- remove the actual logo - change everything to read PCI compatible - add the TM symbol where appropriate - say that it's a PCI device 'review' site
But whatever he could've done all that can be said about this is fsck PCI. Reprehensible is all they are...if it was possible to purchase a PC without PCI I would - come to think of it I can probably get a lot of stuff as USB drivers.
Belleville is a fun area of the 401 to drive through as well - in the winter you get free bonus blizzards! Score bonus points if you're heading all the way to Kingston!
Don't worry a stupid computer tech that paid for a certificate and fudged his way through a few tests can just as easily accomplish this feat!
And one has to wonder - would a State Regulated computer tech licensing firm have trained the tech in the particular backup software you were utilising?
Enough of regulation, at least where it is not some kind of major Health & Safety issue. Yeah great more tax dollars flushed down the toilet to manage some new government behemoth.
(If an independant group wants to start up a standards organization or something fine, then those who feel more comfortable can go and find certified techs - heh like A+)
How the hell can a state level government keep up with the IT industry? How can they possibly set up any sort of regulatory standards? Better watch it - next thing you know they'll have some crap like "class B computing device, must be compatible with Microsoft Palldium computer environment", well not exactly that, but you get the picture...
Heh you want to see something really funny - check out Canada's federal gun registry. A federal database of firearms - not really *that* big a deal is it? Well it's already cost about $1 Billion, and it's going to costs millions more because it still doesn't work. This is the bang for your buck you get from government! Or how about NASA? And you want them to regulate who fixes computers and how???
I mean, try and even come up with a base set of standards a tech should know - it can't be done.
If GWB is so concerned about keeping the Texas oil economy going and appeasing the Texas oil companies, wouldn't he want to avoid increasing the supplies of oil, especially foreign oil? If GWB annexed Iraq and started sucking out all the oil for US use, that would just tank the prices of oil and lower the demand for Texas oil.
Plus he's POTUS now, not Governer of Texas, he has more people to appease then just the Texans. (And if it was so easy to invent alternative energy he'd score far more points across the board then he would lose in Texas)
Bush & Cheney both sold off their stocks (at a loss at the time), to limit their conflict of interest with the oil companies.
It isn't GWB holding up electric cars in some oil conspiracy, it's the population as a whole - who collectively don't seem all that interested in alternative fuel vehicles or higher fuel usage vehicles. Then there's the money for whatever new infrastructure is required by alternative energy...
I recently acquired a satellite system (DSS) with the PVR built-in (see my journal if you want to know more). Basically it just hooked up the same as the standard receiver. I've been using it for not quite a month and I just can't see going through the hassle of a media centre PC anymore. (I was looking at setting up something like that before - and being in Canada, I would have the added problem of finding a PVR that supports local satellite or cable options Guide-wise).
Basically, having a set-up like this 'just works'. You press pause and TV is paused. You select the program you want to record out of the program guide or program search and it records it (you can choose to protect it, to prevent other recordings overwriting on a full HDD, and you can choose to start recording 1 minute early). You can go back and watch something that you recorded while it records something else. Every time you change the channel it begins buffering again automatically (up to 1 hour I think). It can hold 30 hours of programming. It can IR-Blast the VCR if needed also.
I'm a PVR addict. Now I'm sure you can accomplish all of this and more using a PC with WMCE or whatever, but it's nice to not have a computer hanging around the room or having to show my wife how to get everything going. Sure I can't share with other PCs and I don't think it can really perform every trick that PC software or a TiVo can right now, but it does have an upgradeable BIOS. It is not hooked up to the internet or the phone line (if I ever bother with PPV then I'll have to use a phone line). I can tell the unit not to upgrade its BIOS without asking.
Basically, a home theatre setup often borders on messy anyways - throwing a PC into the mix just further confuses things.
And I definitely don't need a MS solution - don't need a BSOD messing up my TV viewing!
Tekken 4 did support one of the HD modes (480p?, sorry can't remember)- wasn't wide screen but it still cleans up the image nicely. Many games seem to do anamorphic or letterbox widescreen, too bad I haven't seen one that was anamorphic AND HD yet, as stretching out the game really pixelates it.
PS2 can do a lot of interesting things (Like software DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1), if only it had a bit more RAM to throw around!!
Looks fine to me! I've enjoyed many fine games on my PS2. Sure other things have eclipsed it, that is inevitable. But the PS2 does look impressive when compared to the previous PS1.
There are quite a few entertaining commericals out there- it's kind of funny though, in some of the best ones I can't even remember what the commercial was for.
