If an algorithm is implemented in hardware, the ASIC is often designed entirely in a hardware design language, such as VHDL. The development process generally involves running the code in a simulation environment, entirely in software. Once complete, the physical layout of the chip is synthesized from the VHDL code, and the chip is manufactured based on that layout. The result is a physical chip that performs the algorithm described in the VHDL code. By your argument, I believe, the chip is patentable. However, the chip is merely the physical embodiment of an algorithm that was written in a programming language.
If you're not already in the industry, you don't get into the industry.
1. This is not true for artists. If you can draw really well, you can usually get a job. You have to be top 5%, but entry level generally requires no specific game-artist background. 2. For programmers, your first step into the industry is often a game you've written in your spare time. Unlike many other jobs where there's a chicken/egg problem, in videogames, you can make your own egg. 3. For the designer/producer route, you generally need to be an obsessive game guru who gets hired into a playtester position. And you'll have to be driven, professional, and perhaps lucky to advance. 4. To be a game executive, you have to be good at shmoozing. These guys often come from entirely different industries where they were good at shmoozing. Could be soda, tennis equipment, whatever.
Maybe it's sarcasm that went over my head, but I think you're serious, so I'll bite...
I can drive perfectly well while using a phone or eating because i know how to read the early signs of stupid people and PUT DOWN THE PHONE OR FOOD when i see them.
For me, the early signs of stupid people are people who are on the phone or eating.
I'm clear of at fault accidents for over 5 years, and i've only been driving for 8.
I've been driving for 20 years. No accidents of any kind. Only 5 years since your last at-fault accident makes you worse than average.
On the contracts I've seen that have these sort of non-compete clauses, it is sometimes mentioned that the CEO has to sign off on any changes to the contract. So, depending on the size of the company, you're often trying to negotiate with someone who has absolutely no authority to negotiate. Further, the hiring manager is unlikely to want to become the "exception" by requesting such an unusual request of the CEO.
For my current job, I paid a few hundred bucks to talk to a lawyer about my contract before signing it. It was money well spent.
Why does everyone here want this not to work? Seems to me this could be the alternative to DRM. It doesn't interfere with fair use at all...
It's obvious. Most of the people who argue that DRM interferes with "fair use" really just want to download free mp3s of commercial artists. They simply don't want the copyrights to be enforced.
I've had problems purchasing anything the last two times I tried to buy something in the middle of the business day. There were no registers open either time.
Just wanted to say "ditto". It's been like a ghost town in there the last two or three times I've gone. No customers, no employees. They seem to treat "sales" as some annoyance they have to deal with while counting inventory in the back room.
Back before I 'burnt out', the good games I worked on usually followed the pattern you describe. The bad ones usually did not. Depending primarily on budget, game levels were either cranked out and quickly QA-ed (to make sure the level could be completed without crashing) before shipping, or several iterations of real playtesting were used to hone the levels from rough prototypes to finely detailed crafts. In most cases, only a couple of major iterations were needed, with many smaller ones.
I recall one game that almost ended up a total failure. About two weeks before we went gold, 75% of the levels were just plain bad. QA had been so focused on tracking down bugs that little time was put to deciding what was "fun". The lead programmer put his foot down and made everyone on the team (programmers, artists, etc.) just play the game for a couple days to provide gameplay feedback. Within a week, the level design changes from that feedback helped the game become something we could be proud of, and it ended up being fairly successful. In game development, it is sometimes possible to polish a turd.
It's very misleading for the summary to claim that, "Environmental groups have given this plan a lukewarm reception." The article doesn't mention this. In fact, the article interviews a guy from an environmental group who is very happy with it:
Founder of environment group Planet Ark, Jon Dee, said he had been working with Mr Turnbull's predecessor, Ian Campbell, and lighting company Phillips on the idea since late last year... "The fact that the Government is committing to this idea is absolutely fantastic."
> So does that mean only 2 Blu Ray discs were sold?
No. It means that almost 2 have been sold. Right now, there's a guy at Best Buy holding a Blu-Ray disc in his hand, pondering its purchase. He's not sure it'll play in his VCR, but the clerk is close to convincing him it will.
The Federal government makes more net money off the sale of a gallon of gasoline than Big Oil does... The Federal government makes 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline sold in the United States. Oil companies make, on average, 10 cents per gallon sold.
You are (or should I say, Conoco Phillips is) comparing federal government revenue versus oil company profit. Apples and oranges. What are the federal government's expenses, related to gasoline production, collection of these revenues, etc.?
