If you are in the hand-me-down laptop market and the thought of a 2nd phone line is too much, then you are seriously eyeing the 50 foot phone cord from the dollar store anyway. I know people exactly like this and I helped them get a WebRamp for $25. They were much happier. $150 would not even have entered the discussion -- they'd have gone back to the 50 foot cord first.
A 2nd hand-me-down computer of any kind (with a modem) and a wi-fi card can be had for much less money to provide the exact same functionality.
The modem technology inside it is dead simple. How hard would it have been to include 2 modems and a little RJ-12 splitter? Especially at that cost?
$150. I'm just floored. This is obviously for the business traveler who has nearly everything and just has to put his laptop on the hotel bed without any wires. That's the only market it really serves well. The home and home office markets (the other two they are targetting) are better served in so many other less expensive and more powerful ways. You're either comparing a $150 gizmo with a $1 cord, or your comparing a quite limited, but expensive, single purpose device with less expensive and more powerful equipment. That was the point I was trying to make.
For $150 it can't even use 2 phone lines? Maybe this is great for that small segment of travelers who can't use a phone cord, but for those of us who are really *living* with only POTS lines this device is remarkably limited.
I could buy a used WebRamp off Ebay, and a brand new wireless router at CostCo, for less than $100 and have every PC in the house able to surf at 100k, and take phone calls dynamically! Now if this device did v.92 functions (Call Waiting stuff) reliably AND managed 2 lines it might be more interesting at $150.
Otherwise this is for the limited number of people that can't put together the system I describe, have a laptop with wireless, and are stuck on a single POTS line (you can afford a laptop with wireless, but you can't get a 2nd phone line? Huh??)
One of the keys to the IPTV technology is that instead of sending all the channels to a customer all the time, as is the case with traditional cable, only the channel selected by the customer is transmitted, saving on bandwidth.
That's the part that makes me wonder why this has taken so long to implement.
BUT HOW CAN THIS BE TRUE? 75 channels that go to everyone takes the same bandwidth as 75 independent streams, right? Got more than 75 subscribers on a loop then the bandwidth demands INCREASE, right. The obvious unspoken piece is that raw analog bandwidth and compressed digital bandwidth are like comparing Space Shuttles and Yugos.
Should I, a pasty white geek from genetics and basement computing, whose primary sun exposure areas are arms and head, and maybe tops of feet if sandals are employed, get 10 minutes a day on my square centimeters of exposed skin? No problem! I get that on the drive to work -- unless my windows are UV blocking... rats.
Or should I don a bikini (shudders at his own thought) for.007 of a day? (end shudder.. well maybe not yet...uhuhuhuh)
Is it more beneficial to have more surface area exposed for a few minutes so that more of the dermal layer engages in D manufacture? Is there a healthful benefit for the whole dermis to do that? Sorry about wrong terminology -- high school bio was 20 years ago.
Or should I tape a UV pen to my left armpit and have a localized D factory?
Yes, yes, "Moderation in all things," is my motto too, but to leave surface area out the discussion just seems a little odd. It may be the hugest variable given a set exposure time. Or is the angle of the sun (lat/long or time of day) more important?
Maybe this weekend whilst I'm mowing the BACKyard (neighbors less likely to be blinded, though airplanes may still be confused) I'll doff my shirt for 10 minutes and see if I feel less cancerous next week. Note to self: put shirt on BEFORE weedwhacking -- ouch!
I appreciate your comments, but I must not have been clear, as it seems you missed my key points (or perhaps you just disagree with mine and _I'm_ missing your points!). My key ideas were: Incentives, Clans, and Worthy tasks.
1. First, I'll discount completely the fact that the new systems take regular firmware updates online and have hard drives for more permanent application installs. I never once mentioned modding or sticking in a distributed computing CD all the time (the thought never entered my mind as it is completely not necessary).
My original point was that it came on a disc with a major game already. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I was thinking of my brother-in-law who is a console gamer. If FAH was on Halo 2, he'd have done many protein units by now -- even if the app was only running in the shadows on that ONE game DVD. That's why I said a $1 discount ON AN ACTUAL GAME would be useful. The only effort required is clicking the "Save a $1" icon on Amazon. The app takes care of itself. My brother-in-law would have done that in a heart beat. Take it one step further and use a reward system. Get a $1 off coupon in the mail for your next game if you crack 250 units. Get $5 off a year for your Xbox-Live account if you break 1000 units. What's the incentive for a game company or Microsoft? Marketing spin and lots of it...
