Perhaps you should read the article you linked to. Yes, you can only use it if you bought Windows Vista Ultimate. But it allows you to upgrade up to two other PCs to Windows Vista Home Premium. So they are supposed to be issued license keys for Vista Home Premium, but the keys aren't working.
Your "news" story about the Massachusetts video game bill is utterly flawed. do you journalist wannabes EVER talk to an original source, or do you just quoting other pro-gaming sites? this is ridiculous!
ASP.NET isn't a seperate programming language. You can write ASP.NET code in C# or VB.NET.
Re:still supprised at the $250 price tag.
on
The Wii Takes NYC
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· Score: 1
Well it does come with a game. So instead of $200 for the console, and $50 for the game, you spend $250 for the console plus the game, which is pretty much the same thing except you're stuck with Wii sports, when the game you really want is Zelda. Still, it seems like a smart move for them.
The programs you write with this product will not need to be signed (at least not with the same key everything else for the XBox 360 is). This product is going to be a.NET based development environment. So the.NET runtime will be signed, and will run on the console, and will run your game, which you wrote in C#.
The current announcements don't seem to spell out that this is based on.NET, but I'm sure it is. Microsoft has mentioned before that getting.NET on the XBox 360 was part of XNA. Also, see this FiringSquad article. They mention that 95 to 99 percent of the code from the windows version of a game could be retained in the X360 version. Also:
Microsoft indicated in their presentation that they feel the Xbox 360 security, both in hardware and software, will be able to eliminate any threatening code from getting out on their consoles and they claim there will be automated and non-automated ways to detect such code.
Managed code seems like the only reasonable way to enforce this security.
The analogy does not hold because a lot of networks are set up specifically to allow public access. You can tell that a house is someone's personal residence and a store is a public space where you can enter. It is not so simple on a wireless network. I would like to be able to access the internet from anywhere and everywhere. But if I leave my network open, how are people who find it really going to know that I give them permission to use it? That is why I view a wireless network without a password as implicitly giving permission for public use. A lot of people who set up a home wireless network may not know that they can secure it, but I think the solution is to educate these people rather than make a blanket statement that using someone else's unsecured network is stealing.
Here's the problem with charging content providers for faster access to consumers: The price a service provider charges the consumers is limited by market forces. There may not be a lot of different choices for internet access in a lot of places, but consumers still have the choice to cancel their DSL/Cable and use dial-up, the library, Wi-fi hotspots, or whatever to access the internet if the rates get outrageous.
However, when service providers start charging content providers, there is no market to limit the prices they charge to what is reasonable. They have a monopoly on the consumers that access the internet through them. So if Comcast starts to charge Google to send data to Comcast's customers, Google can't choose another service provider to get to those consumers.
I understand there are 4 levels of "modability" - The world editor, editing XML configuration files, editing the game logic in python, and modifying the AI via an SDK.
I am wondering exactly how much of the game logic is written in python. What will the limitations be when we are modifying python scripts. Could we do something like add a fourth resource type (in addition to gold, hammers, and food)?
Also, if all of the game logic is written in python, would this make it easier to port Civ IV to a platform such as the Nintendo DS? This is something I would really love to see.
Check out this page of the article. The XBox 360 uses a unified memory architecture, and the same 512 MB of memory is used by the CPU for general purpose use and the GPU for storing textures or whatever. There is also 10 MB of eDRAM which serves as a frame buffer which can handle some processing such as Z-buffering, blending, etc.
The heart of the GPU seems to be on the same chip as the Northbridge controller, which basically means that the GPU has more direct access to the memory than the CPU.
Check out the diagram on the page I linked, which shows the bandwidth between the various components. If there is any competition for memory access, I think it will be well balanced between the CPU and GPU.
Have you seen the screenshots for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion? To me the forests look amazingly better than anything else I've seen in a game. I think there's something like 8 square miles of them total. I believe it uses the CPU to procedurally generate the geometry. It's possible to generate this much detail dynamically because you can set it up where the CPU can write data to the cache and the GPU can read directly from the cache without having to go through main memory.
To me, it sounds like you quit your job because you thought you weren't going to like something you hadn't tried yet. I think you should have stayed with your job during the transition, while simultaneously looking for another job. That way you would have gotten a better idea of what your job would be like programming in C#. If it turned out you didn't like it, then you could just accept one of the job offers you got. If you didn't get any job offers, then you would need to consider sticking with your job even though you didn't like it.
Personally I'm a big fan of C#/.NET for writing business software. That's what my company mainly does.
Microsoft browses slashdot too, you know. So they probably know where the spike in bandwidth is coming from even if they don't have one of those big screens.
