So the TSA aren't spreading fear, degrading people, and impinging on civil liberties? All we have to do is not travel by air. Got it. I'm glad we've managed to protect our freedoms os effectively - silly me.
This woman should be applauded, her sticking up for the health of her children (those backscatter machine REALLY safe?) and their dignity (because "pat downs" are degrading). She was willing to get herself arrested to stand up for her children. We need more people like her.
Yeah because every PC OEM includes reinstall media don't they? Oh, but they don't, they include a "reinstall partition" (which is no help if the drive is borked). I even saw a laptop (Acer I think) where you could only make one set of the reinstall media from the recovery partition! (Think about that for a while... yeah)
Apple are one of the few vendors who include a recovery DVD (currently), I think it highly likely they will continue to provide recovery media of some kind (I think it'll be a MacBook Air style USB thumb drive - no inside information here).
You can't copy a file across your network?! Seriously, think about it - you downloaded it, you're going to run it from the hard disk. Now how can you do that from another computer? Copy the file across the network perhaps?
Or they boot from their existing media and use their Apple ID to re-download it (yes a huge hassle... but doable). Or probably more likely they take it to an Apple Store where a "genius" fixes it, and as part of that process they reload the OS... Just saying.
Oh if there was ever a political movement to get behind it's this one! How many hours have been utterly wasted creating PowerPoint slides to be inflicted upon victims? How many times have I seen those damn "screen beans"? How often have we seen slides that seem to have "A Tale of Two Cities" on them, as some mindless monotone moron drones out some witless piffle?
Oh I hate PowerPoint... The crutch of the dull, the pointless, the vapid.
So I just need to move to Switzerland? Seems fair.
But worse, the "web IT press" is actually worse... I miss PCW and Byte. Mind you, I miss the Amiga as well.
Anyway - I'm a "desktop" person, so I tend to just use an ethernet cable... I know, but I'm not carrying these monitors into the lounge, so why does it matter?
Look I totally agree with you. The system is a mess (I'm talking about the application - "SIMS") it is shocking that it simply doesn't work properly with Windows (because it really is working against Windows). I don't "blame" Microsoft at all for this. Pretty much EVERY UK school has the same setup. I can't change it, as I'm not the one looking after SIMS - it is frequently updated (mostly because stuff doesn't work properly, usually the updates break something else) again by the local authority, and wow they don't know what they're doing.
No matter what either of us think of it, this is the situation "on the ground". I have first hand experience of this, and seeing it installed is like watching someone wilfully break Windows security. The software just doesn't run otherwise. Users have to run it as administrator, up until very recently it didn't run in 64bit Windows (I know!) and UAC has to be switched off. It also makes Windows run VERY slowly. After the install, when the system reboots (yes the system has to reboot several times during install) the system is far slower than it was before the software was installed.
As I say, this is VERY common in UK schools (far in excess of 95% of schools run this stuff).
My point is there are a whole lot of Windows systems that HAVE to run in a way that anyone at Microsoft would probably weep at, to run legacy software. This "I'll just keep running it" attitude is endemic. It is one thing that just doesn't exist on the Mac - you simply can't, Apple take the legacy support away - quite quickly actually. It would be possible to improve Windows security a great deal faster, if they took a more "Apple approach" to legacy.
My point is legacy is the enemy of security.
When people complain that Windows Vista/7 won't run this or that bit of legacy software, and that they want better security - they are trying to argue both ends of the problem. You can't have your cake and eat it.
Sadly I know of (because we have the bl**dy thing deployed) Windows applications that don't run with UAC switched on OR the user running as anything other than administrator... I know!
In fact, in the UK pretty much EVERY school administration system is setup this way - because the software demands it. On Windows 'legacy' is one of the greatest enemies of security. On Mac OS X there is very little legacy, "Classic" is long gone, and PowerPC isn't installed by default on Snow Leopard. Expect more of the same with Lion. It makes Mac OS X a bit more of a challenge (because in every release some legacy item or other goes away) but it does help security.
Yep same here. The service has been at least as reliable as anything else I've used, and the speed is usually about what they claim. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.
Now I've never had a problem with it that needed more than just a "cycle the power" style solution (and even that isn't required very often). So they've not given themselves a chance to screw up (you only really find out what a company is like when things do go wrong - if they "do the right thing" then well that's when it matters).
The reason 3D *can** cause headaches seems to be because the 3D is fooling the brain into thinking the focus is should be shifted, when the focus is fixed. In "normal" 3D (what we normally perceive) if your gaze moves to an object at a different distance then your eye must refocus to view it. In "artificial 3D" the focus for the whole scene is fixed (it's at the display - even objects that appear further away have their focus at the display surface). This artificially "fixed focus" is at odds with what we normally view and causes headaches. I don't think this will cure that problem.
This is also why images on the new 3DS look "unnaturally clean" - everything is in focus all at once, regardless of depth. This should help, as it is an additional cue that the eye should not refocus. Additionally "dialling back" the 3D effect should also help.
