Well to get it cheap in the US you must get a carrier to pick it up. With out subsidy I think it would be closer to $300 or $400. Passing FCC adds cost and you are right that it wouldn't be a problem for a big company like Nintendo but I was thinking of small developers with a good idea. In the US for a phone to be a hit it must be picked up by a carrier. If you want it on the biggest carrier than it must support CDMA and currently must be approved by the carrier. Nintendo will not produce a cell phone without a launch partner.
Actually this is very reasonable. They are building their own cloud instead of maintaining many departmental clusters. The cost is to build their own cloud that can managed and probably secured. That is why it costs so much.
"None != Shitty. It has an app store it just sucks hard, and You can still get them installed the old way in Visual Studio with XNA too." To me an app store is a place where third party developers can sell their software. The ZuneHD "app store" from what I hear only has ad supported software and is not open third party developers. It sounds more like the "stores" where you can buy silly games for your feature phone than a true app store. But I could be mistaken since I don't have a ZuneHD I have only heard about them and seen reviews. If they got netflix on it and dropped the doc price to $50 It could be a great addition to your media center.
"It will be a little chip that somebody buys and can put into a device. " It is pretty much that way now. The problem is that the device must pass FCC testing and then get picked up by a carrier. And then you have to have the software for it. I just don't know if a $200 Nintendo cell phone would sell when you can get an iPhone for $99. Maybe but I just don't think that Nintendo wants to make a bad cell phone that is also a good DS or a good cell phone that is a bad DS. Trying to make a Good Cell phone that is a Good DS may not be possible.
MS-DOS was a copy of CP/M. CP/M used / for switches so MS did the same. Maybe CP/M machines didn't have a backslash? I know they sure didn't have a pipe command. Also QD-Dos was designed to run on S100 buss machines and used terminals. Microsoft bought it and made it into PC-Dos and then made it into MS-DOS.
Yea I am sure that Zune sales will keep nVidia alive... Actually the ZuneHD is a better media player than the iPod Touch. The problem is that the Touch is a better platform than the ZuneHD. The ZuneHD lacks an appliacation store and the software that is available for it really is nothing to write home about. Too bad since the hardware is better than the iPodTouch.
Unless game compatable Cells come down I don't see it. Nintendo has a great software and customer base. Of course it is possible that if the carriers all select LTE and it is everywhere, and the carriers become dumb pipes, then we could see a new age of devices. You buy your LTE account and then pick a device. Then pick a VOIP company and your set. Imagine the devices we could see and the servies. Prices would fall and service would improve. Just not going to happen.
Well Hulu, Netflix, and even YouTube HD video is becoming very popular. Frankly I think that 720pd decoding would be good enough for most people. 1080p is becoming the standard for external monitors. You really don't want to drive an LCD at anything but it's native resolution so I see 1080p as being the standard very soon. I agree that most GPUs can handle this but right now Intel just can not with anything less than a Core2Duo. That is where nVidia's ion/9400m really get the leg up on Intel for the integrated GPU market.
This is pretty much true. 1. Gimp is very good. It isn't as good as Photoshop but it is every bit as good as photoshop elements. 2. CAD. There is not a good FOSS CAD system that is as good as TurboCad. Forget about touching Soldworks, ProE, or AutoCad. 3. Video Editing. Still nothing as good as Premiere or Sony Vegas. 4. Games. It is really a shame because Linux is actually really usable on the desktop except for that last 5% The other thing is that most FOSS programs are available on Windows. So you can use Gimp, Firefox, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Audacity, and most other FOSS programs on your Windows machine and still have access to those few must have Windows programs.
Funny but I went from DOS to the Amiga and back to DOS again for work. Now that was painful. That is proof that best doesn't always win. A multitasking OS with a flat address space was beaten by a single tasking OS with a segmented mutant nasty address space.
Intel's integrated graphics can not handle 1080p decoding as well as nVidia's ion and ATIs integrated GPUs. That will be the new minimum GPU requirement IMHO.
My wife has a pre and I have an iPod Touch aka an iPhone without the phone. She loves the multi tasking. She can and does keep several applications open and once and flips between them. It is a pain to exit one app on the touch to go to another app. I would say that you don't know until you have a phone that multitasks well. It is funny but the lack of multi tasking comments sounds way too much like the people back in the DOS days saying that multi tasking was usless because they had TSRs. Your feelings on the HTC phones are your. Engadget, Cnet, and a lot of other people do not agree with you. As to the ZuneHD vs the iPhone. The Tegra cpu gpu can actually support 1080p video and is very powerful and power efficent combination. It will be in many smartbooks soon. I don't care that it isn't selling well. Many things about the software stack are really not great when you compare it to the iPod Touch but the actual hardware is very good. The statment was other companies have to step up to Apples quality of hardware. The iPhone's actual hardware is nothing all that special. Right now the iPhone's best features are. 1. The developer community. 2. User interface. And I think the Pre has as good of a user interface. And since I have an iPod Touch and use my wife's Pre I have seen them side by side.
