The problem is that there's no learning path. You have to spend many hours before you can even start typing. I think you can do far better than standard phones while still offering a clear learning path that requires no initial training.
How about this: the right eight keys are each labeled with four characters in four colors, for 32 possible characters. The left four keys are the colors and select which character you will get with the right keys (a colored cursor and sound feedback could reinforce the concepts, and perhaps shapes could also be associated with the colored buttons). You can type any character in two strokes and no pauses, yet anyone can pick up the phone and start typing right away, with at most a five second explanation. The downside is that the phone would probably still have to have the standard labels in addition to the colored ones because of numbers that are given as words. That could potentially be confusing. But it would certainly be a faster way to type than the traditional tap and wait, especially if you use two thumbs (you could work up a nice rhythm).
Nah, you can get a 2-phone plan for 49.99 and unlimited VOIP for 19.99 (not from skype). At least you could when I came up with this idea six months before Cringley (actually inspired by one of his articles though. Also, turns out other people had the idea too). Truly unlimited domestic minutes along with super-low VOIP rates on international cell-phone calls could actually be worth $70 for really heavy users (big plans can get up in the $100s, plus international charges on top). Also, you might be able to save more by going for a family plan with more phones. You could do two people with four phones, or three people with six. I wouldn't want to be the guy setting up the PBX, though.
Bah, this isn't very interesting. ATMs already have privacy screens which appear black from the side. Fake screens would be more likely to confuse customers than crooks, plus the screens in the article aren't useful for applications requiring privacy; moving your head a few inches to the side will reveal the other image no matter where you're standing.
It's not like this guy invented the technology anyway. These screens are intended for use as true autostereoscopic 3D displays (natural 3D without glasses, like a hologram). They are much, much cooler when put to this use. You can buy a 3D-display laptop from Sharp that gives a pretty neat effect, and I've seen a lenticular plasma display that was really awesome under the right viewing conditions (it could actually display 7 distinct images at once, so you could "walk around" the displayed image a bit by moving your head from side to side). I guarantee that an autostereoscopic 3D display is going to attract more attention than one simply displaying different images from different angles.
Unfortunately, those lenticular screens cut your resolution and brightness in half or worse, with some bleed-through from the other pictures, not to mention the screen-door lines effect. Usually, the optimum viewing range is quite narrow, requiring you to be a certain distance away and near the center of the display. A room with controlled lighting is also necessary due to the brightness problems.
It's also a rank in the Coast Guard. However the point is moot, because after they invent 7-foot-tall genetically-engineered cybernetic supersoldiers in energy-shielded battle suits made of technology left behind by a long-lost ancient alien civilization, I imagine they will get their own rank. (Q: What rank do you give a Spartan? A: Whichever one he wants.)
Are there special tools out there for this? Once I was trying to hack a game binary (Return Fire) to remove some stupid version tests that prevented it from running on newer Windows versions, even though it was compatible. Trying to use the visual studio debugger for this was less than ideal, and I figured the people who do this a lot must have some better tools.
That would be true if the studios had come to Microsoft with visions of dollar bills dancing in their heads. But Microsoft came with the story and pitched it to studios. If anyone has a vested interest in the movie being decent, it's Microsoft. They are grooming Halo to be their flagship franchise in all media, and a terrible movie could hurt Halo irreperably in the minds of its biggest fans.
I just hope it's a little better than Halo 2's story, which frankly, I found overdramatized and a little too full of itself. Having a real screenwriter and a real director could fix that.
As opposed to him clamming up and refusing to comment, because he doesn't like the script but he can't say that publicly or MS would fire him. If he didn't like it, he wouldn't have claimed to.
There's nothing inherent to movies based on video game worlds that makes them stink. Movies based on the exact same stories and characters as video games tend to suck, but nothing says the Halo movie has to be locked looking over the Master Chief's shoulder as he plows through sequential strangely-architected rooms full of Covenant troops while wielding SMGs akimbo and getting advice from Cortana.
For example, the Halo world has a lot of possibilities for telling interesting stories about AI constructs. The Halo movie could go back to a more Marathon-like story, where the AIs have a much larger role than "disembodied hint voice". In fact, the movie could be the "missing link" between Marathon and Halo, tying the stories together. The I Love Bees thing also had some characters who could be interesting subjects for a movie. And the novels are out there too, though I haven't read them so I can't comment on their quality.
