If you don't like it, then quit yer bitching and move on.
I guess I'm one of the morons who would consider buying this. Why? Because I want a small, simple computer that I can move around easily if I need to.
Right now i have a 14" Dell notebook. LOVE IT. Use it on the kitchen table, use it on the coffee table, put it on my lap when i'm in bed, etc etc. One self contained little unit that folds in half to close and to move it all i need to do is plug it in. What do you do with your desktop? You go to where the computer is. What do i do? I just put the computer where I want it and use it. Wireless networking. Life is sweet:)
Now lets look at the desktop example. Monitor. Mouse. Keyboard. Speakers. Computer Box (which are ALL wayyyyy too big. I don't need expandability - I don't need 5 PCI cards. I need the ability to add memory - period. When the graphics are out of date I'll replace the whole thing. With hard drives already topping 160GB, the last thing i need is 4 drive bays.). Plus millions and millions of cables.
The modern PC is really a silly, badly designed, convoluted tech nightmare.
This is the first laptop i've ever owned, and I don't see myself buying a real desktop system ever again. This is way too convenient.
If i was looking for something VERY portable - then yeah 16" is a bit of overkill... but there are lots of options out there. What I want is something simple, convenient that CAN be portable if I need it to be. This fits the bill perfectly.
nah - wish i could agree with ya, but don't see it happening. TS2 quality was in the order of a GIG of data to crunch for the average frame........ not even talking about the really killer frames, plus loading textures, yadda yadda yadda.
It's coming, but having a card that can swallow that kind of BW and not burst into flames is still a ways off.
But when it arrives i'll be the first person in line:)
Nobody is going to drop PRman for Cg anytime soon. Why? Because they have two different target markets and address two different needs.
Talk to somebody like ILM or PIXAR thats doing renderings that take 70 hours a frame (like some of the frames for Toy Story II did) and talk about real time cards. They have a good laugh and say "go away kid".
Can these cards handle anti-aliasing like RM can? No. Can these cards handle DOF like RM can? No. Can these cards to programmable shading like RM can? No.
These cards are designed to do graphics real time with the best quality they can squeeze out while still hitting their timing targets. RM is meant to get the best possible quality - and who cares about time?
This is a silly pointless discussion. Yes, in 10 or 20 years maybe the hardware will be there, but it isn't now and you sound silly making speculations like these.
>>That's too bad. It would have been a great >>ending for the second movie to think that Frodo >>had been killed,
Jacksons whole argument was that if he left Shelob in TTowers, that doesn't leave much for sam and frodo to do in the final movie except for the conclusion. He's just trying to juggle things to even out the allocation of labor among the characters:)
Jackson has already commented that he's moving some stuff between books for pacing and other issues. E.g. Shelob will not be in TT, but in the last picture.
If you've ever used XP things are pretty damn simple. Go to a site that uses java.... up pops a window saying "you need a java VM - wanna download one?" Say yes --- it's downloaded from MS and life goes on. Same thing with flash or a bazillion other plugins.
Java was never 'blocked' or 'disabled'. They just didn't ship it on the CD's.
Christ -- don't we have anything REALLY important to report on?
>>I predict they will do this with Maya as well, >>and if things go well, possibly Softimage.
I predict you're wrong.
First, 'MAYA' is not a company. It's put out by Alias|Wavefront. And A|W is not standalone.... it's part of SGI. SGI has made it quite clear they have no intention of selling A|W.... it's one of the few parts of SGI that isn't dying.
Second, 'SOFTIMAGE' is not a company. It is part of AVID. And the LAST thing AVID would do would be to give that up SOFTIMAGE. SoftXSI is selling very well, and DS is the only HDTV real time editing system that AVID has.
Apple may want to buy these, but they aren't selling. To do so would be suicide.
don't be a jackass. The GPL is viral. Thats the whole point of the GPL. Microsoft says thats a negative. Stallman says it's a positive. That doesn't change the fast that by its very nature it is viral.
If you incorporate any GPL code into your code the GPL takes over. That fits my definition of viral.
Seriously - we could all have home videophones now if we wanted, and we don't. Videoconferencing is available, and use useful in some situations, but i think by now it's been shown that the general public could care less about videophones. I know I do... When I'm on the phone the LAST thing i want is the other person to be able to see what i'm doing. Don't know about u, but when i'm on the phone about 10% of my attention is directed to the call and the rest is elsewhere. Not to mention i'm probably in my underwear:)
Popular Science has been promising us videophones for 50 years. And still nobody cares. 3G needs to find a different killer app.
