Overtime games in the NFL has been increasing. In fact, 2002 had a record setting 25 overtime games in the regular season.
And surprise, surprise, that was Futurama's last full season... There were only 5 new episodes released after that season, two in June, two in July, and one in August.
I'm thinking more of a situation where you develeop an sdk and a hardware platform, and license each out, but not to one vendor but multiple, thus there's not need to lock everything down. Make a commodity gaming platform so to speak.
Now we learn that they will be making the emulators long after its release, and most likely ANY NEW XBOX game will come with a 360 emulator. This is a big plus for gamers.We should be happy to see the MODEL being used. I've seen too many 'that sucks' and complaints and it really surprises me... well... I guess its important to know the audience on this site.
So what incentive does the developer have to actually write a 360 game? They can just write for the XBox, following the emulator guidelines, and then have a game that will run on both the XBox and the 360.
It's probably not as easy as you make it seem though. Remember when Bleem! wanted to release a full Playstation emulator for Dreamcast? Then something like 5 discs with support for a group of games... then finally a handful of games were supported with one Bleem! disc per game.
I think this had more to do with legal ramification of the emulator versus getting the game to run. This was before Sony not being able to shutdown the Mac playstation emulator, so the Bleem producers were more afraid of Sony than anything.
I still get it out everyone now and then to play a little Gran Turismo 2 on my DC...:-)
Next gen, it's wireless, HDTV, HDTV and HDTV. Everybody and their mother is going to buy an HDTV within the next 3 years and it's gonna piss me and a lot of other Nintendo fans that Nintendo is screwing us up like this.
I don't know how many people are going to buy an HDTV in the next 3 years. Let's take a pointless sampling of everyone I know right now.... One other has their HDTV hooked up correctly. Everyone else just uses the composite video/s-video connections.
There is another problem everyone is glossing over when it comes to HDTV support. How are these game systems supposed to be hooked up? Most HDTVs have maybe 2 HD inputs. The DVD player takes one, the HD receiver takes another. My set up at home, I have 2 component video inputs on my TV. My HD cable box is plugged into one. My stereo receiver that does have component video switching plugs into the other. Plugged into the component video on my stereo receiver is the DVD player and XBox. I'm currently out of component video inputs, so I have to use s-video with my ReplayTV, Game Cube, and PS2.
That's 6 devices in the here-and-now that can use component video and I can't use them all unless I spend even more money on another switcher. Most people want to match up the yellow-red-white connection and get playing.
How many people that are whining about no HD support in the Revolution have used the current systems on an HDTV?
Metroid Prime at 480p looks pretty darn good, GT4 for the PS2 at 1080i is ok, Halo at 480p is probably the worst out of these three examples. When you are 18" from the monitor, high resolution is important. When you're sitting 8' away from your 48" TV, higher resolutions aren't as ground breaking.
I think Nintendo will do just fine, as long as they support 16:9 mode. BTW, game developers, if you offer split mode game play, make use of the 16:9 screen and let me split the screen side by side instead of just top/bottom.
For my 20 month old daughter I've been looking at used education playstation games, they're very cheap, and usually has characters she recognizes (Winnie the Pooh and for some strange reason Sponge Bob Square Pants. She has a doll of Sponge Bob but has never seen the show.) I'm scared of the interest she's beginning to show in Barbie though....
I'm planning on setting up an older mac for when she is older. You can pick them up for practically nothing and there are tons of educational software out for them.
As for those recommending play-dough, Lego bricks, and sticks, the Playstation/Computer is a supplement for those, not a replacement. Just like you wouldn't want your child only playing with a stick, you're not going to want them to only play on an electronic device.
The record companies aren't the only monopolists that have controlled the distribution of content for their own advantage. Take something as simple as the real estate market. Brokers used to be able to charge 7% for the "privilege" of listing on the MLS. Now you can get that number down to half that if you're saavy. (My last house sold for 3% total - 1% to my broker and 2% to the buyer's agent). What's interesting though is that there hasn't been a whole lot of resistance in the real estate community to the Internet. I think that they realize that they can conduct a lot more transactions with the help of the Internet, so on the whole they can make a whole lot more money easier than they did before.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought the "let's make learning fun!" approach to education is absurd and ultimately ineffective.
If a person finds the subject matter uninteresting, what is the point in dressing it up as something else? If you have to fool someone into being interested by dressing it up as something else, then they aren't really interested in it, period. Let them learn about something else.
