browsing is just a side feature of Finder. Its real job is file browsing. As much as it needs to be rewritten (I was actually complaining about this just last night), the name is fine. It's used, among other things, for "finding" files.
You can still get at the original uploaded image (unless the person who uploaded it specifically disabled that). And they're not that badly compressed anyway.
But... but... why overcomplicate things by using Google Pages? Flickr is pretty badassed, and is geared directly towards what she's trying to do.
Wow, you still use it? Does it still work with modern distributions?
(I wrote PowerShell, haven't updated it in years though - not since gnome-terminal got tabs)
It's because of the blogosphere (as much as I hate that word). It's the fact that you can get an overview of the current thoughts and emotions of the entire human population (or at least a huge chunk of it, certainly well above the boundaries of "statistically significant").
It's not his opinion, it's a fact - what other word would you have for an OS in this day and age that does not provide:
It is still the device that I turn to for portable information-management with long battery-life.
What you want is a BlackBerry (with a hosted BES account if you won't be using a company-provided one). Instant wireless push-syncing of email, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes. Long battery life, due to the fact that it doesn't maintain a constant network connection while waiting for data - it comes down via a server-initiated push only when new data is available.
BlackBerries are the ultimate in geek devices, too - they don't try to do everything, but what they do, they do better than any other solution out there. They don't waste time and money on needless frills - just the functionality. Mine has NEVER crashed, never missed an email, never missed a phone call (the 8700 is a far better phone than the Treo, by the way). And since the software is all Java/J2ME-based, 3rd-party programs are far more stable as well.
My only real beef with my BlackBerry is the ugly fonts.
... for one simple reason. None of the spiffy AJAX-ified online calendars (and some are quite nice) have the ability to sync wirelessly to a mobile device. Once I got used to having instant, two-way push-syncing between my desktop and my BlackBerry, there's really no going back.
Outlook and Exchange themselves blow. But this is one killer feature that I simply cannot, and do not want to, live without. Unfortunately it's also going to be a tough one for open source or small companies to break into, due to the politics (and financial demands) of wireless hardware and networks these days.
Well, the obvious answer is to use the iTunes music store with an iPod - most podcasts worth listening to are on iTunes. The problem is that there are very few worth listening to. Most of them are consist of some guy with a nasal voice and no broadcasting skills, talking about something that would be better served by a regular blog post, and saying it poorly - "Uh... er... well..." and so on.
I've found that the only podcasts I end up listening to on a regular basis are the NPR ones (you can either get to them through npr.org or through iTunes).
The J2ME APIs, GUI included, are incredibly simple. You can learn enough to make an RPN calculator in a couple hours of reading and experimenting.
I haven't looked specifically, but I'm sure there are plenty of J2ME RPN calculators (and that's all the BlackBerry is - a J2ME device with a bunch of added APIs. All the standard J2ME APIs are there, though, so you can run any old J2ME application).
And in any case, it's not like an RPN calculator is at all complicated - assuming you're a half-decent programmer, you could write one that behaves how you'd like in a weekend.
Heh. Then get yourself a calculator, or pay another $15 for an RPN calculator progarm on a more stable platform (having a PDA/Smartphone platform that doesn't crash all the time would be worth spending $15 if you ask me...)
But hell, it's your life. If you can live with an unstable and extremely insecure environment, knock yourself out. Myself, I need to be able to rely on my PDA/phone, and PalmOS just isn't up to the task (just like I wouldn't run XP on, say, the computer running a life support system).
I had a 7100 before I returned it for an 8700, and the fonts were no better there (actually they were pretty much exactly the same, but the 8700 has a few the 7100 didn't). Yes, there is the option for antialiasing, but it's half-assed antialiasing that barely does anything and doesn't help improving the appearance of the fonts. They're extremely readable, but hideously ugly (when BBMillbank Tall, size 8 bold is the nicest-looking font on there, something's wrong). Compare the fonts on a BlackBerry to those of a Windows Mobile 5 device, and there's just no comparison (text on my Axim looks almost like ink on paper). As for an SSH client, there are a few, but this is the best one I've found.
A quick Google search shows you can do that on the BlackBerry too - DynoPlex claims to be able to do it, although I've never used it.