>>The new animated film "Spirit: Stallion of the >>Cimmaron" was both created on Linux >>workstations and rendered on Linux.
Don't believe everything you read on Slashdot.
Asked a friend of mine at Dreamworks about this. He said as far as he knew, "not a single pixel from 'Spirit' was produced using linux. It was all done using their IRIX machines that they have from their previous features. The NEXT feature currently in production is being done on linux".
>>The only question I have is if OLED screen are >>meant to be so much better and cheaper to >>produce, in comparison to regular flat screens, >>why aren't we seeing them entering the market >>place?
Who's been filling your head with such lies????:)
Everything i've always read is that people *hope* in the *future* that OLED screens will be better and cheaper than LCD's. Can u even buy an OLED screen for desktop use from anybody? I've never seen one. The only place i've seen oled's being used is in cell phone displays -- and only monochrome ones.
Problem with OLED's is that nobody has solved the lifetime problem with them yet. Red oled's are good for life in the 10,000-100,000 hour range. Green is in the thousands of hours, and blue only in the hundreds. Would u like to have to replace your screen on a monthly basis? Unlikely. OLED's are coming, but they ain't there yet....
>>Suggesting the users won't know they're beta >>testing, performing a service for Tivo? Can I >>get beta testers like that? They'd be much less >>uppity.
I wouldn't really call it 'beta'... this is how TiVO has been staggering all their releases. Finish the beta program, then randomly give it to SOME customers.... See if there is anything horrible that went wrong that you missed, and guage how many support calls you get from that sample. From that point you start the main rollout. Seems a bit more responsible to me than just tossing it over the fence and hoping for the best:) Also keeps the on-hold times for people that need support reasonable.
>>So what exactly am I paying $9.95 a month for? >>I could understand the charge before because >>they had to pay for their 800 number, but now >>why should I pay for service when the box can >>do everything itself?
were you operating under the belief that cable services are free? Whoever the cable operator is will sure as hell charge TIVO for the bandwidth they use. Plus you're paying for the program guide information.
Please explain how burning hydrogen is substantially worse than burning hydrocarbons for using up oxygen. You HAVE been thru a high school chemistry course, no?
Burning Hydrogen: H2 + O2 --> H20
Burning Hydrocarbons: CxHy + O2 --> CO2 + H20
(and no i don't feel like balancing the equations)
When i saw this article, I immediately wrote a note to BB letting them know that they had just lost my business (along with anybody else I could convince) until they decided to stop treating their customers like criminals. Here's the reply I got:
"Thank you for contacting Best Buy about copy protected CDs. I'm Val with Customer Care.
We apologize for any disappointment caused by copy protection. Copy protection is a decision made by the label to protect them and their artists from copyright violation. We encourage you to contact the label directly if you would like to offer opinions about this practice.
Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.
Best wishes from Best Buy, Val and the Customer Care Team
TRACKING NUMBER: A00000970333-00003433404 "
BLAH BLAH BLAH. Decision 'by the labels' huh? It's very different if the labels are trying to push it vs. the labels pushing it AND you helping them. Sorry BB, you've sunk even lower....
>>Right now, the record company gets $10 from you >>even though you only want one song. If they >>move to your model, they get only $2 from you >>and still have to subsidize the same volume of >>risk
Funny - i used to remember buying 45 vinyl singles all the time and the record companies were never crying poor.....
Thing is - they've gotten gready. You're exactly right - they want me to suck down $20 for a CD when I only want one song because they won't make as much if I can buy a single for $2.
Booo-fucking-hoo.
Guess what? I'm STILL not buying the CD. Now I'd grabbing the song I want off the net and they get NOTHING.
This isn't about me not wanting to pay for music, it's about me not wanting to be taken advantage of and pay for crap I don't want (please explain why this isn't 'bundling' like the anti-Microsoftites cry and moan about).
Maybe one day they'll wake up, but I'm not betting on it. Instead of giving customers the options that they want, and getting some cash, they're trying to force the issue and getting a backlash instead. They really need to realize that music is a luxury, not a necessity. I'm more than happy to spend cash to get the music that I want, but if you try to screw me (which they are absolutely) instead i'm going to go out of my way to make sure you get nothing from me.
