iPhone 3GS screen size: 3.5" diagonal (2.76" wide if held sideways). That's also the keyboard width.
And that is exactly why SJ wants to do away with the "home" button. If you remove the home button, then you can expand the screen and utilize all the "dead" space around the Home Key. Essentially you can make a device with a larger screen, yet still fit into the same form factor.
Personally I think it sacrifices a lot of the "pick up and use" functionality. My 70 year old aunt who has never used a computer because she sees it as too complicated, is now using Safari on an iPhone to the amazement of her friends. One of the things that she specifically sited that made it easy to use was the Home button to get her back to the main screen.
All Sony needs to do is remove the ability to run updates except either:
1) Over the Net (when connected/logged into PSN) 2) From a Blu-Ray disk (where the Disk format is confirmed) 3) Add some code to the next binary to try to determine what firmwares running are "unsanctioned" and Perma-Ban those PS3s from PSN
and they've closed this hole.
1) CAN be gotten around by including a Proxy, but it would greatly slow down the "ease of use" of this hack, so less people will do it. 2) Might be gotten around (somebody starts releasing a pressed Blu-Ray with a hacked firmware?) 3) Might/Might not be worth the time and trouble (and "arms escalation" on both sides), but a limited success would keep people from doing the hack (although it would buy some bad press also).
No kidding. The only reason I think Sony hasn't released a software emulator already is to increase demand for "remastered" titles, and to keep a person from playing PS2 games without paying them at least $100 for a PS2.:/
I'm hoping that at least, once they stop making PS2 slims, they might release an emulator for the PS3.
No. The Graphics Synthesizer GPU necessary to run PS2 games is only present in three models: The 20 GB model, the 60 GB model, and the original 80 GB model. Without that GPU, the PS3 cannot run PS2 games, period.
PS1 games are a different story, and that's only because the entire PS1 emulator runs in software.
The GS needed for the existing released Emulation was only in three models, however Sony did say that a full software emulator was possible.
They also said that PS2 games were outselling PS3 games, and that instead of providing emulation, they'd rather "remaster" PS2 titles and re-release them (new graphics, updated to run on PS3).
Makes sense for them, however as an 60GB owner, I still feel they messed up and should release PS2 compatibility.
(Sony has publicly stated that all PS2 compatibility will do is make money for Game stores that resell older disks)
Amazon is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) shops on the internet. They need to stand up while taking a hammering every Xmas. If anyone is going to have a superior infrastructure it will be Amazon.
I agree, however if they (or anyone else) is ever going to try this is the time.
If their servers are already under high volume load, then you're already half-way there.
(not that I expected them, or anyone else to be able to take down Amazon)
I guess you're right, it's the lesser evil. Still, I find it scaring and can't understand what makes a human being work day after day to design and manufacture such an evil device.
Don't worry, when your next door neighbor wants to blow you to smithereens just for existing, you will finally understand.
Personally, that sounds a lot more like the Middle East than NK/SK.
It does. It also sound similar to the idea needed for Quantum Connected CPUs from Travis S. Taylor's book "The Quantum Connection" (from Baen, the first few chapters are available free online here: http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0743498968/0743498968.htm?blurb. The idea of the Quantum Connected CPUs is built up in chapters 4,5 and 6 which are included in the free sample.
( now all we need is the AI, and a few other things, and the Galaxy is our oyster:D )
Sony doesn't need to pay attention, the PS3 is already there.
- Local media: The PS3 can do local media (video/audio/pictures on the HD, or a USB drive). - Remote Media: The PS3 can act as a DLNA client - CD/DVD/Blu-Ray: The PS3 has it built in. - Netflix: Since the last update, the Netflix client is now built into the console. - Hulu+: The Hulu+ client is available as a free download from the PSN Store (you DO need to have a Hulu+ account with Hulu though). Also, Hulu is still working on expanding the content available on Hulu+ devices versus Hulu, so some things are still missing. - Vudu: They just added a Vudu client for "Same day as DVD release" Video on Demand. - Sports: both "MBA.tv" and "NHL Gamecenter LIVE" have Clients (great if you're a sports nut, or married to one) - VoD: Sony has been working to build out their VoD service. rent/buy TV/Movies (including next day availability of Cable TV shows, and making shows available by Channel to make things easier to find including HBO, Showtime, SyFy, etc.)