2. I am well aware that all X-Boxen are the same processors. You missed my key point that included that knowledge and addressed the personal status as well. CLANS. It's not the size of your personal Zalman that sets your achievement levels, it's the circle of friends who play and how often they do play. Clan scores are fun! You don't even have to care about your own rank in the big scheme, just as long as your clan is competing with another clan (like Xbox-Live sessions every Friday, like my brother-in-law does). Even the lowest fragger in the clan can contribute to raising the distributed computing score! It's just another facet of the experience and shouldn't be perceived as the whole experience.
3. So the current slate of distributed computing tasks isn't interesting to many. My sarcasm was poorly crafted. Re-read the wisecrack for the intent -- find a different thing to calculate or better sell what there is already. SETI never flew among my friends (even the geeky ones) because aliens are... um... on tabloids. Sell FAH (or some other task) as "curing cancer" and the gamer can convince spouse or parents that they are doing something GOOD by playing video games (man, I hate marketing, but that's the spin that'll work).
There are so many good ideas around this. If the manufacturer or game designers wanted to, they could really make a lot of hype out of it. Imagine using your console and seeing a new message every week "You're helping find a cure for Cancer" or "You're solving a global warming calculation" or "You're contributing to the awesome graphics of our next game (push L for your discount code!)" The mind reels.
a side note: I have only peripherally noticed a slow down on any computer that runs FAH. It takes a few milliseconds to get out of the way of the higher priority process (and sometimes that is almost perceptible) but once its done, the machine runs fine. I'm sure that is not the case in all scenarios, but in the dozens of machines I've installed FAH on I've never had a real issue. I play Doom 3 on a mediocre machine at pretty good settings (just call me Joe 6-pack PC gamer) and FAH has never seemed like a problem or even worth thinking about once the game is running. Consoles have the added benefit of being incredibly well documented as well as having a giant install base. A well-crafed client would never need to cause a slow down and only have to do a tenth the work of a PC client due to the large numbers of machines running the process.
Why would people do this? So their Clan would get a higher score! If winning is not important, Commander, why keep score? Don't underestimate the average gamer's fascination with scores and rankings. In fact, I think this is crucial to the process.
Seriously, if this is like Folding@Home that gets out of the way when the CPU is being used, it would still get some crunching done in the game chat rooms and the in-between-the-levels limbo modes. If there's enough computing power left over for live TeamSpeak stuff, then there's power to spare (and to be used when you aren't speaking -- those who sing in TeamSpeak need not apply).
If the distributed computing organizations really wanted this to fly, all they'd have to do is partner with Amazon to offer a $1 off coupon on the game if you buy the version with the distributed client built-in.
Of course cancer or aliens isn't all that sexy to some of these folk, so the client would have to be computing something like NASCAR aerodynamics, or fractal-based lingerie for Lara Croft, or some hooey to capture Joe 6-pack gamer mindshare.
I "DO" live theatre, too (and have non-stop for a quarter century). I direct, act, light design, blah blah blah, both semi-pro and community level.
I've also worked on a few movies (independent, sub-10 million $) in varying capacities, but I believe our subject is the AUDIENCE.
The houses I've worked in seat 1400 (or 200 or 20) and the audience experience is kind of important to the whole thing. I was speaking as an audience member.:-)
Remember when you went to a Staples or Kinkos and they wouldn't let you photocopy lots of things because they *might* be copyrighted works? Remember when you had to jump through hoops to prove that you were photocopying a book segment for a school book report?
Fast forward to today. No problem anymore. They just refer you to the Self Serve copiers with the "Don't Copy Illegally" signs and look the other way while you make your own Oxford Englsh Dictionary at 5 cents a page.
This will be a ridiculously short-lived phenomenon for two single word reasons:
Interesting you should say that. 2 of my favorite movies of ALL TIME I first saw on crappy little TV's and have never seen in a theatre:
* 'Empire of the Sun' on a 13" TV wearing headphones while sitting in a desk chair
* 'The Princess Bride' on the same TV but using the crappy little mono speaker. I think I sat on a sofa for this one.