Well, at least the script they're starting with is completely approved by Bungie. Here's what Frankie (of bungie.net "weekly what's update" fame) has to say about it:
Moviegoers ask,
Have you read the Halo movie script?
I've read an early draft of the script, and it rules. I heart Alex Garland's stuff anyway, from The Tesseract to 28 Days Later. Garland also wrote the script for an upcoming Sci-Fi flick, Sunshine, which you can read more about here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/
Best thing about Alex, apart from his ability to type awesomeness, is that he's actually a Halo fan, and he really, really gets it.
So they've got a script written by a Halo fan who also happens to be an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter, and Bungie likes it. Sounds like they could be on the right track. I'm not familiar with Alex Garland's work myself.
Does the audience know? If nobody told you, and you watched the episodes from I to VI, would you catch on at the beginning of IV that Luke was one of the children at the end of III? You might make an educated guess (I guess the heroic musical theme might give it away), but it wouldn't even have any real evidence until Luke turns out to be strong in the Force, and you couldn't be certain until the famous revelation. You might even guess Han at first (wouldn't that be weird!).
As I said, the stakes are higher for PS3. If you broke PS2 Linux's restrictions, nobody would care. PS2s are slow, with little RAM, and the hard drive doesn't even work with new PS2s. Back when PS2s were actually decent computers, the hard drive wasn't available.
I am skeptical that Sony's Linux sandbox will stand up to the concerted efforts of hackers the world over. This could be the most prestigious hack yet in the history of console hacks. I don't know of *any* security system in a consumer product that has *ever* stood up to that kind of hacking power.
I think the HDD will become popular because I think Sony will be releasing PVR/media center functionality with it, and generally making a HD-equipped PS3 useful for things other than games. Also I think online games will start requiring it for patches and user content.
I think Kutaragi's comment should be taken as "we can't afford to include a big enough hard drive", not "we can't get a big enough hard drive to put in it". Sure, they *could* include a 200 GB HDD, but it would price the console way out of the market. It's already going to be too expensive. If they include a 20 GB HDD, it would be practically worthless as a PVR, especially for HD. If they sell the HDD later they can hide the cost from consumers at first, then rake in profit in a year or so when everybody realizes they want one. If Sony makes it a priority, they can make the hard drive extremely desirable (forcing popular games to require the HDD, providing PVR, digital photo/music storage, downloadable games, etc).
I think there are two factors that will make PS3 Linux a different situation than PS2 Linux. Firstly, it is possible that the hard drive will become a very popular and widespread peripheral, unlike the PS2 hard drive. This means that many people will be able to run Linux. Secondly, most PS3s will be networked. This means it will be possible to move code around trivially, without needing slow and clunky Flash memory or a modchip.
With so many people able to run PS3 Linux, the stakes for breaking whatever protections Sony imposes will be much higher. I wouldn't be surprised if 6 months after PS3's release Linux has broken out of whatever sandbox Sony puts it in with a purely software hack. With the ease of transferring code to your PS3 over the network, this hack could easily reach a wide audience. The only problem is that software updates from Sony's online services might hunt down and destroy unauthorized Linux, and newer hardware revisions might close the security holes Linux would use.
Perhaps it will. Sony's official development kit actually is based on OpenGL. A derivitive of NVidia's chip will likely be used in their next PC graphics cards, meaning that Linux will have a driver that just might be hacked to work. PS3 Linux is likely to be restricted from using the graphics card, but those restrictions may be broken.
Also, a version of Mesa running completely in software, optimized for Cell, might actually be pretty awesome. Graphics rendering is probably an ideal task for Cell's SPEs. I'd be willing to bet that it would give high-end graphics cards from two or three years ago a run for their money.
That's IBM's domain. Sony doesn't own Cell. I'm not sure what agreements they do have with IBM, but I'm sure IBM stands to make a lot more profit than Sony if Cell takes off as a general purpose chip.
That's because nobody else had the Linux kit. Everybody who has a PS3 hard drive will have Linux. Of course, the Linux games won't hold a candle to the official licensed PS3 games. But you'll be able to play tons of silly little arcade games, solitaire, Frozen Bubble, things like that. At the very least, all the games you can play on Linux now. The concept of mainstream users playing a non-officially-licensed game on a PS3 is quite novel.