Coupled with the increased quality of Over The Air signals since the Digital Switchover, and the need for cable is less and less (depending on how you consume). In a busy city I get at least 10 stations (plus substations), with HD quality reception.
Personally I ditched cable and went with a PS3 and a TiVo. The TiVo adds an easy to use DVR with a Dual Tuner (record up to two shows at once, while watching a third pre-recorded), includes a Netflix client, is supposed to get a Hulu+ client (according to both Hulu and TiVo), and also includes: - YouTube client - Blockbuster Video Client - Amazon Video On Demand Client - Pandora Radio Client - and a few others (I'm getting too tired to list).
========= For me the cost breakdown was as follows: Cost: - Top of the line TiVo with a lifetime subscription runs $500 + $13/month recurring. (gives capacity for ~150 Hours of HD quality recording or >1000 of SD level quality) - Low end PlayStation 3 runs $300. - Hulu+ runs $8/month - Netflix runs $8/month (for streaming only, +$2 to include DVD shipping also)
Cable used to run me $130/month (for Cable+Internet), I switched to DSL (~$30/month) and what I listed above, and it dropped my monthly bills by $100 a month (though it takes 8-9 months before the savings kicks in since you're purchasing your own equpiment). That allows me to get the occasional VoD Movie from Amazon VoD, or purchase a season of a Cable only show or two, and still come out ahead overall (plus I can budget myself and decide if I have the money for it, instead of being hit the cost every month, like it or not, wether I use it or not). =========
As an added bonus, the PS3 also play games, and the TiVo records other shows constantly once it know what you like, so there is usually SOMETHING you might find interesting, even if it is a rerun of a different show.
You could also throw in a cheaper/cheap DVR if you don't care/want the dual tuners, or NO DVR if its just not feature you're interested in, which drops both the initial cost and the recurring cost quite a bit.
Cable's days (as we know it) are numbered, depending entirely on the Nets ability to absorb the extra use and the Cable Co's willingness to break Net Neutrality.
In Luxembourg, there is a small village which has a road called "Judde Gas" (Jew Gas). Of course, in Luxembourgish, "Gas" also means "small road", but after WWII, it's still a bizarre name. Strangely enough, the name hasn't been changed...
Probably was where the Jews of Luxembourg lived.
Think "China Town" that lots of East/West coast cities have.
Of course, post WWII when most/all of the Jews that lived there had been hauled off and executed, it probably lost its meaning, but at that point it had "Historical Significance" and never got changed.
The five-year-rule is a long-standing tradition for console generations going back to the Atari days (even through several recessions and the console "collapse" of 1982). Both the 360 and PS3 are starting to show their age at this point (especially the 360, which doesn't even have a blu-ray drive), with no new console generation on the horizon. The 360 is now 5 years old and the PS3 is 4, and neither has even announced a new console generation. I'm tired of my console dropping further and further behind PC's, while all MS and Sony want to do is release lame Wii knockoff controllers. I'm tired of consoles that aren't powerful enough to handle MMO's, require multiple disc swaps to support the latest games, and slow to a crawl with modern high res textures.
Screw Nintendo, and screw Move and Kinect. Give me a new console generation!
The only "new" thing in Console technology recently HAS been motion/video control. - Wii came out with motion controllers. - PS3 came out with video controllers. - 360 came out with an updated video controller. - PS3 came out with video augmented motion controller.
Sony has stated that they foresaw a 10 year lifespan for the PS3. We're now into year 4 and I don't see any indication the Console itself needs to be redesigned. Considering they are still selling PS2s, now in its 10th year, I'd say this is fairly likely.
Up until now, there have been huge leaps in Graphics technology that required a console to be updated every 5 or so years just to stay competitive with PC hardware. In the past 5 years, while I'm sure there is still a push for "bigger and better" I think we've reached a temporary rest point because the graphics are "Good Enough".
The PS3's CPU and GPU may be older, but game makers are finally starting to regularly turn out games that are able to take advantage of the system. The hard-drive on the PS3 can be upgraded (and has been in new bundles). The inclusion of a Blu-Ray drive works great for current and future content. I have yet to hear of one PS3 game that required multiple disc swaps.
demonstrating how it's possible to capture and release it
Actually I think it shows a lot of forethought that they are trying to keep from depleting the local pool of Antimatter by trying to institute "Catch and Release" rules.