* '...Buckaroo Banzai...' I saw in the theatre, but did not really appreciate all of its subtleties until I saw it on DVD (after owning it on Laserdisc for years!).
I could not have seen the first two films in the theatre for a variety of reasons. When I did see them, though, I fell in love with them and I did not even remotely need the theatre experience to do so. Why? Because they were so good that the medium could change and not lose the power!
It is certainly wonderful to see a movie in a theatre that really makes the medium (or more accuratley, the forum) used in a way that is interesting. But if that is all it has going for it...
Go see LIVE theatre. I guarantee you the image won't flicker with a fast moving scene. The resolution is pretty up there, too, and you don't have to stress over the quality of the 3:2 pulldown conversions...
I agree with you, the social aspect is kind of important. But theatre beats movies for that hands down.
* You and your friends not only have an event to talk about, you have an event that only you saw (every live theatre performance is a little different)
* One word: Intermission (bathroom AND discussion about what's coming next!)
* You know exactly where your money is going because you can SEE actual people and stuff in like 3D or something (OH! THAT'S what reality is!)
* You support LOCAL arts and often even get a voice in what those will be (surveys about upcoming shows, comment cards for the one you just saw, etc.)
* When there are special effects, they are especially interesting because they are decidedly NOT computer generated!
* A movie has to shred your ears and eyes with "CRASH BANG!" and vibrate your seat with 8Hz explosion bass to "immerse" you in the experience. Theatre just uses people which automatically piques your interest and you focus on the event more closely. YOU create your own immersion out of inrigue and desire. You aren't pummeled with "immersion" tactics.
I have seen 3 movies in the theatre in the last 5 years -- LOTR*. The story was important to me because I'd read, nay worshipped, the books for years and years. It's gotta be that big for me to spend my money that way versus supporting a local live show.
I actually remember MORE fondly the experience of watching the LOTR director's cuts at a friend's house with a small gathering of people with whom I usually frequent the live theatre scene!
* I did see one other movie in the theatre during that time frame, but I was on a date with the person who soon became my wife. The movie wasn't really the point.
We have files that are needed in multiple places, but we don't want to duplicate them for fear of losing sync and for sake of storage efficiency. Could be MP3s that are "Jazz," "Christmas," and "Instrumental" or a common character set used in multiple LCD products. Shortcuts or common libraries can be handy in a folder heriarchy, but are unweildy when one file is a part of 50 projects.
What I'd like is a named bucket (aka a folder?:-/) that I can drag files into that are then tagged with a piece of metadata, probably just the name of the bucket (FooWidget or Funkadelica). Now the bucket can forever live on as an indexed search.
Why?
I often know what I want in the bucket before I do the first search, just like I know what I'm going to name my folders. I don't want to selectively re-edit every single file's metadata to add a new project's tag. I don't want to create a text-based INCLUDE file just to populate some metadata. What a waste of time. _I_ know the context of the grouping before the metadata even exists. As I create new files, or discover files that belong in this context, the process of adding the metadata MUST be easier than retyping every time because, like MOST people:
* I'm lazy and won't do it. * I'll have typos and corrupt the metadata... unless I double the amount of metadata needed to protect against this (see "I'm lazy above"). * I won't remember which exact metadata tag I want to use, but I'll probably remember visually how to find that bucket (tip of the tongue memory issue) * I'll forget half of the metatags I actually wanted to use right now, but in the future I'll remember them in dribs and drabs as I come across the files or buckets again. The easier it is to add the metadata (no typing, just dragging around) the more likely I'll actually populate it more completely.
I understand that Spotlight gleans metadata from within your creation, but the last thing I want to do is make sure I type in all the correct tags in my files everytime I start a new document.
In fact I should be able to grab multiple buckets and drop them on a single file to instantly add tags that way, too! Yeah! Yeah! That's it!!
Man, I wish I knew how to program something more complicated than a VCR clock...
I guess my beef with all this searching is it is after the fact. I'd like able to create metadata before I make a my first file and have the bucket ready to put the file into.
Because they have a union (darn, can't link to Wikipedia as it is undergoing maintenance). Devs and designers might want to consider forming their own.
