You're making the (usually wrong) assumption that a kidnapper isn't a complete moron in the first place. Most kidnapping is done by divorced or separated parents, but outside of that, I mean look at Elizabeth Smart (well, I wouldn't call her Smart, either, but er...) - her kidnappers were a crazy woman and a guy who thought he was the Messiah.
That said, I agree, it won't stop most kidnappers, and this technology is not going to become pervasive in a matter of months. However, it sure does make it easier for the government to keep an eye on you...and in this day and age, ANYONE could be a terrorist.
Where will it end? It just gets uglier. Location spam, how fun!
I'm not a big fan of this, however it could be nice for people if it is like GPS. And I could see people at local bars using the features to locate other 'singles.' Lots of possibilities.
I think if you're management isn't addressing the questions you have, you should be upfront and honest to the executives in the company about the problems you are facing. However, what issues you are dealing with? Is your IT spending up, is there talk of layoffs, what are your actual problems with your company's IT infrastructure?
It's good that your president/CIO are having these discussions with you, as it shows they are concerned and want to know how to drive profit in their industry. They are concerned with the bottom line, so be honest and try to address the problems with the bottom line in mind. Will adding 1 million to the IT budget save 10 million? If you have concerns, or better, if you have ideas, share them, but only if you think they will help. Don't say you need 2million in new computers without explaining why that would drive profit up.
they have less need to directly charge their visitors...
They won't have any visitors.
I don't even go to ESPN anymore. Ever since they started all that full motion video crap, the site has gotten worse and worse. I've avoided gamespot and gamespy for the same reasons; too much annoying crap to dig through.
I predict that not far in the future, you'll 'pay' to see only the half-annoying ads that already circulate every content page on earth, just like cable once offered free content for pay and now has ads just like every other public TV station.
I'm already switching from AIM to Trillian, as they started putting sound into their already annoying new ads. Which frankly is stupid, since no other messaging program does this.
Pretty soon the world will be like Stephenson's Diamond Age, people's eyes will have to filter through all the crap because ad campaigns will implant chips into babies when they're born so their ears hear the dr pepper song while they're sleeping.
Of course that's BS, but you get the point. Where will it stop? Already ball clubs have logos pasted on, pretty soon you'll see them looking like Nascar drivers.
Physical media will exist as long as people want control over content. Remember, physical media doesn't mean a CD or DVD. It can be a hard drive which downloads the movie and watches it. It's the exact same reason why people buy DVDs rather than rent from Blockbuster; they want the control to watch whenever they want. It's the same reason people use DVRs and TiVo. A DVR is a physical media; it's a hard drive. Just because you can't see it or transfer the information easily doesn't mean it's 'locked.'
I see the public fighting the total control of media by large conglomerates. I see people wanting control over information. People still buy DVDs and CDs, even though the mp3 and aac market is beginning to show itself. And I still know a lot of people who burn those same MP3s to CDs so they have it in physical, moveable form (remember, those mp3s are STILL stored on a hard drive.) The reason Apple is so popular is because it sells its iPod, another physical device, an 'open' device.
Not to mention the fact that stores will fight this. Gamestop and EB Games face the same market pressure when they can't resell used games. In many stores I go to, up to half the games they have there are used. They probably make a good profit, maybe 10-20% of their revenue is in used games. And the Blockbusters of the world are not going to go silently into the night on this thing. People might go from DVD to minidisc, they might go to some little chip. But I don't foresee, at least not in the next 10 years, the market vanishing. Too many forces at work for large companies to go belly up.
I think eventually, far down the road, networks will be so pervasive this may be the case. But it took 10 years for the CD market to creep in, it'll be another 10 years for the mp3 and DVR market to seep in. And by the time it happens, DRM is not going to rule everyone's lives. Linux and open source are beginning to show themselves over windows 'fixed' technology, and even if this happens, you'll just find that the public, who will be much more knowledgeable about computers by this time, will be just as willing to fight for their right to control content. No one wants to buy a magazine or book, and have someone tell them they can only read it one or two times. No one wants to buy a pot or pan to find out they can only cook with it twice. And no one wants someone to tell them what they can do with mp3s or digital games. With online mmorpg games, this might be the case, one per person. But not all games will be mmorpgs.