If more Sport Physicist follow suit, they are less likely to find government intervention and the need for Licenses before they go Colliding their own particles.
Kids can break 1" (with a little training, and its great motivation), and adults can break 3-4 with training, but the ability for a person to break 4 or so with NO training, IS impressive.
Heck, when I was practicing regularly I was going through 5 of them (with hands or feet), and its still impressive for an untrained person to have that ability.
Personally, the series that tried the "hardest" on aliens being alien was Farscape.
Farscape:
1) Bi-pedal humanoid seemed common, but a) the makeup for those bipedal humanoids sometimes got rather intense. b) they weren't always humanoid (Pilot for instance) and c) motivations weren't always similar (just 'cause it looked mostly "human" didn't mean it was, and vice-versa). (well, and d) explaining why the most human aliens DID look that way, and that was part of the plot... but we had to wait for the movie to fill in the last season of story).
2) They explained it away in Episode 1 (think Babel-Fish), and even came back to the idea a few times (with 'us' the audience seeing how things sounded "naturally").
It has nothing to do with the cost of the software. Extremely expensive enterprise software are often just as crappy as any cheap crap out there, sadly sometimes even worse. The difference is that the expensive software has highly trained personnel supporting it, carefully not doing anything not throughly documented and tested.
After watching a "big name" wall street firm experience multiple outages in a new trading system, ultimately bringing it down for DAYS, as the users talked to the OVERSEAS developers I would agree that money paid isn't always an indication of quality.
(the only reason it probably didn't make headlines is that the old system was still in place for redundancy as they ramped up the new one, so from an external perspective nothing happened... which is as it should be)
Don't have Netflix so I'm not sure what their bandwidth "cost" per hour is, but on Hulu an average 1 hour show is ~ 150-200MB.
That 36GB per month (and I'm assuming its GBytes and not Gbits that the limit is measured in), would translate to ~180 hours of Programming barring other uses, which I understand is unrealistic.
Assuming you only watch 90 hours of programming a month (a ~4.5 weeks a month that translates to 20 hours a week), that still leaves 18GB of "other" traffic (music, web, chat, VoIP (which should be less than VoD)).
For a single person, or a house where there is are two or more, but only one person is stressing the network at once, this should still be good (but starts to become an issue)
Throw in a bittorrent client, or a teen/child wanting to watch their own shows on their computer, and it could be a problem though. Chances are you'll see a hit in bandwidth and quality once that happens though. I watch how Hulu sometimes stutters and buffers a bit more when my wife is using Skype (now that she's discovered it:) ). Its one of the reasons I like "download and watch" models over "stream". It may take longer till you can see the show, but you have less chance of interruptions in viewing.
The summary says they are being gifted by parents.
Of course this tells a whole different story. I think it's far more likely these birds are being slaughtered for Diwali than being gifted as Harry Potter toys o_0
Have you seen how rabid Harry Potter fans can be?
I wouldn't be surprised if they start out as Harry Potter fans and then slide over to Diwali once they have an owl to sacrifice.... Yeah... thats it... Harry Potter is just a GateWay delusion.
It probably tries to dial out on occasion to upload information.
If you're phone line is in use a lot, or off the hook (or some other reason that the box doesn't get a dial-tone), then the box can't "phone home" as frequently as the central office is expecting.
I bet, if the box doesn't phone home frequently enough, the system automatically generates an alert, which triggers the charge, even if the box is connected.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you'll find it's a miasma of incandescent plasma.
And here I always thought it was just a mass of incandescent gas. :)
This just in - people still make vinyl records, and people buy them because (they think) vinyl records sound better than any other recording medium.
No kidding!
I was floored the other day when I saw someone looking over a record on the Subway and I realized it was for a Lady Gaga album.
Wife wondered why I started laughing.
iPhone 3GS screen size: 3.5" diagonal (2.76" wide if held sideways). That's also the keyboard width.
And that is exactly why SJ wants to do away with the "home" button. If you remove the home button, then you can expand the screen and utilize all the "dead" space around the Home Key. Essentially you can make a device with a larger screen, yet still fit into the same form factor.
