Get ONE platform, either a G5 or super duper Athlon PC, and run on it programs and plug-in attachments that enable it to emulate and access media for all platforms.
Sounds silly? It's already the norm for standup arcada game fans, who run hundreds of games on MAME instead of filling their house with fridge-sized arcade consoles.
They must be running out of good names for these products. When I first heard of N-Gage, I dismissed it as mispelling of something to do with N-guage model railroading. Now I know it is some sort of "cute" variation of the word Engage by way of "N'Sync".
It's not quite as bad, however, as that new line of digital cameras called "Dimage". It makes you think of a combination of "Dim" and "Damage", neither of which sounds particularly good for a digital camera.
Does anyone remember C-Net, a rather common and rather annoying BBS program for the Commodore 64?
I'm sure there were still some C-Net BBS's running when someone decided to use the name as an Internet news/download site. When I first heard of www.cnet.com, I wondered "Why bring a bad BBS into the Internet era?"
I remember Trade Wars. Some BBS owner ran it on an ST. They version they had included a treasure planet called "The Wanderer". The object of the game became to shoot scout ships throughout the universe until they hit the Wanderer. The couple of dozen ships lost was more than made up for by the 800 or so always found by taking possession of The Wanderer's riches.
I'm recalling a BBS from around 1981 or so, called "Ski's Lodge". It was run on an Apple ][ with a Novation 1200 baud modem. The sysop was called either Ski Patrol or Speeka Troll, I don't quite recall perfectly.
The ski resort motif was complete enough that whenever the BBS program encounted a software error, it would say "AVALANCH" and dump you off line.
Across town there was Worm-O-Net. This was run on a Commodore 64 with a very common and very bad Commodore 64 BBS program (something even worse than C-Net). They did NOT have Auto Answer. Run by the Worm family, you connected to it by dialing the number with the modem. On the other end, little Tina Worm would answer the phone, see if she heard a screech, and then turn on the BBS software.
If you figure this out, let me know. I want to be able to save and load MP3-encoded audio files on an Atari 410 recorder so they play on an Atari 1200.
I've come to accept the burnt holes in the walls and the loss of retinal cells as a result of using lasers for printing. Perhaps there is a better way, laser printing without the hassle!
"How is that different than when cable TV first came about? People bought it because of lack of commercials."
When cable TV first came out, people bought it because you could not get TV otherwise. This was why we first got it around 1968. Someone else mentioned having it in the 1950s.
"Lack of commercials" would have been a bad reason, because the overwhelming majority of channels on cable have always been chock-full of commercials. The commercials were there all along. They did not "slowly become more prevelant": they started this way.
Watch out for thunderstorms and hurricanes in future decades
I think this is a weather forecast we can't go wrong with! Would it be safe to say that there is a 100% chance of hail at some time during these future decades as well?
Just connect into the TIA (Defense Department Total Information Awareness system) and search on your name. You will find all record of anything you ever spent anywhere contained therein.
1. Will there be a sort of region encoding system so that existing Japanese titles won't play in the U.S.? 2. The article mentions that it is a propietary format. Since it has apparently been out in Japan for a little while, has progress been made on tools that convert to and from "standard" formats into this format?
Meh, there are DVD players for those of us who aren't willing to limit our selection of movies to one region. I'm using a Sampo now and regularly watch PAL encoded media from another region on my NTSC television with no problem at all.
You are confusing two issues: the PAL vs NTSC incimpatibility, and the region coding system.
Most players can play PAL DVD's on NTSC. However, only some are region-free. The Sampo line happens to be pretty good at the region-free problem as well, but whether or not the player can convert PAL discs to NTSC has nothing to do with whether or not it can play Region 2 discs on Region 1.
"Who's Hillary Duff?
Sounds like the first lady of Springfield beer to me.
The DVD region system is one of my pet peeves. However, I don't think it will ever be a big deal in the U.S. Just about everyone here is happy as long as they can get their "Bad Boys II" and Hillary Duff movies.
The Toshiba Infinia desktops of several years ago (remember the ones that looked like Darth Vader's toilet tank?) came with an impressive-looking telephone voice-mail and speaker phone and caller ID system: all software through the voice modem. It was not VOIP, of course. It looked great on paper, but in practice it was kludgey and unreliable.
