Even for me, a Celeron 1Ghz Socket370 system with 512MB RAM is sufficient to play most of the games I own and enjoy playing plus it works fine for video editing, MP3 ripping, DVD viewing, and (of course) the web surfing and e-mail reading. I've thought about "moving up", but I like being able to move CPU's/memory around between my three machines. (And upgrading all three is definitely not cost-effective!)
Alas, it's becoming harder and harder to find hardware that was the flavor of last year...vendors (especially retailer outlets) seem to push the latest mobo, chips, memory, etc. (Guess they like their profit margins, I just like my pocketbook more.) Luckily, the Internet saves my day...
(Just bought a Socket370 Shuttle XPC system for my den online, plus a Celeron 1.2Ghz which will likely go in my Linux box (currently running 800Mhz.)
What would be far more useful is to give "mom" a set of tasks to perform (surf the web, write a document, diagnose a disconnected ethernet cable, etc) in Lindows, Mandrake, WinXP, etc. Saying "mom had no trouble" doesn't convince me, "mom had less trouble than X" does.
Also, does anyone else note that this article was posted on Extreme Tech? Not exactly what mom would read.
I believe Consumer Reports reviewed Lindows-based computers in their latest issue, surely a rag much more likely to be read by mom. (I seem to remember it panned Lindows for anything more than web surfing.)
IMHO, if you're first to market with a new business model, it should float/sink based on the value of that business model, not based on licensing that model to others. Arguably, Netflix has "floated" on their business model for years already. But if they strongarm the competition with their patents, it'll be a bad trend.
It's ironic, given that back in the vinyl days, most/all artists came out with many singles (oftentimes before assembling an album, if they ever did assemble an album.) Now we have a way to cut our own singles as we see fit and the artists (who are obviously going after the one-song hits) are angry. I say boo on them.
Seen the CD-singles section of a record store lately? Pretty bare. Likely because most CD singles cost $5-$8 (about as much as the price of the album used) and have been relegated mostly to hardcore collectors buying the single for that one extra track, not music samplers looking to buy the latest hit.
Any interest in a (formal) boycott? Any other way to express our disgust with corporate bull like this? Sounds like a Dilbert to me.
I'd not likely buy the game anytime soon anyways (haven't bought a game for more than $20 in over a year now...And I save on having to buy the latest h/w.)
Note that if you acquired your RSI at work, you're entitled to workman's comp. Don't be suprised, though, if you get a lot of resistance and "gee, didn't this happen at home" or "you don't play sport X do you" types of questions/accusations. My wife acquired RSI at work (she didn't use the computer at home much at all and it happened after a week of heavy working.) Workman's comp helped out quite a bit.
If you have to leave your job you might be able to claim disability.
And if you feel guilt at using workman's comp/disability--remember that to them it's just money, to you it's an injury.
The original article is such fluff and (obviously?) with the audience of/. it's sure to raise a million "who cares?" responses and little/any counterargument.
Simoniker, how about sticking with tech news that matter? See http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/02/203205
Anyways, cursive will go the way of calligraphy and illustrated manuscripts...It will be an art, not a skill. No loss, I say.
I refused to go see EPII after being sorely disappointed with EPI [and, after borrowing a friend's DVD, was quite glad I skipped it...I could barely sit through it!] I loved EPIV-VI as a kid and still enjoy them [although EPVI started to slip into saccarine hell.]
I will likely not buy the special edition EPIV-VI DVDs as well, although they (the ones shown in theaters) didn't totally change the feel of the movies and EPV is all that.
Unluckily (as discussed elsewhere, probably to death) directors seem to feel that once they release an "improved" version, the original should no longer exist. (Case in point: Blade Runner.) All signs point to Lucas following this path, although the ET release with both versions might be a sign in the opposite direction.
Couldn't you, instead, take the cash instead of the "prize" of the license? I believe US law requires that contests (game shows) provide a cash alternative based on their real cost not based on the retail value (thereby giving an incentive to take the prize, but as you say you have to pay taxes on that $350k, surely more than the $50k [35% tax bracket?]!)
Needless to say, the grand prize certainly favors developers already producing mods commercially as they'd certainly get a lot more out of a license of the engine.
IANAL, and I didn't read the article but that never stopped me before...;*o
Using off-the-shelf software on Linux (cron, mpg321, etc) I was doing this over a year ago. Talk radio compresses down nicely. Burning the.mp3 (or.ogg, for those so inclined) files to a CD-RW made the show quite portable.
'course, having a portable device is nice, for when you're listening to the radio and hear that a particularly good segment is coming on that you might want to save...