Personally I think it sacrifices a lot of the "pick up and use" functionality. My 70 year old aunt who has never used a computer because she sees it as too complicated, is now using Safari on an iPhone to the amazement of her friends. One of the things that she specifically sited that made it easy to use was the Home button to get her back to the main screen.
Sony can definitely Fix/Contain this.
All Sony needs to do is remove the ability to run updates except either:
1) Over the Net (when connected/logged into PSN)
2) From a Blu-Ray disk (where the Disk format is confirmed)
3) Add some code to the next binary to try to determine what firmwares running are "unsanctioned" and Perma-Ban those PS3s from PSN
and they've closed this hole.
1) CAN be gotten around by including a Proxy, but it would greatly slow down the "ease of use" of this hack, so less people will do it.
2) Might be gotten around (somebody starts releasing a pressed Blu-Ray with a hacked firmware?)
3) Might/Might not be worth the time and trouble (and "arms escalation" on both sides), but a limited success would keep people from doing the hack (although it would buy some bad press also).
so the doctor, married his daughter, also the doctor, and she's the daughter of another doctor, and the doctor's daughter, THIRD BASE!
Wait ... so Who married Who's daughter who happens to be both Who and the Daughter of Who. .... Whoa.
No kidding. The only reason I think Sony hasn't released a software emulator already is to increase demand for "remastered" titles, and to keep a person from playing PS2 games without paying them at least $100 for a PS2. :/
I'm hoping that at least, once they stop making PS2 slims, they might release an emulator for the PS3.
No. The Graphics Synthesizer GPU necessary to run PS2 games is only present in three models: The 20 GB model, the 60 GB model, and the original 80 GB model. Without that GPU, the PS3 cannot run PS2 games, period.
PS1 games are a different story, and that's only because the entire PS1 emulator runs in software.
The GS needed for the existing released Emulation was only in three models, however Sony did say that a full software emulator was possible.
They also said that PS2 games were outselling PS3 games, and that instead of providing emulation, they'd rather "remaster" PS2 titles and re-release them (new graphics, updated to run on PS3).
Makes sense for them, however as an 60GB owner, I still feel they messed up and should release PS2 compatibility.
(Sony has publicly stated that all PS2 compatibility will do is make money for Game stores that resell older disks)
yup, that sounds a lot more like NK/SK now.
Amazon is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) shops on the internet. They need to stand up while taking a hammering every Xmas. If anyone is going to have a superior infrastructure it will be Amazon.
I agree, however if they (or anyone else) is ever going to try this is the time.
If their servers are already under high volume load, then you're already half-way there.
(not that I expected them, or anyone else to be able to take down Amazon)
I guess you're right, it's the lesser evil. Still, I find it scaring and can't understand what makes a human being work day after day to design and manufacture such an evil device.
Don't worry, when your next door neighbor wants to blow you to smithereens just for existing, you will finally understand.
Personally, that sounds a lot more like the Middle East than NK/SK.
It does. It also sound similar to the idea needed for Quantum Connected CPUs from Travis S. Taylor's book "The Quantum Connection" (from Baen, the first few chapters are available free online here: http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0743498968/0743498968.htm?blurb. The idea of the Quantum Connected CPUs is built up in chapters 4,5 and 6 which are included in the free sample.
( now all we need is the AI, and a few other things, and the Galaxy is our oyster :D )
Sony doesn't need to pay attention, the PS3 is already there.
- Local media: The PS3 can do local media (video/audio/pictures on the HD, or a USB drive).
- Remote Media: The PS3 can act as a DLNA client
- CD/DVD/Blu-Ray: The PS3 has it built in.
- Netflix: Since the last update, the Netflix client is now built into the console.
- Hulu+: The Hulu+ client is available as a free download from the PSN Store (you DO need to have a Hulu+ account with Hulu though). Also, Hulu is still working on expanding the content available on Hulu+ devices versus Hulu, so some things are still missing.
- Vudu: They just added a Vudu client for "Same day as DVD release" Video on Demand.
- Sports: both "MBA.tv" and "NHL Gamecenter LIVE" have Clients (great if you're a sports nut, or married to one)
- VoD: Sony has been working to build out their VoD service. rent/buy TV/Movies (including next day availability of Cable TV shows, and making shows available by Channel to make things easier to find including HBO, Showtime, SyFy, etc.)