Actually I would bet that there a lot more apps for WinMo and Symbian than the iPhone. The problem is that they are not all found in one nice little app store.
Here is the reason why it happens. "The cause of this buzzing has to do with GSM's "time division" nature. The ever-knowledgeable Keith Nowak, spokesperson for Nokia, explains it as follows: "[[With GSM]] the RF transmitter is turned on/off at a fast rate, and that 'pulsing' is often picked up by nearby devices that don't have good RF shielding. In the case of GSM the pulse rate is 217 Hz, which can be easily heard."" In the EU the must shield computer speaker cables which in the US really isn't needed as much since CDMA phones are a lot more popular and do not cause that interference. Of course if GSM didn't use a pulse rate in the audio range that would fix it as well.
Well right now Android is still a techie's phone for the most part. The iPhone is an every mans phone. Maybe Google needs to make it just a little harder to put apps on Android outside of the apps store. I do understand piracy and the problems. I hate to say that it is stealing because of the idiots that will respond on Slashdot that says that it is not. If Android becomes more mainstream I think more people will pirate but it will be a much lower percentage. Right now you can only get an Android phone in the US on the number 4 carrier. That should change very soon. Let us hope for the best since I want to write some 99 cent apps for it.
Sprint seems to be about $20 less a month for the Everything plan verses an iPhone data plan plus you get unlimited texting and navigation for the price. Also now on Sprint all mobile to mobile calls are free which is also pretty nice.
No and it isn't likely. Only T-Mobile and AT&T offer GSM in the US and T-Mobile uses a different standard or frequency for 3g than AT&T and the EU does. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA and EVDO for their phones. I really like CDMA better than GSM since I don't get the GSM clicking when my CDMA phone rings. I can tell when anybody on AT&T gets a call in my office. I just don't see Apple making a CDMA iPhone.
Piracy will decrease with popularity. Most users will not take the time to root their phone anymore than they take the time to jail break. Why steal a.99 cent app when you can just buy it from the store. That is the real key to piracy make it not worth the effort.
But the iPhone isn't the top smart phone. Blackberry is in the US and Symbian is in the world.
Android has the same advantage that Windows does on the Desktop. Lots of vendors. HTC, Motorola, and Samsung all have android phones. In the US you can get Android phones from T-Mobile with Sprint comming on line next week and Verizon coming soon. LG I hear is also going to have an Android phone soon.
I wouldn't bet that Android doesn't come out with a bigger market share than Apple.
Of course I an still wondering why QNX never got into the smartphone market.
The iPhone OS is pretty nice but the lack of multitasking is annoying. The hardware is good but outside of looks it isn't better than what HTC and others offer. The actual hardware cpu/gpu of the ZuneHD is much better than iPhones. iTunes? who cares. I have an iPod Touch and I hardly ever use iTunes I do everything over wifi.
1. Apps. Android needs more developers for more apps. With more android phones hitting the market the developers will follow so will the apps. 2. Betting.Apple is not selling the iPhone OS to other companies so they can not bet on the iPhone so Android, S60, and WindowsMobile are the only games in town. Android seems like the best bet to me. 3. Hardware The new Samsung Moment, HTC Hero, and the Motorola Clik all look like very good phones and in some ways are better than the iPhone GS. 4. Carriers. Android is going to be available in the US on T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and probably AT&T soon. Unlocked phones are already available in the EU so Android is available on a lot more carriers.
The iPhone is a very nice phone but AT&T is a lot more expensive than Sprint and Sprint's customer service has gotten a lot better. If I could get an iPhone on Sprint I would buy one but I will probably get a Hero or a Moment.
All of the above plus Intel is going to put the GPU on the CPU soon. Intel is going to kill the integrated graphics market with that move and AMD/ATI is planning on doing the same thing. So since Intel's GPUs are terrible we will just have to wait and see what comes of this. The big impact I see is on Apple. They are really tied to Intel but have been using nVidia GPUs .
So I should try and think of the universe as a multi-dimensional expanding surface with one of the dimensions being time. oh that makes my head feel so much better now.
Actually I bet this is a based on beta emissions and not heat. So it is basically a direct radiation to electricity conversion. You could use tritium as the source or any other beta emitter. If it is I don't know if I would want it implated in a pace maker. All the common beta emitters are things you really don't want in you system. They are all biologically active.
Slashdot Mirror
Well to get it cheap in the US you must get a carrier to pick it up. With out subsidy I think it would be closer to $300 or $400. Passing FCC adds cost and you are right that it wouldn't be a problem for a big company like Nintendo but I was thinking of small developers with a good idea.