And is there really an Opera for Palm? When I had my Treo, the word from Opera was that PalmOS was so lame and ass-backwards that they weren't going to even attempt a port. I hadn't heard anything about it since then (and that really wasn't that long ago).
I used Chattermail back when I had my Treo, and yes, it is a fantastic email program. It's not exactly push, but it's more or less the same end result - it keeps an IMAP connection open using the IMAP IDLE command, so it's notified as soon as mail comes in (no delay caused by periodic fetching). The only problem, and it's a problem common to all pseudo-push solutions, is that it kills the battery life by keeping the network connected at all times. BlackBerry, and other true push solutions, don't keep a network connection open - one is opened by the server when mail arrives, and then closed again when it's done sending the message to the device.
I had a Treo 650 for about 6 months. It crashed CONSTANTLY, even with ZERO third-party software on it. PalmOS just does not have the memory protection and multitasking needed for modern applications. Now I have a BlackBerry and nothing could convince me to go back to Palm (actually I've been a Palm user since the dawn of time [ok, 1997] and the Treo debacle made me swear off their products forever). I can't use a device that I can't rely on (crashing when trying to answer an incoming call is simply unacceptable).
The Treo is the most versatile device I've ever used, wrapped in a great, simple, and above all usable interface. A great phone, great synchronization with my computer (I use Missing Sync on Mac OS X for sync with Address Book, iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, file sync, etc), it has full internet access, multimedia capability, games, you name it. I now have a single address book that supplies my phone, PDA, e-mail, instant messaging, etc. And did I mention it wraps all of this functionality in a really, really usable easy interface?
Just try to do a *fraction* of this on a BlackBerry. On a BlackBerry you get... e-mail. Yay.
Um... on my BlackBerry I have all that, minus the audio/video stuff. I have an RSS reader, I have Google Maps, I have an SSH client, I can read Office docs and PDFs, and I have a better web browser [Opera] than anything that exists on the Palm platform... and the syncing with Exchange is MILES ahead of what you can do with a Treo (make a change in Outlook, and it's there in my BlackBerry a minute later, and vice versa). All my contacts, calendars, email, notes, everything. It's all synced wirelessly and automatically. I've had this thing for 4-5 months now and it's never even been plugged into a computer (and it hasn't crashed once).
Yes, the Treo is more featureful, and there's far more 3rd party software. But when the basic (and most important) functions are unreliable, all the features and 3rd-party addons in the world don't matter. The BlackBerry is a true geek device - it has a small set of functionality, but it does it perfectly. The Treo tries to be all things to all people and ends up doing nothing well.
That said, I do have one big gripe with the BlackBerry - horrendous (HORRENDOUS!) fonts, and apparently no way to do anything about it. The Treo has horrible fonts out of the box too, but there are addons that add gorgeous, anti-aliased fonts.
The reason VB has been a "beginner's language" for so long is because of two things - garbage collection, and powerful (enough), easy to use standard libraries. While it still has these benefits, so does every other .NET language. The syntax of VB, while different, is not really any "easier." Learn C# - the underlying fundamentals and APIs are the same, it's just the syntax that's different.
And it's a syntax that'll make it easier to transition to another language (like C++ or Java) should the need arise. Not to mention you'll avoid the bizarre VB-isms that'll teach bad habits, like non-short circuiting conditionals and so on.
I'm still of a mind that the iPod should support FLAC audio.
They support their own lossless format. Not ideal, but it does the job.
I have nothing against big words, I do have something against buzzwords, and buzz in general, like blogging, all of which you seem to be embracing very passionately.
Buzzwords can be overused, yes. That doesn't invalidate their legitimate uses. And yes, I'm embracing blogging very passionately, because for the first time in the history of mankind, everybody (well, not everybody, but an enormous segment of the population) can easily communicate with anybody else. That's a big deal.
Your second paragraph seems to answer your third: much of it is just drivel, and if you make it easier for people to blog, it means there will be even more drivel. 90% (by the way, from which orifice did you pull this number?) of 10 blogs is just 9 bad blogs, but 90% of 100 blogs means 90 shitty blogs.
Obviously. But nobody's forcing you to read that 90%. And that number comes from a rather famous saying, although I can't think of it off the top of my head.