Re:Wireless Monitor? Not happening...
on
Wireless Monitors?
·
· Score: 2
>>It's certainly possible, but the amount of RF >>bandwidth and/or power required to do it would >>either kill you, cook your intestines or give >>you a nice bout of cancer, depending on how you >>implement it.
Ummmmmmm. ok - i'll bite.......
then how is DirectTV beaming 200 channels completely across north america without frying the entire population.....? How are the reglar TV stations in my area transmitting dozens of channels without killing me.
And i'd guess the power requirements for a 'wireless monitor' with a range of 50-100 feet would be a LOT less than a satellite 23,000 miles away (!) that has to deal with the atmosphere, rain fade, etc etc etc.
I know that this thing isn't a *real* wireless monitor (good job editors), but I have to question the statement that a real one would kill me when there are tons of RF transmissions around me every second pumping thru even more bandwidth.
Re:oh, my first chance at seeing the dumb Katz
on
Review: Panic Room
·
· Score: 2
AH - ok. The exploding kitchen was done by Buf as well.
And i've seen the DVD commentary, and none of the IKEA stuff is CGI other than the product captions - I'll bet you $100:) It's all progressive motion control passes.
Slashdot Mirror
If you don't like it, then quit yer bitching and move on.
:)
I guess I'm one of the morons who would consider buying this. Why? Because I want a small, simple computer that I can move around easily if I need to.
Right now i have a 14" Dell notebook. LOVE IT. Use it on the kitchen table, use it on the coffee table, put it on my lap when i'm in bed, etc etc. One self contained little unit that folds in half to close and to move it all i need to do is plug it in. What do you do with your desktop? You go to where the computer is. What do i do? I just put the computer where I want it and use it. Wireless networking. Life is sweet
Now lets look at the desktop example. Monitor. Mouse. Keyboard. Speakers. Computer Box (which are ALL wayyyyy too big. I don't need expandability - I don't need 5 PCI cards. I need the ability to add memory - period. When the graphics are out of date I'll replace the whole thing. With hard drives already topping 160GB, the last thing i need is 4 drive bays.). Plus millions and millions of cables.
The modern PC is really a silly, badly designed, convoluted tech nightmare.
This is the first laptop i've ever owned, and I don't see myself buying a real desktop system ever again. This is way too convenient.
If i was looking for something VERY portable - then yeah 16" is a bit of overkill... but there are lots of options out there. What I want is something simple, convenient that CAN be portable if I need it to be. This fits the bill perfectly.
nah - wish i could agree with ya, but don't see it happening. TS2 quality was in the order of a GIG of data to crunch for the average frame........ not even talking about the really killer frames, plus loading textures, yadda yadda yadda.
:)
It's coming, but having a card that can swallow that kind of BW and not burst into flames is still a ways off.
But when it arrives i'll be the first person in line
Is it a slow news day or what???
In a nutshell, this topic makes zero sense.
Nobody is going to drop PRman for Cg anytime soon. Why? Because they have two different target markets and address two different needs.
Talk to somebody like ILM or PIXAR thats doing renderings that take 70 hours a frame (like some of the frames for Toy Story II did) and talk about real time cards. They have a good laugh and say "go away kid".
Can these cards handle anti-aliasing like RM can? No.
Can these cards handle DOF like RM can? No.
Can these cards to programmable shading like RM can? No.
These cards are designed to do graphics real time with the best quality they can squeeze out while still hitting their timing targets. RM is meant to get the best possible quality - and who cares about time?
This is a silly pointless discussion. Yes, in 10 or 20 years maybe the hardware will be there, but it isn't now and you sound silly making speculations like these.
>>That's too bad. It would have been a great
:)
>>ending for the second movie to think that Frodo >>had been killed,
Jacksons whole argument was that if he left Shelob in TTowers, that doesn't leave much for sam and frodo to do in the final movie except for the conclusion. He's just trying to juggle things to even out the allocation of labor among the characters
Jackson has already commented that he's moving some stuff between books for pacing and other issues. E.g. Shelob will not be in TT, but in the last picture.
I'm sure i'll get modded down, but whatever.
.... up pops a window saying "you need a java VM - wanna download one?" Say yes --- it's downloaded from MS and life goes on. Same thing with flash or a bazillion other plugins.
