I don't see how having the capability limits your choice. If you know sites with Flash are crashing on your device you can choose not to visit those sites. Or you can disable Flash and view those sites. I really fail to see how having the option could possibly harm the user.
Also: Do you really try to apply this argument more generally? For example, if one downloaded application crashes on your iPhone do you never download and install an app again? Even if you don't want to install apps (which might crash your phone), how does having the capability to download apps harm the user? (excluding troyjan and virus risks)
I'm not sure how pointing out that the proprietary iPod/iTunes relationship is similar to the proprietary XBOX/Halo relationship supports your argument that Apple is "open".
I'd also argue that this is unfair to Microsoft. Microsoft's comparable product, the Zune, doesn't force users to use the Zune software or web store. You don't have to do so on the XBOX 360 either.
"That's why there is a Graphical tool for everything in Ubuntu."
No, there isn't. That's, in part, why Linux Mint exists. To add graphical tools to areas Ubuntu doesn't cover. And Mint doesn't get everything either. Last time I used Mint, I had to use the CLI to configure various multimedia crap and Samba (and other stuff). This was to do the incredibly complicated task of playing a video file over the network.
"On a not so rusty machine it take less than 20 minutes (compare this to installing Win7 !!!)"
20-30 minutes is the average install time for Windows 7. More importantly, it's a lot easier than it used to be. Install process:
1. Boot PC with Windows 7 disc in drive. 2. Click "Install". 3. Enter user name and password. 4. You're done.
The terminal can be faster and easier to use, really, even for a newbie. It can also be easier to describe in written form or verbally how to do something by using a terminal. For example, If I wanted to tell you how to check the status of the cpuspeed service (which controls the dynamic speed scaling) it's easier for me (and faster for you) to tell you to: sudo service cpuspeed status
CLIs are not easy to use. They are hard to learn by almost everyone, therefore they are not "easy". CLIs can very often be faster and more convenient for learned users, but that's not the same thing.
Yes, in your example it is somewhat faster for a tech support guy using email to send a command (especially a long command with lots of flags) to a user and tell them to enter it in verbatim. This is a great system if you want a tech support guy to literally hold the hand of the user through every minor configuration. Frankly, if you're going to do this just SSH in and do it FOR him. It's the same thing.
There is a "past" that existed before there were GUI operating systems, and these systems were NEVER configured by "average users" at all. First off, the "average" user was a full-time computer professional. They, as full-time computer operators, did pretty well with CLI. Look at a more realistic example, like dumb terminals connected to an IBM running MAS90 accounting software. Ask those accountants how easy that CLI is to use. Ask them how much they like function keys and having to remember arcane character sequences.
When using a CLI you essentially have to learn a completely different language. "sudo", "cpuspeed", etc. are hardly obvious commands (let alone options and syntax) you could somehow guess. The "average" user has little talent or interest in learning obscure "CLI languages" (that's why they're not computer professionals) which means that, in practice, he'll have to laboriously look up the every single command, and it's syntax and options, every single time he wants to use it. This is simply not faster than clicking through menus with item descriptions, even a bunch of menus. Yes it might take more time than using a CLI command, but it will take a lot less time than LEARNING the CLI command.
I'm not even sure I buy the premise. Sure, Battlefield: Bad Company eschewed the PC version altogether and Modern Warfare 2 lacked official mod tools, but I'm not really sure this is a trend. DICE has pointedly announced that the PC version, mod tools, and dedicated server are back for Bad Company 2. You've also got Medal of Honor, Alien vs. Predator, Crysis 2, etc.
I place most of the blame for the lack of good games for the the Wii squarely on the publishers and not on the technical limitations of the console.
The wii is almost literally an overclocked Gamecube and Nintendo's SDK sucks. Nor did they give developers any good guides to using motion controls. Nintendo's attitude was "we'll build it, they will come, and they will make the tools". This, plus Nintendo's licensing scheme and content limitations, have really cooled third parties on the console.
Believe me, the hardware limitations are crippling if you're making a "serious" game. The big problem is that you really have to commit to the wii and it's control scheme to make a decent game, that means no multiplatform. Your game won't look very good unless you have a keen understanding of the wii's limitations (which involve very small environments). And remember the lack of good tools, so you have to make your own. All of this drives up the cost of developing a wii game. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23118
What's more important is variety... Do you need that many shooters? In fact, if you pare down your 90+ list for each system by eliminating games that play similarly, you'll shorten the 360 and PS3 lists severely.
Yeah, I do. Are you arguing that the LACK of diversity in games is somehow an asset? And certainly all first-person shooters don't play the same, Halo and Modern Warfare 2 are completely different. I think you simply have a bias against the genre.
Speaking of paring down, the 9 games scoring 90+ on the Wii include both Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Trilogy includes corruption, so subtract 1 from the Wii's count. Oh but Trilogy is a pack of three 90+ games, sold for the price of 1, so add back 2.
So do I get to count Orange Box as 5 games?
Game scores generally measure how good a game is while you're playing it, but completely ignore how long you'll be playing.
No, reviewers almost always take game length and replay ability into account. Read some reviews.
What you're doing is similar to taking a bunch of objects, measuring their density, and summing the quantities.
It is a fact that there is a wide consensus among those that review games professionally that the vast majority of wii games suck. This view is shared by most consumers writing reviews on Amazon, Gamestop, etc.