This is so ridiculous I find it hard to believe that "the manager of technology strategy and outreach at Princeton University" is serious. I almost think it could be a parody of a parody, showing just how ridiculous arguments against open source etc can be.
From the SPF Page "I have someone coming from a certain IP address. They claim to be a certain sender. Are they for real?"
This at the top of the explanation page, and as far as I can tell, is already broken. This is because it assumes that you can tell where a message is coming from. This is true if the sender wants you to know where it's coming from. However, IP address spoofing is quite easy. Simply put an IP address other than your own in the source field of an IP packet header. In this case, you'd use an IP address that was on the "permitted" list.
Re:Enoch Root question (Spoiler for cryptonomicon)
on
Quicksilver
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· Score: 1
I for one would have liked a warning that the current owners had set up a porn site on there. The post naturally makes one wonder what is currently on the site, and some people are going to check it out who would prefer not to end up at a porn site.
It's not perfect, but I do a far better job then Babelfish or Google. Still not quite sure what "impulseantrieb" means though. We'll go with "momentum drive." Some of the words that I wasn't sure of I've enclosed in ?question marks?.
Lego Robot "Jitter" Sweeps in the IIS Space Station
Konrad and Bastian Schwarzenbach have won the "Ultimate Builder Competition" from Lego Mindstorms with their model "Jitter." The small robot, made from Lego and Technic pieces will fly to the IIS Space Station in November.
Out of 124 participants in the "Lego Mindstorms goes Space" contest, the last ten met in Munich for the finals. In the presence of Jury Schirmherr and Astronaut Ulf Merbold, father and son were declared the winners. The winning model Jitter will gather pieces that are flying around in the IIS--at least it's programmed to do that along with other functions. A special prize went to the astronaut muscle trainer that a six-person team from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland had built.
With Jitter the crew will get a helper at hand that, if it keeps itself safe in weightlessness, gathers pieces floating around the space station. In addition, Jitter communicates its findings or contact with a cabin wall through tones and light signals. Jitter is based on the commercially available Lego Mindstorm pieces. Hitachi H8 Microcontrollers, which are off-the-shelf programmable chips, constitute the heart of the robot.
Jitter was programmed in Java (TinyVM) by Konrad Schwarzenback
When Jitter is turned on in zero gravity on the IIS, it must be brought to rest with the Z-axis pointing towards the Cabin lighting, which serves as a permanent guidance point. The robot will then perform a few 360 degree rolls to initialize its steering parameters, and can be brought on-line with a light push.
[The following paragraph is the most techical and worst translated. Sorry.]
Jitter works with a momentum drive. A cam disc ?rotates? permanently inside the robot's housing. When it comes in contact with a wall, the housing gets displaced. According to the direction of the collision, an impulse in the opposite direction is generated.
In addition, the robot is outfitted with light, touch, and rotation sensors that turn it and guide it on its course. Jitters mission is to gather floating pieces with a broom made of Lego-tubes and sweep them into its body. When Jitter hits a wall, the compartment closes automatically, so that the gathered pieces aren't scattered all over again. Jitter also reacts through the touch sensors to petting and patting and is programmed for all sorts of nonsense such as sneaking up and scaring someone, dancing, and prolonged rotations. In addition it reacts to ?wink motions? that it picks up with it's infrared sensors.
One of the tasks for the Mindstorm builders was to fit their robot in a 30x30x30 centimeter box. Jitter, in contrast to some of the entries, can be transported in the box in one piece. In addition the models could be no heavier than 1400 grams. For Bastian Schwarzenbach, who undertook the mechanical construction, this was the hardest task. He took Jitter apart and rebuilt it (differently) so many times, that by now he knows every piece by heart, he said during the prize presentation at Siemen's Munich ?Forum?. Both of the hobbyists will get to watch the start of their robot live in the Moscow control center.
Free speach exists by default, so to speak. If there are no laws otherwise and no one enforcing censorship etc., then there is free speech.
Think about it: Curtailment to free speech happens when a government threatens to do something (fine, jailtime, gestapo knocking at your door) if you say something they don't approve of. If the government does nothing like that, then anyone can say whatever they want.
Applied to the internet, you have to assume that anyone can get a web page, which is a reasonable assumption, I think.
Rapier (Windows CE 3.0) was the mighty palm killer
on
Pocket PC 2002
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· Score: 1
Windows CE 3.0, code named Rapier was the mighty palm killer of it's day. Literally, as far as Microsoft wanted it to be. There is a poster hanging in one of the Microsoft buildings that the Rapier team all signed when they shipped it. It says:
Microsoft Rapier: Kicking Palm's sweet-candied-apple-white-floured ass!
Yeah well it's funny that you can check to see if your number has been copyrighted, when you can be sure it has been.
