You should watch more anime then. This is how it goes for all of us otaku...Of course, while watching all 13 episodes of Lain or 26 episodes of Cowboy Bebop is a great way to spend the day, watching all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the movies too is a great way to put yourself in the nuthouse...:)
As the happy owner of a Replay TV, I can tell you that it has changed TV forever. Prime Time is whenever I sit down in front of the couch. I regularly watch two or more episodes of a program in a row. Episodic programs are much more interesting when they can be viewed back-to-back rather than week-to-week. I'm addicted to the pause and rewind features. Phone rings in the middle of West Wing? No problem - I don't miss a sentence.You should watch more anime then. This is how it goes for all of us otaku...Of course, while watching all 13 episodes of Lain or 26 episodes of Cowboy Bebop is a great way to spend the day, watching all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the movies too is a great way to put yourself in the nuthouse...:)
Someone else here is pointing out that AvP is supposed to be better, but I heartily disagree. Playing Shock2 at night with headphones on and no other light souces in the room is DEFINITELY the way to go...
Especially on the Engineering Deck in the Cargo Bays...don't mean to spoil anyone here, but all of you Shock-veterans know EXACTLY what I'm talking about...
Huddled in a small corner, three bullets left, and they're ALL Anti-Personnel...down to 13 HP, no med hypos left, out of psi points, and you can hear the murmuring in the distance of the hybrids..."Your song is not ours..." Damn it...which floor did that come from? Is he right around the corner from me? Is he above me? What is that hissing sound? I haven't saved in half an hour!!! Damn it!!!
Funny...for someone who works at one of the most technically-apt universities in North America, I didn't expect to hear this from him: Again, they have lost a lot of money on 3G for reasons that had nothing to do with the marketing side of 3G. It had to do with the terrible mistake made here in the UK over the auction process that was copying a bad American idea and repeating it here. It's a dog and people shouldn't want it and in fact I don't think it will see the light of day.
3G isn't bad. The American handling of 3G is, but you shouldn't punish consumers because of the fact you believe the standard is crap. If everyone cared about what America wanted in its consumer electronics standards, then America wouldn't be the sole dissenting voice in cellular standards. The problem isn't one of technology here, but one of corporate moneylust getting in the way of good ol' common sense.
Look at how consumer electronics devices have blossomed in the Orient...They've made 3G devices a part of their lives. The reason it won't work here is because our society as a whole looks down on a lot of the new technology as being fad-ish. Until marketers get a clue and discover just how to pitch these devices and demonstrate how they can complete our meaningless lives, they're not gonna take off.
Marketers for the last five years have been following the logic which carried them through the Internet bust, which was - "If you build it, they will come." Well, no shit, Sherlock...but you have to build something that's worth a damn to them. Quit trying to push off crap and market it as the next great thing...instead, make something that can change our lives, and prove that it will.
Many companies could afford to learn this lesson from Apple.
I'm all for supporting the Open Source community..
on
"Lindows" Coming Soon?
·
· Score: 1
But $99 for Lindows? Why not just pay that much for Windows? You probably already have a license that can be used to purchase an upgrade for a known-working (Hah! Funny!) distribution of Windows. So there's not much of an impulse to go with this distribution that *may* work with Windows apps.
And furthermore, bulk-licensing purchases will drop the price of Windows below $99, so there's not much vendor incentive to go with Lindows.
I'm not questioning the quality of the product or the business model at all...I'd be ecstatic if they joined the single-digit ranks of profitable Linux companies. But at the pricing, I don't think it'll attract much beyond niche purchasers.
Even on the retail support lines, I've had to wait upwards of an hour for a single simple stupid question that three technicians in a row couldn't answer for me. Despite me apparent and informed knowledge of the matter at hand, they all proceeded to go down their binder-list of stupid end-user questions like "Is it turned on?" when I was just trying to find out how to bypass a BIOS lockout password someone had set on a particular display laptop model...
The advice is appreciated, but this was four years ago when I needed it, and when I was working in retail support - We shouldn't have the same support procedures as the end users. We're supposed to know what the hell we're doing when we sell these things, after all. We're not gonna have sales receipts for floor models, and we're sure not going to take it ourselves to an authorized service center, especially if it's a discontinued model and we're just looking to clear it out (It was an Armada 1585, I think. Sweet laptop at the time).