For the most part though, having a PVR has made me even more annoyed by commercials - it gets downright frustrating now to be watching TV and realize that I've caught up to 'real time' and that I can't skip the annoying commercial that has its volume set to 110% anymore.
In Canada we get some very entertaining beer commercials though:)
I don't think MPAA and their ilk will be able to stop PVRs - I certainly hope not. My PVR was provided with my Satellite receiver (Canadian Bell Express Vu), which probably could create interesting situations for them - on the one hand they are getting the networks out to the viewers, on the other hand they are providing the means to strip off the network's source of money.
I think that odd commercial time slots - both in length and schedule will make the commericals harder to filter - although it won't stop the die hard file sharers - but you won't stop them anyways. Not sure how much I'd like 4 times more commercial slots with 15 second commericals though...
But seriously cramming commercials down people's throats is really of dubious value anyways - I don't think they'll get any more purchases even if they could forcefeed the commercials Clockwork Orange style. Under the current model, even with a PVR however, I have stopped to view an interesting looking commercial once and awhile- commercials for products that I may actually be interested in purchasing. Me seeing a commercial I'm interested in one more time is far more effective then me being forced to watch a commercial that I have no interest in 1000 times.
The TV industry is just going to have to adapt in some way or another - pissing off customers by *forcing* them to watch crap ass commercials multiple times isn't doing anyone any favours.
Part of the cost difference is due to infrastructure and population densities. You can, in general find decent access options in Canada and the US, however both countries are so spread out that connecting everyone does cost more money...the whole "last mile" problem.
Then there's the problem of upstream service providers - some places things are layered up too much with everyone taking their own slice. Not sure how much of a problem this is in Japan or Korea. It's not as bad in Canada as in the US - although the options are more limited in Canada.
Don't forget to buy your earplugs, in addition to your foil hats! I mean, how else are you going to protect yourself from *superluminal* attempts at mind control?
Yeah it's discriminatory - it doesn't take into consideration the rights of the metaphysically impaired!
Seriously though, once they're dead do they really need that protection?
Kzin use something like this
on
Lab-Grown Steak
·
· Score: 2
As I recall the Kzinti of Known Space (Larry Niven's books and many short stories by various authors) feed their troops on warships by growing cancers in large vats. Kzin need good, raw meat. Eventually they desire truly fresh meat of course...look out!
I feel that schools are drifting too far away from the basics. Computers often lead to a cycle of chasing the latest technology instead of actually doing anything useful with it. Most school boards and schools are strapped for cash and resources; attempting keeping up with the lastest in IT will only leave them in an even worse financial position.
Computers have their place in many areas, including education. However, teachers must resist falling into the trap of just teaching the nebulous subject of computing. Is teaching a student the ins and outs of Windows or Word really a worthy use of valuable teaching time? Even if you do teach them to use say, Word, who's to say that by the time they leave the education system that Word is still going to be the word processor of the day? Even teaching them the basic desktop and window style GUI we are so familiar with may not end up being useful in the "real world" eight years down the road.
Now computers can be useful. A typing program can save on paper. A flash card program may just be able to give a student that extra bit of help, especially with classes often becoming over-crowded. Access to the Internet could, in some cases, supply additional resource materials in the presence of a picked-over library (but here one must be careful in teaching the student to "consider the source"). It's just that using too much classroom time and fiscal resources on finicky and ever-changing computers takes away from teaching the basics. A student leaving the education system with a solid grounding in language, mathematics, science, and critical thinking, will surely be able to react and learn whatever computer systems they come across in the future.
And coming in 2005, New Jersey will enact something even better; nerve stapling! yay! Then comes pre-crime so if you even think about committing a crime you will be instantly paralyzed with pain.
Of course some people will think certain movies are crap and express their thoughts accordingly.
I'm talking about a particular type of person who must, seemingly by nature, attack every movie, every book, as a means of building themselves up and making them feel superior to others. The Simpson Comic Shop Guy incarnate. It just gets annoying. I guess they are just pure cynics; they are never satisified with anything.
Now of course they are allowed to think that way. And I'm allowed to be annoyed by it! Now of course there will be those who are annoyed by people that find cynics annoying....
They're everywhere, the more popular and big something is the more of them seem to pop up. They gain a feeling of superiority from poo-poo-ing whatever comes out and they get even worse if something they like becomes popular - they must maintain their pet likes to maintain their feeling of being better than others, but they must keep some other pet interest as a backdoor in case too many people starting liking their primary. They only like stuff 'before it was popular'. They listen to bands like 'U2' or read books like LOTR and like to think they understand it on a deeper level then the unwashed masses, or the pedestrian scum.
