They do charge, yes, but the charge is mainly to the advertisers -- much like online. What you pay for a newspaper subscription only covers the distribution infrastructure. You likely pay for distribution of your online news as well, unless you have free internet access. The benefit of the latter is obviously that you get as much information as you like from as many sources as you like. The benefit of the former is that it's conveniently portable and the signal to noise ratio is usually a bit better.
I'd wager that a large part of XPs early adoption was via corp.iso's.
I'd wager that a far, far larger part of XP's early adoption was via new computer purchases. You're basically referring to a small segment (people who don't buy legitimate copies of software) of a small segment (people who only buy components/barebones systems) of computer users. Everyone else got their copy for "free" with their system.
Thanks for reinforcing my point. There's no disincentive against grouping, so nobody does it, which only reinforces the incompetence.
As for soloing...
It's like playing a tennis ball against a brick wall, which can be fun. It can be fun, but it's not a game. Right. It's not a game. No. What you want is a partner to return the ball.
There's a reason the FPS genre almost always contains multiplayer content nowadays. WoW at least has its PvP battles, so I'll give it that.
Since I've seen plenty of articles on this, but none describing exactly what's at issue in this case, I did some searching and found this link to the Petitioner's Brief. [PDF Warning]
Apparently, an old patent existed for adjustible gas pedals, such that the pedal could be moved to suit the size of the driver. Additionally a second patent existed for a gas pedal which was linked to an Electronically Controlled Throttle (ECT). Teleflex then apparently patented a brake pedal which used a combination of the two technologies, which is, I think, about as obvious as it gets, and then sued KSR Int'l for infringement.
I also found this NYT article on the subject, which explains the case, and how such idiotic patents are allowed to stand.
Most likely it's waiting for your hard drive. Either it spun down (check power management), or it's trying to read a bad sector, or something along those lines. If a process was monopolizing all the resources, you probably wouldn't even be able to open task manager to view it.
it may be possible for 'someone with access to the ATM network to attack the special computers that transmit bank account numbers and PIN codes
Holy crap! People with access to a network can attack it? Next you're going to tell me that the only secure computer is one that's turned off, locked in a safe, and dropped to the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
Yeah, I actually preferred EQ, because it was NEW new. Nobody had ever done a 3D MORPG before, and it was just insane. There's nothing quite like 1000 level 1 characters running around with absolutely no clue what they're doing, or what they're supposed to do. (There wasn't the level of hand-holding back then, which was both good and bad). Later games, including the omnipotent WoW, just seem like rehashes of the same thing. Granted, EQ had become a complicated, noob unfriendly monstrosity by the time WoW came out, and many veteran players were tired of EQ, so that probably contributed to WoW's popularity.
I never really got into WoW though, despite my best efforts and friends that play religiously. I think the main reason was grouping. In EQ, grouping was essentially mandatory for efficient leveling. Grouping made gameplay more interesting, rewarding, and entertaining, although very often more frustrating. It also provided a bit of a safety net, since there was usually someone to make travel faster (teleport), ressurect, etc. In WoW, there are largely the same benefits to groups, but the benefits don't outweigh the drawback of waiting to find other players. It's simply faster to go solo for XP in almost every case. As a result, the people most desperately looking for groups are often people who can't survive on their own because they can't play their class effectively, so grouping is frequently disasterous in WoW. Even worse, when grouping IS required, people are so accustomed to soloing that they don't function well as a team. It's like watching the NBA "Dream Team" at the Olympics, where everybody's trying to be the star. I'm sure that probably changes at the higher levels, but I just didn't have the patience to continue the extremely tedious process of grinding through levels on my own.
Additionally, I suppose I had become disillusioned by the fact that any sense of accomplishment was fleeting and incomplete, with another "challenge" (aka time-sink) constantly waiting in the wings. The never-ending process of obtaining new items to enable you to fight new creatures to obtain new items to fight new creatures to obtain new items just gets old after a while. That's probably a good thing though, because for at least 5 years, I was an EQ junkie. I should thank them for making boring content, otherwise I'd probably still be one.