I hope they actually deliver with this proposed VOIP system.
Originally FM radio rarely had any ads. Premium pay cable channels didn't have any
Has anything changed? I remember HBO in the mid 1970s having no commercials other than endless "HBO is also showing this..." promos. Last time I checked HBO, they still did not have commercials other than the still endless "HBO is also showing this..." promos. Have advertisements crept in and I missed it?
The only thing I've seen change with HBO is the content. HBO in the 1970s and 1980s used to fill their schedule with movies so bad that they were never released in theatres. Now they have a lot more of the "drama that is below even UPN standards, but we think it's cool because there is lots of swearing in it."
...commercial free now, but how long do you think that will last? Not long. Cable TV used to be like that
I've been watching cable TV on and off since 1968, and have seen the offerings in many different markets over the years. Every one of them was chock full of commercials (with only some channels being commercial-free)
Yes, it was 1968, not 1978. It was not part of a larger cable company: just a local business that put huge antenna masts on the hills and sold us these on a full TV dial along with one of those channels were the camera went back and forth forever panning weather dials.
Just add the advertisements back in, and charge $0 like with regular radio.
As it is now, I have plenty to listen to on radio, between the right-wing windbags and NPR ("Rush 'n' Rehm").
I've had cable TV since 1968 thanks to FCC regulations preventing broadcasters from serving my area (that is, I could not get TV any other way). However, there is plenty on the radio dial at this time for me, no need for pay radio.
Movies. That's the ticket. iPods that hold 4000 movies/TV shows, and desktop machines that handle them with the same ease that today's machines handle MP3's.
Last year, a disgruntled postal worker went into his post office in a town nearby and flung poo on his co-workers. The question is: does the Postal game have a poo flinging mode?
Slashdot Mirror
Get ONE platform, either a G5 or super duper Athlon PC, and run on it programs and plug-in attachments that enable it to emulate and access media for all platforms.
Sounds silly? It's already the norm for standup arcada game fans, who run hundreds of games on MAME instead of filling their house with fridge-sized arcade consoles.
It might be underrated....but off topic? The N-gage is the subject.
They must be running out of good names for these products. When I first heard of N-Gage, I dismissed it as mispelling of something to do with N-guage model railroading. Now I know it is some sort of "cute" variation of the word Engage by way of "N'Sync".
It's not quite as bad, however, as that new line of digital cameras called "Dimage". It makes you think of a combination of "Dim" and "Damage", neither of which sounds particularly good for a digital camera.
Does anyone remember C-Net, a rather common and rather annoying BBS program for the Commodore 64?
I'm sure there were still some C-Net BBS's running when someone decided to use the name as an Internet news/download site. When I first heard of www.cnet.com, I wondered "Why bring a bad BBS into the Internet era?"
I remember Trade Wars. Some BBS owner ran it on an ST. They version they had included a treasure planet called "The Wanderer". The object of the game became to shoot scout ships throughout the universe until they hit the Wanderer. The couple of dozen ships lost was more than made up for by the 800 or so always found by taking possession of The Wanderer's riches.
I'm recalling a BBS from around 1981 or so, called "Ski's Lodge". It was run on an Apple ][ with a Novation 1200 baud modem. The sysop was called either Ski Patrol or Speeka Troll, I don't quite recall perfectly.
The ski resort motif was complete enough that whenever the BBS program encounted a software error, it would say "AVALANCH" and dump you off line.
Across town there was Worm-O-Net. This was run on a Commodore 64 with a very common and very bad Commodore 64 BBS program (something even worse than C-Net). They did NOT have Auto Answer. Run by the Worm family, you connected to it by dialing the number with the modem. On the other end, little Tina Worm would answer the phone, see if she heard a screech, and then turn on the BBS software.
If you figure this out, let me know. I want to be able to save and load MP3-encoded audio files on an Atari 410 recorder so they play on an Atari 1200.
The moderation was far funnier than my post.
I've come to accept the burnt holes in the walls and the loss of retinal cells as a result of using lasers for printing. Perhaps there is a better way, laser printing without the hassle!
There is always the Bone Fone. Personal sound, with nothing in your ears.