And sometimes you just need a little push to realize it is interesting to you. For example, say I'm not very interested into programming. I play this game, and I'm hit with the realization that programming is a lot more fun and interesting to me than I had previously thought. So then I start learning to program and it snowballs from there.
As a tech coordinator in a 95% mac school district, I'll tell you that I'm looking forward to being able to do this for our Windows users in the district. An XP license is $56, and I'd imagine Vista would be along the same costs. I would only have to deal with Apple hardware for all the endusers!
Another scenario would be that it makes it easier for districts and businesses to try Macs. If it doesn't work out, they can always just run Windows on them or dual boot.
Although it is designed for online coursework, Moodle can easily be setup as a generic website. There are 66 different languages available, and you select the language you want with a drop-down in the upper right corner.
My best math teacher assigned homework every night. She would flip a coin the next day on whether it would be for a grade or not. So 50% of the time she wouldn't have to grade anything.
Assessment should be about the students knowing the material. Stuff like showing your work goes a long way. Math is the easiest to automate, but that would only show you that the student got the correct answer, not where the answer came from (like from a friend!).
To lower you work load, flip a coin on whether the students will hand in the work. If they aren't handing it in, trade with another student and grade it in class. Scantron only sends the message to your students that you are too lazy to look at their work, so why should they put any effort into it.
Start making things more reliable on the backend. For starters, put IPCop in as a firewall, place all the machines behind it. On the backend you can use the best tool for the job, and no one knows you're running Linux/FreeBSD/OS X.
Once that is working well, move e-mail to something web based like SquirrelMail. SquirrelMail acts like an IMAP client, so all you have to do is turn on imap on exchange and you can start using SquirrelMail with it. This help immensely with setting people up with e-mail, and users can still use any client they would like if they prefer.
Set up the mail server to drop anything with an executable extension and.zip extension.
Set up an online trouble ticket system. Do not fix anything unless it is put in the system. This helps in several ways, you automatically have a written record of everything you've done, and you can more easily prioritize what needs to be done. It also stops people from stopping you in the hall to fix "just this one quick thing". When they say they couldn't put it in the help desk because their computer wasn't working, show them that there is always another classroom/computer that is closer than the phone.
Lock the computers down. Do not allow anyone to install anything. Show them the SPA website and how the district is liable for $150,000 for each infringement of illegally installed software. This should help you convince the superintendent and BOE of the policy.
Setup file server and accounts for every person. Allow any person to use any computer and have their documents and settings follow them.
Learn Ghost or your favorite imaging software and Windows RIS. Tie this in with the step above, if you can't fix the problem in 15 minutes, re-image the machine. DeepFreeze might be another product to look into.
You must have a filtering solution put in place to be compliant with e-rate and COPA. We use SquidGuard, but there is also Dan's Guardian, which can be plugged into IPCop. Block all Active X controls with filtering. Once people get tired of IE not working, they might be more acceptable to Firefox.
The easiest way to get them to use Firefox is to install it on the machine, remove Internet Explorer. Put the Firefox shortcut on the desktop, but replace the icon with the one from Internet Explorer and rename the shortcut Internet Explorer. This also works to migrate people to OpenOffice.org.:-)
The fastest way to gain the respect of others is to start writing grants. Once you are bringing in new equipment and monies from grants, people will start to trust you.
No matter how stable and secure the network and computers are, staff will still believe they are unstable. It's just something you have to shrug off.
The complaints from developers at the time was that it was too difficult to write code for the two processors, so most games were written for the motorola 68000 (the same that was in the Genesis). This made games appear slower than on other contemporary game systems. It didn't have to be that way:
From AtariAge.com:
Technically, the Jaguar was impressive. Five processors reside in three chips, two of them being proprietary (Tom and Jerry) with a third being a Motorola 68000 coprocessor. The GPU runs at 26.591Mhz and is rated at 26.591 MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second). There is a 64-bit data bus for communication and two megabytes of fast-page mode DRAM.
I prefer the Atari 8-bit series, mostly the 800XL. You can either get a disk drive for it, or better yet, make a SIO2PC cable, get a copy of APE and an old PC. The old PC acts like a disk drive, and makes it easier to download software for the Atari from the Internet.
You can get started with programming in Basic, and can also play a ton of games.
P.S. Steve Tucker at AtariMax.com has a bunch of cool toys for the 8-bits, including flash carts.
The rankings are based on how many new subscribers the show has received, not total subscribers for a show. That means established shows will probably have a larger listener base but might not be in the top 20.
As a plus Amiga's gave rise to smart GPU's, offloaded IO & a better less cpu centric design of cheap computers.