I'm not necessarily pro-union, but SAG et al were started to protect those types of workers from slimeballs. As such, they get to wield muscle in these types of things. Every worker deserves protections or "special treatment", but in this unfair world they often don't get it unless they band together and demand it. Actors do not deserve it more than game devs, but the actors are organized enough to actually try to get some respect.
In the professional TV/Film/Theatre industry many of the folk involved have their own union or are a part of IATSE. Game devs might someday get fed up enough and form their own.
You are more "rural" than I... in some ways. The two towns I'm between are around 3000 each (5 miles away, each) so you win there. But we get 1 TV channel OTA. 1. No cell service unless you drive 10 miles one way, or 3 the other (but that is an isolated analog pocket that quickly dies). A state forest is on one side of me, and farms are all around for miles. So yes, I can claim rural quite handily.
I bonded 2 analog modems (sometimes as low as 28.8kb x 2, often 50kb x 2 (near ISDN!) if it wasn't raining, snowing, or windy).
Now you see why I'm afraid of some karmic debt with the universe... I *NEVER* expected cable to come my way (especially from Adelphia in the throes of bankruptcy). I *hoped* some low grade DSL might trickle out. I *figured* there would be some mountain-top based wireless before either cable or DSL showed up. I wasn't interested in expensive high latency satellite or even the vain hope of the same poor service via upgraded cell coverage.
But I got cable, man, freakin' cable! I must be going to hell.
One more point on the ISDN. The cost of the CO equipment was in the *thousands* if they didn't have it in stock. And it wasn't yours. You pay for the priviledge of having them own it for you, even though you pay the actual cost of the equipment. I really don't get that...
I recently went through this. I was an ISDN customer years ago when Verizon was pushing it. Great introductory rates. Acceptable monthly rates. I had ISDN "broadband" in my apartment before most local businesses! I upgraded to cable and DSL as they came out.
Then I moved to the deep sticks. Just last year when I tried to get ISDN I learned several things:
* I would have had to pay a $250 deposit to "test the line" and that was non-refundable even if the test failed
* If any equipment was needed at the CO, I would have to pay for it, since it was no longer a standard stock item, but I wouldn't actually own the equipment
* I'd have to find my own ISDN modem (eBay, baby! $20 Netopias)
It was much cheaper for the install and the monthly bill to get an analog modem router (ebay, again -- I'll sell you a WebRamp or you could build a PC box) and 2 or 3 phone lines. UT2004 is remarkably responsive over modems, I must say. WolfET was unplayable. Starcraft was okay. City of Heroes works.
So I just waited and then, magically and inexplicably, cable came down my very rural mountain-side road (in the state with the 48th worst broadband penetration in the US). I'm not sure what cosmic debt I now owe, but I am currently quite happily surfing at 6Mb down and 512kb up!
Re:What it really does.
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Firefox Hacks
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· Score: 1
Reminds me of a Dilbert (can't find a link with the actual comic, so here's the text, probably copyright 2004 Scott Adams)
Frame 1
Tina: Wally, do you have the approved vendor list?
Wally: It's on the net. The password is "Wally."
Frame 2
Tina: Hmm... You always say information is on the net when I know it's not. Yet, by mentioning a password, it sounds plausible.
Frame 3
Tina: So... First I'll find out that the password has changed. Then I'll find that the list is out f date. What am I forgetting?
The PC of today is the server of tomorrow?
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The PC Is Not Dead
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· Score: 1
So many thoughts, mostly generated from/. reading:
* Bittorrent -- while you may use a thin client in your house to move around apps, the valuable data that you choose to share lives on a server. We like BT *BECAUSE* it's a great decentralized distribution tool that needs an internal (to your home) server because of our own requirements -- we don't want to log into some corporate server to get our media/ISO everytime. We like the fact that we can serve others and thus get served better because of it. Why would that change?
* How do we work when the server is down? By having a workstation (emphasis on the work).
* Centralization = single point of failure. Redundant servers = same thing as more workstations. I know 2 servers can replace X^N workstations, but the point here is that a decentralized workstation system is a bunch of "servers."
Slashdot Mirror
You make many good points.
But this thing costs $150!!!
If you are in the hand-me-down laptop market and the thought of a 2nd phone line is too much, then you are seriously eyeing the 50 foot phone cord from the dollar store anyway. I know people exactly like this and I helped them get a WebRamp for $25. They were much happier. $150 would not even have entered the discussion -- they'd have gone back to the 50 foot cord first.
