It's the same situation as why the world's poor can't get cheap AIDS (and other) drugs from US companies. Everyone from lobbyists to the clergy decry the fact that modern medical treatments don't reach 3rd world countries for a price they can afford - but it's truly a problem that can't be solved under the current system.
Perhaps drug company ABC sells AZT (popular AIDS drug) in the US for $100 per bottle of pills. Having spent $250 million developing the drug, ABC has every right to sell for this price.
Knowing that the sick in poor countries can't afford this, however, ABC sells the pills at the generous price of $1 per bottle in [3rd world country]. Even though the prices are low, they are still making enough money from American sales to cover their generous pricing plan.
Imagine the outrage in America! An AMERICAN company, selling life-or-death medicine to [country's citizens] for a lower price than to Americans! What happens to Americans that are just out of reach of the $100 price tag? They can't get the same healthcare as the residents of a 3rd world country?!
The drug company is forced via congressional hearings to lower the price to match the $1 price across all countries ("after all, if they can afford to sell at this price in [country], they're OBVIOUSLY fixing prices here!"). The drug company does not recoup the $250 million, and is forced to stop investing initial capital into the development of newer and more effective drugs, and thus the general quality of healthcare drops as a result of ABC's "generosity."
The same thing happens when a drug company opens the "source code" to their new drugs such that poor countries can manufacture their own generic clones of the drugs - we, as first-world citizens, would DEMAND equal treatment.
Okay, I did some quick research. This is definitely not a real company.
It looks like somebody's put together a website tracking this whole story:
The Metacortex Conspiracy
There are other pages referenced from the main Metcortex page. If you search the employees mentioned, you'll find their homepages. Everything is indicated as being hosted by a company named UnderScore Hosting, which (a) is not accepting new hosting applications and (b), along with the Metacortex "main offices", is located in a city that doesn't exist (Redland, WA).
Some links, presumably created by the Matrix team:
http://www.little-boxes.net/ http://www.metadex.net/ http://www.paranormaljournal.org/
More info on the site mentioned at the top.
Consider the ramifications on the story of the Matrix - perhaps Neo was working at the company that went on to develop the Matrix (or at least the necessary AI for the machines to take over)?
You're right, it was an unfair comparison - but I wasn't making a comparison. I was responding to his comments.
If you'd like a fair comparison, look at home electronics. You think portable cd players were in the $30-50 price range fifteen years ago?
The price hasn't gone up, either. And that was what, 15 years ago? What other product do you buy that hasn't increased in price at all over the last decade and a half? Ever hear of inflation? CDs are cheap.
Then how 'bout I sell you my i386 25 mHz PS1 with a meg of ram for $3k and we'll call it a deal.
If they used an open standard(does not mean open source), then other companies could pick up if the original one stopped providing serve.
Yeah. And just as easily, L33T H@X0R from down the street could broadcast "pirate" signals to hack the time, stock quotes, weather settings...
Though I do figure it would be funny if someone hacked the MSFT stock ticker to "+100" while displaying the weather in Hell, MI as 27/snowy:)
I can personally attest to that. My Sony has been on roller coasters, set on fire, submerged, dropped from a moving vehicle, etc. Not kidding.
Although my favorite footage to this day was at an amusement park when I stood on one of those "wave bridges" (you know, with the boat that comes down the ramp and makes the big wave?) and filmed the incoming tidal wave at point blank. Took a couple hours to resuscitate the thing, but in the end it was worth it:)
Maybe it's because I read some quack's claim that the 4th dimension was time. In which case a 4D rubics cube would solve itself over time or be onsolvable because it rescrambled while you were trying to solve.
The 4th dimension is whatever you define it as. There's no "true" 4th dimension. Einstein had the idea that time could be treated in a fashion similar to that of the spatial dimensions, and so, in his work, he defined the 4th dimension as the temporal dimension.
However, for this program's purposes, it's assumed that we're talking about the 4th *spatial* dimension. You can (kinda) visualize it if you think of the progression of first 3 dimensions: a line (1st d) can be rotated 90 degrees to itself to form a square (2nd d) which can be rotated 90 degrees to itself to form a cube (3rd d). The 4th dimension is thus hypothesized as the space defined by a cube rotated 90 degrees to itself.
(Granted, I'm no mathematician, so if someone has a better understanding, please correct me.)
I wonder what companies they will team with to create new games. In order to beat Nintendo, they're really gonna need an awesome initial lineup of games. I'm thinking at least 25 or so. And they'll need some big named games as well, like Castlevania and whatnot.
Most likely the usual players. Sony has what I would consider to be as strong of a lineup of 3rd party developers (Square, Enix, Konami, EA, Rockstar) with big-name games (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Metal Gear, SSX, Grand Theft Auto) as any company out there. And that's not even mentioning in-house titles like Gran Turismo.
Also, what are they going to do to entice developers
16:9. 3d audio. 1.8 GB storage on 60mm discs. Real-time NURBS rendering. USB 2.0. Not to mention the 50 million+ PS2's already sold worldwide.