This is ricockulous. The status quo for graphics processors won't increase just because of Vista. Pretty much every new computer in the past year has shipped with a GPU which satisfies the requirements/recommendations for Vista, save some business machines, but they're not exactly a potential gaming market to begin with.
So Vista definately won't push the envelope for consumer hardware, but more importantly, hardware still ages. In about two years (+/- 1yr), today's bottom end Vista-capable card will be struggling to run new games, at least with full settings. The requirements of an operating system are not future proof, unless MS decides to up the ante with new eye candy every year, so asserting that they would somehow enhance the install base of "gaming ready PCs" -- which are essentially machines with hardware not more than 2-3 years old -- is inane. Games will always push the envelope far beyond an operating system.
There's almost no reason to pick a lock if theft is the goal. The only time lockpicking is useful is when you don't want evidence of your presence, otherwise a crowbar usually works just fine. Not much skill needed to use those. Also bumping works on more "quality" locks than you'd think, and there's no skill required for that either.
1) Your time isn't monopolized by downloading, but even if it was.. 2) Private trackers will almost always max out your download speeds, except for the first few minutes after a new post, and they'll frequently have a new title available as soon as, or sooner than, iTunes. 3) The quality on iTunes just plain sucks. 4) $2 is exactly $2 more than I spend on my morning coffee.
Personally, I just PVR everything I want to watch. No fuss, no wait, just done, and if I ever want to watch it on something else, (which is approximately never, since I only watch TV on my TV -- I guess I'm old fashioned like that), then I could transcode it.
Holy crap, the stormtroopers have no feet! He cut off their feet! What kind of sick bastard would do something like that? That's just despicable. I can't believe they would even put something like that in a game.
According to Griffiths, the problem with online games is there will never be a point where the player has battled the final boss, tied up the story, and can turn the computer off with a feeling of satisfaction.
Oh, is that why? Is it really? You mean the lack of an end is somehow enticing for people? It compells them to play indefinately? What you're saying is that something without an end never ends? Well I suppose that makes sense.. Thank you. Thank you for your brilliant insight into why things that never end never seem to end. Are you perhaps a laureate of some sort? AAAS? Nobel? No? Ah.
Have you seen the condition of the roads and bridges?
Most of the roads and bridges in the US are in excellent condition. Some states suck (Illinois, I'm looking in your general direction), but overall they're flat, smooth, and largely free of patchwork, which is much more than you'll get in most countries The US interstate system is one of the few successes of government, along with...
How would you compare the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and customer service of the US Post Office with Fed X and UPS?
Outstanding. I can get a package shipped Priority Mail for a fraction of what UPS charges, and I can mail 3 letters for just over a dollar, which is likely to arrive within 5 business days, or 1-2 business days for local mail. Fedex would charge $10, minumum.
A 1'x1'x1' 5lb package from San Diego to Washington DC, door-to-door: Priority Mail: $12.80 UPS 3 Day: $28.80 FedEx Express Saver: $29.76
And if you live outside of the lower 48, there's no comparison -- the USPS is the best deal going.
That said, I don't want the government making drugs, but the interstate system and USPS are excellent value for the money.
Take the 3M approach - they know their product will be copied so aim to be first and fasted to market to make their cash quickly by being innovative ahead of their competition. This gives the OEM a window in which to maximize their sales/profits, and promotes competition and technical innovation.
You mean the same 3M that's arguing against patent reform?
They argued that anything different from the Federal Circuit's test would erase the "predictability" they have come to expect in the patent application process and would inject too much subjectivity into deciding what is obvious.
"Changes to such settled rules of law involve numerous policy considerations, which should be left to Congress rather than the courts," attorneys for 3M, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, DuPont, and Johnson & Johnson wrote in their brief.
Slashdot Mirror
Silicone based life walks among us.