In the US for a phone to be a hit it must be picked up by a carrier. If you want it on the biggest carrier than it must support CDMA and currently must be approved by the carrier.
Nintendo will not produce a cell phone without a launch partner.
Actually this is very reasonable. They are building their own cloud instead of maintaining many departmental clusters.
The cost is to build their own cloud that can managed and probably secured.
That is why it costs so much.
"None != Shitty. It has an app store it just sucks hard, and You can still get them installed the old way in Visual Studio with XNA too."
To me an app store is a place where third party developers can sell their software.
The ZuneHD "app store" from what I hear only has ad supported software and is not open third party developers.
It sounds more like the "stores" where you can buy silly games for your feature phone than a true app store.
But I could be mistaken since I don't have a ZuneHD I have only heard about them and seen reviews.
If they got netflix on it and dropped the doc price to $50 It could be a great addition to your media center.
"It will be a little chip that somebody buys and can put into a device. "
It is pretty much that way now. The problem is that the device must pass FCC testing and then get picked up by a carrier.
And then you have to have the software for it.
I just don't know if a $200 Nintendo cell phone would sell when you can get an iPhone for $99.
Maybe but I just don't think that Nintendo wants to make a bad cell phone that is also a good DS or a good cell phone that is a bad DS.
Trying to make a Good Cell phone that is a Good DS may not be possible.
MS-DOS was a copy of CP/M.
CP/M used / for switches so MS did the same. Maybe CP/M machines didn't have a backslash? I know they sure didn't have a pipe command. Also QD-Dos was designed to run on S100 buss machines and used terminals. Microsoft bought it and made it into PC-Dos and then made it into MS-DOS.
Yea I am sure that Zune sales will keep nVidia alive...
Actually the ZuneHD is a better media player than the iPod Touch.
The problem is that the Touch is a better platform than the ZuneHD.
The ZuneHD lacks an appliacation store and the software that is available for it really is nothing to write home about.
Too bad since the hardware is better than the iPodTouch.
Unless game compatable Cells come down I don't see it.
Nintendo has a great software and customer base.
Of course it is possible that if the carriers all select LTE and it is everywhere, and the carriers become dumb pipes, then we could see a new age of devices.
You buy your LTE account and then pick a device. Then pick a VOIP company and your set.
Imagine the devices we could see and the servies. Prices would fall and service would improve.
Just not going to happen.
Actually they haven't put a nuclear pacemaker into a patent since 1986.
Well Hulu, Netflix, and even YouTube HD video is becoming very popular. Frankly I think that 720pd decoding would be good enough for most people.
1080p is becoming the standard for external monitors. You really don't want to drive an LCD at anything but it's native resolution so I see 1080p as being the standard very soon.
I agree that most GPUs can handle this but right now Intel just can not with anything less than a Core2Duo. That is where nVidia's ion/9400m really get the leg up on Intel for the integrated GPU market.
This is pretty much true.
1. Gimp is very good. It isn't as good as Photoshop but it is every bit as good as photoshop elements.
2. CAD. There is not a good FOSS CAD system that is as good as TurboCad. Forget about touching Soldworks, ProE, or AutoCad.
3. Video Editing. Still nothing as good as Premiere or Sony Vegas.
4. Games.
It is really a shame because Linux is actually really usable on the desktop except for that last 5%
The other thing is that most FOSS programs are available on Windows. So you can use Gimp, Firefox, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Audacity, and most other FOSS programs on your Windows machine and still have access to those few must have Windows programs.
Funny but I went from DOS to the Amiga and back to DOS again for work.
Now that was painful. That is proof that best doesn't always win.
A multitasking OS with a flat address space was beaten by a single tasking OS with a segmented mutant nasty address space.
Intel's integrated graphics can not handle 1080p decoding as well as nVidia's ion and ATIs integrated GPUs. That will be the new minimum GPU requirement IMHO.
My wife has a pre and I have an iPod Touch aka an iPhone without the phone.
She loves the multi tasking. She can and does keep several applications open and once and flips between them.
It is a pain to exit one app on the touch to go to another app. I would say that you don't know until you have a phone that multitasks well.
It is funny but the lack of multi tasking comments sounds way too much like the people back in the DOS days saying that multi tasking was usless because they had TSRs.
Your feelings on the HTC phones are your. Engadget, Cnet, and a lot of other people do not agree with you.
As to the ZuneHD vs the iPhone. The Tegra cpu gpu can actually support 1080p video and is very powerful and power efficent combination. It will be in many smartbooks soon. I don't care that it isn't selling well. Many things about the software stack are really not great when you compare it to the iPod Touch but the actual hardware is very good. The statment was other companies have to step up to Apples quality of hardware. The iPhone's actual hardware is nothing all that special.
Right now the iPhone's best features are.
1. The developer community.
2. User interface.
And I think the Pre has as good of a user interface. And since I have an iPod Touch and use my wife's Pre I have seen them side by side.