Well, I think there is some truth in the "like a board game" aspect. Probably worth remembering that "Wii" is meant to be a play on "we" and the double "i" is meant to look like two players. So this "get it out when you have guests" is rather suggestive of Nintendo's original intent. With a lot of the Nintendo Wii games it seems pretty clear they were designed with multiple players in mind - not in the way Microsoft designed Xbox (or single players connected over the Internet).
Of course, there are Nintendo "classics" that are very "sit on your own" affairs, but hardcore gamers very rarely have only the Wii (almost never) most have the Wii AND Xbox360/PS3 (not often both, usually one or the other). In such a case it is REALLY unusual (almost never happens) for someone in that position to buy the Wii version of a game if it is also offered on XBox360 or PS3. For myself I can think of only one instance where I've done that, PES as it was quite different on the Wii due to the pointing controller.
I'm not sure I think the controller is "gimmicky" or at least not in the way I think you mean. For PES it changed the game utterly. For some games (Metroid: Other M) clearly there was a "gimmick", but it was unique to that game, so didn't need longevity (In Metroid the player normally views the action "third person" if you point the controller at the display then the view becomes "first person" - the player can attack in new ways, but cannot move; an interesting game mechanic to be sure). Then there are games the use the "Wii Zapper" again, a gimmick, but there aren't many that use it - so doesn't get a chance to feel stale.
One thing that is neglected is the Wii is very easy to develop for. But ports of games don't really do well - they tend to just look like rough versions with fewer features. The best Wii games are those designed for the Wii.
VirtualBox is free - though yeah, I use VMWare as that's what I tend to use on Linux (with Linux hosting - usually another Linux with a different config).
Nice stable host OS. Mostly because they came out of the same shed. It isn't magic or anything, but if they are designed by people who talk to each other they do work better. The Mac is the closest thing we have left to a Unix Workstation (and yes, that's so weird when you think about it).
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Isn't this like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas?
So the TSA aren't spreading fear, degrading people, and impinging on civil liberties? All we have to do is not travel by air. Got it. I'm glad we've managed to protect our freedoms os effectively - silly me.
Why is the pilot's union telling them to avoid the machines? (Honest question)
This woman should be applauded, her sticking up for the health of her children (those backscatter machine REALLY safe?) and their dignity (because "pat downs" are degrading). She was willing to get herself arrested to stand up for her children. We need more people like her.
Connect it to the Internet and use your Apple ID to download a fresh copy (it really is that simple).
Yeah, Apple have removed the floppy disk again... we'll adapt.
Yeah because every PC OEM includes reinstall media don't they? Oh, but they don't, they include a "reinstall partition" (which is no help if the drive is borked). I even saw a laptop (Acer I think) where you could only make one set of the reinstall media from the recovery partition! (Think about that for a while... yeah)
Apple are one of the few vendors who include a recovery DVD (currently), I think it highly likely they will continue to provide recovery media of some kind (I think it'll be a MacBook Air style USB thumb drive - no inside information here).
You can't copy a file across your network?! Seriously, think about it - you downloaded it, you're going to run it from the hard disk. Now how can you do that from another computer? Copy the file across the network perhaps?
I bet there will only USB thumb drive reinstall media - but personally I think that's better.
Or they boot from their existing media and use their Apple ID to re-download it (yes a huge hassle... but doable). Or probably more likely they take it to an Apple Store where a "genius" fixes it, and as part of that process they reload the OS... Just saying.
Err, for consumers it's better - installing from USB thumb drive is FAR faster... Sure, it costs a little more for Apple to supply it.
But here's an idea, when they do Mac OS X 10.8 it would be really easy to write that image over your install USB to keep it current.
Oh if there was ever a political movement to get behind it's this one! How many hours have been utterly wasted creating PowerPoint slides to be inflicted upon victims? How many times have I seen those damn "screen beans"? How often have we seen slides that seem to have "A Tale of Two Cities" on them, as some mindless monotone moron drones out some witless piffle?
Oh I hate PowerPoint... The crutch of the dull, the pointless, the vapid.
So I just need to move to Switzerland? Seems fair.
Ahh, but what frequency is your Wi-Fi? (Is it 802.11A, 802.11G or 802.11N?) Makes a HUGE difference.
But worse, the "web IT press" is actually worse... I miss PCW and Byte. Mind you, I miss the Amiga as well.
Anyway - I'm a "desktop" person, so I tend to just use an ethernet cable... I know, but I'm not carrying these monitors into the lounge, so why does it matter?
Look I totally agree with you. The system is a mess (I'm talking about the application - "SIMS") it is shocking that it simply doesn't work properly with Windows (because it really is working against Windows). I don't "blame" Microsoft at all for this. Pretty much EVERY UK school has the same setup. I can't change it, as I'm not the one looking after SIMS - it is frequently updated (mostly because stuff doesn't work properly, usually the updates break something else) again by the local authority, and wow they don't know what they're doing.