What are you talking about? This is very surprising. It doesn't have to come with a PC OS at all. Listen to this quote: "It will become completely open if we equip it with Linux, and programmers will be able to do anything with it." This is a total about-face from the normal attitude console makers have, which is "we control the hardware, we control the software, and you can't do anything we don't like with it or we'll sue you."
Of course, no matter what exact words are coming out of Kutaragi's mouth, I'm sure what he *really* means is closer to the second statement. But it's interesting that they are trying to position the PS3 as a real computer, not just a game console. If they really do equip it with Linux and provide dev tools, they won't be able to control the resulting flood of hacks, emulators, media center applications, indie games, and the like.
What A9 has is almost that, have you tried it? For major roads, you can walk up and down the street viewing pictures of each side of the road. Great for locating landmarks and/or finding out exactly where that store is so you don't miss it driving past.
It's taboo because the differences, if they do exist (which is likely, I admit), are minor enough that they are far overwhelmed by variation in individuals. Pointing out the very slight differences usually does not serve any useful purpose and will only inflame racial discrimination. If people weren't so stupid when it comes to race, then it wouldn't be a problem. But for some reason stupidity becomes rampant when race is an issue. For that reason, it's better to leave it alone.
I mean, if I let you get to areas that aren't important for gameplay, then I need to populate them with content.
He's not saying we need to remove all barriers, obviously barriers need to exist. He's just saying that we need to make the barriers believable and less obviously arbitrary. Invisible walls and unjumpable fences just don't cut it.
As an example, I've been playing God of War lately, and at times it feels more like Starfox than a fighting game; you're pretty much on rails, with invisible walls surrounding you on all sides. The levels are set outside in dramatic, exaggerated fantasy settings. But for gameplay purposes you might as well be playing inside a series of prison cells. Every cliff has an invisible wall 2 feet in front of it. The environments, though designed with fantastic and varied imagery, soon start to all look the same because they basically *are* the same, as far as gameplay is concerned.
If, for example, you could actually run up to the edge of the ubiquitous cliffs (instead of being blocked by an invisible wall 2 feet away), and the main character reacted by screeching to a halt and windmilling his arms (instead of adopting the ridiculous "i'm frozen in the middle of my walk animation because I've hit an invisible wall" pose), that would address his complaint and make for a more immersive game. Also throwing enemies off cliffs would be nice too. You don't have to be able to run off the cliff and kill yourself to have it affect gameplay.
Similarly, removing invisible walls or unjumpable fences doesn't mean you have to let people wander anywhere they like all the time. Just use some mechanism other than invisible walls to stop them. Give them dialogue hints ("hmm, I think we should go the other way"), map indicators, and realistic obstacles. If that fails, then at least the player knows they're on the wrong track. Players who ignore the hints will probably be the ones who are just trying to break the game. For those players, you can turn them back forcefully by taking control (as in Starfox 64, where a U-turn happens automatically), or simply fade to black and return the player to a few seconds before so they can correct their mistake. All of these options hurt immersion less than a typical invisible wall.
Re:I can vouch for the MX1000
on
Top Mice Compared
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Some surfaces that would trip up a normal optical mouse work with the MX 1000; however the reverse is also true (Logitech's marketing somehow fails to mention this). In fact, I'd say the MX 1000 is more picky than a normal optical mouse. The performance degrades slowly, so you may be able to use the mouse anyway, but the low precision will annoy you and make it impossible to move the mouse at high speed unless you get a better mousing surface. However, with the right surface, the MX 1000 does have great precision and can track accurately even while moving at high speed.
For example, I had a cheap cloth-topped mousepad that worked great with my Intellimouse, but the MX 1000 was extremely imprecise on it. The MX 1000 works best on surfaces that are a little bit shiny with a little bit of irregular surface roughness, like textured plastic or some wood surfaces. Cloth mousepads probably will not work well, because they are not reflective at all and the weave of the cloth has a repeating pattern. Some bare desk tops work great as a mousing surface for the MX 1000, but some don't. If you have one that doesn't, get one of those cheap mousepads with a surface of clear textured plastic and a picture underneath.