Your only argument against this is to attack the CONCEPT of aesthetics. By your reasoning "Schindler's List" and "Freejack" are equally good because different viewers might be looking for something different.
This view basically argues that there is no "craft" at all to making games or movies. By your view, the average moron off the street SHOULD be able to make games equivalent to Call of Duty 4 or Mario Galaxy with no experience at all because the "value" of a game is wildly subjective. It doesn't matter that it crashes at the loading screen, maybe some people WANT to play the "crash your system" game.
Video games are art. And art criticism exists. So either all art criticism is meaningless, or video game reviews are valid. It's as simple as that.
It's difficult to believe that EVERY game reviewer is involved in a vast conspiracy. And even if they were, reviews you read from customers on Amazon or elsewhere generally line up with those of professional reviewers. Are they all part of the conspiracy?
The reality is that the wii is the king of shovelware. Yes, there are good games for the wii (Mario Galaxy, Zelda, etc.). Most of these are first-party (made by Nintendo) and for every good game there are 10 AWFUL ones. And that's another point, the 360 and PS3 have lots of "eh" or middle of the road games, on the wii it's a few gems among a sea of complete garbage.
Strictly speaking, the empire and the republic overlapped for a brief period (between episodes 3 and 4). Basically, the time that Luke spent growing up on Tatooine, the old republic was falling apart, the empire was taking over, and the rebellion against the empire was forming (in roughly that order).
Strictly speaking, you are correct but your analysis is wrong.
The Galactic Republic BECAME the Galactic Empire, essentially Palpatine renamed it at the end of the Clone Wars. By then he had already weakened the Senate, but the Senate was not fully dissolved until Episode IV. The Republic and Empire did did not exist as separate entities in any way. Some systems were rebelling between Episodes III and IV, but this was disorganized and not an alternative government.
The Galactic Empire and Galactic Republic DID coexist after the Battle of Endor (Episode VI), with the "New Republic" growing out of the Alliance Against the Empire and the "Imperial Remnant" making up the space still under the control of various Imperial commanders and warlords. However, fundamentally the "Imperial Remnant" was really the last remnants of the Galactic Republic.
Of course, Old Republic is about the OLD Galactic Republic and the Old Sith Empire and is set nearly FOUR THOUSAND YEARS before the movies. Aside from the KOTOR games, two comic series "Tales of the Jedi" and "Knights of the Old Republic" have been set in this era.
Re:3D has no appeal to me or many I know...
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Hot Or Not — 3D TV
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People sit there for an hour or so without reporting any discomfort so long as an effort is taken to calibrate the experience correctly to their viewing position, and inter-pupillary distance, optical accommodation, etc.
Can you do all of the above in less than 30 seconds? Will they work in literally any indoor environment under literally any lighting and viewing conditions? No? Then it's absolutely useless for consumers.
Kids have to use this stuff, and they won't wait for "calibration". They will not sit in the "perfect position". In the real world, lighting conditions ALWAYS suck and you're ALWAYS viewing from less than the ideal angle. If the system can't tolerate this, it's right out.
I've used a lot of these systems. Some have given me headaches. Eye function is a major issue here. I used to have severe myopia in my left eye 3D did not work AT ALL because my right and left eyes interpreted data differently. I've had laser surgery, and now 3D works a lot better, but I still get a lot more eyestrain than normal.
Oddly enough, unlike most people, I've been WAY, WAY, WAY more impressed with various head mounted displays I've used (tiny video monitors worn in front of the eyes). Worked great for me. No eyestrain and (combined with the earphones) a pretty deep sense of immersion. I played a number of games with way and the experience was really impressive. Very isolating though (by design).
I personally think this is just another 3D fad. The glasses always have been, and always will be, a deal-breaker.
This hasn't really been demonstrated for home video. And even for movies, it's only the limited genre of "animated adventure movies" where the effects are (or will be) popular. Hard to build a format around that and porn.
More importantly, there is a broader issue of high-bandwidth formats and new formats. HD TVs have become very popular, despite the fact that PROPER HD content is pretty sparse. Most people are watching "HD" content that is highly compressed through cable, satellite, and internet. Blu-ray is fairly impressive, but hasn't seen anywhere near the adoption of crappy, low-quality downloads which have become the norm in movies and music.
I fail to see where a very expensive new format will succeed here. Everyone just bought HDTVs, they're just not going to buy 3D TVs unless the technology is so cheap they include it in all new HDTVs. Then you might see adoption.
The whole idea is a lot more compelling for home video game consoles. So if Panasonic, Toshiba, etc. throw a lot of Money and Microsoft and Sony commits with the PS4, this might also take off.
While I disagree that he government is really "cracking down" on information leaks, the new rules certainly are being widely implemented. What other posters have said is accurate, HIPAA is basically about protecting customer data from hackers by isolating it and formalizing the rules of transferring data. It's the last thing that's the most important, because the real risk is that shady businesses will try to gather and resell information. A lot of the supposed "leaks" have really involved selling information to the wrong people.
You might as well describe speeding laws as interfering with your "right to drive," noise ordinances as abridging the "right to enjoy music,"
Except that the restrictions you're talking about are trivial. I think you would agree that a law that only allowed Muslims to have driver's licenses (for example) would violate a number of your rights. Or a law that forbade all non-Islamic music, or all music.