The Matrix was a lot of fun, a great movie to watch. It was always meant to be part of a trilogy. The same directors are putting even more work into the next one with all of the passion and enthusiasm they can muster. They are developing cutting edge effects once again. But no, they're sure that the Matrix:Reloaded will suck - they haven't seen more than a whiff of a trailer, but they are all-knowing and all-seeing, the judges of all that is.
Holy crap people, just enjoy the freaking movies already...
Re:Why I never cared much for LOTR
on
David Brin On LOTR
·
· Score: 2, Funny
"1) They switched Darrens Look closely and you'll notice the human member of their party is played by two different actors at different points of the movie (it takes a sharp eye to notice, but one of them has red hair, one black)."
Well whenever you notice something like that; a wizard did it!
I enjoy reading David Brin but...
on
David Brin On LOTR
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I enjoy reading Brin's stuff (including his Otherness comp book - had some interesting ideas), but this article is really disappointing. He's just grabbed something that happens to be popular and launched off on some diatribe of his own, occasionally weaving in bits of LOTR stuff to help remind us that we are, in fact, still reading an article related to LOTR and not listening to a soapbox commentary.
His devil's advocate attempts at looking at things from Sauron's view were quite weak IMO. It more or less ignores what is most important in determining if Sauron was evil: his actions. I know, I know, it's just a thought expirement but it just wasn't very convincing to me.
I love many of his books, but IMO, in this case David Brin is just looking for some excuse to get an essay published! If the story read 'article by David Brin on Salon' I still would've went and had a look - no need to try and cash in in LOTR mania at the expense of weakening your position!
I suppose this article is timely - it is the season of fruitcakes after all! But seriously, isn't there something useful they can be doing with their time?
Maybe they could study architecture or engineering and come up with good, economical ways to build housing without lumber? Or do fundraising to purchase land to make reserves? Or research to find better, more environmentally friendly ways of logging? Perhaps if some lumber company choose to do old style logging (where you pick individual, strategic trees to remove instead of clear cutting leaving a good variety of trees and undergrowth), they could lobby to support such companies, despite higher lumber costs?
I dunno, just seems like there's more productive ways to spend your life, and still make a difference.
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Couldn't he have tried:
- remove the actual logo
- change everything to read PCI compatible
- add the TM symbol where appropriate
- say that it's a PCI device 'review' site
But whatever he could've done all that can be said about this is fsck PCI. Reprehensible is all they are...if it was possible to purchase a PC without PCI I would - come to think of it I can probably get a lot of stuff as USB drivers.
Belleville is a fun area of the 401 to drive through as well - in the winter you get free bonus blizzards! Score bonus points if you're heading all the way to Kingston!
Don't worry a stupid computer tech that paid for a certificate and fudged his way through a few tests can just as easily accomplish this feat!
And one has to wonder - would a State Regulated computer tech licensing firm have trained the tech in the particular backup software you were utilising?
Enough of regulation, at least where it is not some kind of major Health & Safety issue. Yeah great more tax dollars flushed down the toilet to manage some new government behemoth.
(If an independant group wants to start up a standards organization or something fine, then those who feel more comfortable can go and find certified techs - heh like A+)
How the hell can a state level government keep up with the IT industry? How can they possibly set up any sort of regulatory standards? Better watch it - next thing you know they'll have some crap like "class B computing device, must be compatible with Microsoft Palldium computer environment", well not exactly that, but you get the picture...
Heh you want to see something really funny - check out Canada's federal gun registry. A federal database of firearms - not really *that* big a deal is it? Well it's already cost about $1 Billion, and it's going to costs millions more because it still doesn't work. This is the bang for your buck you get from government! Or how about NASA? And you want them to regulate who fixes computers and how???
I mean, try and even come up with a base set of standards a tech should know - it can't be done.
In which case the population is still to blame!
"You are watching Fox!"
"We..are..watching..Fox."
Okay here's my problem with your argument:
If GWB is so concerned about keeping the Texas oil economy going and appeasing the Texas oil companies, wouldn't he want to avoid increasing the supplies of oil, especially foreign oil? If GWB annexed Iraq and started sucking out all the oil for US use, that would just tank the prices of oil and lower the demand for Texas oil.
Plus he's POTUS now, not Governer of Texas, he has more people to appease then just the Texans. (And if it was so easy to invent alternative energy he'd score far more points across the board then he would lose in Texas)
Bush & Cheney both sold off their stocks (at a loss at the time), to limit their conflict of interest with the oil companies.
It isn't GWB holding up electric cars in some oil conspiracy, it's the population as a whole - who collectively don't seem all that interested in alternative fuel vehicles or higher fuel usage vehicles. Then there's the money for whatever new infrastructure is required by alternative energy...