The point is, again, we shouldn't have the same support as the end-users do. We get paid to know what we're talking about, so we don't like getting treated like morons.
eMachines cuts the majority of their expenses on systems by trimming support to the bone. You get a whole year to call them, but once you call them, you only have fifteen days of technical support. The modems in their systems are particularly ESD sensitive and go out pretty often, and the PSUs they use aren't really capable of supporting any additional hardware you might put in the machine. Naturally, eMachines doesn't care - They just wanna sell rock-bottom priced computers, and leave the retailers holding the bag on support.
Compaq's generally pretty bad too, at least in the personal/home office market. Even on the retail support lines, I've had to wait upwards of an hour for a single simple stupid question that three technicians in a row couldn't answer for me. Despite me apparent and informed knowledge of the matter at hand, they all proceeded to go down their binder-list of stupid end-user questions like "Is it turned on?" when I was just trying to find out how to bypass a BIOS lockout password someone had set on a particular display laptop model...Furthermore, their solutions to common OS and application problems seems to be to send out a technician to install a new mobo/CPU...like that's gonna fix anything...
The problem is that standardizing technical proficiency in support lines is difficult to maintain and also more expensive than hiring monkeys with strict problem resolution guidelines. Thankfully, the support agency I work for is much more lenient - After spending a few months on first-line support and fixing the majority of user problems at my level with my own brain (Not the policy-procedure guidelines), they gave me a raise and moved me to second-level support. I have to do a bit more work, but it's less tedious, and I can still surf/. all day.:-)
What is an Apple trademark, though, is the "iPod" [ipaustralia.gov.au] (NOTE: if you can't get the page to display, just start a new search for "iPod"). From the description, though, it does sound like a PDA...
The iPod is Apple's portable audio player that they'll be announcing later today, according to this article at Wired.com.
I'm kinda curious what kind of I/O score the PS2 might be able to manage. While the power requirements might be kinda steep, it's a very small and *very* stackable mini server platform.
Of course, don't expect it anytime soon. The HD, modem, and broadband adapter peripherals have all been delayed until Spring.
Here's a long-term revenue solution...
on
Slashdot Updates
·
· Score: 1
Hold every website ransom and threaten to unleash millions of news-hungry geeks upon their servers unless they pay up hundreds, nay thousands of dollars in fees!
This, also, has already happened...
Shit...let's just do what we always do...Hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage. Sound good? Yes?
It's about as likely to drive the next generation of children away from filesharing as all those Captain Planet cartoons where to make people environmentalists. Less likely, since Captain Planet was less obviously hokey.
What? You mean Mr. Planet isn't gonna take pollution down to zero?:(
Mickey is just havin' a blast, piloting his little steamboat down the ol' Mississip'. He's whistling a little tune that sounds mysteriously like "Whistle While You Work" (Which of course, Disney owns).
Suddenly, a huge lizard leaps from a nearby bush into the cockpit of the steamboat, screaming "GRRR!!! I'M HILARY ROSEN!!! YOU DIDN'T PAY FOR THE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS FOR THAT SONG, YOU THIEF!!! PAY UP NOW!!!". Mickey is scared, but he sheepishly pulls out his cartoon pockets to demonstrate that they are empty, and Mr. Mouse doesn't have any money.
Hilary punches Mickey twice, knocks him out, puts handcuffs on his hands and feet, and runs his steamboat aground. She leaps off the deck while clutching at his neck, and in the mean time, lots of bipedal dogs in black suits with sunglasses proceed to hack Mickey's boat to pieces with pickaxes.
The end.
Take a look at this. Assuming my last name really *was* Wellings, I'd be pretty pissed off about this. This is blatant cybersquatting. I'm VERY sure that members of the Wellings family have prior history claim to that domain and NOT NamePlanet.
Oh...and for the record, Wellings isn't my last name, but they ALSO own a domain with my last name. I ought to sue.
Read the story and be amazed at the audacity of these companies.
What? On Slashdot? You mean there's been situations where we *haven't* been amazed by the audacity of "The Man"?:)
But really...kudos to the WIPO for finally getting something right. Nestle had no claim on that site at all. I've never even *heard* of the Maggi brand. Must be a Swiss thing...
I thought the only reason Intel was even in that business was to promote "their" USB technology. The microscope, the webcam, keyboard and mouse, joysticks...They were all USB devices, and Intel pushed them forth as some of the coolest things available on USB. Unfortunately, Intel has yet to learn that fads don't sell products long-term, hence the "failure to meet long-term growth potential". Well, duh! What'd you expect from selling a fad product?