Did you know that in the United States, 1st amendment freedom of expression does NOT apply to advocacy for drug reform or drug use? The Supreme Court has affirmed that speech advocating the use of drugs or reform of drug laws is not protected in any way and government officials can legally ban it or restrict it in any way. The government can, and has, passed laws forbidding depicting the use of drugs on television and radio, or any advocacy for drug use or drug reform.
You can legally advocate for genocide and the Nazi party, but you can't put up a sign saying "Smoke crack cocaine!". I don't think people should smoke crack, but I have a problem with the notion that you can be imprisoned for saying people SHOULD smoke crack.
[1] "Unfairly" as decided by legislators elected by voters throughout the developed world.
Um, the logic here is flawed. The copyright laws (such as the DMCA) and enforcement actions against emulators long predate the existence of the wii and it's Virtual Console, so it's not possible that legislators intended to protect the Virtual Console in creating those laws.
There is not the level of expectation that your rock bottom priced device is going to work with Apple hardware.
The Pre is not "rock bottom priced" which illustrates that MacOS has lousy hardware compatibility in general, not just with cheap devices.
...Apple has never claimed to be company that supported everything. MS has, and continues to so do.
MS has never claimed to "support everything" even on the PC, let alone in the sandbox that is the XBOX and XBOX360. It is extremely disingenuous to accuse them of something they never claimed.
With the Pre, Apples motives are clear. They do not want to do technical support on a device that they have no control over, and they do want the DRM stuff on the Pre.
Nonsense. Apple has gone after every device that attempted to emulate the iPod's database format so as to sync as an iPod with iTunes. They know they have a very popular music store with iTunes and don't want competition against the iPod. Besides, isn't Apple all about DRM free now?
It would be simple enough for the Pre to come with software that hooked into the standard filetypes Apple uses to sync. True, someone would have to write this software, and the DRM stuff would not work, but it would be a better solution.
I do not know what this is supposed to mean. The iPod uses a proprietary database for metadata, NOT standard filetypes like M3U and MTP. The Pre supports both USB MSC and MTP and attempts to emulate the iPod's database format. This is necessary to "sync" with iTunes.
It is clear that Palm chose the budget solution.
Trying to support Apple's database format is hardly "budget".
To some extent it's an issue of fairness. Keyboard + mouse is far more accurate than using analog sticks so k+m players wipe the floor with controller players in online multiplayer. The few online shooters with console vs. PC gameplay had to gimp the PC players.
There are specialty adapters that allow you to use keyboard and mouse on the 360 by mapping the controls to the analog sticks. I'm told they don't work very well.
If demand for specialty PC FPS games (like Crysis) continues, an it remains profitable to do so, they will continue to be made. However, I suspect you may have to accept a central "matching" or swithboard server so they can charge you $20 a month. I just think that's where the future of PC gaming is headed, very online-heavy with subscription fees.
This issue is not about GMOs, whatever their merits or weaknesses may be.
The is about the ongoing battle of the corn industry which wants to promote High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) over sugar beets and sugar cane.
HFCS is almost completely unknown outside the United States. Except in the Americans, corn is grown almost exclusively as a feed stock for animals. The only reason HFCS exists at all is because of MASSIVE (in the order of 50-60%) subsidies on corn production.
Remember C&H cane sugar? Most sugar in the USA used to come from Hawaii (and before that, Cuba) before successful lobbying by agribusiness (NOT SMALL FARMERS!) led to a massive subsidy on corn, which led to the invention of HFCS.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is evil. It makes people sick and fat. It's mildly poisonous. Corn production is environmentally destructive in many areas (sugar cane production in the tropics is MUCH more efficient). etc. These are facts, not opinion. We don't need to "ban" HFCS. We need to end farm subsidies.
The argument against this is screwing the so-called "family farmers".
"Family" farmers don't exist, and haven't existed for over 50 years. It's a myth. *I* am supposedly a family farmer. Yet, I've never worked on the farm. I own land that I lease to agribusiness. And my cousin, who runs his own acreage, barely goes out there. He has an army of Mexicans that work the land (like everyone else). A white nuclear family that hires 150 Mexican workers to do most of the work is not a "family farm".
There are REAL family businesses that employ only family members, like many restaurants and small retail stores. They seem to manage without massive government subsidies.
The issue at hand is not how well BIND performs or how easy it is to use, but how SECURE it is.
IME, older software that has been battered by attackers (like BIND or sendmail) is a lot less likely to have critical unpatched vulnerabilities because it's been around so long. The biggest problem is using an old version, and Nomium wouldn't solve that problem. Sure, you could replace the old legacy system with their new crap, but if you just built a NEW system using new version you'd accomplish the same thing.
I do not think that either open source or commercial software has a clear advantage in terms of security, generally speaking. Having said that, I think in this case they'd have a very tough time arguing that their commercial product with FAR fewer eyes on it is inherently more secure. Nomium is not Microsoft, they do not have hundreds of QA staff.
I don't really see why you have to COPY everything. If you MUST rearrange someone's home directory (WHY would your installer do that??) then leave the files alone and just change the directory table.
The "why" is IT management. You can't have centralized management if home directories are scattered everywhere. There's also tech support issues.