Voters are made of oil??
Huh, i thought I had comments on - I'll have to look.
The 5100 is apparently no longer discontinued, weird eh? I have heard there is an 80GB version though.
Not sure about the expansion port either!
I recently acquired a satellite system (DSS) with the PVR built-in (see my journal if you want to know more). Basically it just hooked up the same as the standard receiver. I've been using it for not quite a month and I just can't see going through the hassle of a media centre PC anymore. (I was looking at setting up something like that before - and being in Canada, I would have the added problem of finding a PVR that supports local satellite or cable options Guide-wise).
Basically, having a set-up like this 'just works'. You press pause and TV is paused. You select the program you want to record out of the program guide or program search and it records it (you can choose to protect it, to prevent other recordings overwriting on a full HDD, and you can choose to start recording 1 minute early). You can go back and watch something that you recorded while it records something else. Every time you change the channel it begins buffering again automatically (up to 1 hour I think). It can hold 30 hours of programming. It can IR-Blast the VCR if needed also.
I'm a PVR addict. Now I'm sure you can accomplish all of this and more using a PC with WMCE or whatever, but it's nice to not have a computer hanging around the room or having to show my wife how to get everything going. Sure I can't share with other PCs and I don't think it can really perform every trick that PC software or a TiVo can right now, but it does have an upgradeable BIOS. It is not hooked up to the internet or the phone line (if I ever bother with PPV then I'll have to use a phone line). I can tell the unit not to upgrade its BIOS without asking.
Basically, a home theatre setup often borders on messy anyways - throwing a PC into the mix just further confuses things.
And I definitely don't need a MS solution - don't need a BSOD messing up my TV viewing!
Tekken 4 did support one of the HD modes (480p?, sorry can't remember)- wasn't wide screen but it still cleans up the image nicely. Many games seem to do anamorphic or letterbox widescreen, too bad I haven't seen one that was anamorphic AND HD yet, as stretching out the game really pixelates it.
PS2 can do a lot of interesting things (Like software DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1), if only it had a bit more RAM to throw around!!
Looks fine to me! I've enjoyed many fine games on my PS2. Sure other things have eclipsed it, that is inevitable. But the PS2 does look impressive when compared to the previous PS1.
There are quite a few entertaining commericals out there- it's kind of funny though, in some of the best ones I can't even remember what the commercial was for.
:)
For the most part though, having a PVR has made me even more annoyed by commercials - it gets downright frustrating now to be watching TV and realize that I've caught up to 'real time' and that I can't skip the annoying commercial that has its volume set to 110% anymore.
In Canada we get some very entertaining beer commercials though
I don't think MPAA and their ilk will be able to stop PVRs - I certainly hope not. My PVR was provided with my Satellite receiver (Canadian Bell Express Vu), which probably could create interesting situations for them - on the one hand they are getting the networks out to the viewers, on the other hand they are providing the means to strip off the network's source of money.
I think that odd commercial time slots - both in length and schedule will make the commericals harder to filter - although it won't stop the die hard file sharers - but you won't stop them anyways. Not sure how much I'd like 4 times more commercial slots with 15 second commericals though...
But seriously cramming commercials down people's throats is really of dubious value anyways - I don't think they'll get any more purchases even if they could forcefeed the commercials Clockwork Orange style. Under the current model, even with a PVR however, I have stopped to view an interesting looking commercial once and awhile- commercials for products that I may actually be interested in purchasing. Me seeing a commercial I'm interested in one more time is far more effective then me being forced to watch a commercial that I have no interest in 1000 times.
The TV industry is just going to have to adapt in some way or another - pissing off customers by *forcing* them to watch crap ass commercials multiple times isn't doing anyone any favours.
Part of the cost difference is due to infrastructure and population densities. You can, in general find decent access options in Canada and the US, however both countries are so spread out that connecting everyone does cost more money...the whole "last mile" problem.
Then there's the problem of upstream service providers - some places things are layered up too much with everyone taking their own slice. Not sure how much of a problem this is in Japan or Korea. It's not as bad in Canada as in the US - although the options are more limited in Canada.
Don't forget to buy your earplugs, in addition to your foil hats! I mean, how else are you going to protect yourself from *superluminal* attempts at mind control?
And remember.... Yvan eht nioj!
Yeah, and Democrats are *so* nice when they talk about Republicans. Give me a break. What party do I support? PC. heh.
Yeah it's discriminatory - it doesn't take into consideration the rights of the metaphysically impaired!
Seriously though, once they're dead do they really need that protection?