The Atari 8-bit computers was the first with this. Some say the Amiga was the true successor to the Atari 8-bit lines, not the ST. I kinda wish now I would've went with an Amiga instead of an ST when I upgraded from my 800xl.
What does a corporate environment need? I mean, it's easy to throw numbers out like this, but a Mac cannot achieve a lot of what is needed in corporate environments. Linux on the other hand, can do that -- Red Hat and Novell's SUSE distros have enterprise tools that make managing servers, profiles, software, etc... relatively painless.
Apple supplies these enterprise tools to manager everything you've listed. Server Admin can manage all your OS X servers, Workgroup Manager takes care of users and groups, and Apple Remote Desktop to take care of software issues and individual machines.
Apple's original airport has done this for what, 6-7 years? In fact, when my sister in law was looking for a wireless access point, she picked up a graphite base station from eBay for $56. Works fine with her Dell laptop.
Who will own the content that is typed in the laptop. The school can claim they own the laptops. Unlike a paper notebook, that is mine and it would take a court order to look in it. Plus, it is not like mail, which is even more gaurded. I can see relationships between people breaking down as everyone is worried about saying the wrong thing.
Your homework (and the teacher's lesson plans for that matter) can be classified as work-for-hire and the school could claim copyright on anything you did for a class. I've never heard of a school doing this though!
The second link says you must sign a work-for-hire agreement before your work can be classified as work-for-hire, but as with all things copyright, see a lawyer!:-)
Web-ftp might be a solution. You run it on your web server, and it can connect to multiple ftp servers. The clients can connect of SSL, and you don't have to worry about installing any software on the client machines. Your ftp servers don't even need to be made accessible on the Internet (but they need to be accessible to the web server:-).
2. It has already been announced that the Intel Macs will never be capable of running "Classic" applications. Fans of old Mac programs like Quark will be all a-tizzy about squeezing maximum life out of the remaining G5 systems, but nobody else will care.
Everything says that Rosetta doesn't support OS 9 applications, it doesn't say anything about running Classic. They might be able to tweak Classic to run under Rosetta, or some other emulator might become available.
The iIFP-899 is controlled with 3 buttons (Stereo, Memory/EQ, Mode) on the back of the player, plus a 4-way joystick to the right of the display. The joystick feels clumsy at first, but you adjust to it given some time. The display is easy to read, and has a bright blue backlight with contrast and time-out adjustments. Overall, the interface is very fast and responsive.
Score: 6 / 6
The user interface on the iRiver's is terrible. You don't know whether you're supposed to press a button, or press and hold. Some commands are a tap and hold. I'd give the user interface a 1/6.
I have the iRiver only because it records, and use it for podcasts. If you are looking for a mp3 player, stay away from the iRiver unless you need recording or FM radio. The Shuffle is a lot better function, and for the same price of the 899, you can get an iPod Mini on educational discount.
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And surprise, surprise, that was Futurama's last full season... There were only 5 new episodes released after that season, two in June, two in July, and one in August.
And this has also been attempted.
So what incentive does the developer have to actually write a 360 game? They can just write for the XBox, following the emulator guidelines, and then have a game that will run on both the XBox and the 360.
I think this had more to do with legal ramification of the emulator versus getting the game to run. This was before Sony not being able to shutdown the Mac playstation emulator, so the Bleem producers were more afraid of Sony than anything.
I still get it out everyone now and then to play a little Gran Turismo 2 on my DC... :-)
I don't know how many people are going to buy an HDTV in the next 3 years. Let's take a pointless sampling of everyone I know right now.... One other has their HDTV hooked up correctly. Everyone else just uses the composite video/s-video connections.
There is another problem everyone is glossing over when it comes to HDTV support. How are these game systems supposed to be hooked up? Most HDTVs have maybe 2 HD inputs. The DVD player takes one, the HD receiver takes another. My set up at home, I have 2 component video inputs on my TV. My HD cable box is plugged into one. My stereo receiver that does have component video switching plugs into the other. Plugged into the component video on my stereo receiver is the DVD player and XBox. I'm currently out of component video inputs, so I have to use s-video with my ReplayTV, Game Cube, and PS2.
That's 6 devices in the here-and-now that can use component video and I can't use them all unless I spend even more money on another switcher. Most people want to match up the yellow-red-white connection and get playing.
Metroid Prime at 480p looks pretty darn good, GT4 for the PS2 at 1080i is ok, Halo at 480p is probably the worst out of these three examples. When you are 18" from the monitor, high resolution is important. When you're sitting 8' away from your 48" TV, higher resolutions aren't as ground breaking.