As for why it's apparently copying the data rather than changing the directory table, I'm not sure. It could have something to do with permissions or it could be a reliability thing to verify the data is valid during the upgrade. Or it could be a bug/artifact where the upgrade tool expects that this data might be copied across drives/network and so ALWAYS copies the files.
More lousy reporting by Emil Protalinski. Great job cherry picking and distorting the data.
This particular upgrade involved copying over 650 GB, which was probably the culprit here. The hard drive was a Western Digital Black 1TB. Because upgrading to 7 over Vista requires copying the user profiles (the location has changed), and because there wasn't enough free space to do this, the upgrade sort of thrashed slowly swapping out data. They didn't do the test with the low-end hardware because that rig only had a 320 GB hard drive, the "Heavy" user on the low end system (125 GB of data plus apps) might have been bumping up against this too.
So the lesson is that if you have more that 50% of your disk space stored in your user profiles (e.g. My Documents) you might have problems during an upgrade. If the data was stored anywhere else, this problem would not exist.
I bet I could get an upgrade to take several WEEKS if I rigged it to copy a huge amount of data over a very slow network. I could even manually throttle bandwidth. I'm not sure what this would prove.
"Normal" upgrades that didn't involve moving so much data took 2 hours or less.
Vista to 7 is a relatively clean upgrade (compared to, say, 98 to 2000), but not really recommended. If your system is part of a domain contact your IT for best practice. Major version upgrades have always been problematic in Windows (better than MacOS and many Linux distros) so I recommend a "Settings" backup, clean install, and restore rather than upgrade.
Individuals simply aren't capable of securing this information and protecting themselves. They aren't given the power to actually do anything.
The responsibility lies SOLEY with the businesses collecting this information and with law enforcement. They're greedy and stupid, which is why problems occur.
Business:
They're cheap. This is almost the SOLE reason security problems exist. If they actually paid for network hardening, dedicated security staff, BONDING for key individuals and customers, and most importantly, tight restrictions on selling information, these problems would disappear. It's actually pretty easy, it just costs you money (especially in opportunity cost as you can't sell to anyone who is even slightly suspicious). Certain businesses (like ChoicePoint) would be completely unprofitable under such rules, so should be regulated out of existence.
Law enforcement:
Law enforcement has completely dropped the ball on cybercrime because it's a little bit difficult to enforce and isn't "sexy" enough. It requires technical expertise and many of the worst offenders are overseas. Overseas, the problem has to be dealt with through trade sanctions. Sanctions should be imposed on the Brazil, Russia, and China until they do something about cybercrime or let US law enforcement operate freely. All of these countries refuse to extradite, which is the core problem.
As far as your claim of executive compensation, show us some facts.
How the fuck am I supposed to "show you the facts" for your UNNAMED credit union? Psychic powers?
As a member of a credit union YOU have access to their financial statements. You would know how much the executives made if you read those and you also might get hints of their relations (same last names). Feel free to post this information yourself.
Several people have misunderstood the service offered by RIM in operating their own NOCs.
Right now, on the iPhone a Pre you have access to Exchange EAS, which is Exchange Remote Access, or web access that pushes out email through the web gateway. Blackberry also has this method (though rarely used because of BES).
This has a number of limitations:
1) The organization has to set up their Exchange server to allow web access, they may not want to do this for security or other reasons. 2) Web access causes a performance hit on the Exchange servers, on big installs this really matters. 3) Web access is traditionally fairly buggy in Exchange. 4) MOST IMPORTANTLY, web access tends to screw up calendaring and invites.
For this reason it would be nice to have DIRECT access to Exchange. This is possible in Windows Mobile and Blackberry. With Windows Mobile you have Outlook Mobile and as long as RPC ports are open in the firewall or the Windows Mobile device is on the LAN or VPN'ed in (there are robust VPN clients for Windows Mobile) this works fairly well. However most sites don't allow direct access to Exchange over the Internet, so this can be a big pain when trying to check mail through the phone network (because VPN won't work on the phone network).
Blackberry takes the Exchange support one step further, you install an application called Blackberry Enterprise Server which syncs your internal Exchange server against RIM's NOC(s) and Blackberry users can get their email automatically pushed down through the PHONE connections (3G and WiFi are not required) with full Exchange support and features. Unlike other products, you can browse the Global Address List and other Exchange users' calendars. You don't have full Outlook functionality, but more than other phones (Windows Mobile is in a grey area).
There is certainly a security issue in bouncing your corporate email through Blackberry's servers, but I think this is exaggerated somewhat. In reality, most email bounces through several unsecured on it's way to the destination so your email is going to be "exposed" this way no matter what you do. For the "internal" email their might be an issue here, but it strikes me as a bad way to do security. If you want secure email you have to use PKI, there's no way around it. BTW, As far as I'm aware only BES supports Exchange PKI (PGP is not supported by any mobile mail clients). So if you really want SECURE email your only options are Blackberry with BES or Windows Mobile.
The reality is that most organizations care a lot more about access and availability than security. IME, the only sites that care more are military sites with a "fail closed" mentality. Such sites would completely disallow all mobile access to classified email anyway.
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I don't see how having the capability limits your choice. If you know sites with Flash are crashing on your device you can choose not to visit those sites. Or you can disable Flash and view those sites. I really fail to see how having the option could possibly harm the user.
