Interesting math not-withstanding, as I understand it, every X-Box that microsoft sells, they sell at a loss. The idea is to get you to buy the console and then spend money on games which are much cheaper to manufacture.
So, by buying an X-box and not purchasing any games, you are hurting Microsoft's bottom line.
Is it just me or does seem more like a publicity stunt on the behalf of the MPAA more than anything else? Something they can point to and say "Hey, look, we're doing our part in trying to prevent movie piracy."
As mentioned before spending all this time/effort/money to try and stop cam movie rips, while at the same time distributing massive amounts of screeners which are then ripped at close to dvd quality is ridiculous. It seems more likely that they'll use this as a political tool the next time they try to push some "anti-piracy" legislation trough congress.
You might want to consider doing one for free. I know it sucks, but it's great experience, looks great on your resume and will give you a good idea of the field you're getting into.
That's what I did last summer after many interviews, a lot of "we went with someone who had more experience" and one "we don't have room in our budget." I called the latter back and asked if they would take me on in an unpaid capacity. They agreed and it was one of the better decisions I've made. Not only did they end up paying me something at the end (not as much as I would have made with an hourly wage, but a decent amount) but I firmly believe that it was that experience that enabled me to land the job I have right now.
So if you don't have anything better to do with you summer (or whenever you're looking for an internship), consider doing one unpaid.
Figures I get moderated down as redundant. I make a point about how the cell phone providers out there feel no real obligation for quality of service (beyond what they're legally required to) becuase they have an enormous customer base who feels dependant on their product. Isn't that a valid point?
Okay, well the title doesn't really have anything to do with what I'm about to say, but bear with me for a moment here. The reason that Cell Phone company's don't care about customer service is that they've got their customers "by the balls" (metaphorically speaking, don't want to be un-pc:P). Off the top of my head I can think of three major providers (Verizon, Sprint, Cingular), I know there's many more but as far as I can tell they're all as bad as the next guy when it comes to this.
The problem? So many people have cell phones that if you market enough people are going to sign ridiculous contracts for a service they don't really need.
As long as everyone keeps viewing cell phones as an essential tool, nothing is going to change (barring goverment intervention).
(Note: Yes, in case you can't tell, I don't have a cell phone, and sometimes I think I'm the only one.)
I couldn't agree more. The fact that they resoundingly stuck their noses where they didn't belong (by a vote of 99-0 no less) was made even worse by personal attacks on the judge who made the ruling. Not only are they unable to seperate church and state, but they are unable to seperate their personal feelings from a rational interpretation of the law.
The executive and legistlative branches of the government are not meant to interpret existing laws. That's the judical branch's job. So how about the other branches focus their jobs for a change?
Actually, it was in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for a while in a Star Trek Exhibit. I'm even pretty sure it was the authentic one from the set (I've got a couple pictures of me sitting in it around here somewhere). I think this would have been about eight years ago.
Back in the day (okay, it was only about 10 years ago) we used to be allowed to use the mac classics (one of the first color computers I ever used) to play network games of Bolo (a tank strategy game) in the computer lab after school for an hour or two every wednesday. It was great fun, although they occasionally kicked us out for getting a little too rowdy (the computer lab was right next to the library).
Not that i'm accusing the parent of plagarism (of an idea anway, and a funny one at that), but this seems to be really similar to a mailbag entry in a recent ESPN.com article ( Link Here ).
"Q: Soon, David Lee Roth will be seen singing Van Halen stuff... a new "Star Wars" movie is out next month... the Celtics are winning playoff games on the parquet floor... Jason Voorhees is back in theaters this Friday... and by God, Hulk Hogan is the heavyweight champion of the world. Are we back in 1984 and nobody told me? -- Matty, Boston
SG: I keep waiting to turn on the 2002 World Karate Championships on ESPN2 just in time to see Daniel LaRusso limping towards the center of the ring as the announcer screams, 'He's gonna fight! Daniel LaRusso is gonna fight!'"
Don't know why i'm bringing this up. Guess it's too late and i'm really bored.
This made me laugh: "We have the right to protect our exisitng business, and we have a moral duty to protect our artists and songwriters," said Mr Larsen."
Talk about hypocritical/double standard/load of horsecrap. Don't most artists make something ludicrous like a fraction of a penny per disc sold unless they have a renegotiated contract (after some success on previous albums which they got paid jack for)?