"How is that different than when cable TV first came about? People bought it because of lack of commercials."
When cable TV first came out, people bought it because you could not get TV otherwise. This was why we first got it around 1968. Someone else mentioned having it in the 1950s.
"Lack of commercials" would have been a bad reason, because the overwhelming majority of channels on cable have always been chock-full of commercials. The commercials were there all along. They did not "slowly become more prevelant": they started this way.
Watch out for thunderstorms and hurricanes in future decades
I think this is a weather forecast we can't go wrong with! Would it be safe to say that there is a 100% chance of hail at some time during these future decades as well?
Just connect into the TIA (Defense Department Total Information Awareness system) and search on your name. You will find all record of anything you ever spent anywhere contained therein.
Of course, this comes from someone who hasn't balanced his checkbook (between ATM receipts and online banking - why bother?) since 1997 or so.",/I>
It appears we have a United States Senator among us! Welcome to Slashdot!
1. Will there be a sort of region encoding system so that existing Japanese titles won't play in the U.S.?
2. The article mentions that it is a propietary format. Since it has apparently been out in Japan for a little while, has progress been made on tools that convert to and from "standard" formats into this format?
Meh, there are DVD players for those of us who aren't willing to limit our selection of movies to one region. I'm using a Sampo now and regularly watch PAL encoded media from another region on my NTSC television with no problem at all.
You are confusing two issues: the PAL vs NTSC incimpatibility, and the region coding system.
Most players can play PAL DVD's on NTSC. However, only some are region-free. The Sampo line happens to be pretty good at the region-free problem as well, but whether or not the player can convert PAL discs to NTSC has nothing to do with whether or not it can play Region 2 discs on Region 1.
"Who's Hillary Duff?
Sounds like the first lady of Springfield beer to me.
The DVD region system is one of my pet peeves. However, I don't think it will ever be a big deal in the U.S. Just about everyone here is happy as long as they can get their "Bad Boys II" and Hillary Duff movies.
The Toshiba Infinia desktops of several years ago (remember the ones that looked like Darth Vader's toilet tank?) came with an impressive-looking telephone voice-mail and speaker phone and caller ID system: all software through the voice modem. It was not VOIP, of course. It looked great on paper, but in practice it was kludgey and unreliable.
I hope they actually deliver with this proposed VOIP system.
Originally FM radio rarely had any ads. Premium pay cable channels didn't have any
Has anything changed? I remember HBO in the mid 1970s having no commercials other than endless "HBO is also showing this..." promos. Last time I checked HBO, they still did not have commercials other than the still endless "HBO is also showing this..." promos. Have advertisements crept in and I missed it?
The only thing I've seen change with HBO is the content. HBO in the 1970s and 1980s used to fill their schedule with movies so bad that they were never released in theatres. Now they have a lot more of the "drama that is below even UPN standards, but we think it's cool because there is lots of swearing in it."
...commercial free now, but how long do you think that will last? Not long. Cable TV used to be like that
I've been watching cable TV on and off since 1968, and have seen the offerings in many different markets over the years. Every one of them was chock full of commercials (with only some channels being commercial-free)
I am assuming it was a typo. perhaps 1978?
Yes, it was 1968, not 1978. It was not part of a larger cable company: just a local business that put huge antenna masts on the hills and sold us these on a full TV dial along with one of those channels were the camera went back and forth forever panning weather dials.
Just add the advertisements back in, and charge $0 like with regular radio.
As it is now, I have plenty to listen to on radio, between the right-wing windbags and NPR ("Rush 'n' Rehm").
I've had cable TV since 1968 thanks to FCC regulations preventing broadcasters from serving my area (that is, I could not get TV any other way). However, there is plenty on the radio dial at this time for me, no need for pay radio.
Movies. That's the ticket. iPods that hold 4000 movies/TV shows, and desktop machines that handle them with the same ease that today's machines handle MP3's.
Last year, a disgruntled postal worker went into his post office in a town nearby and flung poo on his co-workers. The question is: does the Postal game have a poo flinging mode?
whats wierd is they have a rear admiral upper half and rear admiral lower half. nice troll by the way
That sounds like they are filling parts in a large horse costume.