No matter what either of us think of it, this is the situation "on the ground". I have first hand experience of this, and seeing it installed is like watching someone wilfully break Windows security. The software just doesn't run otherwise. Users have to run it as administrator, up until very recently it didn't run in 64bit Windows (I know!) and UAC has to be switched off. It also makes Windows run VERY slowly. After the install, when the system reboots (yes the system has to reboot several times during install) the system is far slower than it was before the software was installed.
As I say, this is VERY common in UK schools (far in excess of 95% of schools run this stuff).
My point is there are a whole lot of Windows systems that HAVE to run in a way that anyone at Microsoft would probably weep at, to run legacy software. This "I'll just keep running it" attitude is endemic. It is one thing that just doesn't exist on the Mac - you simply can't, Apple take the legacy support away - quite quickly actually. It would be possible to improve Windows security a great deal faster, if they took a more "Apple approach" to legacy.
My point is legacy is the enemy of security.
When people complain that Windows Vista/7 won't run this or that bit of legacy software, and that they want better security - they are trying to argue both ends of the problem. You can't have your cake and eat it.
Sadly I know of (because we have the bl**dy thing deployed) Windows applications that don't run with UAC switched on OR the user running as anything other than administrator... I know!
In fact, in the UK pretty much EVERY school administration system is setup this way - because the software demands it. On Windows 'legacy' is one of the greatest enemies of security. On Mac OS X there is very little legacy, "Classic" is long gone, and PowerPC isn't installed by default on Snow Leopard. Expect more of the same with Lion. It makes Mac OS X a bit more of a challenge (because in every release some legacy item or other goes away) but it does help security.
Why was this better than h.264 again?! Technically it isn't, it's worse. It was supposed to be all about patents...
Am I alone in thinking we're being lied to by Google?
Yep same here. The service has been at least as reliable as anything else I've used, and the speed is usually about what they claim. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.
Now I've never had a problem with it that needed more than just a "cycle the power" style solution (and even that isn't required very often). So they've not given themselves a chance to screw up (you only really find out what a company is like when things do go wrong - if they "do the right thing" then well that's when it matters).
What a second! Don't you have to divide the price by the number of years to get the proper cost per year? So that gives me:
XP: £150 divided by 12.75 years gives 11.76 £ per year
Ubuntu: £0 divided by 5 years gives 0 £ per year
Redhat: £275 divided by 10 years gives 27.5 £ per year
Smallest cost wins right? Hence: Ubuntu.
The reason 3D *can** cause headaches seems to be because the 3D is fooling the brain into thinking the focus is should be shifted, when the focus is fixed. In "normal" 3D (what we normally perceive) if your gaze moves to an object at a different distance then your eye must refocus to view it. In "artificial 3D" the focus for the whole scene is fixed (it's at the display - even objects that appear further away have their focus at the display surface). This artificially "fixed focus" is at odds with what we normally view and causes headaches. I don't think this will cure that problem.
This is also why images on the new 3DS look "unnaturally clean" - everything is in focus all at once, regardless of depth. This should help, as it is an additional cue that the eye should not refocus. Additionally "dialling back" the 3D effect should also help.
Well, I think there is some truth in the "like a board game" aspect. Probably worth remembering that "Wii" is meant to be a play on "we" and the double "i" is meant to look like two players. So this "get it out when you have guests" is rather suggestive of Nintendo's original intent. With a lot of the Nintendo Wii games it seems pretty clear they were designed with multiple players in mind - not in the way Microsoft designed Xbox (or single players connected over the Internet).
Of course, there are Nintendo "classics" that are very "sit on your own" affairs, but hardcore gamers very rarely have only the Wii (almost never) most have the Wii AND Xbox360/PS3 (not often both, usually one or the other). In such a case it is REALLY unusual (almost never happens) for someone in that position to buy the Wii version of a game if it is also offered on XBox360 or PS3. For myself I can think of only one instance where I've done that, PES as it was quite different on the Wii due to the pointing controller.
I'm not sure I think the controller is "gimmicky" or at least not in the way I think you mean. For PES it changed the game utterly. For some games (Metroid: Other M) clearly there was a "gimmick", but it was unique to that game, so didn't need longevity (In Metroid the player normally views the action "third person" if you point the controller at the display then the view becomes "first person" - the player can attack in new ways, but cannot move; an interesting game mechanic to be sure). Then there are games the use the "Wii Zapper" again, a gimmick, but there aren't many that use it - so doesn't get a chance to feel stale.
One thing that is neglected is the Wii is very easy to develop for. But ports of games don't really do well - they tend to just look like rough versions with fewer features. The best Wii games are those designed for the Wii.
VirtualBox is free - though yeah, I use VMWare as that's what I tend to use on Linux (with Linux hosting - usually another Linux with a different config).
Windows?! Did you read what you're commenting on?
Nice stable host OS. Mostly because they came out of the same shed. It isn't magic or anything, but if they are designed by people who talk to each other they do work better. The Mac is the closest thing we have left to a Unix Workstation (and yes, that's so weird when you think about it).
Which is why you use a VM. You're not telling me ALL your servers are setup the same way are you? No different versions of ANYTHING?