In short, don't buy the MX 1000 because Logitech says it will work on more surfaces than a normal mouse (it works on *different* surfaces, but not *more* surfaces). Also don't buy it if you value a very light mouse; due to the battery this mouse is a lot heavier than wired optical mice. For that reason alone I almost went back to my Intellimouse. Instead, buy it because you want a wireless mouse with an *extremely* long-lasting internal rechargable battery, and a very low latency wireless connection (I'm very sensitive to mouse latency and can't stand to use some wireless mice, and even some wired ones, but the MX 1000 is just fine).
The stupid Slashdot editors changed the story without marking it as "Updated" or changing the timestamp. You can tell because if you actually read the first few comments you'll notice they're talking about a (useless) Wikipedia article, which is what that link in the article originally went to. Apparently Hemos decided that my link was better, but couldn't be bothered to type the words "Update: a link that's actually useful has been found by a Slashdot reader".
That belief appears to be old and busted. The new hotness is that Voyager 1 has recently passed through the termination shock into a new region called the "heliosheath". Here's more info, pictures, and even movies, straight from the source (a much, much better link than the article provided).
Definitely. The Darth Maul battle still stands as the best lighsaber duel. In these fights the cuts are too fast, the shots are too tight, there's too much moving clutter in the background, and the shot-to-shot consistency isn't always there. I think it's all trying to hide the fact that the actors are not very good swordsmen. The guy who played Darth Maul was picked specifically as a good martial artist, and it showed. Christopher Lee and Ian McDiarmid are not very acrobatic. Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen are better, but still not professional martial artists.
At least the battles are better than the Darth Vader/Obi-Wan battle in Episode IV. If you go back and watch it now, it's almost laughable how slow and simple it was in comparison. Darth Vader can barely move in that suit!
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How about this: the right eight keys are each labeled with four characters in four colors, for 32 possible characters. The left four keys are the colors and select which character you will get with the right keys (a colored cursor and sound feedback could reinforce the concepts, and perhaps shapes could also be associated with the colored buttons). You can type any character in two strokes and no pauses, yet anyone can pick up the phone and start typing right away, with at most a five second explanation. The downside is that the phone would probably still have to have the standard labels in addition to the colored ones because of numbers that are given as words. That could potentially be confusing. But it would certainly be a faster way to type than the traditional tap and wait, especially if you use two thumbs (you could work up a nice rhythm).
Nah, you can get a 2-phone plan for 49.99 and unlimited VOIP for 19.99 (not from skype). At least you could when I came up with this idea six months before Cringley (actually inspired by one of his articles though. Also, turns out other people had the idea too). Truly unlimited domestic minutes along with super-low VOIP rates on international cell-phone calls could actually be worth $70 for really heavy users (big plans can get up in the $100s, plus international charges on top). Also, you might be able to save more by going for a family plan with more phones. You could do two people with four phones, or three people with six. I wouldn't want to be the guy setting up the PBX, though.
It's not like this guy invented the technology anyway. These screens are intended for use as true autostereoscopic 3D displays (natural 3D without glasses, like a hologram). They are much, much cooler when put to this use. You can buy a 3D-display laptop from Sharp that gives a pretty neat effect, and I've seen a lenticular plasma display that was really awesome under the right viewing conditions (it could actually display 7 distinct images at once, so you could "walk around" the displayed image a bit by moving your head from side to side). I guarantee that an autostereoscopic 3D display is going to attract more attention than one simply displaying different images from different angles.
Unfortunately, those lenticular screens cut your resolution and brightness in half or worse, with some bleed-through from the other pictures, not to mention the screen-door lines effect. Usually, the optimum viewing range is quite narrow, requiring you to be a certain distance away and near the center of the display. A room with controlled lighting is also necessary due to the brightness problems.
It's also a rank in the Coast Guard. However the point is moot, because after they invent 7-foot-tall genetically-engineered cybernetic supersoldiers in energy-shielded battle suits made of technology left behind by a long-lost ancient alien civilization, I imagine they will get their own rank. (Q: What rank do you give a Spartan? A: Whichever one he wants.)
Are there special tools out there for this? Once I was trying to hack a game binary (Return Fire) to remove some stupid version tests that prevented it from running on newer Windows versions, even though it was compatible. Trying to use the visual studio debugger for this was less than ideal, and I figured the people who do this a lot must have some better tools.
