Media Centre didn't support VOBs when I asked about it two months ago, so backing up a DVD to the Xbox is pointless.
The response in the forum was that it was a pointless feature since the Xbox can play DVDs already.
I didn't think it was so pointless. I've got two nieces who could get a lot of use out of it, and no fingerprints on DVDs.
I haven't had to leave my games out where my stepson can get at them since I modded mine. He's 15, but practically everything has to be locked away from him because he's irresponsible and breaks *everything* he touches. Plus he cheats at every game he plays. With some of the locking software available out there, you don't have to go into the dashboard every time you want to unlock the box to play a game:)
All in all, the media centre is by far the most useful feature of the xbox. I don't watch a lot of shows, but those I do I prefer to watch on my own time, and I junked my VCR ages ago.
Now if I could just get it to record instead of having to go through the extra step of tranferring files over.
By the time we contact any alien species, if at all, will religion even be a consideration?
Religions become extinct. This has happened for thousands of years. Gods only exist so long as they have believers. Some of those believers are so fanatical they destroy the followers of other gods in order to strengthen their own.
Once upon a time, this was acceptable, and in some cases encouraged. In some places it still is. But this mindset is on the decline, and the moral outrage of having religion forced upon free people has increased.
Free will still generates converts, but not nearly at a rate comparable to converts obtained by a red hot poker in the eye.
User downloads executable from peer to peer network, runs said executable, and loses data.
If it wasn't labeled MS-Word would we have even seen this? I find it highly doubtful.
You would think by now, with all the scumware out there, people would realize that software should be downloaded at the source, or from a reputable middleman, not from anonymous sources who may have altered the payload in some way.
It doesn't matter if it's on a Mac, Windows, or Linux machine. Running "mystery code" is just plain stupid.
Yeah that's frustrating, kind of like scraping the silvery coating off a lottery ticket to find "Good luck, try again." except this lottery ticket screams.
It's because our age group is embarrassed by the fact that most of those arrogants assholes are in their 20s or 30s, and the reason they're so arrogant is because they've become fixed on a specific mindset and are so certain of their righteousness there's no reasoning with them.
Plus it's easier to blame shit on a faceless, nameless, teenager.
One of the annoyances with BT is the effect bandwidth throttling is having on downloads. I used to get speeds of 200 to 400 k/sec easily. Now with everyone choking their outgoing speeds, I'm lucky to get 10 k/sec.
For a while using Shad0w's client and tweaking the in/out settings according to the traffic shown in the advanced settings worked, but it's back to being sluggish again.
Is there a client that allows you to target other clients and give them a higher priority? I assume that a priority system is designed into the client, but it doesn't always seem to make the most intelligent choices.
An even better hack is putting a swimsuit poster in the window with one of those laster pointers beaming light through a nipple. When the local peeping tom pulls out his binoculars the lenses focus the laser beam even more and burn a hole through his head. Voila!:)
Valid points, both of them. I would want to see something in place that guarantees that the ads track via what you're interested in, but do not attach in any way to personal info or transactions.
I don't care if the ad company knows that I'm user D876A who likes to check out mountain bikes and adult videos, and has been known to click through to ads campaigns 67, 45, and 32 relating to them. But I don't want it linked to the account used to make actual purchases at the vendor. It's enough to know that their campaign is getting interest or adding entries to shopping carts. Strip out the rest.
And for the wireless draw, it would be nice if that could bring in enough money on it's own, but for small independent operations and those in smaller cities it might not be enough on it's own. Profitable businesses like Tim Horton's and Starbucks shouldn't have any problem covering the expense, though Starbucks has a demographic that just screams "disposable income!!!" to ad-men:)
Agreed. Advertising makes the market go 'round. If it pays their bills, and allows them to offer the service, then more power to them.
As long as the ads don't pop-up or pop-under what I'm viewing, or blare out annoying audio soundbites, I don't mind them.
Unobtrusiveness is the key.
I've never had a ThinkGeek ad try to commandeer my attention through brute force, but they still get my clicks now and then. The same can't be said for the ads that come with full audio and video presentations. If I can't block them, I stop visiting the host site until they're gone, or if there is a readily available contact for the advertiser, let them know just how annoying it is.
There's no chance in hell I'll every buy a "Solo" cell phone after the endless waves of annoying ringtone ads that permeated local news sites, and those using geo-specific adware. But if I could get free wi-fi at a local coffee shop and see ads for local businesses letting me know what they have to offer, I wouldn't complain. Heck, I'd even fill out an "interests" questionnaire to generate an *anonymous* cookie if it meant that the served ads were relevant to me.