Coupled with the increased quality of Over The Air signals since the Digital Switchover, and the need for cable is less and less (depending on how you consume). In a busy city I get at least 10 stations (plus substations), with HD quality reception.
Personally I ditched cable and went with a PS3 and a TiVo.
The TiVo adds an easy to use DVR with a Dual Tuner (record up to two shows at once, while watching a third pre-recorded), includes a Netflix client, is supposed to get a Hulu+ client (according to both Hulu and TiVo), and also includes:
- YouTube client
- Blockbuster Video Client
- Amazon Video On Demand Client
- Pandora Radio Client
- and a few others (I'm getting too tired to list).
=========
For me the cost breakdown was as follows:
Cost:
- Top of the line TiVo with a lifetime subscription runs $500 + $13/month recurring. (gives capacity for ~150 Hours of HD quality recording or >1000 of SD level quality)
- Low end PlayStation 3 runs $300.
- Hulu+ runs $8/month
- Netflix runs $8/month (for streaming only, +$2 to include DVD shipping also)
Total cost:
Initial cost (minus tax, cables, antenna): $800
Recurring month cost: $30
Cable used to run me $130/month (for Cable+Internet), I switched to DSL (~$30/month) and what I listed above, and it dropped my monthly bills by $100 a month (though it takes 8-9 months before the savings kicks in since you're purchasing your own equpiment).
That allows me to get the occasional VoD Movie from Amazon VoD, or purchase a season of a Cable only show or two, and still come out ahead overall (plus I can budget myself and decide if I have the money for it, instead of being hit the cost every month, like it or not, wether I use it or not).
=========
As an added bonus, the PS3 also play games, and the TiVo records other shows constantly once it know what you like, so there is usually SOMETHING you might find interesting, even if it is a rerun of a different show.
You could also throw in a cheaper/cheap DVR if you don't care/want the dual tuners, or NO DVR if its just not feature you're interested in, which drops both the initial cost and the recurring cost quite a bit.
Cable's days (as we know it) are numbered, depending entirely on the Nets ability to absorb the extra use and the Cable Co's willingness to break Net Neutrality.
Or just make it a requirement that TSA agents must be attractive and scantily clad and you pick your preferred sex.
Wish I could mod you "Insightful", consider this a Virtual Mod Point. :D
In Luxembourg, there is a small village which has a road called "Judde Gas" (Jew Gas). Of course, in Luxembourgish, "Gas" also means "small road", but after WWII, it's still a bizarre name. Strangely enough, the name hasn't been changed...
Probably was where the Jews of Luxembourg lived.
Think "China Town" that lots of East/West coast cities have.
Of course, post WWII when most/all of the Jews that lived there had been hauled off and executed, it probably lost its meaning, but at that point it had "Historical Significance" and never got changed.
The five-year-rule is a long-standing tradition for console generations going back to the Atari days (even through several recessions and the console "collapse" of 1982). Both the 360 and PS3 are starting to show their age at this point (especially the 360, which doesn't even have a blu-ray drive), with no new console generation on the horizon. The 360 is now 5 years old and the PS3 is 4, and neither has even announced a new console generation. I'm tired of my console dropping further and further behind PC's, while all MS and Sony want to do is release lame Wii knockoff controllers. I'm tired of consoles that aren't powerful enough to handle MMO's, require multiple disc swaps to support the latest games, and slow to a crawl with modern high res textures.
Screw Nintendo, and screw Move and Kinect. Give me a new console generation!
The only "new" thing in Console technology recently HAS been motion/video control.
- Wii came out with motion controllers.
- PS3 came out with video controllers.
- 360 came out with an updated video controller.
- PS3 came out with video augmented motion controller.
Sony has stated that they foresaw a 10 year lifespan for the PS3. We're now into year 4 and I don't see any indication the Console itself needs to be redesigned. Considering they are still selling PS2s, now in its 10th year, I'd say this is fairly likely.
Up until now, there have been huge leaps in Graphics technology that required a console to be updated every 5 or so years just to stay competitive with PC hardware. In the past 5 years, while I'm sure there is still a push for "bigger and better" I think we've reached a temporary rest point because the graphics are "Good Enough".