A 2nd hand-me-down computer of any kind (with a modem) and a wi-fi card can be had for much less money to provide the exact same functionality.
The modem technology inside it is dead simple. How hard would it have been to include 2 modems and a little RJ-12 splitter? Especially at that cost?
$150. I'm just floored. This is obviously for the business traveler who has nearly everything and just has to put his laptop on the hotel bed without any wires. That's the only market it really serves well. The home and home office markets (the other two they are targetting) are better served in so many other less expensive and more powerful ways. You're either comparing a $150 gizmo with a $1 cord, or your comparing a quite limited, but expensive, single purpose device with less expensive and more powerful equipment. That was the point I was trying to make.
For $150 it can't even use 2 phone lines? Maybe this is great for that small segment of travelers who can't use a phone cord, but for those of us who are really *living* with only POTS lines this device is remarkably limited.
I could buy a used WebRamp off Ebay, and a brand new wireless router at CostCo, for less than $100 and have every PC in the house able to surf at 100k, and take phone calls dynamically! Now if this device did v.92 functions (Call Waiting stuff) reliably AND managed 2 lines it might be more interesting at $150.
Otherwise this is for the limited number of people that can't put together the system I describe, have a laptop with wireless, and are stuck on a single POTS line (you can afford a laptop with wireless, but you can't get a 2nd phone line? Huh??)
One of the keys to the IPTV technology is that instead of sending all the channels to a customer all the time, as is the case with traditional cable, only the channel selected by the customer is transmitted, saving on bandwidth.
That's the part that makes me wonder why this has taken so long to implement.
BUT HOW CAN THIS BE TRUE? 75 channels that go to everyone takes the same bandwidth as 75 independent streams, right? Got more than 75 subscribers on a loop then the bandwidth demands INCREASE, right. The obvious unspoken piece is that raw analog bandwidth and compressed digital bandwidth are like comparing Space Shuttles and Yugos.
Should I, a pasty white geek from genetics and basement computing, whose primary sun exposure areas are arms and head, and maybe tops of feet if sandals are employed, get 10 minutes a day on my square centimeters of exposed skin? No problem! I get that on the drive to work -- unless my windows are UV blocking ... rats.
.007 of a day? (end shudder .. well maybe not yet ...uhuhuhuh)
Or should I don a bikini (shudders at his own thought) for
Is it more beneficial to have more surface area exposed for a few minutes so that more of the dermal layer engages in D manufacture? Is there a healthful benefit for the whole dermis to do that? Sorry about wrong terminology -- high school bio was 20 years ago.
Or should I tape a UV pen to my left armpit and have a localized D factory?
Yes, yes, "Moderation in all things," is my motto too, but to leave surface area out the discussion just seems a little odd. It may be the hugest variable given a set exposure time. Or is the angle of the sun (lat/long or time of day) more important?
Maybe this weekend whilst I'm mowing the BACKyard (neighbors less likely to be blinded, though airplanes may still be confused) I'll doff my shirt for 10 minutes and see if I feel less cancerous next week. Note to self: put shirt on BEFORE weedwhacking -- ouch!
Phantom startups?
... sorry ...
Sorry
...we're going to end up on the Golgafrincham Ark Fleet B Ship?
I appreciate your comments, but I must not have been clear, as it seems you missed my key points (or perhaps you just disagree with mine and _I'm_ missing your points!). My key ideas were: Incentives, Clans, and Worthy tasks.
... um ... on tabloids. Sell FAH (or some other task) as "curing cancer" and the gamer can convince spouse or parents that they are doing something GOOD by playing video games (man, I hate marketing, but that's the spin that'll work).
1. First, I'll discount completely the fact that the new systems take regular firmware updates online and have hard drives for more permanent application installs. I never once mentioned modding or sticking in a distributed computing CD all the time (the thought never entered my mind as it is completely not necessary).