My take is that as long as the RIAA doesn't give a shit about the artists, I won't give a shit about the RIAA.
The determined pirate, of course, will not be affected by the new CDs. She will simply connect her stereo to her computer, then press "record" on her ripping software as she presses "play" on her conventional CD player. This will yield a digital file that can be shared with the world (not to mention her portable MP3 player).
First off, he's tagging the "pirate" as a female, and I can't help but wonder why? I can't think of any real reason, maybe he has some hidden agenda. Secondly, he's using the term pirate, when they seem to have legally purchased the CD in the first place. If that's his defination of a pirate (someone who merely converts CDs that they already own into mp3s), i'm not sure that he "get's it" at all.
That's not really the same though. A more appropriate analogy wouly be reffering to what happened in Pearl Habor as 12/7 or what happened in Tiananmen Sqaure as 6/4. Would you still react the same way to those shorthands? Would you even make the connection between those dates and the events that took place in 1941 and 1989 respectively? I wouldn't.
I'm not really sure why, but when everybody reffers to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 simply as 9/11 or even worse 911, it really bugs me. It seems like it has become just another buzzword in a culture that thrives on sound bites to keep them informed. Is this just me? Am I the only one who thinks that it trivializes what happened when we treat as just another element of pop culture?
Features I'm looking forward to in the upcoming release include: LAN games (five laptops, five six-packs, you know the drill)
Just five six packs? That's not even enough to get you wasted (assuming there's 5 of you, if it's just you, well then you really now how to party). There's nothing like 5 computer geeks, thoroughly hammered, playing Quake 3 Tournament(or whatever your game of choice may be).
Just curious, but does he make a decent living off of this? I mean, a T1 line 'aint exactly cheap (especially in the middle of nowhere) not to mention the Cisco and 7 comps. Is he able to recoup his expenses and make a decent profit just by spamming the same 4,000,000 people over and over again? Do you have any idea what kind of percentage of these people actually buy stuff from him? I'm just curios because I?ve never heard the spammers perspective before.
Although I've never played Everquest, I do play more Dark Age of Camelot (very similar game) than can be considered healthy. If you head over to ebay and throw daoc (the initials) into their search engine you might be pretty surprised at what comes out. One kid sold his account for $3,150 (yes, that's US).
Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& item=1318221965.
There also seems to be an economy based on selling gold at about 6 gold to the dollar (average). Pretty crazy, but I guess some people just have too much money on their hands. Or have a serious problem.
Oh yeah, and I'm not even getting into people who pay upwards of ten dollars an hour to have someone else level their character for them.
Watching the NFL playoffs yesterday really brought home that pro football games have become more commercials than sport. It's gotten to the point where they cut out plays for commercials, come back from commercial break for a minute, and then go right back to commercial as soon as possible (sometimes under 30 seconds later). But this trend certainly isn?t limited to professional sports. As long as shows keep becoming more costly to produce (whether it be by actor's salaries, broadcasting rights, etc) the TV producers will keep trying to offset that cost by adding more and longer commercials. Yeah, this technology sounds interesting (scary, but intersecting), but don?t forget that most content has already been "edited for TV" anyway.
According to www.chud.com, Lord of The Rings has grossed $205,500,000 as of last Monday
(box office totals are updated every Monday). This is over a three week period.
Last weekend's gross was $23,000,000.
FYI: In 8 weeks Harry Potter has grossed $300,500,000 so I don't think that LOTR has broken any records yet.
Granted, I hate censorship as much as the next guy, but am I missing something here when the article talks about public arcades? I think a certain amount of restriction properly placed on public arcades is not such a bad thing as everyone seems to think it is. I mean, these are kids who are potentially as young as 6 years old, maybe they're with their parents, maybe an older sibling, maybe not. The point is, at that age there should be a lack of exposure to the level of violence common in most modern day video games (which I love btw). I'm not saying do away with excessively violent arcade games, just don't put them in public places.
Slashdot Mirror
If nothing else, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to see Taco spell on the fly. :)
Interesting math not-withstanding, as I understand it, every X-Box that microsoft sells, they sell at a loss. The idea is to get you to buy the console and then spend money on games which are much cheaper to manufacture.