How many MEGAbytes are GBA cartridges again?
I think this new system is plenty enticing. Development kits are coming out in June, which gives developers 1.5 years to work with the architecture before release in Dec. 2004, at which point Nintendo will still have the GBA at the forefront of their portable lineup (remember, the original GB went virtually unmodified for almost 10 years).
Nope, that's not it. That's a picture or a creation of this guy, who modifies consoles (Atari 2600, SNES, PSX, etc.) such that they can be played portably.
I don't think Sony would ever release something that hideous:)
It's called the Sony U3 (as well as the new model, the U101).
Decent specs, and it's priced right around $1500.
I'd be curious to hear how well the keyboard can be operated, though - it's only about six or seven inches wide.
The single CCD is 1/3" true 16x9 with 1290x880 native resolution.
I don't know about you, but there's no way I'd shell out $2500 - $3500 for a camera with only a SINGLE ccd. I'm sure the resolution's great, but I'll take an XL-1 over this thing anyday.
Anyone else find it interesting that Japanese characters have replaced the American alphabet in the famous green columns of scrolling letters?
Perhaps its a nod to the film's origins.
Like what the Gamecube uses. Yeah, that'd be slick.
I have no idea if today's DVD burners could handle mini-DVD's, though. Anyone more knowledgeable than I care to share?
If you read the article, you'll see that they're not burning the manure, they're simply expiditing the anaerobic processes of bacteria that consume it. In fact, the farmer touts "odor reduction" as a benefit of the process.
Also, the more subscribers you get, the smaller the benefit is for each subscriber. I would think that before long, the/. effect will just start when the red bar appears. Am I missing something?
The only difference between the above hypothetical situation and the current situation is that in above, everybody's paying a/. subscription. That's the intended effect.
Slashdot Mirror
It's the same situation as why the world's poor can't get cheap AIDS (and other) drugs from US companies. Everyone from lobbyists to the clergy decry the fact that modern medical treatments don't reach 3rd world countries for a price they can afford - but it's truly a problem that can't be solved under the current system.
Perhaps drug company ABC sells AZT (popular AIDS drug) in the US for $100 per bottle of pills. Having spent $250 million developing the drug, ABC has every right to sell for this price.
Knowing that the sick in poor countries can't afford this, however, ABC sells the pills at the generous price of $1 per bottle in [3rd world country]. Even though the prices are low, they are still making enough money from American sales to cover their generous pricing plan.
Imagine the outrage in America! An AMERICAN company, selling life-or-death medicine to [country's citizens] for a lower price than to Americans! What happens to Americans that are just out of reach of the $100 price tag? They can't get the same healthcare as the residents of a 3rd world country?!
The drug company is forced via congressional hearings to lower the price to match the $1 price across all countries ("after all, if they can afford to sell at this price in [country], they're OBVIOUSLY fixing prices here!"). The drug company does not recoup the $250 million, and is forced to stop investing initial capital into the development of newer and more effective drugs, and thus the general quality of healthcare drops as a result of ABC's "generosity."
The same thing happens when a drug company opens the "source code" to their new drugs such that poor countries can manufacture their own generic clones of the drugs - we, as first-world citizens, would DEMAND equal treatment.
Okay, I did some quick research. This is definitely not a real company.
It looks like somebody's put together a website tracking this whole story:
The Metacortex Conspiracy
There are other pages referenced from the main Metcortex page. If you search the employees mentioned, you'll find their homepages. Everything is indicated as being hosted by a company named UnderScore Hosting, which (a) is not accepting new hosting applications and (b), along with the Metacortex "main offices", is located in a city that doesn't exist (Redland, WA).
Some links, presumably created by the Matrix team:
http://www.little-boxes.net/
http://www.metadex.net/
http://www.paranormaljournal.org/
More info on the site mentioned at the top.
Consider the ramifications on the story of the Matrix - perhaps Neo was working at the company that went on to develop the Matrix (or at least the necessary AI for the machines to take over)?
I don't know about their future mac plans, but they already are selling iPods. Check the MP3 section.
You're right, it was an unfair comparison - but I wasn't making a comparison. I was responding to his comments.
If you'd like a fair comparison, look at home electronics. You think portable cd players were in the $30-50 price range fifteen years ago?
The price hasn't gone up, either. And that was what, 15 years ago? What other product do you buy that hasn't increased in price at all over the last decade and a half? Ever hear of inflation? CDs are cheap.
Then how 'bout I sell you my i386 25 mHz PS1 with a meg of ram for $3k and we'll call it a deal.
Plus, ATI will be in all XBox sales and Playstation sales.
I'm pretty sure Sony does their own graphics for PS2. ATI owns ArtX, the company responsible for the Gamecube's graphics set.
To quote Victor Hugo the morning after sleeping with his mistress:
"France lost a great novel last night."