My original point was that it came on a disc with a major game already. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I was thinking of my brother-in-law who is a console gamer. If FAH was on Halo 2, he'd have done many protein units by now -- even if the app was only running in the shadows on that ONE game DVD. That's why I said a $1 discount ON AN ACTUAL GAME would be useful. The only effort required is clicking the "Save a $1" icon on Amazon. The app takes care of itself. My brother-in-law would have done that in a heart beat. Take it one step further and use a reward system. Get a $1 off coupon in the mail for your next game if you crack 250 units. Get $5 off a year for your Xbox-Live account if you break 1000 units. What's the incentive for a game company or Microsoft? Marketing spin and lots of it...
2. I am well aware that all X-Boxen are the same processors. You missed my key point that included that knowledge and addressed the personal status as well. CLANS. It's not the size of your personal Zalman that sets your achievement levels, it's the circle of friends who play and how often they do play. Clan scores are fun! You don't even have to care about your own rank in the big scheme, just as long as your clan is competing with another clan (like Xbox-Live sessions every Friday, like my brother-in-law does). Even the lowest fragger in the clan can contribute to raising the distributed computing score! It's just another facet of the experience and shouldn't be perceived as the whole experience.
3. So the current slate of distributed computing tasks isn't interesting to many. My sarcasm was poorly crafted. Re-read the wisecrack for the intent -- find a different thing to calculate or better sell what there is already. SETI never flew among my friends (even the geeky ones) because aliens are
There are so many good ideas around this. If the manufacturer or game designers wanted to, they could really make a lot of hype out of it. Imagine using your console and seeing a new message every week "You're helping find a cure for Cancer" or "You're solving a global warming calculation" or "You're contributing to the awesome graphics of our next game (push L for your discount code!)" The mind reels.
a side note: I have only peripherally noticed a slow down on any computer that runs FAH. It takes a few milliseconds to get out of the way of the higher priority process (and sometimes that is almost perceptible) but once its done, the machine runs fine. I'm sure that is not the case in all scenarios, but in the dozens of machines I've installed FAH on I've never had a real issue. I play Doom 3 on a mediocre machine at pretty good settings (just call me Joe 6-pack PC gamer) and FAH has never seemed like a problem or even worth thinking about once the game is running. Consoles have the added benefit of being incredibly well documented as well as having a giant install base. A well-crafed client would never need to cause a slow down and only have to do a tenth the work of a PC client due to the large numbers of machines running the process.
Why would people do this? So their Clan would get a higher score! If winning is not important, Commander, why keep score? Don't underestimate the average gamer's fascination with scores and rankings. In fact, I think this is crucial to the process.
Seriously, if this is like Folding@Home that gets out of the way when the CPU is being used, it would still get some crunching done in the game chat rooms and the in-between-the-levels limbo modes. If there's enough computing power left over for live TeamSpeak stuff, then there's power to spare (and to be used when you aren't speaking -- those who sing in TeamSpeak need not apply).
If the distributed computing organizations really wanted this to fly, all they'd have to do is partner with Amazon to offer a $1 off coupon on the game if you buy the version with the distributed client built-in.
Of course cancer or aliens isn't all that sexy to some of these folk, so the client would have to be computing something like NASCAR aerodynamics, or fractal-based lingerie for Lara Croft, or some hooey to capture Joe 6-pack gamer mindshare.
I "DO" live theatre, too (and have non-stop for a quarter century). I direct, act, light design, blah blah blah, both semi-pro and community level.
:-)
I've also worked on a few movies (independent, sub-10 million $) in varying capacities, but I believe our subject is the AUDIENCE.
The houses I've worked in seat 1400 (or 200 or 20) and the audience experience is kind of important to the whole thing. I was speaking as an audience member.
In bocca al lupo!
... to the invention of the photocopier.
Remember when you went to a Staples or Kinkos and they wouldn't let you photocopy lots of things because they *might* be copyrighted works? Remember when you had to jump through hoops to prove that you were photocopying a book segment for a school book report?
Fast forward to today. No problem anymore. They just refer you to the Self Serve copiers with the "Don't Copy Illegally" signs and look the other way while you make your own Oxford Englsh Dictionary at 5 cents a page.
This will be a ridiculously short-lived phenomenon for two single word reasons:
* Kiosks
* O-foto (that's not really a word...)
Interesting you should say that. 2 of my favorite movies of ALL TIME I first saw on crappy little TV's and have never seen in a theatre:
* 'Empire of the Sun' on a 13" TV wearing headphones while sitting in a desk chair
* 'The Princess Bride' on the same TV but using the crappy little mono speaker. I think I sat on a sofa for this one.