The PS3's CPU and GPU may be older, but game makers are finally starting to regularly turn out games that are able to take advantage of the system.
The hard-drive on the PS3 can be upgraded (and has been in new bundles).
The inclusion of a Blu-Ray drive works great for current and future content. I have yet to hear of one PS3 game that required multiple disc swaps.
A couple of seconds typing "class action uk" into google gave me this: http://www.contactlaw.co.uk/class-action-lawyers.html
But will they work on contingency?
demonstrating how it's possible to capture and release it
Actually I think it shows a lot of forethought that they are trying to keep from depleting the local pool of Antimatter by trying to institute "Catch and Release" rules.
If more Sport Physicist follow suit, they are less likely to find government intervention and the need for Licenses before they go Colliding their own particles.
Not just TKD, most Martial Arts start with pine.
Kids can break 1" (with a little training, and its great motivation), and adults can break 3-4 with training, but the ability for a person to break 4 or so with NO training, IS impressive.
Heck, when I was practicing regularly I was going through 5 of them (with hands or feet), and its still impressive for an untrained person to have that ability.
Personally, the series that tried the "hardest" on aliens being alien was Farscape.
Farscape:
1) Bi-pedal humanoid seemed common, but a) the makeup for those bipedal humanoids sometimes got rather intense. b) they weren't always humanoid (Pilot for instance) and c) motivations weren't always similar (just 'cause it looked mostly "human" didn't mean it was, and vice-versa). (well, and d) explaining why the most human aliens DID look that way, and that was part of the plot ... but we had to wait for the movie to fill in the last season of story).
2) They explained it away in Episode 1 (think Babel-Fish), and even came back to the idea a few times (with 'us' the audience seeing how things sounded "naturally").
3) Sex is one thing, procreation is another.
It has nothing to do with the cost of the software. Extremely expensive enterprise software are often just as crappy as any cheap crap out there, sadly sometimes even worse. The difference is that the expensive software has highly trained personnel supporting it, carefully not doing anything not throughly documented and tested.
After watching a "big name" wall street firm experience multiple outages in a new trading system, ultimately bringing it down for DAYS, as the users talked to the OVERSEAS developers I would agree that money paid isn't always an indication of quality.
(the only reason it probably didn't make headlines is that the old system was still in place for redundancy as they ramped up the new one, so from an external perspective nothing happened ... which is as it should be)
Don't have Netflix so I'm not sure what their bandwidth "cost" per hour is, but on Hulu an average 1 hour show is ~ 150-200MB.
That 36GB per month (and I'm assuming its GBytes and not Gbits that the limit is measured in), would translate to ~180 hours of Programming barring other uses, which I understand is unrealistic.
Assuming you only watch 90 hours of programming a month (a ~4.5 weeks a month that translates to 20 hours a week), that still leaves 18GB of "other" traffic (music, web, chat, VoIP (which should be less than VoD)).
For a single person, or a house where there is are two or more, but only one person is stressing the network at once, this should still be good (but starts to become an issue)
Throw in a bittorrent client, or a teen/child wanting to watch their own shows on their computer, and it could be a problem though. Chances are you'll see a hit in bandwidth and quality once that happens though. I watch how Hulu sometimes stutters and buffers a bit more when my wife is using Skype (now that she's discovered it :) ). Its one of the reasons I like "download and watch" models over "stream". It may take longer till you can see the show, but you have less chance of interruptions in viewing.
China Mobile probably just joined so they could get access to the Linux source repositories and steal the code.
The summary says they are being gifted by parents.
Of course this tells a whole different story. I think it's far more likely these birds are being slaughtered for Diwali than being gifted as Harry Potter toys o_0
Have you seen how rabid Harry Potter fans can be?
I wouldn't be surprised if they start out as Harry Potter fans and then slide over to Diwali once they have an owl to sacrifice. ... Yeah ... thats it ... Harry Potter is just a GateWay delusion.
NOOoooowwwww.....?
It probably tries to dial out on occasion to upload information.
If you're phone line is in use a lot, or off the hook (or some other reason that the box doesn't get a dial-tone), then the box can't "phone home" as frequently as the central office is expecting.
I bet, if the box doesn't phone home frequently enough, the system automatically generates an alert, which triggers the charge, even if the box is connected.
This is all speculation, but seems about right.