Also: Do you really try to apply this argument more generally? For example, if one downloaded application crashes on your iPhone do you never download and install an app again? Even if you don't want to install apps (which might crash your phone), how does having the capability to download apps harm the user? (excluding troyjan and virus risks)
I'm not sure how pointing out that the proprietary iPod/iTunes relationship is similar to the proprietary XBOX/Halo relationship supports your argument that Apple is "open".
I'd also argue that this is unfair to Microsoft. Microsoft's comparable product, the Zune, doesn't force users to use the Zune software or web store. You don't have to do so on the XBOX 360 either.
"That's why there is a Graphical tool for everything in Ubuntu."
No, there isn't. That's, in part, why Linux Mint exists. To add graphical tools to areas Ubuntu doesn't cover. And Mint doesn't get everything either. Last time I used Mint, I had to use the CLI to configure various multimedia crap and Samba (and other stuff). This was to do the incredibly complicated task of playing a video file over the network.
"On a not so rusty machine it take less than 20 minutes (compare this to installing Win7 !!!)"
20-30 minutes is the average install time for Windows 7. More importantly, it's a lot easier than it used to be. Install process:
1. Boot PC with Windows 7 disc in drive.
2. Click "Install".
3. Enter user name and password.
4. You're done.
The Windows 7 installer is vastly improved.
The terminal can be faster and easier to use, really, even for a newbie. It can also be easier to describe in written form or verbally how to do something by using a terminal. For example, If I wanted to tell you how to check the status of the cpuspeed service (which controls the dynamic speed scaling) it's easier for me (and faster for you) to tell you to: sudo service cpuspeed status
CLIs are not easy to use. They are hard to learn by almost everyone, therefore they are not "easy". CLIs can very often be faster and more convenient for learned users, but that's not the same thing.
Yes, in your example it is somewhat faster for a tech support guy using email to send a command (especially a long command with lots of flags) to a user and tell them to enter it in verbatim. This is a great system if you want a tech support guy to literally hold the hand of the user through every minor configuration. Frankly, if you're going to do this just SSH in and do it FOR him. It's the same thing.
There is a "past" that existed before there were GUI operating systems, and these systems were NEVER configured by "average users" at all. First off, the "average" user was a full-time computer professional. They, as full-time computer operators, did pretty well with CLI. Look at a more realistic example, like dumb terminals connected to an IBM running MAS90 accounting software. Ask those accountants how easy that CLI is to use. Ask them how much they like function keys and having to remember arcane character sequences.
When using a CLI you essentially have to learn a completely different language. "sudo", "cpuspeed", etc. are hardly obvious commands (let alone options and syntax) you could somehow guess. The "average" user has little talent or interest in learning obscure "CLI languages" (that's why they're not computer professionals) which means that, in practice, he'll have to laboriously look up the every single command, and it's syntax and options, every single time he wants to use it. This is simply not faster than clicking through menus with item descriptions, even a bunch of menus. Yes it might take more time than using a CLI command, but it will take a lot less time than LEARNING the CLI command.
I'm not even sure I buy the premise. Sure, Battlefield: Bad Company eschewed the PC version altogether and Modern Warfare 2 lacked official mod tools, but I'm not really sure this is a trend. DICE has pointedly announced that the PC version, mod tools, and dedicated server are back for Bad Company 2. You've also got Medal of Honor, Alien vs. Predator, Crysis 2, etc.
I place most of the blame for the lack of good games for the the Wii squarely on the publishers and not on the technical limitations of the console.
The wii is almost literally an overclocked Gamecube and Nintendo's SDK sucks. Nor did they give developers any good guides to using motion controls. Nintendo's attitude was "we'll build it, they will come, and they will make the tools". This, plus Nintendo's licensing scheme and content limitations, have really cooled third parties on the console.
Believe me, the hardware limitations are crippling if you're making a "serious" game. The big problem is that you really have to commit to the wii and it's control scheme to make a decent game, that means no multiplatform. Your game won't look very good unless you have a keen understanding of the wii's limitations (which involve very small environments). And remember the lack of good tools, so you have to make your own. All of this drives up the cost of developing a wii game.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23118
What's more important is variety. .. Do you need that many shooters? In fact, if you pare down your 90+ list for each system by eliminating games that play similarly, you'll shorten the 360 and PS3 lists severely.
Yeah, I do. Are you arguing that the LACK of diversity in games is somehow an asset? And certainly all first-person shooters don't play the same, Halo and Modern Warfare 2 are completely different. I think you simply have a bias against the genre.
Speaking of paring down, the 9 games scoring 90+ on the Wii include both Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Trilogy includes corruption, so subtract 1 from the Wii's count. Oh but Trilogy is a pack of three 90+ games, sold for the price of 1, so add back 2.
So do I get to count Orange Box as 5 games?
Game scores generally measure how good a game is while you're playing it, but completely ignore how long you'll be playing.
No, reviewers almost always take game length and replay ability into account. Read some reviews.
What you're doing is similar to taking a bunch of objects, measuring their density, and summing the quantities.
It is a fact that there is a wide consensus among those that review games professionally that the vast majority of wii games suck. This view is shared by most consumers writing reviews on Amazon, Gamestop, etc.
Your only argument against this is to attack the CONCEPT of aesthetics. By your reasoning "Schindler's List" and "Freejack" are equally good because different viewers might be looking for something different.