* '...Buckaroo Banzai...' I saw in the theatre, but did not really appreciate all of its subtleties until I saw it on DVD (after owning it on Laserdisc for years!).
I could not have seen the first two films in the theatre for a variety of reasons. When I did see them, though, I fell in love with them and I did not even remotely need the theatre experience to do so. Why? Because they were so good that the medium could change and not lose the power!
It is certainly wonderful to see a movie in a theatre that really makes the medium (or more accuratley, the forum) used in a way that is interesting. But if that is all it has going for it...
Go see LIVE theatre. I guarantee you the image won't flicker with a fast moving scene. The resolution is pretty up there, too, and you don't have to stress over the quality of the 3:2 pulldown conversions...
You just described some of the best reasons for seeing LIVE theatre. See my post above...
I agree with you, the social aspect is kind of important. But theatre beats movies for that hands down.
* You and your friends not only have an event to talk about, you have an event that only you saw (every live theatre performance is a little different)
* One word: Intermission (bathroom AND discussion about what's coming next!)
* You know exactly where your money is going because you can SEE actual people and stuff in like 3D or something (OH! THAT'S what reality is!)
* You support LOCAL arts and often even get a voice in what those will be (surveys about upcoming shows, comment cards for the one you just saw, etc.)
* When there are special effects, they are especially interesting because they are decidedly NOT computer generated!
* A movie has to shred your ears and eyes with "CRASH BANG!" and vibrate your seat with 8Hz explosion bass to "immerse" you in the experience. Theatre just uses people which automatically piques your interest and you focus on the event more closely. YOU create your own immersion out of inrigue and desire. You aren't pummeled with "immersion" tactics.
I have seen 3 movies in the theatre in the last 5 years -- LOTR*. The story was important to me because I'd read, nay worshipped, the books for years and years. It's gotta be that big for me to spend my money that way versus supporting a local live show.
I actually remember MORE fondly the experience of watching the LOTR director's cuts at a friend's house with a small gathering of people with whom I usually frequent the live theatre scene!
* I did see one other movie in the theatre during that time frame, but I was on a date with the person who soon became my wife. The movie wasn't really the point.
The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act for the Broadcast Flag?
If you leave out the plagiarism and resume builders then the numbers don't look so bad!
We have files that are needed in multiple places, but we don't want to duplicate them for fear of losing sync and for sake of storage efficiency. Could be MP3s that are "Jazz," "Christmas," and "Instrumental" or a common character set used in multiple LCD products. Shortcuts or common libraries can be handy in a folder heriarchy, but are unweildy when one file is a part of 50 projects.
:-/) that I can drag files into that are then tagged with a piece of metadata, probably just the name of the bucket (FooWidget or Funkadelica). Now the bucket can forever live on as an indexed search.
... unless I double the amount of metadata needed to protect against this (see "I'm lazy above").
...
What I'd like is a named bucket (aka a folder?
Why?
I often know what I want in the bucket before I do the first search, just like I know what I'm going to name my folders. I don't want to selectively re-edit every single file's metadata to add a new project's tag. I don't want to create a text-based INCLUDE file just to populate some metadata. What a waste of time. _I_ know the context of the grouping before the metadata even exists. As I create new files, or discover files that belong in this context, the process of adding the metadata MUST be easier than retyping every time because, like MOST people:
* I'm lazy and won't do it.
* I'll have typos and corrupt the metadata
* I won't remember which exact metadata tag I want to use, but I'll probably remember visually how to find that bucket (tip of the tongue memory issue)
* I'll forget half of the metatags I actually wanted to use right now, but in the future I'll remember them in dribs and drabs as I come across the files or buckets again. The easier it is to add the metadata (no typing, just dragging around) the more likely I'll actually populate it more completely.
I understand that Spotlight gleans metadata from within your creation, but the last thing I want to do is make sure I type in all the correct tags in my files everytime I start a new document.
In fact I should be able to grab multiple buckets and drop them on a single file to instantly add tags that way, too! Yeah! Yeah! That's it!!
Man, I wish I knew how to program something more complicated than a VCR clock
I guess my beef with all this searching is it is after the fact. I'd like able to create metadata before I make a my first file and have the bucket ready to put the file into.