Also goes to show you that buying a head unit for your car that has a line-in port continues to be worthwhile. (Too bad most manufacturers seem to not notice this.)
Re:right off the top of my list...
on
C&W Bails Out
·
· Score: 1
Maybe Google will buy/run CW's backbone that they're connected to? (Would make sense, as the quality of Google is highly dependent on the quality of the backbone.)
This article is such bunk...Some random corporation that does GPS-related products puts out a press release and/. posts it verbatum, falling for the press release "hook, line, and s[t]inker."
Boo to Simoniker -- learn to editorialize! (Or was this a paid placement?)
Unluckily, many good shows get cancelled and never get re-run. We want to record these shows because we can't buy them.
Why do people buy DVD's instead of rent them or watch the movies on HBO? Because they want the "watch on demand" flexibility and they want that satisfaction of knowing that it's there for them when they want to watch it again.
For example, three of my favs are The Tick [live action], Upright Citizen's Brigade, and Strangers with Candy. All of which have disappeared from their respective channels. I've VCD'd Tick and SwC (and will buy the DVD release of either if they come out). All three, to me, are awesome comedy material (arguably better than many movies in my DVD collection) that I love to watch every so often.
I agree that it's "record, watch, delete" for much of what I watch (movies, news, Simpsons/Futurama, etc). Mostly 'cause either it's topical or it'll eventually end up on DVD so I'll just wait to buy it then.
Me too...I store my paperwork elsewhere (rarely need/want it, unless I want to sell my CD used at a later time.)
Added benefit: a thief would be less interested in the media without the paperwork as they wouldn't be able to sell it for much on the used market.
These take up little space, easy to sort, easy to take one (well, two) along for a ride. No protection against impact or tweaks though.
I've had bad experiences with other brands (one left big scratches in all of my CD's) so I've stuck with CaseLogic. If only they made a slight variant of ProSleeves that were protected on both sides for double-sided DVD's (luckily a rarity.) Single-sided discs work great in them.
Cardboard boxes for storage/organizing is my choice too, although I've got enough music CD's (over 1600) to need a cabinet which I may have custom made (few cabinets have drawers the right depth.)
As this argument is repeated about 20 times in the discussion of this article, I thought I'd point out that "everyone does X therefore it's ok that I do X" is a fallacy (I forget the name, it's related to the appeal to popularity fallacy [do X 'cause everyone does X]).
However, "everyone does X therefore I am no worse than everyone if I do X" is not. So, in reality, NVidia is no worse than any other vendor but that does not excuse what they do to fudge their performance numbers.
I would be very suprised if they "scrapped" the tunnels (tearing them down for scrap metal/extra parts)...There's surely lead and other toxics used in the construction and it would not be cost effective for the raw materials (I don't think there's another wind tunnel needing extra parts anytime soon.) The govt. is not known for demolitioning something they don't have to.
Hangar 1 also at Ames (the hangar used for the USS Macon, a dirigible from the 1930's) has a bunch of lead and other chemicals (and, hence, the project to convert it into an air & space museum will be costly.) It was built earlier (30's, 40x80 tunnel built in the 40's) but knowledge of toxic materials was limited at best.
What they're doing, instead, is "mothballing" it. Making sure the tunnels stay around in case they need to be reactivated. Or we can hope they turn them into a museum or somesuch. The 80x120 is an impressive facility. (They did something similiar with a smaller tunnel, expanding the Aerospace Encounter educational outreach facility so they can have more neat exhibits, the Encounter now goes through the tunnel cross-ways.)
Oh, and for the record, the 80x120 sucks. (Fans at the outgoing end, pulling air. The opening of the tunnel faces the bay so that on windy days the tunnel goes faster.)
Not to excuse M$ for shoddy work but I've had problems with other OS updaters (for example, OSX 10.2.5 kernel panics when I use my Griffin USB hub and iMic.)
M$ certainly doesn't have a monopoly on pushing bugs out to customers. (Cisco, Sun, others have a long history of shoddy patch releases that introduce more bugs than they fix.)
'course, when you're pushing out a "critical update" every couple days, the likelyhood of pushing out a buggy one is much higher.
One disturbing "feature" of these automatic updaters it the lack of a "rollback" in case a fatal flaw is introduced. (Imagine, for example, that an update hosed your network connectivity...Kinda hard to get the next update that patches the problem.)
It seems to me that there's very little to lose in patenting something as obvious as this. Worst case, someone sues you and proves either prior art or that the patent is "patently obvious" and the patent is revoked (and licensing fees returned.) Is there any (serious) fines levied against companies who file these sorts of patents?