They do charge, yes, but the charge is mainly to the advertisers -- much like online. What you pay for a newspaper subscription only covers the distribution infrastructure. You likely pay for distribution of your online news as well, unless you have free internet access. The benefit of the latter is obviously that you get as much information as you like from as many sources as you like. The benefit of the former is that it's conveniently portable and the signal to noise ratio is usually a bit better.
I'd wager that a large part of XPs early adoption was via corp .iso's.
I'd wager that a far, far larger part of XP's early adoption was via new computer purchases. You're basically referring to a small segment (people who don't buy legitimate copies of software) of a small segment (people who only buy components/barebones systems) of computer users. Everyone else got their copy for "free" with their system.
As for soloing...
There's a reason the FPS genre almost always contains multiplayer content nowadays. WoW at least has its PvP battles, so I'll give it that.
1) Invade Iraq
2) Despose Saddam
3) Hold Elections
4) ????
5) Profit!
It's that goddamned #4... It gets us every time.
Since I've seen plenty of articles on this, but none describing exactly what's at issue in this case, I did some searching and found this link to the Petitioner's Brief. [PDF Warning]
Apparently, an old patent existed for adjustible gas pedals, such that the pedal could be moved to suit the size of the driver. Additionally a second patent existed for a gas pedal which was linked to an Electronically Controlled Throttle (ECT). Teleflex then apparently patented a brake pedal which used a combination of the two technologies, which is, I think, about as obvious as it gets, and then sued KSR Int'l for infringement.
I also found this NYT article on the subject, which explains the case, and how such idiotic patents are allowed to stand.
Most likely it's waiting for your hard drive. Either it spun down (check power management), or it's trying to read a bad sector, or something along those lines. If a process was monopolizing all the resources, you probably wouldn't even be able to open task manager to view it.
Let's see here.. *does some rearranging*
The original American system was a huge success. It probably only lasted until the Civil War.
Yeah, nothing says "Success!" like Civil War.
So you're saying nothing would change...
No, they were waiting for legitimate customers to install it so they could try out their hacks in the real world. See sig.
it may be possible for 'someone with access to the ATM network to attack the special computers that transmit bank account numbers and PIN codes
Holy crap! People with access to a network can attack it? Next you're going to tell me that the only secure computer is one that's turned off, locked in a safe, and dropped to the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
What are the limitations and caveats with 240 vs 120
Well they're pretty much the same. In both cases you've got about a 9% overvoltage condition.
Yeah, I actually preferred EQ, because it was NEW new. Nobody had ever done a 3D MORPG before, and it was just insane. There's nothing quite like 1000 level 1 characters running around with absolutely no clue what they're doing, or what they're supposed to do. (There wasn't the level of hand-holding back then, which was both good and bad). Later games, including the omnipotent WoW, just seem like rehashes of the same thing. Granted, EQ had become a complicated, noob unfriendly monstrosity by the time WoW came out, and many veteran players were tired of EQ, so that probably contributed to WoW's popularity.
I never really got into WoW though, despite my best efforts and friends that play religiously. I think the main reason was grouping. In EQ, grouping was essentially mandatory for efficient leveling. Grouping made gameplay more interesting, rewarding, and entertaining, although very often more frustrating. It also provided a bit of a safety net, since there was usually someone to make travel faster (teleport), ressurect, etc. In WoW, there are largely the same benefits to groups, but the benefits don't outweigh the drawback of waiting to find other players. It's simply faster to go solo for XP in almost every case. As a result, the people most desperately looking for groups are often people who can't survive on their own because they can't play their class effectively, so grouping is frequently disasterous in WoW. Even worse, when grouping IS required, people are so accustomed to soloing that they don't function well as a team. It's like watching the NBA "Dream Team" at the Olympics, where everybody's trying to be the star. I'm sure that probably changes at the higher levels, but I just didn't have the patience to continue the extremely tedious process of grinding through levels on my own.