As I recall the Kzinti of Known Space (Larry Niven's books and many short stories by various authors) feed their troops on warships by growing cancers in large vats. Kzin need good, raw meat. Eventually they desire truly fresh meat of course...look out!
I feel that schools are drifting too far away from the basics. Computers often lead to a cycle of chasing the latest technology instead of actually doing anything useful with it. Most school boards and schools are strapped for cash and resources; attempting keeping up with the lastest in IT will only leave them in an even worse financial position.
Computers have their place in many areas, including education. However, teachers must resist falling into the trap of just teaching the nebulous subject of computing. Is teaching a student the ins and outs of Windows or Word really a worthy use of valuable teaching time? Even if you do teach them to use say, Word, who's to say that by the time they leave the education system that Word is still going to be the word processor of the day? Even teaching them the basic desktop and window style GUI we are so familiar with may not end up being useful in the "real world" eight years down the road.
Now computers can be useful. A typing program can save on paper. A flash card program may just be able to give a student that extra bit of help, especially with classes often becoming over-crowded. Access to the Internet could, in some cases, supply additional resource materials in the presence of a picked-over library (but here one must be careful in teaching the student to "consider the source"). It's just that using too much classroom time and fiscal resources on finicky and ever-changing computers takes away from teaching the basics. A student leaving the education system with a solid grounding in language, mathematics, science, and critical thinking, will surely be able to react and learn whatever computer systems they come across in the future.
And coming in 2005, New Jersey will enact something even better; nerve stapling! yay! Then comes pre-crime so if you even think about committing a crime you will be instantly paralyzed with pain.
Of course some people will think certain movies are crap and express their thoughts accordingly.
I'm talking about a particular type of person who must, seemingly by nature, attack every movie, every book, as a means of building themselves up and making them feel superior to others. The Simpson Comic Shop Guy incarnate. It just gets annoying. I guess they are just pure cynics; they are never satisified with anything.
Now of course they are allowed to think that way. And I'm allowed to be annoyed by it! Now of course there will be those who are annoyed by people that find cynics annoying....
They're everywhere, the more popular and big something is the more of them seem to pop up. They gain a feeling of superiority from poo-poo-ing whatever comes out and they get even worse if something they like becomes popular - they must maintain their pet likes to maintain their feeling of being better than others, but they must keep some other pet interest as a backdoor in case too many people starting liking their primary. They only like stuff 'before it was popular'. They listen to bands like 'U2' or read books like LOTR and like to think they understand it on a deeper level then the unwashed masses, or the pedestrian scum.
The Matrix was a lot of fun, a great movie to watch. It was always meant to be part of a trilogy. The same directors are putting even more work into the next one with all of the passion and enthusiasm they can muster. They are developing cutting edge effects once again. But no, they're sure that the Matrix:Reloaded will suck - they haven't seen more than a whiff of a trailer, but they are all-knowing and all-seeing, the judges of all that is.
Holy crap people, just enjoy the freaking movies already...
"1) They switched Darrens
Look closely and you'll notice the human member of their party is played by two different actors at different points of the movie (it takes a sharp eye to notice, but one of them has red hair, one black)."
Well whenever you notice something like that; a wizard did it!
I enjoy reading Brin's stuff (including his Otherness comp book - had some interesting ideas), but this article is really disappointing. He's just grabbed something that happens to be popular and launched off on some diatribe of his own, occasionally weaving in bits of LOTR stuff to help remind us that we are, in fact, still reading an article related to LOTR and not listening to a soapbox commentary.
His devil's advocate attempts at looking at things from Sauron's view were quite weak IMO. It more or less ignores what is most important in determining if Sauron was evil: his actions. I know, I know, it's just a thought expirement but it just wasn't very convincing to me.
I love many of his books, but IMO, in this case David Brin is just looking for some excuse to get an essay published! If the story read 'article by David Brin on Salon' I still would've went and had a look - no need to try and cash in in LOTR mania at the expense of weakening your position!
I suppose this article is timely - it is the season of fruitcakes after all! But seriously, isn't there something useful they can be doing with their time?
Maybe they could study architecture or engineering and come up with good, economical ways to build housing without lumber? Or do fundraising to purchase land to make reserves? Or research to find better, more environmentally friendly ways of logging? Perhaps if some lumber company choose to do old style logging (where you pick individual, strategic trees to remove instead of clear cutting leaving a good variety of trees and undergrowth), they could lobby to support such companies, despite higher lumber costs?
I dunno, just seems like there's more productive ways to spend your life, and still make a difference.
Slashdot: New for Hippies, Stuff that is irrelevant.