Advertising does not have to be the enemy. They just need to learn how to deal with their prospective audiences. And then small businesses can offer great things like free wi-fi without eating the overhead themselves.
The in-line advertising is kind of tacky, but it's a heck of a lot better than a pop-up ad or the like.
If it were an actual news article peppered with ads I'd find it unethical, but a Slashdot article is really just a link with some editorializing/fluff/etc. attached.
And subscriptions are cheaper because they sell your info. When I subscribed to Maxim I put an identifier in the address info. Not long after I started getting lots of crap in the mail, indicating that they had sold my name and address. I didn't bother renewing my subscription and they haven't seen another dime out of me since.
The drawback to that, is if you need to cross any borders after the fact. It doesn't matter that the charges aren't followed through. It only matters that you were charged, and suddenly you lose the ability to move freely between countries.
Might want to think that through before setting up your "Sting" operation.
Guess who gets arrested first?
On "Cops", a woman sick of crack dealers in her neighborhood walked into a crackhouse, bought some, then walked back out to the cops who had said they couldn't do anything without seeing a crime in progress. She presented the crack to them, and they arrested her for drug possession.
You think that little domain trick would go over any better?:)
If we started slapping "Return to sender" stickers on flyers and other unaddressed promotional garbage, would it actually make it back to the companies? Or would the postal service just dispose of it.
I think the reference to tongue-in-cheek in the introduction is more of an attempt to defuse some of the initial hostility shown toward Ms. Pransky in the original story.
It wasn't really pointed out at the time that the title was meant to be in fun, or that her "Dr. Calvin" intent is to educate people on robots, technology, and the possible interaction that will occur in the future, and not diagnose neurotic floor sweepers. So people immediately pigeonholed her as a quack and went from there.
Slashdot Mirror
Media Centre didn't support VOBs when I asked about it two months ago, so backing up a DVD to the Xbox is pointless.
:)
The response in the forum was that it was a pointless feature since the Xbox can play DVDs already.
I didn't think it was so pointless. I've got two nieces who could get a lot of use out of it, and no fingerprints on DVDs.
I haven't had to leave my games out where my stepson can get at them since I modded mine. He's 15, but practically everything has to be locked away from him because he's irresponsible and breaks *everything* he touches. Plus he cheats at every game he plays. With some of the locking software available out there, you don't have to go into the dashboard every time you want to unlock the box to play a game
All in all, the media centre is by far the most useful feature of the xbox. I don't watch a lot of shows, but those I do I prefer to watch on my own time, and I junked my VCR ages ago.
Now if I could just get it to record instead of having to go through the extra step of tranferring files over.
By the time we contact any alien species, if at all, will religion even be a consideration?
Religions become extinct. This has happened for thousands of years. Gods only exist so long as they have believers. Some of those believers are so fanatical they destroy the followers of other gods in order to strengthen their own.
Once upon a time, this was acceptable, and in some cases encouraged. In some places it still is. But this mindset is on the decline, and the moral outrage of having religion forced upon free people has increased.
Free will still generates converts, but not nearly at a rate comparable to converts obtained by a red hot poker in the eye.
Honestly, why did this even get a link?
User downloads executable from peer to peer network, runs said executable, and loses data.
If it wasn't labeled MS-Word would we have even seen this? I find it highly doubtful.
You would think by now, with all the scumware out there, people would realize that software should be downloaded at the source, or from a reputable middleman, not from anonymous sources who may have altered the payload in some way.
It doesn't matter if it's on a Mac, Windows, or Linux machine. Running "mystery code" is just plain stupid.
ID Software: Doing their part to protect geeks from dangerous UV exposure.
It would be just like the 'Life' simulator. What pretty patterns it would make as society crumbled :)
Yeah that's frustrating, kind of like scraping the silvery coating off a lottery ticket to find "Good luck, try again." except this lottery ticket screams.
Man, that would rock!
Though it might be a bit disconcerting to the people who observe you screaming "JACKPOT!" and jumping up and down on a seemingly innocent pedestrian.
Who's going to play Colonel Klink?
Psst. I'm 31. That would make you 46.
It's because our age group is embarrassed by the fact that most of those arrogants assholes are in their 20s or 30s, and the reason they're so arrogant is because they've become fixed on a specific mindset and are so certain of their righteousness there's no reasoning with them.
Plus it's easier to blame shit on a faceless, nameless, teenager.
Are they having any trouble finding people to ride the prototypes into space?
I always liked that scene in Dr. Strangelove when Slim Pickins rode the nuclear bomb into oblivion...
Seriously though, I wonder what the ratio of volunteers to projects might be.
One of the annoyances with BT is the effect bandwidth throttling is having on downloads. I used to get speeds of 200 to 400 k/sec easily. Now with everyone choking their outgoing speeds, I'm lucky to get 10 k/sec.