Actually I would bet that there a lot more apps for WinMo and Symbian than the iPhone.
The problem is that they are not all found in one nice little app store.
It maybe the band that they are using but I can hear GSM calls clicking on my compter speakers when ever anybody in my office or right outside my office gets a call. Yes even the iPhone does it.
It is not uncommon.
http://www.smartdevicecentral.com/article/that+crazy+gsm+buzz/199379_1.aspx
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/07/2111217
Here is the reason why it happens.
"The cause of this buzzing has to do with GSM's "time division" nature. The ever-knowledgeable Keith Nowak, spokesperson for Nokia, explains it as follows: "[[With GSM]] the RF transmitter is turned on/off at a fast rate, and that 'pulsing' is often picked up by nearby devices that don't have good RF shielding. In the case of GSM the pulse rate is 217 Hz, which can be easily heard.""
In the EU the must shield computer speaker cables which in the US really isn't needed as much since CDMA phones are a lot more popular and do not cause that interference.
Of course if GSM didn't use a pulse rate in the audio range that would fix it as well.
Well right now Android is still a techie's phone for the most part. The iPhone is an every mans phone. Maybe Google needs to make it just a little harder to put apps on Android outside of the apps store.
I do understand piracy and the problems. I hate to say that it is stealing because of the idiots that will respond on Slashdot that says that it is not.
If Android becomes more mainstream I think more people will pirate but it will be a much lower percentage. Right now you can only get an Android phone in the US on the number 4 carrier. That should change very soon. Let us hope for the best since I want to write some 99 cent apps for it.
Sprint seems to be about $20 less a month for the Everything plan verses an iPhone data plan plus you get unlimited texting and navigation for the price.
Also now on Sprint all mobile to mobile calls are free which is also pretty nice.
No and it isn't likely.
Only T-Mobile and AT&T offer GSM in the US and T-Mobile uses a different standard or frequency for 3g than AT&T and the EU does.
Sprint and Verizon use CDMA and EVDO for their phones. I really like CDMA better than GSM since I don't get the GSM clicking when my CDMA phone rings. I can tell when anybody on AT&T gets a call in my office.
I just don't see Apple making a CDMA iPhone.
Piracy will decrease with popularity. .99 cent app when you can just buy it from the store. That is the real key to piracy make it not worth the effort.
Most users will not take the time to root their phone anymore than they take the time to jail break.
Why steal a
But the iPhone isn't the top smart phone.
Blackberry is in the US and Symbian is in the world.
Android has the same advantage that Windows does on the Desktop.
Lots of vendors.
HTC, Motorola, and Samsung all have android phones. In the US you can get Android phones from T-Mobile with Sprint comming on line next week and Verizon coming soon.
LG I hear is also going to have an Android phone soon.
I wouldn't bet that Android doesn't come out with a bigger market share than Apple.
Of course I an still wondering why QNX never got into the smartphone market.
The iPhone OS is pretty nice but the lack of multitasking is annoying.
The hardware is good but outside of looks it isn't better than what HTC and others offer. The actual hardware cpu/gpu of the ZuneHD is much better than iPhones.
iTunes? who cares. I have an iPod Touch and I hardly ever use iTunes I do everything over wifi.
1. Apps. Android needs more developers for more apps. With more android phones hitting the market the developers will follow so will the apps. .Apple is not selling the iPhone OS to other companies so they can not bet on the iPhone so Android, S60, and WindowsMobile are the only games in town. Android seems like the best bet to me.
2. Betting
3. Hardware The new Samsung Moment, HTC Hero, and the Motorola Clik all look like very good phones and in some ways are better than the iPhone GS.
4. Carriers. Android is going to be available in the US on T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and probably AT&T soon. Unlocked phones are already available in the EU so Android is available on a lot more carriers.
The iPhone is a very nice phone but AT&T is a lot more expensive than Sprint and Sprint's customer service has gotten a lot better. If I could get an iPhone on Sprint I would buy one but I will probably get a Hero or a Moment.
It isn't shipping so it isn't real yet.
All of the above plus Intel is going to put the GPU on the CPU soon.
Intel is going to kill the integrated graphics market with that move and AMD/ATI is planning on doing the same thing.
So since Intel's GPUs are terrible we will just have to wait and see what comes of this.
The big impact I see is on Apple. They are really tied to Intel but have been using nVidia GPUs .
So I should try and think of the universe as a multi-dimensional expanding surface with one of the dimensions being time.
oh that makes my head feel so much better now.
Actually I bet this is a based on beta emissions and not heat. So it is basically a direct radiation to electricity conversion. You could use tritium as the source or any other beta emitter.
If it is I don't know if I would want it implated in a pace maker. All the common beta emitters are things you really don't want in you system. They are all biologically active.