So, by buying an X-box and not purchasing any games, you are hurting Microsoft's bottom line.
Is it just me or does seem more like a publicity stunt on the behalf of the MPAA more than anything else? Something they can point to and say "Hey, look, we're doing our part in trying to prevent movie piracy."
As mentioned before spending all this time/effort/money to try and stop cam movie rips, while at the same time distributing massive amounts of screeners which are then ripped at close to dvd quality is ridiculous. It seems more likely that they'll use this as a political tool the next time they try to push some "anti-piracy" legislation trough congress.
You might want to consider doing one for free. I know it sucks, but it's great experience, looks great on your resume and will give you a good idea of the field you're getting into.
That's what I did last summer after many interviews, a lot of "we went with someone who had more experience" and one "we don't have room in our budget." I called the latter back and asked if they would take me on in an unpaid capacity. They agreed and it was one of the better decisions I've made. Not only did they end up paying me something at the end (not as much as I would have made with an hourly wage, but a decent amount) but I firmly believe that it was that experience that enabled me to land the job I have right now.
So if you don't have anything better to do with you summer (or whenever you're looking for an internship), consider doing one unpaid.
Figures I get moderated down as redundant. I make a point about how the cell phone providers out there feel no real obligation for quality of service (beyond what they're legally required to) becuase they have an enormous customer base who feels dependant on their product. Isn't that a valid point?
Okay, well the title doesn't really have anything to do with what I'm about to say, but bear with me for a moment here. The reason that Cell Phone company's don't care about customer service is that they've got their customers "by the balls" (metaphorically speaking, don't want to be un-pc :P). Off the top of my head I can think of three major providers (Verizon, Sprint, Cingular), I know there's many more but as far as I can tell they're all as bad as the next guy when it comes to this.
The problem? So many people have cell phones that if you market enough people are going to sign ridiculous contracts for a service they don't really need.
As long as everyone keeps viewing cell phones as an essential tool, nothing is going to change (barring goverment intervention).
(Note: Yes, in case you can't tell, I don't have a cell phone, and sometimes I think I'm the only one.)
Heh, and just who are these famous people you had to have pictures of?
I couldn't agree more. The fact that they resoundingly stuck their noses where they didn't belong (by a vote of 99-0 no less) was made even worse by personal attacks on the judge who made the ruling. Not only are they unable to seperate church and state, but they are unable to seperate their personal feelings from a rational interpretation of the law.
The executive and legistlative branches of the government are not meant to interpret existing laws. That's the judical branch's job. So how about the other branches focus their jobs for a change?
I'm sorry, but did you just admit to downloading "Who let the Dogs Out?"
:P
Actually, it was in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for a while in a Star Trek Exhibit. I'm even pretty sure it was the authentic one from the set (I've got a couple pictures of me sitting in it around here somewhere). I think this would have been about eight years ago.
Back in the day (okay, it was only about 10 years ago) we used to be allowed to use the mac classics (one of the first color computers I ever used) to play network games of Bolo (a tank strategy game) in the computer lab after school for an hour or two every wednesday. It was great fun, although they occasionally kicked us out for getting a little too rowdy (the computer lab was right next to the library).
Not that i'm accusing the parent of plagarism (of an idea anway, and a funny one at that), but this seems to be really similar to a mailbag entry in a recent ESPN.com article ( Link Here ).
... a new "Star Wars" movie is out next month ... the Celtics are winning playoff games on the parquet floor ... Jason Voorhees is back in theaters this Friday ... and by God, Hulk Hogan is the heavyweight champion of the world. Are we back in 1984 and nobody told me?
"Q: Soon, David Lee Roth will be seen singing Van Halen stuff
-- Matty, Boston
SG: I keep waiting to turn on the 2002 World Karate Championships on ESPN2 just in time to see Daniel LaRusso limping towards the center of the ring as the announcer screams, 'He's gonna fight! Daniel LaRusso is gonna fight!'"
Don't know why i'm bringing this up. Guess it's too late and i'm really bored.
This made me laugh:
"We have the right to protect our exisitng business, and we have a moral duty to protect our artists and songwriters," said Mr Larsen."
Talk about hypocritical/double standard/load of horsecrap. Don't most artists make something ludicrous like a fraction of a penny per disc sold unless they have a renegotiated contract (after some success on previous albums which they got paid jack for)?