Additionally, I suppose I had become disillusioned by the fact that any sense of accomplishment was fleeting and incomplete, with another "challenge" (aka time-sink) constantly waiting in the wings. The never-ending process of obtaining new items to enable you to fight new creatures to obtain new items to fight new creatures to obtain new items just gets old after a while. That's probably a good thing though, because for at least 5 years, I was an EQ junkie. I should thank them for making boring content, otherwise I'd probably still be one.
This is ricockulous. The status quo for graphics processors won't increase just because of Vista. Pretty much every new computer in the past year has shipped with a GPU which satisfies the requirements/recommendations for Vista, save some business machines, but they're not exactly a potential gaming market to begin with.
So Vista definately won't push the envelope for consumer hardware, but more importantly, hardware still ages. In about two years (+/- 1yr), today's bottom end Vista-capable card will be struggling to run new games, at least with full settings. The requirements of an operating system are not future proof, unless MS decides to up the ante with new eye candy every year, so asserting that they would somehow enhance the install base of "gaming ready PCs" -- which are essentially machines with hardware not more than 2-3 years old -- is inane. Games will always push the envelope far beyond an operating system.
I equate coffee to liquor. If I cared what it tasted like, I wouldn't be drinking it. ;)
That's only in Soviet California.
That doesn't sound like the kind of language that the vice president would use, but I can confirm that there was a frank exchange of views.
There's almost no reason to pick a lock if theft is the goal. The only time lockpicking is useful is when you don't want evidence of your presence, otherwise a crowbar usually works just fine. Not much skill needed to use those. Also bumping works on more "quality" locks than you'd think, and there's no skill required for that either.
1) Your time isn't monopolized by downloading, but even if it was..
2) Private trackers will almost always max out your download speeds, except for the first few minutes after a new post, and they'll frequently have a new title available as soon as, or sooner than, iTunes.
3) The quality on iTunes just plain sucks.
4) $2 is exactly $2 more than I spend on my morning coffee.
Personally, I just PVR everything I want to watch. No fuss, no wait, just done, and if I ever want to watch it on something else, (which is approximately never, since I only watch TV on my TV -- I guess I'm old fashioned like that), then I could transcode it.
Thanks!
Nuclear Isotope - Alpha Isotope Type: Polonium-210 Qty. 15,000
Subtotal: $1,035,000.00 USD
Shipping & Handling: $19.95 USD
Holy crap, the stormtroopers have no feet! He cut off their feet! What kind of sick bastard would do something like that? That's just despicable. I can't believe they would even put something like that in a game.
According to Griffiths, the problem with online games is there will never be a point where the player has battled the final boss, tied up the story, and can turn the computer off with a feeling of satisfaction.
Oh, is that why? Is it really? You mean the lack of an end is somehow enticing for people? It compells them to play indefinately? What you're saying is that something without an end never ends? Well I suppose that makes sense.. Thank you. Thank you for your brilliant insight into why things that never end never seem to end. Are you perhaps a laureate of some sort? AAAS? Nobel? No? Ah.
Have you seen the condition of the roads and bridges?
Most of the roads and bridges in the US are in excellent condition. Some states suck (Illinois, I'm looking in your general direction), but overall they're flat, smooth, and largely free of patchwork, which is much more than you'll get in most countries The US interstate system is one of the few successes of government, along with...
How would you compare the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and customer service of the US Post Office with Fed X and UPS?
Outstanding. I can get a package shipped Priority Mail for a fraction of what UPS charges, and I can mail 3 letters for just over a dollar, which is likely to arrive within 5 business days, or 1-2 business days for local mail. Fedex would charge $10, minumum.
A 1'x1'x1' 5lb package from San Diego to Washington DC, door-to-door:
Priority Mail: $12.80
UPS 3 Day: $28.80
FedEx Express Saver: $29.76
And if you live outside of the lower 48, there's no comparison -- the USPS is the best deal going.
That said, I don't want the government making drugs, but the interstate system and USPS are excellent value for the money.
You mean the same 3M that's arguing against patent reform?
Above from TFA .
those ads probably are one of the major factors why moviegoer numbers are steeply declining.
Silly me.. I thought it was just because the movies sucked.