I think Nintendo will do just fine, as long as they support 16:9 mode. BTW, game developers, if you offer split mode game play, make use of the 16:9 screen and let me split the screen side by side instead of just top/bottom.
I'm planning on setting up an older mac for when she is older. You can pick them up for practically nothing and there are tons of educational software out for them.
As for those recommending play-dough, Lego bricks, and sticks, the Playstation/Computer is a supplement for those, not a replacement. Just like you wouldn't want your child only playing with a stick, you're not going to want them to only play on an electronic device.
I think the real estate community knows exactly how to use the Internet.
And sometimes you just need a little push to realize it is interesting to you. For example, say I'm not very interested into programming. I play this game, and I'm hit with the realization that programming is a lot more fun and interesting to me than I had previously thought. So then I start learning to program and it snowballs from there.
Another scenario would be that it makes it easier for districts and businesses to try Macs. If it doesn't work out, they can always just run Windows on them or dual boot.
Although it is designed for online coursework, Moodle can easily be setup as a generic website. There are 66 different languages available, and you select the language you want with a drop-down in the upper right corner.
Assessment should be about the students knowing the material. Stuff like showing your work goes a long way. Math is the easiest to automate, but that would only show you that the student got the correct answer, not where the answer came from (like from a friend!).
To lower you work load, flip a coin on whether the students will hand in the work. If they aren't handing it in, trade with another student and grade it in class. Scantron only sends the message to your students that you are too lazy to look at their work, so why should they put any effort into it.
Peterman: Well, I see what's going on in here. I am smack dab in the middle of a good old fashioned cat fight.
Elaine: Mr. Petermen, this is not a cat fight. This is violent psychotic behavior directed at me all because are told her to swing her arms.
Peterman: Woof!
Elaine: Do you mean "reer?"
Petermen: Yes, that's the one! Good day Elaine.
And...
Kramer: Cat fight?
Elaine: Ok, why? Why do guys do this? What is so appealing to men about a cat fight?
Kramer: Yeye cat fight!
Jerry: Because men think if women are grabbing and clawing at each other there's a chance they might somehow kiss.
Kramer: T-t-t-t...
The fastest way to gain the respect of others is to start writing grants. Once you are bringing in new equipment and monies from grants, people will start to trust you.
No matter how stable and secure the network and computers are, staff will still believe they are unstable. It's just something you have to shrug off.
You can get started with programming in Basic, and can also play a ton of games.
P.S. Steve Tucker at AtariMax.com has a bunch of cool toys for the 8-bits, including flash carts.
The rankings are based on how many new subscribers the show has received, not total subscribers for a show. That means established shows will probably have a larger listener base but might not be in the top 20.
The Atari 8-bit computers was the first with this. Some say the Amiga was the true successor to the Atari 8-bit lines, not the ST. I kinda wish now I would've went with an Amiga instead of an ST when I upgraded from my 800xl.
Apple supplies these enterprise tools to manager everything you've listed. Server Admin can manage all your OS X servers, Workgroup Manager takes care of users and groups, and Apple Remote Desktop to take care of software issues and individual machines.
Apple's original airport has done this for what, 6-7 years? In fact, when my sister in law was looking for a wireless access point, she picked up a graphite base station from eBay for $56. Works fine with her Dell laptop.
Your homework (and the teacher's lesson plans for that matter) can be classified as work-for-hire and the school could claim copyright on anything you did for a class. I've never heard of a school doing this though!
More info:
The second link says you must sign a work-for-hire agreement before your work can be classified as work-for-hire, but as with all things copyright, see a lawyer! :-)
Web-ftp might be a solution. You run it on your web server, and it can connect to multiple ftp servers. The clients can connect of SSL, and you don't have to worry about installing any software on the client machines. Your ftp servers don't even need to be made accessible on the Internet (but they need to be accessible to the web server :-).
The administrative password for the machines was 50Trexler.... Ummm, where did this come from? Why it's the address of the high school!
Everything says that Rosetta doesn't support OS 9 applications, it doesn't say anything about running Classic. They might be able to tweak Classic to run under Rosetta, or some other emulator might become available.
The user interface on the iRiver's is terrible. You don't know whether you're supposed to press a button, or press and hold. Some commands are a tap and hold. I'd give the user interface a 1/6.
I have the iRiver only because it records, and use it for podcasts. If you are looking for a mp3 player, stay away from the iRiver unless you need recording or FM radio. The Shuffle is a lot better function, and for the same price of the 899, you can get an iPod Mini on educational discount.