Actually, I agree with you. I should have said "considered by the industry as the definition...", since almost all of the reviews and awards cite some of the innovative gameplay elements (the button combos, etc) as a main reason they gave it game of the year. As I never finished it either, it's clearly not a game of the year in my book either:)
Ok, PLEASE READ THE GODDAMN THREAD before continuing your tangential rant...
It wasn't about patents, it was about the Galaxy looking like an iPad (which I agree with, it does). Everyone (even you?) except for one Apple-hater also agrees with that. No one has said Samsung hasn't infringed on patents, because how the hell would we know that?
And as far as physical imitation/likeness complaints, Apple has already lost that argument in several countries, while it has not definitively won any suits (even for patent infringement, let alone making a similar case). And honestly, I would bet Samsung has violated at least one Apple patent. But again, unless you are actually claiming the Galaxy Tab is literally a *counterfeit* iPad (which no judge has remotely agreed with), then THAT'S NOT WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT.
Mostly a few of the "pop up a button hint in special situations and make you press it". But Uncharted's were much simpler and less arbitrary, you could probably figure them out based on context vs. GoW's totally random combos. Honestly maybe it's just because it gave me the same feeling in some situations...
Hard to say - why did people like Empire Strikes Back better than Star Wars?;)
He's railing aginst what, in the industry, is called a "track ride". The player does A, then B, then C, with obstacles along the way.
Don't know if I agree with that summary. David Jaffe created God of War, in which not only does the player go on a track ride to do A then B, then C - THEY LITERALLY PRESS A then B then C to do it! (oh wait, it was a PS3 game... make that X then SQUARE then CIRCLE;)
Yeah, it's just one developer (who has had success at his limited model) opinion.
Jaffe's most famous game, God of War, was pretty much the definition of near perfect gameplay for its genre, but had almost no plot to speak of beyond "let's get some revenge!" I got bored and stopped playing about half way though.
On the other hand, Uncharted 2 (which had a lot of gameplay mechanics borrowed from GoW) had brilliant voice acting and a solid plot, and I couldn't put it down until I finished it.
In the end video games basically involve starting at a screen and mashing buttons. If they don't give you a decent reason to mash those buttons, you might as well be starting at a wall...
Abusing a trademark and/or trying to pass off a product is a crime, sure - but Samsung is not selling an "Appel ePad". Rounded corners and black bezels can't be (and weren't) trademarked or patented. Just because their outer case looks similar (even intentionally) does not make it illegal.
If they used copyrighted Apple software, violated patents on the software or hardware, etc, inside the device, that's another story. But that's not what we were talking about here.
The original Galaxy Tab was significantly different in many ways, and honestly, people hated it. It barely sold. Hundreds of thousands were returned to Samsung by retailers.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 (which I assume is what you have?) was an intentional redesign (this is not a secret to anyone in the industry) to make it look as much like the iPad as possible. It's selling a lot better...
Personally, unless it's specifically patented or trademarked, I think Apple should just stop whining, imitation is not a crime (they should know, that's how the Mac came to being, of course). But you are clearly right, there's no question it is imitation...
Seriously? He said the rumor was that the iPad 2 will continue to be sold (instead of being discontinued) at $200 (new price). Don't insult him just because your reading comprehension sucks...
Um, the iPhone 3GS (now free w/ contract) and the iPhone 4 (now $100) when the iPhone 4S came out. Which he already said in his post if you would have taken the time to read it...
"I don’t give a damn about how CNN or AMC or MSNBC make their money, their business models, who pays how much to whom for what, yadda yadda; all I care about is what my cable bill costs each month."
Of course you give a damn, Dan, you are a writer in the entertainment and news industry, and it's your job to give a damn. That's why you have now written not one, but two articles on the topic. Duuh.
And since you can't even figure that out for your own case, maybe assuming that consumers don't care where their entertainment dollar is going would be a tech-snob, elitist assumption, as well...
On a side note, Saudi Arabia executed someone for witchcraft last year, so one can only assume the burden of proof isn't exactly high. Or they actually have real live witches casting spells of course...
Maybe it was a Harry Potter convention, in which case it was probably justified.
Even with countries that have the death penalty (like the US), this would have been a clear-cut argument for political asylum. Probably should have fled to a country that doesn't execute people for words...
No, that's idiotic, it's like saying "graphics doesn't work on Linux" because one video card driver has bugs.
There are plenty of devices that don't work with Linux due to lack of driver support. Windows or Linux, who cares - it's the hardware manufacturer's problem for missing/crappy support, not the operating system's.
Nice description! I think most people should just avoid composting meat and dairy entirely, though... as you said, you can get rodent problems (around here, rats are more common than raccoons, and they can easily dig through 3' of compost:) It can also smell *awful*, almost like... rotting meat;)
It's even more complicated than the botched summary makes it out to be.
The *plaintiff* was the one to claim that they were famous to their friends (in which case they felt as a celebrity endorsing a product they deserved compensation). Facebook basically argued if they were famous to their friends, then their public expression of a consumer opinion was "newsworthy", in which case the use of their likeness was fair use protected by the First Amendment.
Basically, a bullshit answer to a bullshit lawsuit...