Can I sue a company for "pain and suffering" of having to deal with such annoying patents? Can I ask for a penalty award large enough to make the company think twice about filing such patents in the first place?
As an aside, the tag line of this article is out-and-out misleading. I can understand the desire to come up with "cute" taglines (as many news orgs do) but it shouldn't mislead the reader into thinking the article's about something it's not.
Not having a cellphone (well, not using the one I have for over a year) but having multiple PDA's, I'd like to read pda-related discussions but not cellphone discussions. Can a new category be added? (Yeah, I know, there's a wireless topic as well, just to confuse the issue, perhaps it could be split into WiFi, BT, and...?)
Let me clarify, d/l of mp3 format (yeah, ogg would be cool too but I don't have a portable ogg player yet.) Real format is ok but limiting.
One other thing that really got me going on mp3.com was their free demo cd's they sent out...90% was crap but that 10% of the better stuff was worth it...Their "networking" of artists connected me from artists I liked to artists they liked. Very powerful.
In my mind, mp3.com *should* have remained the premier indie band site but they screwed themselves with their my.mp3.com section where they provided mp3's of big studio albums for d/l. Since they got bought out, they've dried up as a source for indie artists.
Anyone know of an alternative distribution site that deals only in indie artists and:
* provides a percentage of the songs for free d/l * provides the entire album for d/l once purchased * allows the artists to retain copyright * has a good variety of styles / artists * has a long laundry list of albums $10
Well, spammers have to live near someone, and they sure as hell don't live near me so they must live near you! Just kidding.
Seriously though, with spammers hiring college students (and surely housewives and others looking to "make $ from home") for one-off spams, I would not be suprised if the odds of having someone spam from your WLAN is going to be proportional to the amount of time you remain open.
The article makes it sound like people are being forced to work for M$. If people don't like their work environment, either organize a union, file a lawsuit, or quit. Whining does nothing but make you sound like a whiner.
As a total aside...Having worked at HP, they had (have?) a policy of forcing contractors (who took home much more than full-timers per year) to take 3 months off after working there for 9 months, in order to avoid permatemp problems.
Slashdot Mirror
Even for me, a Celeron 1Ghz Socket370 system with 512MB RAM is sufficient to play most of the games I own and enjoy playing plus it works fine for video editing, MP3 ripping, DVD viewing, and (of course) the web surfing and e-mail reading. I've thought about "moving up", but I like being able to move CPU's/memory around between my three machines. (And upgrading all three is definitely not cost-effective!)
Alas, it's becoming harder and harder to find hardware that was the flavor of last year...vendors (especially retailer outlets) seem to push the latest mobo, chips, memory, etc. (Guess they like their profit margins, I just like my pocketbook more.) Luckily, the Internet saves my day...
(Just bought a Socket370 Shuttle XPC system for my den online, plus a Celeron 1.2Ghz which will likely go in my Linux box (currently running 800Mhz.)
What would be far more useful is to give "mom" a set of tasks to perform (surf the web, write a document, diagnose a disconnected ethernet cable, etc) in Lindows, Mandrake, WinXP, etc. Saying "mom had no trouble" doesn't convince me, "mom had less trouble than X" does.
Also, does anyone else note that this article was posted on Extreme Tech? Not exactly what mom would read.
I believe Consumer Reports reviewed Lindows-based computers in their latest issue, surely a rag much more likely to be read by mom. (I seem to remember it panned Lindows for anything more than web surfing.)
IMHO, if you're first to market with a new business model, it should float/sink based on the value of that business model, not based on licensing that model to others. Arguably, Netflix has "floated" on their business model for years already. But if they strongarm the competition with their patents, it'll be a bad trend.
It's ironic, given that back in the vinyl days, most/all artists came out with many singles (oftentimes before assembling an album, if they ever did assemble an album.) Now we have a way to cut our own singles as we see fit and the artists (who are obviously going after the one-song hits) are angry. I say boo on them.
Seen the CD-singles section of a record store lately? Pretty bare. Likely because most CD singles cost $5-$8 (about as much as the price of the album used) and have been relegated mostly to hardcore collectors buying the single for that one extra track, not music samplers looking to buy the latest hit.
Any interest in a (formal) boycott? Any other way to express our disgust with corporate bull like this? Sounds like a Dilbert to me.
I'd not likely buy the game anytime soon anyways (haven't bought a game for more than $20 in over a year now...And I save on having to buy the latest h/w.)