I wonder if Sprint's "compensation for installation" includes sending a Sprint worker out to your house to tear down and confiscate your hardware. It'd be pretty sad if they did. I'm sure some pissed off ION users could probably hack together a Neighborhood-Area Network with it...That'd be really sweet.
Actually, ASCII (AKA Asciiware) has made lots of controllers over the years. One of their best pads they ever put out was their SNES AsciiPad. They also made an NES Advantage-like joystick for the SNES, cleverly titled the "SNES Advantage". They also made this neat one-handed RPG controller released in Japan for the SNES that let you eat/write while playing RPGs and other command-driven games.
SEGA has done two great things for the world. Hedgehogs and driving games. SEGA should do hedgehogs and driving games. Simple as that.
I beg to differ. Watch as I karma-whore my way into greatness by rallying Sega-fanboys and geeks alike by reminding you of Sega's other immense successes:
Phantasy Star series Alex Kidd series Shining Force series NiGHTs Into Dreams Panzer Dragoon series Ecco the Dolphin series Toejam and Earl series Eternal Arcadia (Skies of Arcadia in US) Jet Set Radio (AKA Jet Grind Radio) Virtual On series Sakura Taisen series Virtua Fighter series
And then, you have all the *real* old school stuff...Shinobi, Out Run, Space Harrier, Alien Syndrome, Flicky, Bloxeed, Psycho Fox...
Not to mention a wide array of some excellent third party titles that have a significant background history, like Capcom's port of Strider, Radiant Silvergun, all the SNK home ports...The Genesis may have been Sega's highlight in history...but that doesn't mean that everything else they've done was a failure.
Slashdot Mirror
Stupid tags...What I *meant* to say was...
:)
You should watch more anime then. This is how it goes for all of us otaku...Of course, while watching all 13 episodes of Lain or 26 episodes of Cowboy Bebop is a great way to spend the day, watching all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the movies too is a great way to put yourself in the nuthouse...
As the happy owner of a Replay TV, I can tell you that it has changed TV forever. Prime Time is whenever I sit down in front of the couch. I regularly watch two or more episodes of a program in a row. Episodic programs are much more interesting when they can be viewed back-to-back rather than week-to-week. I'm addicted to the pause and rewind features. Phone rings in the middle of West Wing? No problem - I don't miss a sentence.You should watch more anime then. This is how it goes for all of us otaku...Of course, while watching all 13 episodes of Lain or 26 episodes of Cowboy Bebop is a great way to spend the day, watching all 26 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the movies too is a great way to put yourself in the nuthouse... :)
Someone else here is pointing out that AvP is supposed to be better, but I heartily disagree. Playing Shock2 at night with headphones on and no other light souces in the room is DEFINITELY the way to go...
Especially on the Engineering Deck in the Cargo Bays...don't mean to spoil anyone here, but all of you Shock-veterans know EXACTLY what I'm talking about...
Huddled in a small corner, three bullets left, and they're ALL Anti-Personnel...down to 13 HP, no med hypos left, out of psi points, and you can hear the murmuring in the distance of the hybrids..."Your song is not ours..." Damn it...which floor did that come from? Is he right around the corner from me? Is he above me? What is that hissing sound? I haven't saved in half an hour!!! Damn it!!!
So what? Does this prove that again, porn is the driving force behind new technology? :)
Hey...it sold VCRs...
Funny...for someone who works at one of the most technically-apt universities in North America, I didn't expect to hear this from him: Again, they have lost a lot of money on 3G for reasons that had nothing to do with the marketing side of 3G. It had to do with the terrible mistake made here in the UK over the auction process that was copying a bad American idea and repeating it here. It's a dog and people shouldn't want it and in fact I don't think it will see the light of day.
3G isn't bad. The American handling of 3G is, but you shouldn't punish consumers because of the fact you believe the standard is crap. If everyone cared about what America wanted in its consumer electronics standards, then America wouldn't be the sole dissenting voice in cellular standards. The problem isn't one of technology here, but one of corporate moneylust getting in the way of good ol' common sense.
Look at how consumer electronics devices have blossomed in the Orient...They've made 3G devices a part of their lives. The reason it won't work here is because our society as a whole looks down on a lot of the new technology as being fad-ish. Until marketers get a clue and discover just how to pitch these devices and demonstrate how they can complete our meaningless lives, they're not gonna take off.