That's assuming all of the questions are equally difficult and the material was equally/fairly covered in the class for all of them, etc. It's pretty unlikely that it would end up being fair. (SAT questions, for example, go through years of testing and review by millions of students to make sure they are "standardized" in that way...)
It's absolutely possible to compost it. You can even compost things like coffee grounds (with the paper filter if you use one) and tea bags. Pretty much any solid vegetable matter, really (including breads/cereals). The only thing I'd hesitate to compost is tomatoes, unless you *really* want a lot of tomato plants in your garden (also, you increase the risk of introducing some tomato plant viruses into your soil).
Maintaining a house isn't rocket science; just keep the weeds under control, repaint the outside every so often (dependent on your house's siding and local climate), repaint the inside every couple decades, fix the plumbing when it breaks, etc.
Well, I'm handy within reason, but I had to shell out $5k to contractors this week just to "fix the plumbing". Then again, it involved digging a 9' hole in my front yard, cutting another one in my driveway, and using heavy duty pneumatic equipment to replace the whole sewer line. Fun! Luckily I could afford it, but if I couldn't I'd sure be up shit creek (literally). If you don't have some buffer for those occasional disasters home ownership can be a very precarious proposition...
Of these: "fire department, police department, utilities, trash pickup, hospitals, schools, public road, jails, military defense" - utilities and trash are not normally covered by property tax, they are covered by utilities. Military defense sure isn't paid from property tax, it's from Federal income tax. And benefits from the rest really have very little to do with the value of one's property, they are more of a per-capita expense.
Yeah, I understand it's more than just about property taxes, someone with a very low income would have a hard time with the upkeep of a house in general... but property taxes make it MUCH worse (they are probably 75% of my yearly non-mortage related home expenses).
I just find the current property tax system so very broken in that in some ways it's almost completely a wealth tax, not a service fee (if it was fee-based everyone's tax would be almost the same). But at the same time you have bonehead laws like Prop 13 - which in theory was intended to prevent forcing people out of their homes when value increases, but in practice is basically just bankrupting the state. For example, my neighbor makes as much income as I do and his house is worth the same, but he pays less than half of the property taxes for the same benefits... more, in fact, because he has 3 school-age kids. And people wonder why those schools are underfunded and falling apart.
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Actually, I agree with you. I should have said "considered by the industry as the definition...", since almost all of the reviews and awards cite some of the innovative gameplay elements (the button combos, etc) as a main reason they gave it game of the year. As I never finished it either, it's clearly not a game of the year in my book either :)
Ok, PLEASE READ THE GODDAMN THREAD before continuing your tangential rant...
It wasn't about patents, it was about the Galaxy looking like an iPad (which I agree with, it does). Everyone (even you?) except for one Apple-hater also agrees with that. No one has said Samsung hasn't infringed on patents, because how the hell would we know that?
And as far as physical imitation/likeness complaints, Apple has already lost that argument in several countries, while it has not definitively won any suits (even for patent infringement, let alone making a similar case). And honestly, I would bet Samsung has violated at least one Apple patent. But again, unless you are actually claiming the Galaxy Tab is literally a *counterfeit* iPad (which no judge has remotely agreed with), then THAT'S NOT WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT.
Mostly a few of the "pop up a button hint in special situations and make you press it". But Uncharted's were much simpler and less arbitrary, you could probably figure them out based on context vs. GoW's totally random combos. Honestly maybe it's just because it gave me the same feeling in some situations...
Hard to say - why did people like Empire Strikes Back better than Star Wars? ;)
He's railing aginst what, in the industry, is called a "track ride". The player does A, then B, then C, with obstacles along the way.
Don't know if I agree with that summary. David Jaffe created God of War, in which not only does the player go on a track ride to do A then B, then C - THEY LITERALLY PRESS A then B then C to do it! (oh wait, it was a PS3 game... make that X then SQUARE then CIRCLE ;)
Yeah, it's just one developer (who has had success at his limited model) opinion.
Jaffe's most famous game, God of War, was pretty much the definition of near perfect gameplay for its genre, but had almost no plot to speak of beyond "let's get some revenge!" I got bored and stopped playing about half way though.
On the other hand, Uncharted 2 (which had a lot of gameplay mechanics borrowed from GoW) had brilliant voice acting and a solid plot, and I couldn't put it down until I finished it.
In the end video games basically involve starting at a screen and mashing buttons. If they don't give you a decent reason to mash those buttons, you might as well be starting at a wall...
Abusing a trademark and/or trying to pass off a product is a crime, sure - but Samsung is not selling an "Appel ePad". Rounded corners and black bezels can't be (and weren't) trademarked or patented. Just because their outer case looks similar (even intentionally) does not make it illegal.
If they used copyrighted Apple software, violated patents on the software or hardware, etc, inside the device, that's another story. But that's not what we were talking about here.
The original Galaxy Tab was significantly different in many ways, and honestly, people hated it. It barely sold. Hundreds of thousands were returned to Samsung by retailers.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 (which I assume is what you have?) was an intentional redesign (this is not a secret to anyone in the industry) to make it look as much like the iPad as possible. It's selling a lot better...