Note that if you acquired your RSI at work, you're entitled to workman's comp. Don't be suprised, though, if you get a lot of resistance and "gee, didn't this happen at home" or "you don't play sport X do you" types of questions/accusations. My wife acquired RSI at work (she didn't use the computer at home much at all and it happened after a week of heavy working.) Workman's comp helped out quite a bit.
If you have to leave your job you might be able to claim disability.
And if you feel guilt at using workman's comp/disability--remember that to them it's just money, to you it's an injury.
The original article is such fluff and (obviously?) with the audience of /. it's sure to raise a million "who cares?" responses and little/any counterargument.
5
Simoniker, how about sticking with tech news that matter? See http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/02/20320
Anyways, cursive will go the way of calligraphy and illustrated manuscripts...It will be an art, not a skill. No loss, I say.
I refused to go see EPII after being sorely disappointed with EPI [and, after borrowing a friend's DVD, was quite glad I skipped it...I could barely sit through it!] I loved EPIV-VI as a kid and still enjoy them [although EPVI started to slip into saccarine hell.]
I will likely not buy the special edition EPIV-VI DVDs as well, although they (the ones shown in theaters) didn't totally change the feel of the movies and EPV is all that.
Unluckily (as discussed elsewhere, probably to death) directors seem to feel that once they release an "improved" version, the original should no longer exist. (Case in point: Blade Runner.) All signs point to Lucas following this path, although the ET release with both versions might be a sign in the opposite direction.
Couldn't you, instead, take the cash instead of the "prize" of the license? I believe US law requires that contests (game shows) provide a cash alternative based on their real cost not based on the retail value (thereby giving an incentive to take the prize, but as you say you have to pay taxes on that $350k, surely more than the $50k [35% tax bracket?]!)
;*o
Needless to say, the grand prize certainly favors developers already producing mods commercially as they'd certainly get a lot more out of a license of the engine.
IANAL, and I didn't read the article but that never stopped me before...
Using off-the-shelf software on Linux (cron, mpg321, etc) I was doing this over a year ago. Talk radio compresses down nicely. Burning the .mp3 (or .ogg, for those so inclined) files to a CD-RW made the show quite portable.
'course, having a portable device is nice, for when you're listening to the radio and hear that a particularly good segment is coming on that you might want to save...
Also goes to show you that buying a head unit for your car that has a line-in port continues to be worthwhile. (Too bad most manufacturers seem to not notice this.)
Maybe Google will buy/run CW's backbone that they're connected to? (Would make sense, as the quality of Google is highly dependent on the quality of the backbone.)
This article is such bunk...Some random corporation that does GPS-related products puts out a press release and /. posts it verbatum, falling for the press release "hook, line, and s[t]inker."
Boo to Simoniker -- learn to editorialize! (Or was this a paid placement?)
Unluckily, many good shows get cancelled and never get re-run. We want to record these shows because we can't buy them.
Why do people buy DVD's instead of rent them or watch the movies on HBO? Because they want the "watch on demand" flexibility and they want that satisfaction of knowing that it's there for them when they want to watch it again.
For example, three of my favs are The Tick [live action], Upright Citizen's Brigade, and Strangers with Candy. All of which have disappeared from their respective channels. I've VCD'd Tick and SwC (and will buy the DVD release of either if they come out). All three, to me, are awesome comedy material (arguably better than many movies in my DVD collection) that I love to watch every so often.
I agree that it's "record, watch, delete" for much of what I watch (movies, news, Simpsons/Futurama, etc). Mostly 'cause either it's topical or it'll eventually end up on DVD so I'll just wait to buy it then.
I'd, instead, classify this article as a troll...Shy on information, chock full of opinion and politics. Too bad we can't moderate articles.
Me too...I store my paperwork elsewhere (rarely need/want it, unless I want to sell my CD used at a later time.)
Added benefit: a thief would be less interested in the media without the paperwork as they wouldn't be able to sell it for much on the used market.
These take up little space, easy to sort, easy to take one (well, two) along for a ride. No protection against impact or tweaks though.
I've had bad experiences with other brands (one left big scratches in all of my CD's) so I've stuck with CaseLogic. If only they made a slight variant of ProSleeves that were protected on both sides for double-sided DVD's (luckily a rarity.) Single-sided discs work great in them.
Cardboard boxes for storage/organizing is my choice too, although I've got enough music CD's (over 1600) to need a cabinet which I may have custom made (few cabinets have drawers the right depth.)
As this argument is repeated about 20 times in the discussion of this article, I thought I'd point out that "everyone does X therefore it's ok that I do X" is a fallacy (I forget the name, it's related to the appeal to popularity fallacy [do X 'cause everyone does X]).