If they used an open standard(does not mean open source), then other companies could pick up if the original one stopped providing serve. :)
Yeah. And just as easily, L33T H@X0R from down the street could broadcast "pirate" signals to hack the time, stock quotes, weather settings...
Though I do figure it would be funny if someone hacked the MSFT stock ticker to "+100" while displaying the weather in Hell, MI as 27/snowy
I can personally attest to that. My Sony has been on roller coasters, set on fire, submerged, dropped from a moving vehicle, etc. Not kidding.
:)
Although my favorite footage to this day was at an amusement park when I stood on one of those "wave bridges" (you know, with the boat that comes down the ramp and makes the big wave?) and filmed the incoming tidal wave at point blank. Took a couple hours to resuscitate the thing, but in the end it was worth it
Maybe it's because I read some quack's claim that the 4th dimension was time. In which case a 4D rubics cube would solve itself over time or be onsolvable because it rescrambled while you were trying to solve.
The 4th dimension is whatever you define it as. There's no "true" 4th dimension. Einstein had the idea that time could be treated in a fashion similar to that of the spatial dimensions, and so, in his work, he defined the 4th dimension as the temporal dimension.
However, for this program's purposes, it's assumed that we're talking about the 4th *spatial* dimension. You can (kinda) visualize it if you think of the progression of first 3 dimensions: a line (1st d) can be rotated 90 degrees to itself to form a square (2nd d) which can be rotated 90 degrees to itself to form a cube (3rd d). The 4th dimension is thus hypothesized as the space defined by a cube rotated 90 degrees to itself.
(Granted, I'm no mathematician, so if someone has a better understanding, please correct me.)
Completed pictures here.
Also, does anyone else think the green paint looks hideous? IMHO, he would've been much better keeping the factory grey.
Sony themselves sell the kit. No problem.
(Then again, I suppose Sony has been known to sue itself in the past...)
More info on the processing power of the PS2 as applied to computational chemistry.
Basically, this study shows the PS2 has roughly the computational linear algebra power of a PIII-600 (the then fastest processor on the market).
How is this "news"? The protected CDs are designed not to work in computer CD drives.
I wonder what companies they will team with to create new games. In order to beat Nintendo, they're really gonna need an awesome initial lineup of games. I'm thinking at least 25 or so. And they'll need some big named games as well, like Castlevania and whatnot.
Most likely the usual players. Sony has what I would consider to be as strong of a lineup of 3rd party developers (Square, Enix, Konami, EA, Rockstar) with big-name games (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Metal Gear, SSX, Grand Theft Auto) as any company out there. And that's not even mentioning in-house titles like Gran Turismo.
Also, what are they going to do to entice developers
16:9. 3d audio. 1.8 GB storage on 60mm discs. Real-time NURBS rendering. USB 2.0. Not to mention the 50 million+ PS2's already sold worldwide.
How many MEGAbytes are GBA cartridges again?
I think this new system is plenty enticing. Development kits are coming out in June, which gives developers 1.5 years to work with the architecture before release in Dec. 2004, at which point Nintendo will still have the GBA at the forefront of their portable lineup (remember, the original GB went virtually unmodified for almost 10 years).
Nope, that's not it. That's a picture or a creation of this guy, who modifies consoles (Atari 2600, SNES, PSX, etc.) such that they can be played portably.
:)
I don't think Sony would ever release something that hideous
I didn't know it was possible to have a duplicate Ask Slashdot!
(Yeah, they're not *exactly* the same... but aren't a lot of details suprisingly similar?)
Aren't cellphones already banned on commerical airliners?
It's called the Sony U3 (as well as the new model, the U101).
Decent specs, and it's priced right around $1500.
I'd be curious to hear how well the keyboard can be operated, though - it's only about six or seven inches wide.
The single CCD is 1/3" true 16x9 with 1290x880 native resolution.
I don't know about you, but there's no way I'd shell out $2500 - $3500 for a camera with only a SINGLE ccd. I'm sure the resolution's great, but I'll take an XL-1 over this thing anyday.
I thought you worked at Sega?
How's your Smell-o-vision project going?
Your educational background is pretty impressive too.
What about Super Marx Brothers?
Or Game Boy Advance porn?
Have you finished the HIGHLY ADVANCED SPEECH RECOGNITION DEVICE?
Anyone else find it interesting that Japanese characters have replaced the American alphabet in the famous green columns of scrolling letters?
Perhaps its a nod to the film's origins.
Like what the Gamecube uses. Yeah, that'd be slick.
I have no idea if today's DVD burners could handle mini-DVD's, though. Anyone more knowledgeable than I care to share?
If you read the article, you'll see that they're not burning the manure, they're simply expiditing the anaerobic processes of bacteria that consume it. In fact, the farmer touts "odor reduction" as a benefit of the process.
Also, the more subscribers you get, the smaller the benefit is for each subscriber. I would think that before long, the /. effect will just start when the red bar appears. Am I missing something?
/. subscription. That's the intended effect.
The only difference between the above hypothetical situation and the current situation is that in above, everybody's paying a