Right now I'm working on a trading site between physical console medium, and this sort of outlook worries me, so maybe I'm just in denial. But I think p2p trading won't die out, and sites online will spring up to allow for digital content trading and digital 'rentals.' Blockbuster may just find itself losing the store aspect and put everything on a big ass server. Who knows? But business will survive, and consumers will ultimately have their way. Courts will ultimately have to decide whether the user has control over the digital information he purchases. But I think they will decide in favor of the consumer. And there are other businesses lobbying on our behalf, more open businesses who don't want the Microsofts of the world to control our entire way of life.
And if not, pirating will just continue. Robin Hood will become H0b1n_d00d.:)
Personally, I've never had much of a thing for the Japanese card game style. I remember when I was in high school and Magic had its first debut, maybe I just didn't care so much, but for me card games are poker, texas hold-em or whatnot.
I'm not sure if I agree with the assertion that these types of card games aren't popular with americans; look at all the cartoons! I would say though that what turns me off of that style of game more than anything is the absolutely awful dubbing of japanese shows on american television; that and the shows are all pretty much the same show with multiple exceptions. If I want to see two people in some dusty arena showing cards like it's the most exciting thing on earth, I'll watch the Travel channel. Anime like this frankly annoys me; I can't get into any of those late-night cartoon network shows. Plus the animation is extremely cheap, movements often cut between two frames to create the affect of movement. It's here to stay, but I can't say I'll ever accept it.
Anyway, all anime-bashing aside (there is some I absolutely love), I think i'll avoid PSO, C.A.R.D. I'm sure it'll appeal to a whole different generation, but I'll stick with good old Mario and Zelda. The early Zelda, like on the old Zelda cartoon. At least that one made sense. And he was a sarcastic bastard. Cartoons at its finest.:)
Phantom sounds like the right name for this box.
on
More ApeXtreme Info
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Let's see, it's vaporware except for a big, fairly ugly box which has never been turned on, it's sponsored by a guy whose known for getting capital for loser projects, it's competing against three other boxes which are still going strong in sales...maybe the Phantom is exactly what it claims to be...nothing. A ghost box.
Besides, Sony will probably have a working prototype of PS3 before it's even released, by which time it'll have no chance, just like Dreamcast.
If you have a merchant account on PayPal, or before you get one, I would advise going to this site. It discusses the problems with paypal in good detail. I am in the process of setting up a merchant account, and the kinds of things they do are rediculous. There's a class action lawsuit currently against them. They have a great system if you're looking to pay for an item, but if you're selling one, watch out.
They may be reaching for other industries as well. I have been looking for transactions similar to what they were selling, but their site seemed to be mainly associating itself with the idea of selling content per page, as opposed to music or other services. If this is the case, and they allow this, it would be excellent. But paypal still has a monopoly on payment structures. It'll be interesting to see if the micropayment scheme works; if it works well, you can believe I'll be the first person to sign up.
Peppercoin is still limited, though, things like music downloads, for instance, don't seem to be viable on their payment scheme. They seem to be mainly concerned with content, such as 'pay.01 cents to see this web page.'
Paypal of course offered their own payment scheme for micropayments as well, but they are limited ONLY to music.
Where I'd personally like to see micropayments is in the services department. You can charge 1.00 per transaction to perform a service, and not get raped by the 33% service charge that forces most of these types of service-oriented businesses to use subscriptions.
First off, they won't be dropping it on their desktop or laptop lines anytime soon, so consumers can feel safe IBM is not abandoning them; Windows has a huge stake in IBM's business. However, it wouldn't surprise me to see IBM begin to try a move to desktops among their own company; however, I can state for fact this is nowhere near the implementation stage, there are a lot of barriers before this will become full-fledged across the number. IBM is too big a player to abandon Windows fully, but they may be making a little bit of a political statement in full support of their desktop, especially in light of the SCO case. IBM has their hands in so many honey pots, there should be no worries that the next ThinkPad you will get will be Linux-only.