Marketers for the last five years have been following the logic which carried them through the Internet bust, which was - "If you build it, they will come." Well, no shit, Sherlock...but you have to build something that's worth a damn to them. Quit trying to push off crap and market it as the next great thing...instead, make something that can change our lives, and prove that it will.
Many companies could afford to learn this lesson from Apple.
But $99 for Lindows? Why not just pay that much for Windows? You probably already have a license that can be used to purchase an upgrade for a known-working (Hah! Funny!) distribution of Windows. So there's not much of an impulse to go with this distribution that *may* work with Windows apps.
And furthermore, bulk-licensing purchases will drop the price of Windows below $99, so there's not much vendor incentive to go with Lindows.
I'm not questioning the quality of the product or the business model at all...I'd be ecstatic if they joined the single-digit ranks of profitable Linux companies. But at the pricing, I don't think it'll attract much beyond niche purchasers.
From the original post...
Even on the retail support lines, I've had to wait upwards of an hour for a single simple stupid question that three technicians in a row couldn't answer for me. Despite me apparent and informed knowledge of the matter at hand, they all proceeded to go down their binder-list of stupid end-user questions like "Is it turned on?" when I was just trying to find out how to bypass a BIOS lockout password someone had set on a particular display laptop model...
:-)
i was using the retail support line...
The advice is appreciated, but this was four years ago when I needed it, and when I was working in retail support - We shouldn't have the same support procedures as the end users. We're supposed to know what the hell we're doing when we sell these things, after all. We're not gonna have sales receipts for floor models, and we're sure not going to take it ourselves to an authorized service center, especially if it's a discontinued model and we're just looking to clear it out (It was an Armada 1585, I think. Sweet laptop at the time).
The point is, again, we shouldn't have the same support as the end-users do. We get paid to know what we're talking about, so we don't like getting treated like morons.
eMachines cuts the majority of their expenses on systems by trimming support to the bone. You get a whole year to call them, but once you call them, you only have fifteen days of technical support. The modems in their systems are particularly ESD sensitive and go out pretty often, and the PSUs they use aren't really capable of supporting any additional hardware you might put in the machine. Naturally, eMachines doesn't care - They just wanna sell rock-bottom priced computers, and leave the retailers holding the bag on support. Compaq's generally pretty bad too, at least in the personal/home office market. Even on the retail support lines, I've had to wait upwards of an hour for a single simple stupid question that three technicians in a row couldn't answer for me. Despite me apparent and informed knowledge of the matter at hand, they all proceeded to go down their binder-list of stupid end-user questions like "Is it turned on?" when I was just trying to find out how to bypass a BIOS lockout password someone had set on a particular display laptop model...Furthermore, their solutions to common OS and application problems seems to be to send out a technician to install a new mobo/CPU...like that's gonna fix anything... The problem is that standardizing technical proficiency in support lines is difficult to maintain and also more expensive than hiring monkeys with strict problem resolution guidelines. Thankfully, the support agency I work for is much more lenient - After spending a few months on first-line support and fixing the majority of user problems at my level with my own brain (Not the policy-procedure guidelines), they gave me a raise and moved me to second-level support. I have to do a bit more work, but it's less tedious, and I can still surf /. all day. :-)
Agreed. AirPort-ready would be cool, but it'd take forever.
Now...Recharging through FireWire? 10 hours drain, 1 hour recharge? That is awesome...
I also run a BBS on windows 98SE that, with the exception of the voluntary reboots, hasnt crashed on me since I built it in May
:p
Well, technically, all reboots are voluntary. As the operator of a BBS, I hesitate to say that if your box crashed, you'd just leave it there...
Yes. But thank the gods, Soul Calibur 2 is NOT!
What is an Apple trademark, though, is the "iPod" [ipaustralia.gov.au] (NOTE: if you can't get the page to display, just start a new search for "iPod"). From the description, though, it does sound like a PDA...
The iPod is Apple's portable audio player that they'll be announcing later today, according to this article at Wired.com.
NO! I CAN'T imagine a Beowulf cluster of these...
I'm kinda curious what kind of I/O score the PS2 might be able to manage. While the power requirements might be kinda steep, it's a very small and *very* stackable mini server platform.
Of course, don't expect it anytime soon. The HD, modem, and broadband adapter peripherals have all been delayed until Spring.