However, "everyone does X therefore I am no worse than everyone if I do X" is not. So, in reality, NVidia is no worse than any other vendor but that does not excuse what they do to fudge their performance numbers.
I would be very suprised if they "scrapped" the tunnels (tearing them down for scrap metal/extra parts)...There's surely lead and other toxics used in the construction and it would not be cost effective for the raw materials (I don't think there's another wind tunnel needing extra parts anytime soon.) The govt. is not known for demolitioning something they don't have to.
Hangar 1 also at Ames (the hangar used for the USS Macon, a dirigible from the 1930's) has a bunch of lead and other chemicals (and, hence, the project to convert it into an air & space museum will be costly.) It was built earlier (30's, 40x80 tunnel built in the 40's) but knowledge of toxic materials was limited at best.
What they're doing, instead, is "mothballing" it. Making sure the tunnels stay around in case they need to be reactivated. Or we can hope they turn them into a museum or somesuch. The 80x120 is an impressive facility. (They did something similiar with a smaller tunnel, expanding the Aerospace Encounter educational outreach facility so they can have more neat exhibits, the Encounter now goes through the tunnel cross-ways.)
Oh, and for the record, the 80x120 sucks. (Fans at the outgoing end, pulling air. The opening of the tunnel faces the bay so that on windy days the tunnel goes faster.)
Oh oh oh, you forgot the most important indication of Paganism: Magic smoke! (Or is it "magick smoke"? ;^)
Not to excuse M$ for shoddy work but I've had problems with other OS updaters (for example, OSX 10.2.5 kernel panics when I use my Griffin USB hub and iMic.)
M$ certainly doesn't have a monopoly on pushing bugs out to customers. (Cisco, Sun, others have a long history of shoddy patch releases that introduce more bugs than they fix.)
'course, when you're pushing out a "critical update" every couple days, the likelyhood of pushing out a buggy one is much higher.
One disturbing "feature" of these automatic updaters it the lack of a "rollback" in case a fatal flaw is introduced. (Imagine, for example, that an update hosed your network connectivity...Kinda hard to get the next update that patches the problem.)
It seems to me that there's very little to lose in patenting something as obvious as this. Worst case, someone sues you and proves either prior art or that the patent is "patently obvious" and the patent is revoked (and licensing fees returned.) Is there any (serious) fines levied against companies who file these sorts of patents?
Can I sue a company for "pain and suffering" of having to deal with such annoying patents? Can I ask for a penalty award large enough to make the company think twice about filing such patents in the first place?
As an aside, the tag line of this article is out-and-out misleading. I can understand the desire to come up with "cute" taglines (as many news orgs do) but it shouldn't mislead the reader into thinking the article's about something it's not.
Not having a cellphone (well, not using the one I have for over a year) but having multiple PDA's, I'd like to read pda-related discussions but not cellphone discussions. Can a new category be added? (Yeah, I know, there's a wireless topic as well, just to confuse the issue, perhaps it could be split into WiFi, BT, and ...?)
Let me clarify, d/l of mp3 format (yeah, ogg would be cool too but I don't have a portable ogg player yet.) Real format is ok but limiting.
One other thing that really got me going on mp3.com was their free demo cd's they sent out...90% was crap but that 10% of the better stuff was worth it...Their "networking" of artists connected me from artists I liked to artists they liked. Very powerful.
In my mind, mp3.com *should* have remained the premier indie band site but they screwed themselves with their my.mp3.com section where they provided mp3's of big studio albums for d/l. Since they got bought out, they've dried up as a source for indie artists.
Anyone know of an alternative distribution site that deals only in indie artists and:
* provides a percentage of the songs for free d/l
* provides the entire album for d/l once purchased
* allows the artists to retain copyright
* has a good variety of styles / artists
* has a long laundry list of albums $10
cdbaby.com looks promising, but pricey.
Well, spammers have to live near someone, and they sure as hell don't live near me so they must live near you! Just kidding.
Seriously though, with spammers hiring college students (and surely housewives and others looking to "make $ from home") for one-off spams, I would not be suprised if the odds of having someone spam from your WLAN is going to be proportional to the amount of time you remain open.
The article makes it sound like people are being forced to work for M$. If people don't like their work environment, either organize a union, file a lawsuit, or quit. Whining does nothing but make you sound like a whiner.
As a total aside...Having worked at HP, they had (have?) a policy of forcing contractors (who took home much more than full-timers per year) to take 3 months off after working there for 9 months, in order to avoid permatemp problems.