I agree about the price. $350, let alone $200, is too much for a handheld system. I don't care how great the graphics are, unless you can drive the price down to say $150, you won't be able to penetrate a market where a $70-100 device (which easily fits into a pocket now, I might add) has more than 90% of the market share. I remember even 10 years ago, the Sega GameGear was just about the most beautiful handheld you could lay your eyes on. Color LCD display, TV capable. But I just couldn't afford it. In the end, I opted for the monochrome GameBoy. It took them years to develop it in color, despite my estimate that they would be in color within two years. But they still hold the market, and have something like 600 playable games for it. The PSP does have a chance, but only if they can drive the cost to about $150. Plus, I'm not a big fan of spinning discs when it comes to portables. Solid state is the way to go. I'm sure iPod users would disagree, but the less moving parts, the better, if you ask me.
We'll see. One reason Nintendo dominated w/GameBoy was because their NES had made them dominant, and it seemed a natural progression. Now, Sony is the game station of choice, and PSP seems like a natural progression. Their hype machine is in full swing just like it was when they were developing the PS2, and look how it destroyed the Dreamcast.
As for Nokia and company, no chance in hell. They should have stuck to cell phones. Their games just don't even look that good, even on TV. Two years from now, maybe. And the other one...Zodiac? Hell I already forgot it. They'll drown under the competition from the two top players. They have no name recognition, no other game products. Nothing. If they're smart, they'll stick to a niche market like airplanes or fancy limos.
That's a bad assumption. First off, Michael Dell has already decided that outsourcing tech support in India is a bad idea. Customer service is a HUGE issue, and there is proof that losing just 5% of your customer base (a majority of which is due to bad customer service) can affect your profit margin anywhere from 30-90%. If she were smart, she would realize outsourcing tech support is a dumb idea, as in the long run you just have a bunch of pissed off customers.
Secondly, Joe Technical Problem three years down the line probably won't be able to afford the new latest and greatest model, because he was doing fine as an engineer before they outsourced his job to Bangalore so Carly's share in some other company she's in bed with goes up a tenth of a point.
You ain't kidding. The ads on gamespy are definently an eyesore. I don't even go there anymore, it's so hard to actually find a review through all the awful advertising crap.
"Oh look, new Mario game on...*click*...damn I thought I saw something under that translucent army ad that has no X to close...ahh there *click*...now if I can only *click* get these *click* mother*click*ing pages *click* to come up."
Come to think of it, it's like it's own video game experience. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to click through all the crap and try to find a worthwhile article."
And no, there's no fscking way I'm payin 15 dollars a year. Maybe 3-5 bucks, but not 15.
It's sort of ironic that Dell has any part in a conference on emerging technologies, because what Dell specializes in is supply infrastructure. They don't have nearly as many patents as IBM or HP but they are VERY VERY good at getting things to their customers and keeping their customers happy. In other words, they create extremely efficient processes and have outlasted other PCs because they understand the commodities market. Why Dell is considered a major player makes little sense.
Ahh, tintin. Who can forget the years and years of MUD-based carnage done with tintin, or its later predecessor, tintin++.
Spielberg could not do such text adventure justice.
I can only imagine such a script:
# T I N T I N + + v1.5pl9 FINAL # (T)he k(I)cki(N) (T)ickin d(I)kumud clie(N)t # a DIKU-mud client # > #se 1 generic.dikumud.com 9999
FADE IN: Gorath
password: *********
> You are in a dark alley. Two muggers are here, their knives flashing at you. An exit lies north.
#alias {runaway} {n;n;n;n;n;n;n;n;};runaway
You run like a little girl for the exit. They block you.
#read ItsWeaponTime;weaponsup #OK. 43 ALIASES LOADED. #OK. 2 ACTIONS LOADED. #OK. 0 ANTISUBS LOADED. #OK. 10 SUBSTITUTES LOADED. #OK. 13 VARIABLES LOADED. #OK. 45 HIGHLIGHTS LOADED.
You load the uzi.
You load the minigun.
You wield the Hammer of Thor.
You load the rocket launcher.
You wield the rocket launcher. Mugger #1 begins to piss his pants.
shoot;shoot
You aim for Mugger #1.
You fire. Direct hit. Body parts ooze off the wall.