Hold every website ransom and threaten to unleash millions of news-hungry geeks upon their servers unless they pay up hundreds, nay thousands of dollars in fees!
This, also, has already happened...
Shit...let's just do what we always do...Hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage. Sound good? Yes?
It's about as likely to drive the next generation of children away from filesharing as all those Captain Planet cartoons where to make people environmentalists. Less likely, since Captain Planet was less obviously hokey.
:(
What? You mean Mr. Planet isn't gonna take pollution down to zero?
Mickey is just havin' a blast, piloting his little steamboat down the ol' Mississip'. He's whistling a little tune that sounds mysteriously like "Whistle While You Work" (Which of course, Disney owns). Suddenly, a huge lizard leaps from a nearby bush into the cockpit of the steamboat, screaming "GRRR!!! I'M HILARY ROSEN!!! YOU DIDN'T PAY FOR THE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS FOR THAT SONG, YOU THIEF!!! PAY UP NOW!!!". Mickey is scared, but he sheepishly pulls out his cartoon pockets to demonstrate that they are empty, and Mr. Mouse doesn't have any money. Hilary punches Mickey twice, knocks him out, puts handcuffs on his hands and feet, and runs his steamboat aground. She leaps off the deck while clutching at his neck, and in the mean time, lots of bipedal dogs in black suits with sunglasses proceed to hack Mickey's boat to pieces with pickaxes. The end.
Take a look at this. Assuming my last name really *was* Wellings, I'd be pretty pissed off about this. This is blatant cybersquatting. I'm VERY sure that members of the Wellings family have prior history claim to that domain and NOT NamePlanet.
Oh...and for the record, Wellings isn't my last name, but they ALSO own a domain with my last name. I ought to sue.
Read the story and be amazed at the audacity of these companies.
:)
What? On Slashdot? You mean there's been situations where we *haven't* been amazed by the audacity of "The Man"?
But really...kudos to the WIPO for finally getting something right. Nestle had no claim on that site at all. I've never even *heard* of the Maggi brand. Must be a Swiss thing...
People with jobs report that working between October 20th and December 19th resulted in two months' worth of paychecks!
I thought the only reason Intel was even in that business was to promote "their" USB technology. The microscope, the webcam, keyboard and mouse, joysticks...They were all USB devices, and Intel pushed them forth as some of the coolest things available on USB. Unfortunately, Intel has yet to learn that fads don't sell products long-term, hence the "failure to meet long-term growth potential". Well, duh! What'd you expect from selling a fad product?
I wonder if Sprint's "compensation for installation" includes sending a Sprint worker out to your house to tear down and confiscate your hardware. It'd be pretty sad if they did. I'm sure some pissed off ION users could probably hack together a Neighborhood-Area Network with it...That'd be really sweet.
I think 802.XXX is where its going to start.
:-) Well, 802.3 anyway...
Shouldn't that actually be 802.11x? 802.2 and 802.3 are actually very proliferous already...
Actually, ASCII (AKA Asciiware) has made lots of controllers over the years. One of their best pads they ever put out was their SNES AsciiPad. They also made an NES Advantage-like joystick for the SNES, cleverly titled the "SNES Advantage". They also made this neat one-handed RPG controller released in Japan for the SNES that let you eat/write while playing RPGs and other command-driven games.
Here's a picture of a Dreamcast controller they made.
Here's a PSX version of the one-handed RPG controller.
SEGA has done two great things for the world. Hedgehogs and driving games. SEGA should do hedgehogs and driving games. Simple as that.
I beg to differ. Watch as I karma-whore my way into greatness by rallying Sega-fanboys and geeks alike by reminding you of Sega's other immense successes:
Phantasy Star series
Alex Kidd series
Shining Force series
NiGHTs Into Dreams
Panzer Dragoon series
Ecco the Dolphin series
Toejam and Earl series
Eternal Arcadia (Skies of Arcadia in US)
Jet Set Radio (AKA Jet Grind Radio)
Virtual On series
Sakura Taisen series
Virtua Fighter series
And then, you have all the *real* old school stuff...Shinobi, Out Run, Space Harrier, Alien Syndrome, Flicky, Bloxeed, Psycho Fox...
Not to mention a wide array of some excellent third party titles that have a significant background history, like Capcom's port of Strider, Radiant Silvergun, all the SNK home ports...The Genesis may have been Sega's highlight in history...but that doesn't mean that everything else they've done was a failure.