This view basically argues that there is no "craft" at all to making games or movies. By your view, the average moron off the street SHOULD be able to make games equivalent to Call of Duty 4 or Mario Galaxy with no experience at all because the "value" of a game is wildly subjective. It doesn't matter that it crashes at the loading screen, maybe some people WANT to play the "crash your system" game.
Video games are art. And art criticism exists. So either all art criticism is meaningless, or video game reviews are valid. It's as simple as that.
It's difficult to believe that EVERY game reviewer is involved in a vast conspiracy. And even if they were, reviews you read from customers on Amazon or elsewhere generally line up with those of professional reviewers. Are they all part of the conspiracy?
The reality is that the wii is the king of shovelware. Yes, there are good games for the wii (Mario Galaxy, Zelda, etc.). Most of these are first-party (made by Nintendo) and for every good game there are 10 AWFUL ones. And that's another point, the 360 and PS3 have lots of "eh" or middle of the road games, on the wii it's a few gems among a sea of complete garbage.
Strictly speaking, the empire and the republic overlapped for a brief period (between episodes 3 and 4). Basically, the time that Luke spent growing up on Tatooine, the old republic was falling apart, the empire was taking over, and the rebellion against the empire was forming (in roughly that order).
Strictly speaking, you are correct but your analysis is wrong.
The Galactic Republic BECAME the Galactic Empire, essentially Palpatine renamed it at the end of the Clone Wars. By then he had already weakened the Senate, but the Senate was not fully dissolved until Episode IV. The Republic and Empire did did not exist as separate entities in any way. Some systems were rebelling between Episodes III and IV, but this was disorganized and not an alternative government.
The Galactic Empire and Galactic Republic DID coexist after the Battle of Endor (Episode VI), with the "New Republic" growing out of the Alliance Against the Empire and the "Imperial Remnant" making up the space still under the control of various Imperial commanders and warlords. However, fundamentally the "Imperial Remnant" was really the last remnants of the Galactic Republic.
Of course, Old Republic is about the OLD Galactic Republic and the Old Sith Empire and is set nearly FOUR THOUSAND YEARS before the movies. Aside from the KOTOR games, two comic series "Tales of the Jedi" and "Knights of the Old Republic" have been set in this era.
People sit there for an hour or so without reporting any discomfort so long as an effort is taken to calibrate the experience correctly to their viewing position, and inter-pupillary distance, optical accommodation, etc.
Can you do all of the above in less than 30 seconds? Will they work in literally any indoor environment under literally any lighting and viewing conditions? No? Then it's absolutely useless for consumers.
Kids have to use this stuff, and they won't wait for "calibration". They will not sit in the "perfect position". In the real world, lighting conditions ALWAYS suck and you're ALWAYS viewing from less than the ideal angle. If the system can't tolerate this, it's right out.
I've used a lot of these systems. Some have given me headaches. Eye function is a major issue here. I used to have severe myopia in my left eye 3D did not work AT ALL because my right and left eyes interpreted data differently. I've had laser surgery, and now 3D works a lot better, but I still get a lot more eyestrain than normal.
Oddly enough, unlike most people, I've been WAY, WAY, WAY more impressed with various head mounted displays I've used (tiny video monitors worn in front of the eyes). Worked great for me. No eyestrain and (combined with the earphones) a pretty deep sense of immersion. I played a number of games with way and the experience was really impressive. Very isolating though (by design).
I personally think this is just another 3D fad. The glasses always have been, and always will be, a deal-breaker.
This hasn't really been demonstrated for home video. And even for movies, it's only the limited genre of "animated adventure movies" where the effects are (or will be) popular. Hard to build a format around that and porn.
More importantly, there is a broader issue of high-bandwidth formats and new formats. HD TVs have become very popular, despite the fact that PROPER HD content is pretty sparse. Most people are watching "HD" content that is highly compressed through cable, satellite, and internet. Blu-ray is fairly impressive, but hasn't seen anywhere near the adoption of crappy, low-quality downloads which have become the norm in movies and music.
I fail to see where a very expensive new format will succeed here. Everyone just bought HDTVs, they're just not going to buy 3D TVs unless the technology is so cheap they include it in all new HDTVs. Then you might see adoption.
The whole idea is a lot more compelling for home video game consoles. So if Panasonic, Toshiba, etc. throw a lot of Money and Microsoft and Sony commits with the PS4, this might also take off.
While I disagree that he government is really "cracking down" on information leaks, the new rules certainly are being widely implemented. What other posters have said is accurate, HIPAA is basically about protecting customer data from hackers by isolating it and formalizing the rules of transferring data. It's the last thing that's the most important, because the real risk is that shady businesses will try to gather and resell information. A lot of the supposed "leaks" have really involved selling information to the wrong people.
You might as well describe speeding laws as interfering with your "right to drive," noise ordinances as abridging the "right to enjoy music,"
Except that the restrictions you're talking about are trivial. I think you would agree that a law that only allowed Muslims to have driver's licenses (for example) would violate a number of your rights. Or a law that forbade all non-Islamic music, or all music.