You aim for Mugger #2.
You fire. Direct hit. A blackened spot is all that remains of Mugger #2. You are victorious. But Steven Spielberg shows up with a flak cannon. He aims for your heart.
look
You cannot look when you're dead.
#end TINTIN suffers from bloodlack, and the lack of a beating heart... TINTIN is dead! R.I.P. Your blood freezes as you hear TINTIN's death cry. % sniff
"Consider a compact 3-dimensional manifold V without boundary. Is it possible that the fundamental group of V could be trivial, even though V is not homeomorphic to the 3-dimensional sphere?"
What he's saying is, the...er...well, he means that the, uh...
You couldn't write that book or memorize everything in it, because the possible moves that black can make are way above a million after say, four or five rounds. Good luck memorizing 10^28 possible responses (and no, I don't know how many combinations there are, suffice to say it's very high)
Now a computer might be able to eventually play the perfect chess game, having pre-computed all possible responses for every move. But for now computers aren't smart enough. Which is why humans can still beat (or at least draw) even the best computers.
If that does ever happen, if computers become too powerful, then champs of the world might just move on to a new game, like Go, which few AI play well.
There are some inherent problems with this. A good story gets changed a million ways from sunday; blogs can be edited, but in keeping a viewership interested on a daily basis, you might find your viewership getting tired of having to read the retread story.
Weblogs in themselves are interesting, and journals are useful for novel creation, but I don't see this as an extremely useful or profitable enterprise. If you're Asimov, and can write as much crap as you want w/o having to re-edit your work, as I've seen him claim (either Asimov or Piers Anthony; neither would surprise me), then it might be an interesting venture. But if you're like most people, a novel requires a lot of thought and a lot more editing, and a daily weblog may not be the best way to go about it, unless you want feedback.
Slashdot Mirror
You're making the (usually wrong) assumption that a kidnapper isn't a complete moron in the first place. Most kidnapping is done by divorced or separated parents, but outside of that, I mean look at Elizabeth Smart (well, I wouldn't call her Smart, either, but er...) - her kidnappers were a crazy woman and a guy who thought he was the Messiah.
That said, I agree, it won't stop most kidnappers, and this technology is not going to become pervasive in a matter of months. However, it sure does make it easier for the government to keep an eye on you...and in this day and age, ANYONE could be a terrorist.
Where will it end? It just gets uglier. Location spam, how fun!
I'm not a big fan of this, however it could be nice for people if it is like GPS. And I could see people at local bars using the features to locate other 'singles.' Lots of possibilities.
I think if you're management isn't addressing the questions you have, you should be upfront and honest to the executives in the company about the problems you are facing. However, what issues you are dealing with? Is your IT spending up, is there talk of layoffs, what are your actual problems with your company's IT infrastructure?
It's good that your president/CIO are having these discussions with you, as it shows they are concerned and want to know how to drive profit in their industry. They are concerned with the bottom line, so be honest and try to address the problems with the bottom line in mind. Will adding 1 million to the IT budget save 10 million? If you have concerns, or better, if you have ideas, share them, but only if you think they will help. Don't say you need 2million in new computers without explaining why that would drive profit up.
they have less need to directly charge their visitors...
They won't have any visitors.
I don't even go to ESPN anymore. Ever since they started all that full motion video crap, the site has gotten worse and worse. I've avoided gamespot and gamespy for the same reasons; too much annoying crap to dig through.
I predict that not far in the future, you'll 'pay' to see only the half-annoying ads that already circulate every content page on earth, just like cable once offered free content for pay and now has ads just like every other public TV station.
I'm already switching from AIM to Trillian, as they started putting sound into their already annoying new ads. Which frankly is stupid, since no other messaging program does this.
Pretty soon the world will be like Stephenson's Diamond Age, people's eyes will have to filter through all the crap because ad campaigns will implant chips into babies when they're born so their ears hear the dr pepper song while they're sleeping.
Of course that's BS, but you get the point. Where will it stop? Already ball clubs have logos pasted on, pretty soon you'll see them looking like Nascar drivers.