I just hope it's a little better than Halo 2's story, which frankly, I found overdramatized and a little too full of itself. Having a real screenwriter and a real director could fix that.
There's nothing inherent to movies based on video game worlds that makes them stink. Movies based on the exact same stories and characters as video games tend to suck, but nothing says the Halo movie has to be locked looking over the Master Chief's shoulder as he plows through sequential strangely-architected rooms full of Covenant troops while wielding SMGs akimbo and getting advice from Cortana.
For example, the Halo world has a lot of possibilities for telling interesting stories about AI constructs. The Halo movie could go back to a more Marathon-like story, where the AIs have a much larger role than "disembodied hint voice". In fact, the movie could be the "missing link" between Marathon and Halo, tying the stories together. The I Love Bees thing also had some characters who could be interesting subjects for a movie. And the novels are out there too, though I haven't read them so I can't comment on their quality.
So they've got a script written by a Halo fan who also happens to be an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter, and Bungie likes it. Sounds like they could be on the right track. I'm not familiar with Alex Garland's work myself.
What do you use it for?
Oops, I guess the tattoine moisture farm might also be a big giveaway. Oh well.
Does the audience know? If nobody told you, and you watched the episodes from I to VI, would you catch on at the beginning of IV that Luke was one of the children at the end of III? You might make an educated guess (I guess the heroic musical theme might give it away), but it wouldn't even have any real evidence until Luke turns out to be strong in the Force, and you couldn't be certain until the famous revelation. You might even guess Han at first (wouldn't that be weird!).
I am skeptical that Sony's Linux sandbox will stand up to the concerted efforts of hackers the world over. This could be the most prestigious hack yet in the history of console hacks. I don't know of *any* security system in a consumer product that has *ever* stood up to that kind of hacking power.
I think the HDD will become popular because I think Sony will be releasing PVR/media center functionality with it, and generally making a HD-equipped PS3 useful for things other than games. Also I think online games will start requiring it for patches and user content.
I think Kutaragi's comment should be taken as "we can't afford to include a big enough hard drive", not "we can't get a big enough hard drive to put in it". Sure, they *could* include a 200 GB HDD, but it would price the console way out of the market. It's already going to be too expensive. If they include a 20 GB HDD, it would be practically worthless as a PVR, especially for HD. If they sell the HDD later they can hide the cost from consumers at first, then rake in profit in a year or so when everybody realizes they want one. If Sony makes it a priority, they can make the hard drive extremely desirable (forcing popular games to require the HDD, providing PVR, digital photo/music storage, downloadable games, etc).
With so many people able to run PS3 Linux, the stakes for breaking whatever protections Sony imposes will be much higher. I wouldn't be surprised if 6 months after PS3's release Linux has broken out of whatever sandbox Sony puts it in with a purely software hack. With the ease of transferring code to your PS3 over the network, this hack could easily reach a wide audience. The only problem is that software updates from Sony's online services might hunt down and destroy unauthorized Linux, and newer hardware revisions might close the security holes Linux would use.
Also, a version of Mesa running completely in software, optimized for Cell, might actually be pretty awesome. Graphics rendering is probably an ideal task for Cell's SPEs. I'd be willing to bet that it would give high-end graphics cards from two or three years ago a run for their money.
That's IBM's domain. Sony doesn't own Cell. I'm not sure what agreements they do have with IBM, but I'm sure IBM stands to make a lot more profit than Sony if Cell takes off as a general purpose chip.
That's because nobody else had the Linux kit. Everybody who has a PS3 hard drive will have Linux. Of course, the Linux games won't hold a candle to the official licensed PS3 games. But you'll be able to play tons of silly little arcade games, solitaire, Frozen Bubble, things like that. At the very least, all the games you can play on Linux now. The concept of mainstream users playing a non-officially-licensed game on a PS3 is quite novel.
Of course, no matter what exact words are coming out of Kutaragi's mouth, I'm sure what he *really* means is closer to the second statement. But it's interesting that they are trying to position the PS3 as a real computer, not just a game console. If they really do equip it with Linux and provide dev tools, they won't be able to control the resulting flood of hacks, emulators, media center applications, indie games, and the like.