Personally, unless it's specifically patented or trademarked, I think Apple should just stop whining, imitation is not a crime (they should know, that's how the Mac came to being, of course). But you are clearly right, there's no question it is imitation...
Seriously? He said the rumor was that the iPad 2 will continue to be sold (instead of being discontinued) at $200 (new price). Don't insult him just because your reading comprehension sucks...
Um, the iPhone 3GS (now free w/ contract) and the iPhone 4 (now $100) when the iPhone 4S came out. Which he already said in his post if you would have taken the time to read it...
"I don’t give a damn about how CNN or AMC or MSNBC make their money, their business models, who pays how much to whom for what, yadda yadda; all I care about is what my cable bill costs each month."
Of course you give a damn, Dan, you are a writer in the entertainment and news industry, and it's your job to give a damn. That's why you have now written not one, but two articles on the topic. Duuh.
And since you can't even figure that out for your own case, maybe assuming that consumers don't care where their entertainment dollar is going would be a tech-snob, elitist assumption, as well...
I don't remember that being a capital offense, which was his point...
On a side note, Saudi Arabia executed someone for witchcraft last year, so one can only assume the burden of proof isn't exactly high. Or they actually have real live witches casting spells of course...
Maybe it was a Harry Potter convention, in which case it was probably justified.
Even with countries that have the death penalty (like the US), this would have been a clear-cut argument for political asylum. Probably should have fled to a country that doesn't execute people for words...
No, that's idiotic, it's like saying "graphics doesn't work on Linux" because one video card driver has bugs.
There are plenty of devices that don't work with Linux due to lack of driver support. Windows or Linux, who cares - it's the hardware manufacturer's problem for missing/crappy support, not the operating system's.
Nice description! I think most people should just avoid composting meat and dairy entirely, though... as you said, you can get rodent problems (around here, rats are more common than raccoons, and they can easily dig through 3' of compost :) It can also smell *awful*, almost like... rotting meat ;)
No problem, they'll just go off and live with the rats of NIMH.
This is one of those instances where I wonder if the drug repurposing is good or bad.
Yeah, the last time someone tried to repurpose a drug for Alzheimer's intelligent apes took over the planet...
It's even more complicated than the botched summary makes it out to be.
The *plaintiff* was the one to claim that they were famous to their friends (in which case they felt as a celebrity endorsing a product they deserved compensation). Facebook basically argued if they were famous to their friends, then their public expression of a consumer opinion was "newsworthy", in which case the use of their likeness was fair use protected by the First Amendment.
Basically, a bullshit answer to a bullshit lawsuit...
That's a problem with a specific driver, though, not Windows 7. Just look it up - ASMedia USB3 drivers have that problem, but not all others...
That's assuming all of the questions are equally difficult and the material was equally/fairly covered in the class for all of them, etc. It's pretty unlikely that it would end up being fair. (SAT questions, for example, go through years of testing and review by millions of students to make sure they are "standardized" in that way...)
USB 3.0 works fine with Windows 7, you just have to install the drivers provided by the mobo/card manufacturer. Big deal...
It's absolutely possible to compost it. You can even compost things like coffee grounds (with the paper filter if you use one) and tea bags. Pretty much any solid vegetable matter, really (including breads/cereals). The only thing I'd hesitate to compost is tomatoes, unless you *really* want a lot of tomato plants in your garden (also, you increase the risk of introducing some tomato plant viruses into your soil).
...the origin of the most popular TV show of the 26th century, "Ow, My Balls!"
Maintaining a house isn't rocket science; just keep the weeds under control, repaint the outside every so often (dependent on your house's siding and local climate), repaint the inside every couple decades, fix the plumbing when it breaks, etc.
Well, I'm handy within reason, but I had to shell out $5k to contractors this week just to "fix the plumbing". Then again, it involved digging a 9' hole in my front yard, cutting another one in my driveway, and using heavy duty pneumatic equipment to replace the whole sewer line. Fun! Luckily I could afford it, but if I couldn't I'd sure be up shit creek (literally). If you don't have some buffer for those occasional disasters home ownership can be a very precarious proposition...
Of these: "fire department, police department, utilities, trash pickup, hospitals, schools, public road, jails, military defense" - utilities and trash are not normally covered by property tax, they are covered by utilities. Military defense sure isn't paid from property tax, it's from Federal income tax. And benefits from the rest really have very little to do with the value of one's property, they are more of a per-capita expense.
Yeah, I understand it's more than just about property taxes, someone with a very low income would have a hard time with the upkeep of a house in general... but property taxes make it MUCH worse (they are probably 75% of my yearly non-mortage related home expenses).
I just find the current property tax system so very broken in that in some ways it's almost completely a wealth tax, not a service fee (if it was fee-based everyone's tax would be almost the same). But at the same time you have bonehead laws like Prop 13 - which in theory was intended to prevent forcing people out of their homes when value increases, but in practice is basically just bankrupting the state. For example, my neighbor makes as much income as I do and his house is worth the same, but he pays less than half of the property taxes for the same benefits... more, in fact, because he has 3 school-age kids. And people wonder why those schools are underfunded and falling apart.