Physical media will exist as long as people want control over content. Remember, physical media doesn't mean a CD or DVD. It can be a hard drive which downloads the movie and watches it. It's the exact same reason why people buy DVDs rather than rent from Blockbuster; they want the control to watch whenever they want. It's the same reason people use DVRs and TiVo. A DVR is a physical media; it's a hard drive. Just because you can't see it or transfer the information easily doesn't mean it's 'locked.'
:)
I see the public fighting the total control of media by large conglomerates. I see people wanting control over information. People still buy DVDs and CDs, even though the mp3 and aac market is beginning to show itself. And I still know a lot of people who burn those same MP3s to CDs so they have it in physical, moveable form (remember, those mp3s are STILL stored on a hard drive.) The reason Apple is so popular is because it sells its iPod, another physical device, an 'open' device.
Not to mention the fact that stores will fight this. Gamestop and EB Games face the same market pressure when they can't resell used games. In many stores I go to, up to half the games they have there are used. They probably make a good profit, maybe 10-20% of their revenue is in used games. And the Blockbusters of the world are not going to go silently into the night on this thing. People might go from DVD to minidisc, they might go to some little chip. But I don't foresee, at least not in the next 10 years, the market vanishing. Too many forces at work for large companies to go belly up.
I think eventually, far down the road, networks will be so pervasive this may be the case. But it took 10 years for the CD market to creep in, it'll be another 10 years for the mp3 and DVR market to seep in. And by the time it happens, DRM is not going to rule everyone's lives. Linux and open source are beginning to show themselves over windows 'fixed' technology, and even if this happens, you'll just find that the public, who will be much more knowledgeable about computers by this time, will be just as willing to fight for their right to control content. No one wants to buy a magazine or book, and have someone tell them they can only read it one or two times. No one wants to buy a pot or pan to find out they can only cook with it twice. And no one wants someone to tell them what they can do with mp3s or digital games. With online mmorpg games, this might be the case, one per person. But not all games will be mmorpgs.
Right now I'm working on a trading site between physical console medium, and this sort of outlook worries me, so maybe I'm just in denial. But I think p2p trading won't die out, and sites online will spring up to allow for digital content trading and digital 'rentals.' Blockbuster may just find itself losing the store aspect and put everything on a big ass server. Who knows? But business will survive, and consumers will ultimately have their way. Courts will ultimately have to decide whether the user has control over the digital information he purchases. But I think they will decide in favor of the consumer. And there are other businesses lobbying on our behalf, more open businesses who don't want the Microsofts of the world to control our entire way of life.
And if not, pirating will just continue. Robin Hood will become H0b1n_d00d.
I'll finally have a large enough screen TV to make my evil supervillain's lair with my computer console that has way too many buttons.
Personally, I've never had much of a thing for the Japanese card game style. I remember when I was in high school and Magic had its first debut, maybe I just didn't care so much, but for me card games are poker, texas hold-em or whatnot.
:)
I'm not sure if I agree with the assertion that these types of card games aren't popular with americans; look at all the cartoons! I would say though that what turns me off of that style of game more than anything is the absolutely awful dubbing of japanese shows on american television; that and the shows are all pretty much the same show with multiple exceptions. If I want to see two people in some dusty arena showing cards like it's the most exciting thing on earth, I'll watch the Travel channel. Anime like this frankly annoys me; I can't get into any of those late-night cartoon network shows. Plus the animation is extremely cheap, movements often cut between two frames to create the affect of movement. It's here to stay, but I can't say I'll ever accept it.
Anyway, all anime-bashing aside (there is some I absolutely love), I think i'll avoid PSO, C.A.R.D. I'm sure it'll appeal to a whole different generation, but I'll stick with good old Mario and Zelda. The early Zelda, like on the old Zelda cartoon. At least that one made sense. And he was a sarcastic bastard. Cartoons at its finest.
Let's see, it's vaporware except for a big, fairly ugly box which has never been turned on, it's sponsored by a guy whose known for getting capital for loser projects, it's competing against three other boxes which are still going strong in sales...maybe the Phantom is exactly what it claims to be...nothing. A ghost box.
Besides, Sony will probably have a working prototype of PS3 before it's even released, by which time it'll have no chance, just like Dreamcast.