If you've ever used XP things are pretty damn simple. Go to a site that uses java
Java was never 'blocked' or 'disabled'. They just didn't ship it on the CD's.
Christ -- don't we have anything REALLY important to report on?
Apple is being smart. A LOT of people out there were looking to Rayz as a Shake replacement now that NothingReal went to the dark side.
With Shake gone...... well if you want to work in compositing u need to start evaluting Discreet, or budget for some fruit colored plastic computers.
>>I predict they will do this with Maya as well, >>and if things go well, possibly Softimage.
I predict you're wrong.
First, 'MAYA' is not a company. It's put out by Alias|Wavefront. And A|W is not standalone.... it's part of SGI. SGI has made it quite clear they have no intention of selling A|W.... it's one of the few parts of SGI that isn't dying.
Second, 'SOFTIMAGE' is not a company. It is part of AVID. And the LAST thing AVID would do would be to give that up SOFTIMAGE. SoftXSI is selling very well, and DS is the only HDTV real time editing system that AVID has.
Apple may want to buy these, but they aren't selling. To do so would be suicide.
>>what is the motivation for film companies to provide widespread support for another format?
you can't stuff a HDTV movie onto a DVD.
thanks for the laugh. i needed that.
Isn't anybody going to comment on it. DARPA has been getting their ass kicked because of it....
I'm the last person to be offended, but even i think i'd in poor taste.
>>FMD can store about a terrabyte.
yup. and the amiga is making a comeback too....
There is hereby officially a moratorium on any discussion of FMD or "Constellation 3D" until they can actually publically display a working product.
We've been hearing about this vapor for years. Look up vaporware in the dictionary and it says "See FMD".
>>agreed with Microsoft that the gpl was VIRAL!
don't be a jackass. The GPL is viral. Thats the whole point of the GPL. Microsoft says thats a negative. Stallman says it's a positive. That doesn't change the fast that by its very nature it is viral.
If you incorporate any GPL code into your code the GPL takes over. That fits my definition of viral.
>>In Japan, video phones are available.
:)
sure - but does anybody really give a rats ass?
Seriously - we could all have home videophones now if we wanted, and we don't. Videoconferencing is available, and use useful in some situations, but i think by now it's been shown that the general public could care less about videophones. I know I do... When I'm on the phone the LAST thing i want is the other person to be able to see what i'm doing. Don't know about u, but when i'm on the phone about 10% of my attention is directed to the call and the rest is elsewhere. Not to mention i'm probably in my underwear
Popular Science has been promising us videophones for 50 years. And still nobody cares. 3G needs to find a different killer app.
>>Last I checked there's not a huge abundancy of
:) Almost ALL high end animation production software is on linux now.
>>high-end digital animation production software
>>floating around for Linux
Top of My Head:
Maya, Softimage|3D & XSI, Houdini.
Those ARE the high-end of 3D animation software.
Plus prman, Entropy, Shake, Animo, Toon-Boom, etc etc etc. yadda yadda
Try checking again...
(yeah, Lightwave and 3DMax aren't, but I wouldn't consider those high-end).
>>The new animated film "Spirit: Stallion of the >>Cimmaron" was both created on Linux
>>workstations and rendered on Linux.
Don't believe everything you read on Slashdot.
Asked a friend of mine at Dreamworks about this. He said as far as he knew, "not a single pixel from 'Spirit' was produced using linux. It was all done using their IRIX machines that they have from their previous features. The NEXT feature currently in production is being done on linux".
>>The only question I have is if OLED screen are
:)
>>meant to be so much better and cheaper to
>>produce, in comparison to regular flat screens,
>>why aren't we seeing them entering the market
>>place?
Who's been filling your head with such lies????
Everything i've always read is that people *hope* in the *future* that OLED screens will be better and cheaper than LCD's. Can u even buy an OLED screen for desktop use from anybody? I've never seen one. The only place i've seen oled's being used is in cell phone displays -- and only monochrome ones.
Problem with OLED's is that nobody has solved the lifetime problem with them yet. Red oled's are good for life in the 10,000-100,000 hour range. Green is in the thousands of hours, and blue only in the hundreds. Would u like to have to replace your screen on a monthly basis? Unlikely. OLED's are coming, but they ain't there yet....