Consider also that the 10 cpg profit is after paying all their employees, including, for instance, Conoco Phillips CEO James Mulva's $31 million salary (2005). And he's not the highest paid in the industry. This doesn't count as "net", this is called "cost of operations". Profitable companies spread the wealth around internally and then aim to meet their guidance numbers when choosing what to declare as profits.
And how much does that make up for the inherent inefficiency (MPG) of ethanol (up to 33%) compared to regular gasoline? Or does the feel good quotient make up for that?
There are... many Indie artists who would love to sell DRM-free music on iTunes, but Apple will not allow them... It should not take Apple's iTunes team more than 2-3 days to implement a solution for not wrapping content with FairPlay when the content owner does not mandate DRM.
OK, 2-3 days to get DRM-free content on iTunes. What about...
- Set up servers for artists to place their music. - Implement a way for musicians to register as iTunes artists. - How do you authenticate that an artist is who s/he says? Outsource the listening of each artist upload to hip kids in Bangalore? - Implement way for musicians to upload and organize their music (cover art, etc.) - Work out copyright issues. When dealing with labels, this is fairly straightforward. When dealing with beatles-cover-band@gmail.com, not so much. - How to allocate fees. Allow the artist to set individual prices, or do they get $0.04 per download? Maybe $0.06? - How to distribute money to artists. Paypal? Create iMoney? Print checks monthly? What about artists who make $0.15 in a month and cost more to support than they bring in? - Get the right people on board at Apple to approve all this. (Of course, this has to happen first...)
it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a problem like this might happen
A filing cabinet left out on a sidewalk would be overlooked for weeks in some parts of Boston and most other cities, and yet pose a much more significant danger.
Slashdot Mirror
So what about an ASIC that implements a particular algorithm? Consider that the ASIC was probably designed in VHDL.
> The nature of software is inherently different.
If an algorithm is implemented in hardware, the ASIC is often designed entirely in a hardware design language, such as VHDL. The development process generally involves running the code in a simulation environment, entirely in software. Once complete, the physical layout of the chip is synthesized from the VHDL code, and the chip is manufactured based on that layout. The result is a physical chip that performs the algorithm described in the VHDL code. By your argument, I believe, the chip is patentable. However, the chip is merely the physical embodiment of an algorithm that was written in a programming language.
If you're not already in the industry, you don't get into the industry.
1. This is not true for artists. If you can draw really well, you can usually get a job. You have to be top 5%, but entry level generally requires no specific game-artist background.
2. For programmers, your first step into the industry is often a game you've written in your spare time. Unlike many other jobs where there's a chicken/egg problem, in videogames, you can make your own egg.
3. For the designer/producer route, you generally need to be an obsessive game guru who gets hired into a playtester position. And you'll have to be driven, professional, and perhaps lucky to advance.
4. To be a game executive, you have to be good at shmoozing. These guys often come from entirely different industries where they were good at shmoozing. Could be soda, tennis equipment, whatever.
(Just reminded me of that old commercial... )
Look fast! The hands on this watch are about to... disappear! That's because they aren't hands at all! They're Electronic!... Pulses!... of Light!
Maybe it's sarcasm that went over my head, but I think you're serious, so I'll bite...
I can drive perfectly well while using a phone or eating because i know how to read the early signs of stupid people and PUT DOWN THE PHONE OR FOOD when i see them.
For me, the early signs of stupid people are people who are on the phone or eating.
I'm clear of at fault accidents for over 5 years, and i've only been driving for 8.
I've been driving for 20 years. No accidents of any kind. Only 5 years since your last at-fault accident makes you worse than average.
Just pull over if you're too busy to drive.
Negotiate the price of your signature.
On the contracts I've seen that have these sort of non-compete clauses, it is sometimes mentioned that the CEO has to sign off on any changes to the contract. So, depending on the size of the company, you're often trying to negotiate with someone who has absolutely no authority to negotiate. Further, the hiring manager is unlikely to want to become the "exception" by requesting such an unusual request of the CEO.
For my current job, I paid a few hundred bucks to talk to a lawyer about my contract before signing it. It was money well spent.
RFID = Ready For Immediate Duplication?
Why does everyone here want this not to work? Seems to me this could be the alternative to DRM. It doesn't interfere with fair use at all...
It's obvious. Most of the people who argue that DRM interferes with "fair use" really just want to download free mp3s of commercial artists. They simply don't want the copyrights to be enforced.
I've had problems purchasing anything the last two times I tried to buy something in the middle of the business day. There were no registers open either time.
Just wanted to say "ditto". It's been like a ghost town in there the last two or three times I've gone. No customers, no employees. They seem to treat "sales" as some annoyance they have to deal with while counting inventory in the back room.