...is the traffic light on their router. Slashdot strikes again!
If you have a merchant account on PayPal, or before you get one, I would advise going to this site. It discusses the problems with paypal in good detail. I am in the process of setting up a merchant account, and the kinds of things they do are rediculous. There's a class action lawsuit currently against them. They have a great system if you're looking to pay for an item, but if you're selling one, watch out.
They may be reaching for other industries as well. I have been looking for transactions similar to what they were selling, but their site seemed to be mainly associating itself with the idea of selling content per page, as opposed to music or other services. If this is the case, and they allow this, it would be excellent. But paypal still has a monopoly on payment structures. It'll be interesting to see if the micropayment scheme works; if it works well, you can believe I'll be the first person to sign up.
Peppercoin is still limited, though, things like music downloads, for instance, don't seem to be viable on their payment scheme. They seem to be mainly concerned with content, such as 'pay .01 cents to see this web page.'
Paypal of course offered their own payment scheme for micropayments as well, but they are limited ONLY to music.
Where I'd personally like to see micropayments is in the services department. You can charge 1.00 per transaction to perform a service, and not get raped by the 33% service charge that forces most of these types of service-oriented businesses to use subscriptions.
First off, they won't be dropping it on their desktop or laptop lines anytime soon, so consumers can feel safe IBM is not abandoning them; Windows has a huge stake in IBM's business. However, it wouldn't surprise me to see IBM begin to try a move to desktops among their own company; however, I can state for fact this is nowhere near the implementation stage, there are a lot of barriers before this will become full-fledged across the number. IBM is too big a player to abandon Windows fully, but they may be making a little bit of a political statement in full support of their desktop, especially in light of the SCO case. IBM has their hands in so many honey pots, there should be no worries that the next ThinkPad you will get will be Linux-only.
I agree about the price. $350, let alone $200, is too much for a handheld system. I don't care how great the graphics are, unless you can drive the price down to say $150, you won't be able to penetrate a market where a $70-100 device (which easily fits into a pocket now, I might add) has more than 90% of the market share. I remember even 10 years ago, the Sega GameGear was just about the most beautiful handheld you could lay your eyes on. Color LCD display, TV capable. But I just couldn't afford it. In the end, I opted for the monochrome GameBoy. It took them years to develop it in color, despite my estimate that they would be in color within two years. But they still hold the market, and have something like 600 playable games for it. The PSP does have a chance, but only if they can drive the cost to about $150. Plus, I'm not a big fan of spinning discs when it comes to portables. Solid state is the way to go. I'm sure iPod users would disagree, but the less moving parts, the better, if you ask me.
We'll see. One reason Nintendo dominated w/GameBoy was because their NES had made them dominant, and it seemed a natural progression. Now, Sony is the game station of choice, and PSP seems like a natural progression. Their hype machine is in full swing just like it was when they were developing the PS2, and look how it destroyed the Dreamcast.
As for Nokia and company, no chance in hell. They should have stuck to cell phones. Their games just don't even look that good, even on TV. Two years from now, maybe. And the other one...Zodiac? Hell I already forgot it. They'll drown under the competition from the two top players. They have no name recognition, no other game products. Nothing. If they're smart, they'll stick to a niche market like airplanes or fancy limos.
That's a bad assumption. First off, Michael Dell has already decided that outsourcing tech support in India is a bad idea. Customer service is a HUGE issue, and there is proof that losing just 5% of your customer base (a majority of which is due to bad customer service) can affect your profit margin anywhere from 30-90%. If she were smart, she would realize outsourcing tech support is a dumb idea, as in the long run you just have a bunch of pissed off customers.
Secondly, Joe Technical Problem three years down the line probably won't be able to afford the new latest and greatest model, because he was doing fine as an engineer before they outsourced his job to Bangalore so Carly's share in some other company she's in bed with goes up a tenth of a point.
You ain't kidding. The ads on gamespy are definently an eyesore. I don't even go there anymore, it's so hard to actually find a review through all the awful advertising crap.
"Oh look, new Mario game on...*click*...damn I thought I saw something under that translucent army ad that has no X to close...ahh there *click*...now if I can only *click* get these *click* mother*click*ing pages *click* to come up."