For a while using Shad0w's client and tweaking the in/out settings according to the traffic shown in the advanced settings worked, but it's back to being sluggish again.
Is there a client that allows you to target other clients and give them a higher priority? I assume that a priority system is designed into the client, but it doesn't always seem to make the most intelligent choices.
An even better hack is putting a swimsuit poster in the window with one of those laster pointers beaming light through a nipple. When the local peeping tom pulls out his binoculars the lenses focus the laser beam even more and burn a hole through his head. Voila! :)
Yes mods, totally off topic.
Valid points, both of them. I would want to see something in place that guarantees that the ads track via what you're interested in, but do not attach in any way to personal info or transactions.
:)
I don't care if the ad company knows that I'm user D876A who likes to check out mountain bikes and adult videos, and has been known to click through to ads campaigns 67, 45, and 32 relating to them. But I don't want it linked to the account used to make actual purchases at the vendor. It's enough to know that their campaign is getting interest or adding entries to shopping carts. Strip out the rest.
And for the wireless draw, it would be nice if that could bring in enough money on it's own, but for small independent operations and those in smaller cities it might not be enough on it's own. Profitable businesses like Tim Horton's and Starbucks shouldn't have any problem covering the expense, though Starbucks has a demographic that just screams "disposable income!!!" to ad-men
Heheh. I said I click, didn't say I buy.
Though, the entertainment factor of showing someone some of the more interesting things on there has probably netted them a sale or two.
Agreed. Advertising makes the market go 'round. If it pays their bills, and allows them to offer the service, then more power to them.
As long as the ads don't pop-up or pop-under what I'm viewing, or blare out annoying audio soundbites, I don't mind them.
Unobtrusiveness is the key.
I've never had a ThinkGeek ad try to commandeer my attention through brute force, but they still get my clicks now and then. The same can't be said for the ads that come with full audio and video presentations. If I can't block them, I stop visiting the host site until they're gone, or if there is a readily available contact for the advertiser, let them know just how annoying it is.
There's no chance in hell I'll every buy a "Solo" cell phone after the endless waves of annoying ringtone ads that permeated local news sites, and those using geo-specific adware. But if I could get free wi-fi at a local coffee shop and see ads for local businesses letting me know what they have to offer, I wouldn't complain. Heck, I'd even fill out an "interests" questionnaire to generate an *anonymous* cookie if it meant that the served ads were relevant to me.
Advertising does not have to be the enemy. They just need to learn how to deal with their prospective audiences. And then small businesses can offer great things like free wi-fi without eating the overhead themselves.
When our link to Internet2 went down last month, everyone noticed it because every campus connection suddenly got MUCH slower.
Are you sure it wasn't just fallout from the new Paris Hilton video being released?
The in-line advertising is kind of tacky, but it's a heck of a lot better than a pop-up ad or the like.
If it were an actual news article peppered with ads I'd find it unethical, but a Slashdot article is really just a link with some editorializing/fluff/etc. attached.
All they need to do is carry a toxin into your body, not duplicate the actions of a virus.
Imagine what an army of ricin-bearing nanotech assassins could do to a UN delegation?
And subscriptions are cheaper because they sell your info. When I subscribed to Maxim I put an identifier in the address info. Not long after I started getting lots of crap in the mail, indicating that they had sold my name and address. I didn't bother renewing my subscription and they haven't seen another dime out of me since.
The drawback to that, is if you need to cross any borders after the fact. It doesn't matter that the charges aren't followed through. It only matters that you were charged, and suddenly you lose the ability to move freely between countries.
Might want to think that through before setting up your "Sting" operation.
:)
Guess who gets arrested first?
On "Cops", a woman sick of crack dealers in her neighborhood walked into a crackhouse, bought some, then walked back out to the cops who had said they couldn't do anything without seeing a crime in progress. She presented the crack to them, and they arrested her for drug possession.
You think that little domain trick would go over any better?
If we started slapping "Return to sender" stickers on flyers and other unaddressed promotional garbage, would it actually make it back to the companies? Or would the postal service just dispose of it.
I think the reference to tongue-in-cheek in the introduction is more of an attempt to defuse some of the initial hostility shown toward Ms. Pransky in the original story.
:)
It wasn't really pointed out at the time that the title was meant to be in fun, or that her "Dr. Calvin" intent is to educate people on robots, technology, and the possible interaction that will occur in the future, and not diagnose neurotic floor sweepers. So people immediately pigeonholed her as a quack and went from there.
All in all, the responses made for a good read
doh. should have RTFP (posts) before using the +1 flogger on the recumbent equine.