Because they have a union (darn, can't link to Wikipedia as it is undergoing maintenance). Devs and designers might want to consider forming their own.
I'm not necessarily pro-union, but SAG et al were started to protect those types of workers from slimeballs. As such, they get to wield muscle in these types of things. Every worker deserves protections or "special treatment", but in this unfair world they often don't get it unless they band together and demand it. Actors do not deserve it more than game devs, but the actors are organized enough to actually try to get some respect.
In the professional TV/Film/Theatre industry many of the folk involved have their own union or are a part of IATSE. Game devs might someday get fed up enough and form their own.
Sorry ... sorry ...
You are more "rural" than I ... in some ways. The two towns I'm between are around 3000 each (5 miles away, each) so you win there. But we get 1 TV channel OTA. 1. No cell service unless you drive 10 miles one way, or 3 the other (but that is an isolated analog pocket that quickly dies). A state forest is on one side of me, and farms are all around for miles. So yes, I can claim rural quite handily.
... I *NEVER* expected cable to come my way (especially from Adelphia in the throes of bankruptcy). I *hoped* some low grade DSL might trickle out. I *figured* there would be some mountain-top based wireless before either cable or DSL showed up. I wasn't interested in expensive high latency satellite or even the vain hope of the same poor service via upgraded cell coverage.
I bonded 2 analog modems (sometimes as low as 28.8kb x 2, often 50kb x 2 (near ISDN!) if it wasn't raining, snowing, or windy).
Now you see why I'm afraid of some karmic debt with the universe
But I got cable, man, freakin' cable! I must be going to hell.
One more point on the ISDN. The cost of the CO equipment was in the *thousands* if they didn't have it in stock. And it wasn't yours. You pay for the priviledge of having them own it for you, even though you pay the actual cost of the equipment. I really don't get that...
I recently went through this. I was an ISDN customer years ago when Verizon was pushing it. Great introductory rates. Acceptable monthly rates. I had ISDN "broadband" in my apartment before most local businesses! I upgraded to cable and DSL as they came out.
Then I moved to the deep sticks. Just last year when I tried to get ISDN I learned several things:
* I would have had to pay a $250 deposit to "test the line" and that was non-refundable even if the test failed
* If any equipment was needed at the CO, I would have to pay for it, since it was no longer a standard stock item, but I wouldn't actually own the equipment
* I'd have to find my own ISDN modem (eBay, baby! $20 Netopias)
It was much cheaper for the install and the monthly bill to get an analog modem router (ebay, again -- I'll sell you a WebRamp or you could build a PC box) and 2 or 3 phone lines. UT2004 is remarkably responsive over modems, I must say. WolfET was unplayable. Starcraft was okay. City of Heroes works.
So I just waited and then, magically and inexplicably, cable came down my very rural mountain-side road (in the state with the 48th worst broadband penetration in the US). I'm not sure what cosmic debt I now owe, but I am currently quite happily surfing at 6Mb down and 512kb up!
Reminds me of a Dilbert (can't find a link with the actual comic, so here's the text, probably copyright 2004 Scott Adams)
Frame 1
Tina: Wally, do you have the approved vendor list?
Wally: It's on the net. The password is "Wally."
Frame 2
Tina: Hmm... You always say information is on the net when I know it's not. Yet, by mentioning a password, it sounds plausible.
Frame 3
Tina: So... First I'll find out that the password has changed. Then I'll find that the list is out f date. What am I forgetting?
Wally: (evil grin + thought bubble) 'Username.'
Did you really mean to?
Did you mean to?
So many thoughts, mostly generated from /. reading:
* Bittorrent -- while you may use a thin client in your house to move around apps, the valuable data that you choose to share lives on a server. We like BT *BECAUSE* it's a great decentralized distribution tool that needs an internal (to your home) server because of our own requirements -- we don't want to log into some corporate server to get our media/ISO everytime. We like the fact that we can serve others and thus get served better because of it. Why would that change?
* How do we work when the server is down? By having a workstation (emphasis on the work).
* Centralization = single point of failure. Redundant servers = same thing as more workstations. I know 2 servers can replace X^N workstations, but the point here is that a decentralized workstation system is a bunch of "servers."
* Laptops. Offline. 'Nuff said.
I'm sure you guys can think of more reasons.