Did you know that in the United States, 1st amendment freedom of expression does NOT apply to advocacy for drug reform or drug use? The Supreme Court has affirmed that speech advocating the use of drugs or reform of drug laws is not protected in any way and government officials can legally ban it or restrict it in any way. The government can, and has, passed laws forbidding depicting the use of drugs on television and radio, or any advocacy for drug use or drug reform.
You can legally advocate for genocide and the Nazi party, but you can't put up a sign saying "Smoke crack cocaine!". I don't think people should smoke crack, but I have a problem with the notion that you can be imprisoned for saying people SHOULD smoke crack.
competes unfairly[1] with Virtual Console.
[1] "Unfairly" as decided by legislators elected by voters throughout the developed world.
Um, the logic here is flawed. The copyright laws (such as the DMCA) and enforcement actions against emulators long predate the existence of the wii and it's Virtual Console, so it's not possible that legislators intended to protect the Virtual Console in creating those laws.
Pre apps are basically JavaScript, which is not the most game-friendly language out there. Hopefully Flash for Palm Pre will change that a bit.
There is not the level of expectation that your rock bottom priced device is going to work with Apple hardware.
The Pre is not "rock bottom priced" which illustrates that MacOS has lousy hardware compatibility in general, not just with cheap devices.
...Apple has never claimed to be company that supported everything. MS has, and continues to so do.
MS has never claimed to "support everything" even on the PC, let alone in the sandbox that is the XBOX and XBOX360. It is extremely disingenuous to accuse them of something they never claimed.
With the Pre, Apples motives are clear. They do not want to do technical support on a device that they have no control over, and they do want the DRM stuff on the Pre.
Nonsense. Apple has gone after every device that attempted to emulate the iPod's database format so as to sync as an iPod with iTunes. They know they have a very popular music store with iTunes and don't want competition against the iPod. Besides, isn't Apple all about DRM free now?
It would be simple enough for the Pre to come with software that hooked into the standard filetypes Apple uses to sync. True, someone would have to write this software, and the DRM stuff would not work, but it would be a better solution.
I do not know what this is supposed to mean. The iPod uses a proprietary database for metadata, NOT standard filetypes like M3U and MTP. The Pre supports both USB MSC and MTP and attempts to emulate the iPod's database format. This is necessary to "sync" with iTunes.
It is clear that Palm chose the budget solution.
Trying to support Apple's database format is hardly "budget".
To some extent it's an issue of fairness. Keyboard + mouse is far more accurate than using analog sticks so k+m players wipe the floor with controller players in online multiplayer. The few online shooters with console vs. PC gameplay had to gimp the PC players.
There are specialty adapters that allow you to use keyboard and mouse on the 360 by mapping the controls to the analog sticks. I'm told they don't work very well.
PC Gaming continues to make a lot of money.
If demand for specialty PC FPS games (like Crysis) continues, an it remains profitable to do so, they will continue to be made. However, I suspect you may have to accept a central "matching" or swithboard server so they can charge you $20 a month. I just think that's where the future of PC gaming is headed, very online-heavy with subscription fees.
This issue is not about GMOs, whatever their merits or weaknesses may be.
The is about the ongoing battle of the corn industry which wants to promote High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) over sugar beets and sugar cane.
HFCS is almost completely unknown outside the United States. Except in the Americans, corn is grown almost exclusively as a feed stock for animals. The only reason HFCS exists at all is because of MASSIVE (in the order of 50-60%) subsidies on corn production.
Remember C&H cane sugar? Most sugar in the USA used to come from Hawaii (and before that, Cuba) before successful lobbying by agribusiness (NOT SMALL FARMERS!) led to a massive subsidy on corn, which led to the invention of HFCS.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is evil. It makes people sick and fat. It's mildly poisonous. Corn production is environmentally destructive in many areas (sugar cane production in the tropics is MUCH more efficient). etc. These are facts, not opinion. We don't need to "ban" HFCS. We need to end farm subsidies.
The argument against this is screwing the so-called "family farmers".
"Family" farmers don't exist, and haven't existed for over 50 years. It's a myth. *I* am supposedly a family farmer. Yet, I've never worked on the farm. I own land that I lease to agribusiness. And my cousin, who runs his own acreage, barely goes out there. He has an army of Mexicans that work the land (like everyone else). A white nuclear family that hires 150 Mexican workers to do most of the work is not a "family farm".
There are REAL family businesses that employ only family members, like many restaurants and small retail stores. They seem to manage without massive government subsidies.
The issue at hand is not how well BIND performs or how easy it is to use, but how SECURE it is.
IME, older software that has been battered by attackers (like BIND or sendmail) is a lot less likely to have critical unpatched vulnerabilities because it's been around so long. The biggest problem is using an old version, and Nomium wouldn't solve that problem. Sure, you could replace the old legacy system with their new crap, but if you just built a NEW system using new version you'd accomplish the same thing.
I do not think that either open source or commercial software has a clear advantage in terms of security, generally speaking. Having said that, I think in this case they'd have a very tough time arguing that their commercial product with FAR fewer eyes on it is inherently more secure. Nomium is not Microsoft, they do not have hundreds of QA staff.
This is assuming that SKYE isn't just a knockoff of BIND, which is likely since the staff at Nomium are all BIND veterans. They are actually complaining about their own software here.
http://www.nominum.com/news/press/2000/nominum_releases_bind_9.php
I don't really see why you have to COPY everything. If you MUST rearrange someone's home directory (WHY would your installer do that??) then leave the files alone and just change the directory table.