What A9 has is almost that, have you tried it? For major roads, you can walk up and down the street viewing pictures of each side of the road. Great for locating landmarks and/or finding out exactly where that store is so you don't miss it driving past.
It's taboo because the differences, if they do exist (which is likely, I admit), are minor enough that they are far overwhelmed by variation in individuals. Pointing out the very slight differences usually does not serve any useful purpose and will only inflame racial discrimination. If people weren't so stupid when it comes to race, then it wouldn't be a problem. But for some reason stupidity becomes rampant when race is an issue. For that reason, it's better to leave it alone.
Unfortunately the race was lost when, due to a tragic typo, the robot drove off-course to deliver flowers to a statue of an old lady.
He's not saying we need to remove all barriers, obviously barriers need to exist. He's just saying that we need to make the barriers believable and less obviously arbitrary. Invisible walls and unjumpable fences just don't cut it.
As an example, I've been playing God of War lately, and at times it feels more like Starfox than a fighting game; you're pretty much on rails, with invisible walls surrounding you on all sides. The levels are set outside in dramatic, exaggerated fantasy settings. But for gameplay purposes you might as well be playing inside a series of prison cells. Every cliff has an invisible wall 2 feet in front of it. The environments, though designed with fantastic and varied imagery, soon start to all look the same because they basically *are* the same, as far as gameplay is concerned.
If, for example, you could actually run up to the edge of the ubiquitous cliffs (instead of being blocked by an invisible wall 2 feet away), and the main character reacted by screeching to a halt and windmilling his arms (instead of adopting the ridiculous "i'm frozen in the middle of my walk animation because I've hit an invisible wall" pose), that would address his complaint and make for a more immersive game. Also throwing enemies off cliffs would be nice too. You don't have to be able to run off the cliff and kill yourself to have it affect gameplay.
Similarly, removing invisible walls or unjumpable fences doesn't mean you have to let people wander anywhere they like all the time. Just use some mechanism other than invisible walls to stop them. Give them dialogue hints ("hmm, I think we should go the other way"), map indicators, and realistic obstacles. If that fails, then at least the player knows they're on the wrong track. Players who ignore the hints will probably be the ones who are just trying to break the game. For those players, you can turn them back forcefully by taking control (as in Starfox 64, where a U-turn happens automatically), or simply fade to black and return the player to a few seconds before so they can correct their mistake. All of these options hurt immersion less than a typical invisible wall.
For example, I had a cheap cloth-topped mousepad that worked great with my Intellimouse, but the MX 1000 was extremely imprecise on it. The MX 1000 works best on surfaces that are a little bit shiny with a little bit of irregular surface roughness, like textured plastic or some wood surfaces. Cloth mousepads probably will not work well, because they are not reflective at all and the weave of the cloth has a repeating pattern. Some bare desk tops work great as a mousing surface for the MX 1000, but some don't. If you have one that doesn't, get one of those cheap mousepads with a surface of clear textured plastic and a picture underneath.
In short, don't buy the MX 1000 because Logitech says it will work on more surfaces than a normal mouse (it works on *different* surfaces, but not *more* surfaces). Also don't buy it if you value a very light mouse; due to the battery this mouse is a lot heavier than wired optical mice. For that reason alone I almost went back to my Intellimouse. Instead, buy it because you want a wireless mouse with an *extremely* long-lasting internal rechargable battery, and a very low latency wireless connection (I'm very sensitive to mouse latency and can't stand to use some wireless mice, and even some wired ones, but the MX 1000 is just fine).
The stupid Slashdot editors changed the story without marking it as "Updated" or changing the timestamp. You can tell because if you actually read the first few comments you'll notice they're talking about a (useless) Wikipedia article, which is what that link in the article originally went to. Apparently Hemos decided that my link was better, but couldn't be bothered to type the words "Update: a link that's actually useful has been found by a Slashdot reader".
That belief appears to be old and busted. The new hotness is that Voyager 1 has recently passed through the termination shock into a new region called the "heliosheath". Here's more info, pictures, and even movies, straight from the source (a much, much better link than the article provided).
At least the battles are better than the Darth Vader/Obi-Wan battle in Episode IV. If you go back and watch it now, it's almost laughable how slow and simple it was in comparison. Darth Vader can barely move in that suit!