Come to think of it, it's like it's own video game experience. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to click through all the crap and try to find a worthwhile article."
And no, there's no fscking way I'm payin 15 dollars a year. Maybe 3-5 bucks, but not 15.
It's sort of ironic that Dell has any part in a conference on emerging technologies, because what Dell specializes in is supply infrastructure. They don't have nearly as many patents as IBM or HP but they are VERY VERY good at getting things to their customers and keeping their customers happy. In other words, they create extremely efficient processes and have outlasted other PCs because they understand the commodities market. Why Dell is considered a major player makes little sense.
A better way to buy, sell, and trade your games.
Good ol' Ms. Pac Man.
:)
No matter where I go, if there's a Ms. Pac Man I am somehow compelled to play it. I need to get one for my home.
I'd be surprised if Enlightenment ever hits .20.
Ahh, tintin. Who can forget the years and years of MUD-based carnage done with tintin, or its later predecessor, tintin++.
Spielberg could not do such text adventure justice.
I can only imagine such a script:
# T I N T I N + + v1.5pl9 FINAL
# (T)he k(I)cki(N) (T)ickin d(I)kumud clie(N)t
# a DIKU-mud client
#
> #se 1 generic.dikumud.com 9999
FADE IN: Gorath
password: *********
> You are in a dark alley. Two muggers are here, their knives flashing at you. An exit lies north.
#alias {runaway} {n;n;n;n;n;n;n;n;};runaway
You run like a little girl for the exit. They block you.
#read ItsWeaponTime;weaponsup
#OK. 43 ALIASES LOADED.
#OK. 2 ACTIONS LOADED.
#OK. 0 ANTISUBS LOADED.
#OK. 10 SUBSTITUTES LOADED.
#OK. 13 VARIABLES LOADED.
#OK. 45 HIGHLIGHTS LOADED.
You load the uzi.
You load the minigun.
You wield the Hammer of Thor.
You load the rocket launcher.
You wield the rocket launcher. Mugger #1 begins to piss his pants.
shoot;shoot
You aim for Mugger #1.
You fire. Direct hit. Body parts ooze off the wall.
You aim for Mugger #2.
You fire. Direct hit. A blackened spot is all that remains of Mugger #2. You are victorious. But Steven Spielberg shows up with a flak cannon. He aims for your heart.
look
You cannot look when you're dead.
#end
TINTIN suffers from bloodlack, and the lack of a beating heart...
TINTIN is dead! R.I.P.
Your blood freezes as you hear TINTIN's death cry.
% sniff
Good thing I chose hax0redbyme as my original password. Ahh, the 1337 L1phs7y13.
"Consider a compact 3-dimensional manifold V without boundary. Is it possible that the fundamental group of V could be trivial, even though V is not homeomorphic to the 3-dimensional sphere?"
What he's saying is, the...er...well, he means that the, uh...
I fucking HATE french people.
You couldn't write that book or memorize everything in it, because the possible moves that black can make are way above a million after say, four or five rounds. Good luck memorizing 10^28 possible responses (and no, I don't know how many combinations there are, suffice to say it's very high)
Now a computer might be able to eventually play the perfect chess game, having pre-computed all possible responses for every move. But for now computers aren't smart enough. Which is why humans can still beat (or at least draw) even the best computers.
If that does ever happen, if computers become too powerful, then champs of the world might just move on to a new game, like Go, which few AI play well.
Now all I need is a fibre optic network at home and a nuclear bomb wired to my brainwaves and I'm all set.
There are some inherent problems with this. A good story gets changed a million ways from sunday; blogs can be edited, but in keeping a viewership interested on a daily basis, you might find your viewership getting tired of having to read the retread story.
Weblogs in themselves are interesting, and journals are useful for novel creation, but I don't see this as an extremely useful or profitable enterprise. If you're Asimov, and can write as much crap as you want w/o having to re-edit your work, as I've seen him claim (either Asimov or Piers Anthony; neither would surprise me), then it might be an interesting venture. But if you're like most people, a novel requires a lot of thought and a lot more editing, and a daily weblog may not be the best way to go about it, unless you want feedback.