>>Suggesting the users won't know they're beta
:) Also keeps the on-hold times for people that need support reasonable.
>>testing, performing a service for Tivo? Can I
>>get beta testers like that? They'd be much less
>>uppity.
I wouldn't really call it 'beta'... this is how TiVO has been staggering all their releases. Finish the beta program, then randomly give it to SOME customers.... See if there is anything horrible that went wrong that you missed, and guage how many support calls you get from that sample. From that point you start the main rollout. Seems a bit more responsible to me than just tossing it over the fence and hoping for the best
>>So what exactly am I paying $9.95 a month for? >>I could understand the charge before because >>they had to pay for their 800 number, but now >>why should I pay for service when the box can
>>do everything itself?
were you operating under the belief that cable services are free? Whoever the cable operator is will sure as hell charge TIVO for the bandwidth they use. Plus you're paying for the program guide information.
This is moderated to a 4?????
Please explain how burning hydrogen is substantially worse than burning hydrocarbons for using up oxygen. You HAVE been thru a high school chemistry course, no?
Burning Hydrogen:
H2 + O2 --> H20
Burning Hydrocarbons:
CxHy + O2 --> CO2 + H20
(and no i don't feel like balancing the equations)
When i saw this article, I immediately wrote a note to BB letting them know that they had just lost my business (along with anybody else I could convince) until they decided to stop treating their customers like criminals. Here's the reply I got:
"Thank you for contacting Best Buy about copy protected CDs. I'm Val with
Customer Care.
We apologize for any disappointment caused by copy protection. Copy
protection is a decision made by the label to protect them and their artists
from copyright violation. We encourage you to contact the label directly if
you would like to offer opinions about this practice.
Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please don't hesitate to
contact us with any questions or concerns.
Best wishes from Best Buy,
Val and the Customer Care Team
TRACKING NUMBER: A00000970333-00003433404
"
BLAH BLAH BLAH. Decision 'by the labels' huh? It's very different if the labels are trying to push it vs. the labels pushing it AND you helping them. Sorry BB, you've sunk even lower....
Don't just boycott the bastards.... take 2 minutes and go to their website and give them a note telling them you're no longer a customer.... AND WHY.
It'll make much more of an impact.
>>Right now, the record company gets $10 from you
>>even though you only want one song. If they
>>move to your model, they get only $2 from you
>>and still have to subsidize the same volume of >>risk
Funny - i used to remember buying 45 vinyl singles all the time and the record companies were never crying poor.....
Thing is - they've gotten gready. You're exactly right - they want me to suck down $20 for a CD when I only want one song because they won't make as much if I can buy a single for $2.
Booo-fucking-hoo.
Guess what? I'm STILL not buying the CD. Now I'd grabbing the song I want off the net and they get NOTHING.
This isn't about me not wanting to pay for music, it's about me not wanting to be taken advantage of and pay for crap I don't want (please explain why this isn't 'bundling' like the anti-Microsoftites cry and moan about).
Maybe one day they'll wake up, but I'm not betting on it. Instead of giving customers the options that they want, and getting some cash, they're trying to force the issue and getting a backlash instead. They really need to realize that music is a luxury, not a necessity. I'm more than happy to spend cash to get the music that I want, but if you try to screw me (which they are absolutely) instead i'm going to go out of my way to make sure you get nothing from me.
>>It's certainly possible, but the amount of RF
>>bandwidth and/or power required to do it would >>either kill you, cook your intestines or give
>>you a nice bout of cancer, depending on how you
>>implement it.
Ummmmmmm. ok - i'll bite.......
then how is DirectTV beaming 200 channels completely across north america without frying the entire population.....? How are the reglar TV stations in my area transmitting dozens of channels without killing me.
And i'd guess the power requirements for a 'wireless monitor' with a range of 50-100 feet would be a LOT less than a satellite 23,000 miles away (!) that has to deal with the atmosphere, rain fade, etc etc etc.
I know that this thing isn't a *real* wireless monitor (good job editors), but I have to question the statement that a real one would kill me when there are tons of RF transmissions around me every second pumping thru even more bandwidth.
AH - ok. The exploding kitchen was done by Buf as well.
:) It's all progressive motion control passes.
And i've seen the DVD commentary, and none of the IKEA stuff is CGI other than the product captions - I'll bet you $100