The "why" is IT management. You can't have centralized management if home directories are scattered everywhere. There's also tech support issues.
As for why it's apparently copying the data rather than changing the directory table, I'm not sure. It could have something to do with permissions or it could be a reliability thing to verify the data is valid during the upgrade. Or it could be a bug/artifact where the upgrade tool expects that this data might be copied across drives/network and so ALWAYS copies the files.
More lousy reporting by Emil Protalinski. Great job cherry picking and distorting the data.
This particular upgrade involved copying over 650 GB, which was probably the culprit here. The hard drive was a Western Digital Black 1TB. Because upgrading to 7 over Vista requires copying the user profiles (the location has changed), and because there wasn't enough free space to do this, the upgrade sort of thrashed slowly swapping out data. They didn't do the test with the low-end hardware because that rig only had a 320 GB hard drive, the "Heavy" user on the low end system (125 GB of data plus apps) might have been bumping up against this too.
So the lesson is that if you have more that 50% of your disk space stored in your user profiles (e.g. My Documents) you might have problems during an upgrade. If the data was stored anywhere else, this problem would not exist.
I bet I could get an upgrade to take several WEEKS if I rigged it to copy a huge amount of data over a very slow network. I could even manually throttle bandwidth. I'm not sure what this would prove.
"Normal" upgrades that didn't involve moving so much data took 2 hours or less.
Vista to 7 is a relatively clean upgrade (compared to, say, 98 to 2000), but not really recommended. If your system is part of a domain contact your IT for best practice. Major version upgrades have always been problematic in Windows (better than MacOS and many Linux distros) so I recommend a "Settings" backup, clean install, and restore rather than upgrade.
Individuals simply aren't capable of securing this information and protecting themselves. They aren't given the power to actually do anything.
The responsibility lies SOLEY with the businesses collecting this information and with law enforcement. They're greedy and stupid, which is why problems occur.
Business:
They're cheap. This is almost the SOLE reason security problems exist. If they actually paid for network hardening, dedicated security staff, BONDING for key individuals and customers, and most importantly, tight restrictions on selling information, these problems would disappear. It's actually pretty easy, it just costs you money (especially in opportunity cost as you can't sell to anyone who is even slightly suspicious). Certain businesses (like ChoicePoint) would be completely unprofitable under such rules, so should be regulated out of existence.
Law enforcement:
Law enforcement has completely dropped the ball on cybercrime because it's a little bit difficult to enforce and isn't "sexy" enough. It requires technical expertise and many of the worst offenders are overseas. Overseas, the problem has to be dealt with through trade sanctions. Sanctions should be imposed on the Brazil, Russia, and China until they do something about cybercrime or let US law enforcement operate freely. All of these countries refuse to extradite, which is the core problem.
As far as your claim of executive compensation, show us some facts.
How the fuck am I supposed to "show you the facts" for your UNNAMED credit union? Psychic powers?
As a member of a credit union YOU have access to their financial statements. You would know how much the executives made if you read those and you also might get hints of their relations (same last names). Feel free to post this information yourself.
Several people have misunderstood the service offered by RIM in operating their own NOCs.
Right now, on the iPhone a Pre you have access to Exchange EAS, which is Exchange Remote Access, or web access that pushes out email through the web gateway. Blackberry also has this method (though rarely used because of BES).
This has a number of limitations:
1) The organization has to set up their Exchange server to allow web access, they may not want to do this for security or other reasons.
2) Web access causes a performance hit on the Exchange servers, on big installs this really matters.
3) Web access is traditionally fairly buggy in Exchange.
4) MOST IMPORTANTLY, web access tends to screw up calendaring and invites.
For this reason it would be nice to have DIRECT access to Exchange. This is possible in Windows Mobile and Blackberry. With Windows Mobile you have Outlook Mobile and as long as RPC ports are open in the firewall or the Windows Mobile device is on the LAN or VPN'ed in (there are robust VPN clients for Windows Mobile) this works fairly well. However most sites don't allow direct access to Exchange over the Internet, so this can be a big pain when trying to check mail through the phone network (because VPN won't work on the phone network).
Blackberry takes the Exchange support one step further, you install an application called Blackberry Enterprise Server which syncs your internal Exchange server against RIM's NOC(s) and Blackberry users can get their email automatically pushed down through the PHONE connections (3G and WiFi are not required) with full Exchange support and features. Unlike other products, you can browse the Global Address List and other Exchange users' calendars. You don't have full Outlook functionality, but more than other phones (Windows Mobile is in a grey area).
There is certainly a security issue in bouncing your corporate email through Blackberry's servers, but I think this is exaggerated somewhat. In reality, most email bounces through several unsecured on it's way to the destination so your email is going to be "exposed" this way no matter what you do. For the "internal" email their might be an issue here, but it strikes me as a bad way to do security. If you want secure email you have to use PKI, there's no way around it. BTW, As far as I'm aware only BES supports Exchange PKI (PGP is not supported by any mobile mail clients). So if you really want SECURE email your only options are Blackberry with BES or Windows Mobile.
The reality is that most organizations care a lot more about access and availability than security. IME, the only sites that care more are military sites with a "fail closed" mentality. Such sites would completely disallow all mobile access to classified email anyway.