Reading the site, it's pretty much clear that it's a hoax/joke. A pretty funny one:
Q - I do not wish to purchase a Magnus-Opus licence - what is the best way to dis-continue the use and dispose of my telecommunications device?
A - Magnus-Opus can offer several useful suggestions regarding the disposal of redundant telecommunications technology. We call this our three R's strategy.
Return Return your telecommunications device to your service provider and/or supplier together with a legal demand for a full refund of the product and services. The service provider and/or supplier may well have failed to inform you, as the customer, of the full copyright implications of the use of such products and services and may, therefore, be legally liable to pay compensation for the loss of amenity. Make sure to send a photocopy of your original receipt and/or contract as evidence of proof of purchase.
Slashdot Mirror
The link to the full review is wrong. It links to a youtube video of a timelapse of the Wikipedia page on the VT shootings.
Perhaps you should read the article you linked to. Yes, you can only use it if you bought Windows Vista Ultimate. But it allows you to upgrade up to two other PCs to Windows Vista Home Premium. So they are supposed to be issued license keys for Vista Home Premium, but the keys aren't working.
ASP.NET isn't a seperate programming language. You can write ASP.NET code in C# or VB.NET.
Well it does come with a game. So instead of $200 for the console, and $50 for the game, you spend $250 for the console plus the game, which is pretty much the same thing except you're stuck with Wii sports, when the game you really want is Zelda. Still, it seems like a smart move for them.
OK, but will it show all of the forms in Dr Dan Streetmentioner's Time Traveller's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations?
The current announcements don't seem to spell out that this is based on .NET, but I'm sure it is. Microsoft has mentioned before that getting .NET on the XBox 360 was part of XNA. Also, see this FiringSquad article. They mention that 95 to 99 percent of the code from the windows version of a game could be retained in the X360 version. Also:
Managed code seems like the only reasonable way to enforce this security.
The analogy does not hold because a lot of networks are set up specifically to allow public access. You can tell that a house is someone's personal residence and a store is a public space where you can enter. It is not so simple on a wireless network. I would like to be able to access the internet from anywhere and everywhere. But if I leave my network open, how are people who find it really going to know that I give them permission to use it? That is why I view a wireless network without a password as implicitly giving permission for public use. A lot of people who set up a home wireless network may not know that they can secure it, but I think the solution is to educate these people rather than make a blanket statement that using someone else's unsecured network is stealing.
Here's the problem with charging content providers for faster access to consumers: The price a service provider charges the consumers is limited by market forces. There may not be a lot of different choices for internet access in a lot of places, but consumers still have the choice to cancel their DSL/Cable and use dial-up, the library, Wi-fi hotspots, or whatever to access the internet if the rates get outrageous.
However, when service providers start charging content providers, there is no market to limit the prices they charge to what is reasonable. They have a monopoly on the consumers that access the internet through them. So if Comcast starts to charge Google to send data to Comcast's customers, Google can't choose another service provider to get to those consumers.
Penny Arcade's take on the Next-Gen BS:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/01/20
I still chuckle when I think about the list of jokes that "have never produced laughter."
If they made you chuckle then they no longer belong in that list, right? Kind of like the set of all sets that do not include themselves...
I understand there are 4 levels of "modability" - The world editor, editing XML configuration files, editing the game logic in python, and modifying the AI via an SDK.
I am wondering exactly how much of the game logic is written in python. What will the limitations be when we are modifying python scripts. Could we do something like add a fourth resource type (in addition to gold, hammers, and food)?
Also, if all of the game logic is written in python, would this make it easier to port Civ IV to a platform such as the Nintendo DS? This is something I would really love to see.
Thanks,
Daniel Plaisted
The heart of the GPU seems to be on the same chip as the Northbridge controller, which basically means that the GPU has more direct access to the memory than the CPU.
Check out the diagram on the page I linked, which shows the bandwidth between the various components. If there is any competition for memory access, I think it will be well balanced between the CPU and GPU.
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
To me, it sounds like you quit your job because you thought you weren't going to like something you hadn't tried yet. I think you should have stayed with your job during the transition, while simultaneously looking for another job. That way you would have gotten a better idea of what your job would be like programming in C#. If it turned out you didn't like it, then you could just accept one of the job offers you got. If you didn't get any job offers, then you would need to consider sticking with your job even though you didn't like it.
Personally I'm a big fan of C#/.NET for writing business software. That's what my company mainly does.
Microsoft browses slashdot too, you know. So they probably know where the spike in bandwidth is coming from even if they don't have one of those big screens.
This is so ridiculous I find it hard to believe that "the manager of technology strategy and outreach at Princeton University" is serious. I almost think it could be a parody of a parody, showing just how ridiculous arguments against open source etc can be.