My take is that as long as the RIAA doesn't give a shit about the artists, I won't give a shit about the RIAA.
I found this peice interesting:
The determined pirate, of course, will not be affected by the new CDs. She will simply connect her stereo to her computer, then press "record" on her ripping software as she presses "play" on her conventional CD player. This will yield a digital file that can be shared with the world (not to mention her portable MP3 player).
First off, he's tagging the "pirate" as a female, and I can't help but wonder why? I can't think of any real reason, maybe he has some hidden agenda. Secondly, he's using the term pirate, when they seem to have legally purchased the CD in the first place. If that's his defination of a pirate (someone who merely converts CDs that they already own into mp3s), i'm not sure that he "get's it" at all.
That's not really the same though. A more appropriate analogy wouly be reffering to what happened in Pearl Habor as 12/7 or what happened in Tiananmen Sqaure as 6/4. Would you still react the same way to those shorthands? Would you even make the connection between those dates and the events that took place in 1941 and 1989 respectively? I wouldn't.
I'm not really sure why, but when everybody reffers to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 simply as 9/11 or even worse 911, it really bugs me. It seems like it has become just another buzzword in a culture that thrives on sound bites to keep them informed. Is this just me? Am I the only one who thinks that it trivializes what happened when we treat as just another element of pop culture?
Features I'm looking forward to in the upcoming release include: LAN games (five laptops, five six-packs, you know the drill)
Just five six packs? That's not even enough to get you wasted (assuming there's 5 of you, if it's just you, well then you really now how to party). There's nothing like 5 computer geeks, thoroughly hammered, playing Quake 3 Tournament(or whatever your game of choice may be).
Just curious, but does he make a decent living off of this? I mean, a T1 line 'aint exactly cheap (especially in the middle of nowhere) not to mention the Cisco and 7 comps. Is he able to recoup his expenses and make a decent profit just by spamming the same 4,000,000 people over and over again? Do you have any idea what kind of percentage of these people actually buy stuff from him? I'm just curios because I?ve never heard the spammers perspective before.
Although I've never played Everquest, I do play more Dark Age of Camelot (very similar game) than can be considered healthy. If you head over to ebay and throw daoc (the initials) into their search engine you might be pretty surprised at what comes out. One kid sold his account for $3,150 (yes, that's US).
& item=1318221965.
Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem
There also seems to be an economy based on selling gold at about 6 gold to the dollar (average). Pretty crazy, but I guess some people just have too much money on their hands. Or have a serious problem.
Oh yeah, and I'm not even getting into people who pay upwards of ten dollars an hour to have someone else level their character for them.
Watching the NFL playoffs yesterday really brought home that pro football games have become more commercials than sport. It's gotten to the point where they cut out plays for commercials, come back from commercial break for a minute, and then go right back to commercial as soon as possible (sometimes under 30 seconds later). But this trend certainly isn?t limited to professional sports. As long as shows keep becoming more costly to produce (whether it be by actor's salaries, broadcasting rights, etc) the TV producers will keep trying to offset that cost by adding more and longer commercials. Yeah, this technology sounds interesting (scary, but intersecting), but don?t forget that most content has already been "edited for TV" anyway.
I don't know about you, but I expected him to say:
"You hear that Mr. Frodo? That's the sound of inevitability."
According to www.chud.com, Lord of The Rings has grossed $205,500,000 as of last Monday
(box office totals are updated every Monday). This is over a three week period.
Last weekend's gross was $23,000,000.
FYI: In 8 weeks Harry Potter has grossed $300,500,000 so I don't think that LOTR has broken any records yet.
Granted, I hate censorship as much as the next guy, but am I missing something here when the article talks about public arcades? I think a certain amount of restriction properly placed on public arcades is not such a bad thing as everyone seems to think it is. I mean, these are kids who are potentially as young as 6 years old, maybe they're with their parents, maybe an older sibling, maybe not. The point is, at that age there should be a lack of exposure to the level of violence common in most modern day video games (which I love btw). I'm not saying do away with excessively violent arcade games, just don't put them in public places.
I sincerely hope you looked up those lyrics online. Beacuase no self respecting /.er would admit to actually knowing the lyrics.
Not to troll, Slight Editorial Note... Missed the E in even...
;)
>>Some ven look like they might have potential