Google recently found that contrary to conventional wisdom, drives at low temperatures fail more than those at high temperatures. (Pdf warning. Summary here).
Back before I 'burnt out', the good games I worked on usually followed the pattern you describe. The bad ones usually did not. Depending primarily on budget, game levels were either cranked out and quickly QA-ed (to make sure the level could be completed without crashing) before shipping, or several iterations of real playtesting were used to hone the levels from rough prototypes to finely detailed crafts. In most cases, only a couple of major iterations were needed, with many smaller ones.
I recall one game that almost ended up a total failure. About two weeks before we went gold, 75% of the levels were just plain bad. QA had been so focused on tracking down bugs that little time was put to deciding what was "fun". The lead programmer put his foot down and made everyone on the team (programmers, artists, etc.) just play the game for a couple days to provide gameplay feedback. Within a week, the level design changes from that feedback helped the game become something we could be proud of, and it ended up being fairly successful. In game development, it is sometimes possible to polish a turd.
Bigit is a well known and frequently used term. A reliable source of the word origin can be seen here.
>> With a movie sale ratio of almost 2:1
> So does that mean only 2 Blu Ray discs were sold?
No. It means that almost 2 have been sold. Right now, there's a guy at Best Buy holding a Blu-Ray disc in his hand, pondering its purchase. He's not sure it'll play in his VCR, but the clerk is close to convincing him it will.
How do you return DOWNLOADED MUSIC?!?!?!?
You upload it.
Duh.
I imagine there will be some sort of restocking fee though.
The Federal government makes more net money off the sale of a gallon of gasoline than Big Oil does... The Federal government makes 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline sold in the United States. Oil companies make, on average, 10 cents per gallon sold.
You are (or should I say, Conoco Phillips is) comparing federal government revenue versus oil company profit. Apples and oranges. What are the federal government's expenses, related to gasoline production, collection of these revenues, etc.?
Consider also that the 10 cpg profit is after paying all their employees, including, for instance, Conoco Phillips CEO James Mulva's $31 million salary (2005). And he's not the highest paid in the industry. This doesn't count as "net", this is called "cost of operations". Profitable companies spread the wealth around internally and then aim to meet their guidance numbers when choosing what to declare as profits.
If party X is in charge of dictating the restrictions and policies in your product, isn't party X your real customer?
Party X (the content producer) is certainly a real customer. Selling and licensing technologies to other companies is certainly part of MS's business.
And how much does that make up for the inherent inefficiency (MPG) of ethanol (up to 33%) compared to regular gasoline? Or does the feel good quotient make up for that?
Imported energy sources have hidden costs.
The Federal government makes more net money off the sale of a gallon of gasoline than Big Oil does.
Could you provide a source for this information?
Hint: You won't find one.
Sure, but how would this qualify as a "super router"?
"SUPER" here stands for "Software-based Unspectacular Performance for Enterprise Routing".
There are... many Indie artists who would love to sell DRM-free music on iTunes, but Apple will not allow them... It should not take Apple's iTunes team more than 2-3 days to implement a solution for not wrapping content with FairPlay when the content owner does not mandate DRM.
OK, 2-3 days to get DRM-free content on iTunes. What about...
- Set up servers for artists to place their music.
- Implement a way for musicians to register as iTunes artists.
- How do you authenticate that an artist is who s/he says? Outsource the listening of each artist upload to hip kids in Bangalore?
- Implement way for musicians to upload and organize their music (cover art, etc.)
- Work out copyright issues. When dealing with labels, this is fairly straightforward. When dealing with beatles-cover-band@gmail.com, not so much.
- How to allocate fees. Allow the artist to set individual prices, or do they get $0.04 per download? Maybe $0.06?
- How to distribute money to artists. Paypal? Create iMoney? Print checks monthly? What about artists who make $0.15 in a month and cost more to support than they bring in?
- Get the right people on board at Apple to approve all this. (Of course, this has to happen first...)
Even better is the next sentence:
"If the lease expires, the XO's internet connectivity is turned off, and shortly thereafter the whole computer becomes a brick."
Broken by design.
Expert level. I managed to get through 1 song and ended up with my wrist in a cast.
it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a problem like this might happen
A filing cabinet left out on a sidewalk would be overlooked for weeks in some parts of Boston and most other cities, and yet pose a much more significant danger.
Heheh, I didn't get the Bonito joke. Nice.
I considered adding your part, but I figured I'd leave it up to you. Apparently someone else went ahead and did it though.