From the SPF Page
"I have someone coming from a certain IP address. They claim to be a certain sender. Are they for real?"
This at the top of the explanation page, and as far as I can tell, is already broken. This is because it assumes that you can tell where a message is coming from. This is true if the sender wants you to know where it's coming from. However, IP address spoofing is quite easy. Simply put an IP address other than your own in the source field of an IP packet header. In this case, you'd use an IP address that was on the "permitted" list.
For a good discussion/summary of this issue, see http://www.cafeaulait.org/cryptonomicon.html
I for one would have liked a warning that the current owners had set up a porn site on there. The post naturally makes one wonder what is currently on the site, and some people are going to check it out who would prefer not to end up at a porn site.
It's not perfect, but I do a far better job then Babelfish or Google. Still not quite sure what "impulseantrieb" means though. We'll go with "momentum drive." Some of the words that I wasn't sure of I've enclosed in ?question marks?.
Lego Robot "Jitter" Sweeps in the IIS Space Station
Konrad and Bastian Schwarzenbach have won the "Ultimate Builder Competition" from Lego Mindstorms with their model "Jitter." The small robot, made from Lego and Technic pieces will fly to the IIS Space Station in November.
Out of 124 participants in the "Lego Mindstorms goes Space" contest, the last ten met in Munich for the finals. In the presence of Jury Schirmherr and Astronaut Ulf Merbold, father and son were declared the winners. The winning model Jitter will gather pieces that are flying around in the IIS--at least it's programmed to do that along with other functions. A special prize went to the astronaut muscle trainer that a six-person team from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland had built.
With Jitter the crew will get a helper at hand that, if it keeps itself safe in weightlessness, gathers pieces floating around the space station. In addition, Jitter communicates its findings or contact with a cabin wall through tones and light signals. Jitter is based on the commercially available Lego Mindstorm pieces. Hitachi H8 Microcontrollers, which are off-the-shelf programmable chips, constitute the heart of the robot.
Jitter was programmed in Java (TinyVM) by Konrad Schwarzenback
When Jitter is turned on in zero gravity on the IIS, it must be brought to rest with the Z-axis pointing towards the Cabin lighting, which serves as a permanent guidance point. The robot will then perform a few 360 degree rolls to initialize its steering parameters, and can be brought on-line with a light push.
[The following paragraph is the most techical and worst translated. Sorry.]
Jitter works with a momentum drive. A cam disc ?rotates? permanently inside the robot's housing. When it comes in contact with a wall, the housing gets displaced. According to the direction of the collision, an impulse in the opposite direction is generated.
In addition, the robot is outfitted with light, touch, and rotation sensors that turn it and guide it on its course. Jitters mission is to gather floating pieces with a broom made of Lego-tubes and sweep them into its body. When Jitter hits a wall, the compartment closes automatically, so that the gathered pieces aren't scattered all over again. Jitter also reacts through the touch sensors to petting and patting and is programmed for all sorts of nonsense such as sneaking up and scaring someone, dancing, and prolonged rotations. In addition it reacts to ?wink motions? that it picks up with it's infrared sensors.
One of the tasks for the Mindstorm builders was to fit their robot in a 30x30x30 centimeter box. Jitter, in contrast to some of the entries, can be transported in the box in one piece. In addition the models could be no heavier than 1400 grams. For Bastian Schwarzenbach, who undertook the mechanical construction, this was the hardest task. He took Jitter apart and rebuilt it (differently) so many times, that by now he knows every piece by heart, he said during the prize presentation at Siemen's Munich ?Forum?. Both of the hobbyists will get to watch the start of their robot live in the Moscow control center.
Free speach exists by default, so to speak. If there are no laws otherwise and no one enforcing censorship etc., then there is free speech.
Think about it: Curtailment to free speech happens when a government threatens to do something (fine, jailtime, gestapo knocking at your door) if you say something they don't approve of. If the government does nothing like that, then anyone can say whatever they want.
Applied to the internet, you have to assume that anyone can get a web page, which is a reasonable assumption, I think.
Windows CE 3.0, code named Rapier was the mighty palm killer of it's day. Literally, as far as Microsoft wanted it to be. There is a poster hanging in one of the Microsoft buildings that the Rapier team all signed when they shipped it. It says:
Microsoft Rapier: Kicking Palm's sweet-candied-apple-white-floured ass!
Wonder what the poster for Pocket PC 2002 is...
Permanent License for Personal Use- $1000
Permanent License for Organisational Use- $10,000
Bit steep?
Reading the site, it's pretty much clear that it's a hoax/joke. A pretty funny one: