I know this may come across as flame bate, but damn, some of those were downright painful to watch.
I don't really have a problem with Red Vs. Blue. Those guys can be fairly funny. But man, I found myself actually felling embarrassed for some of the directors (?) of those machinema flicks.
They weren't good, and they weren't bad enough to be funny. They were just kind of, umm, "uncomfortable" bad.
I'm a broke SOB that's still using the same TV that I've had for 15 years. It's missing the power button, the remote's battery door is held on with electrical tape, and I doubt I will replace it any time soon. Why? Because I have more important things to spend my measly pittance on. Particularly, food, power, transportation, etc. Ya know, things which relate to not dying.
I'm glad the government is concerned that I won't get my daily fix of White House talking points, commercials for boner pills, and HiDef Every Body Love Raymond reruns. Yet, there are other concerns in my life that could probably benefit from 3 billion dollars. In particular - the local trailer park, I mean high school, could use a little love. Four permanent walls and some sort of roof-ish thing would be nice.
Or, at the very least, I hear we suffered a wee bit of storm damage in the gulf coast, and there's also that whole "war" thing.
But, who knows. Ray Romano in HD. Perhaps the digital signal will allow me to understand why that show is funny.
What? A giant corporation doesn't care about a Africa?! Phsss. No way! I'm in total disbelief.
I thought all giant first world monoliths have loved that part of the world for thousands of years. Right?
Sure, the "first world" may have accidentally been a tad negligent there a few times. There were the wars, the whole slavery thing, the agricultural exploitation, the strip mining, the occasional horrible foreign disease, the weapon sales, the currency inflation... but now they can't get free software?!.... from Microsoft?!! No *&^%ing way. Unbelievable.
My allergist recommended that I start using those pillow covers, but had had to ditch them after a few months. They all have metal zippers on them. I couldn't stand waking up with a zipper slider being ground into my cheek, or rolling over and having a zipper slider grind across my eye socket.
You'd think they be molded plastic and padded. I don't know why they're made of metal with YKK stamped on them.
Hey, don't blame those of us in SF and the peninsula for the "signature span"... our side of the Bay Bridge looks awesome (when it's not being retrofitted).
Blame the east bay. They're to blame for this stupid mess.
Odd are it was spearheaded by some hummer driving morons from Blackhawk. But don't hold me to that.
When this happens right before launch it's like a punch in the gut. You've already developed an expensive corporate identity, you've developed marketing materials, you have products associated with the name, your legal and business relationships utilize the name. It's awful. Switching to a new name is not that simple.
We were stupid? You're the one commenting on a situation and a timeline you know little to nothing about. Really, it's a long story involving several domain names taken from more then one basket. Moreover, there is also the issue of IP rights, registered business names and product lines, expensive corporate identities, marketing materials, etc.
If someone is already habitually doing business with VeriSign, they're accustom to abysmal service, so I doubt this merger will force them to abandon ship.
In my professional geek career, I have yet to met a business that could top VeriSign's ability to cause grief, stress, development delays, and outrageous legal fees.
VeriSign is responsible for the collapse of the last company I worked for. We spent 2 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars designing and developing a retail solution based around a particular domain name. Unfortunately, the CEO fell victim of identity theft before we launched and some a-hole was able to acquire our domain names though ****ing VeriSign.
You'd think we'd be able to get them back easily. We had receipts and we didn't authorize the transfer. But, nooo. They wouldn't cooperate with our lawyers or the California Computer Crimes Task Force. It was SUCH a pain.
And I know I'm not alone on this one. VeriSign is the biggest POS. I have several, less destructive, examples of being screwed by that company. But I'll spare you for now.
Hopefully, Ebay will make VeriSign slightly less crappy.
Personally, I'm a fan of iPhoto. It's a brainless way to imports pictures and order prints. But, in an ideal situation I would be able to pay for prints via iPhoto and pick them up an hour later at the local 1 hour photo. As of now, I need to wait 24 hours before I get them.
I had been doing something similar with my 20gig iPod for a while. At the time, I owned a desktop computer, so portability was a problem. Eventually installed OS X and all of my graphic design applications onto the iPod and used it as a boot disk.
It worked pretty well. Whenever I came to a new mac, I would turn it off, plug in the iPod, and boot while holding down the "T" key to target the new drive. Unfortunately, the iPod's hard disk is not the speediest thing in the world. Moreover, I doubt toshiba drive would last long if it was being used 8+ hours a day, everyday.
But as for the article. They harddrive-less / headless computer is not a new idea. As well all know, it's older then dirt. Yet ballooning operating systems, massive applications, and multimedia content have made it fairly impractical. Although flash drives and micro hard drives will grow in reliability and size, the amount data people use will undoubtedly grow as well.
I doubt we'll go back to harddrive-less computers any time soon. However they might be useful within academic institutions. Diskettes were handy in computer labs back in the 80's and early 90's. Students could carry their applications and projects with them... lab computer's weren't littered with crap like they are now.
When I was fired from my first tech job, these were the signs...
1) 6 months before leaving: Snack room no longer contains free snacks. Just a water cooler. 2) 3 months before leaving: Water cooler no longer contains water, janitor stops coming frequently, VP takes a "sabbatical." 3) 1 month before leaving: Secretary is now cleaning the toilet and answering the phone; more employees go on "sabbatical," storage boxes begin to appear in my office. 4) 2 weeks before leaving: Secretary is now on "sabbatical;" bathroom is getting funky; I am now replacing the urinal cakes out of good will; my office is now doubling as a storage facility, "why is the DEA at our office?" 5) 1 week before leaving: "where is the CEO?" 6) Day I leave: I have been asked to go on "unpaid sabbatical" 7) 2 years after starting my unpaid sabbatical: I have yet to be called back to work.
It is incredibly short sighted to assume P2P piracy leads to other forms of deviance. It could be, and IMHO probably is, primarily the other way around. People that are comfortable with bending or ignoring the rules in the real world will probably function similarly online. Especially since they're aided with increased anonymity and massive peer support online.
That hypothesis makes a much more sense to me. Going from online deviance to real world deviance is a big step to take. You would need to cope with the loss of anonymity and peer support. That's not very appealing. It's easier the other way around.
Yet, a multiyear academic study with controls would have to be conducted. Until that is done, you can't form conclusions one way or the other.
Unfortunately, Brasso is the reason I now own a beige iPod. It might work well for the black model, but the plastic on the iPod is porous, so it might not be the best thing for white iPods.
Well, not all universities are like that. I've done undergrad work and grad work (industrial design & computer science) through the California CSU system, and I've been a TA several times. Although grad work is absolutely exhausting, It's I've never wanted to shoot anyone.
However, In a California State University class sizes are usually kept to a minimum. Moreover, faculty members teach what they know, must make themselves accessible to everyone within the classroom, are critiqued by students every semester, and are reviewed by their peers every two years (at least I think it's two).
Since classes are typically typically around 25 students, you're directly taught by the professor or instructor. A TA is there to help, but they're not there to fill the void of a distant instructor. TA's a are not instructors. They're assistants, and they're usually compensated in units.
I've been in a few massive classes with heavy emphasis upon TA's. It works for certain subjects, but for the most part, it totally blows. IMHO, small seminar classes are the way to go. They're more personal and they're more dynamic.
Ehh, not really, there are actually differences in usability between the window styles.
And as for the web. Well good sites have consistent interfaces throughout the site. And at the very least, the browser doesn't change in appearance for every site.
Agreed. A major problem with most current software is that it doesn't utilize usability conventions and metaphors that people understand without saying.
No doubt, revolutionary new tools will almost always require a learning curve. However, we could be doing a lot better.
That not what I was talking about at all. Cool for cool's sake is always a mistake.
Design is not about making thinks look "cool". "Cool" is a byproduct of intensive research, human factors, visual communication, etc. Good design is, quite literally, a science. It is NOT shinny skinned UIs and hot photoshop filters.
Interactive designers are individuals who understand usability, interactivity, and development. Yet, in addition to that, they are aware of the ways color, shape, hierarchy, form, balance, materials, etc can affect, direct, assist and communicate to users.
Anonymous ass. Powerbooks are notorious for their 2 hour batteries.
And for the record... I'm usually working in photoshop or illustrator. However, my battery doesn't last much longer if I'm only typing emails and browsing the web.
Aqua goodness, brushed-metal goodness, unified tool bar grayish-ness, the new iTunes post brushed-metal dark grayish-ness, etc. Basically, whatever shinny inconstant interface turd Apple thinks is cool this month.
And yes, I realize the irony of an Apple interface rant coming from some a-hole who's screen name is "Aqua OS X";)
Slashdot Mirror
I know this may come across as flame bate, but damn, some of those were downright painful to watch.
I don't really have a problem with Red Vs. Blue. Those guys can be fairly funny. But man, I found myself actually felling embarrassed for some of the directors (?) of those machinema flicks.
They weren't good, and they weren't bad enough to be funny. They were just kind of, umm, "uncomfortable" bad.
Now, for good machinema, watch Summoner Geeks
It allows me to work, which allows me to get paid, which allows me to eat.
I'm a broke SOB that's still using the same TV that I've had for 15 years. It's missing the power button, the remote's battery door is held on with electrical tape, and I doubt I will replace it any time soon. Why? Because I have more important things to spend my measly pittance on. Particularly, food, power, transportation, etc. Ya know, things which relate to not dying.
I'm glad the government is concerned that I won't get my daily fix of White House talking points, commercials for boner pills, and HiDef Every Body Love Raymond reruns. Yet, there are other concerns in my life that could probably benefit from 3 billion dollars. In particular - the local trailer park, I mean high school, could use a little love. Four permanent walls and some sort of roof-ish thing would be nice.
Or, at the very least, I hear we suffered a wee bit of storm damage in the gulf coast, and there's also that whole "war" thing.
But, who knows. Ray Romano in HD. Perhaps the digital signal will allow me to understand why that show is funny.
What? A giant corporation doesn't care about a Africa?!
Phsss. No way! I'm in total disbelief.
I thought all giant first world monoliths have loved that part of the world for thousands of years. Right?
Sure, the "first world" may have accidentally been a tad negligent there a few times. There were the wars, the whole slavery thing, the agricultural exploitation, the strip mining, the occasional horrible foreign disease, the weapon sales, the currency inflation... but now they can't get free software?!.... from Microsoft?!! No *&^%ing way. Unbelievable.
My mind has thus been blown.
My allergist recommended that I start using those pillow covers, but had had to ditch them after a few months. They all have metal zippers on them. I couldn't stand waking up with a zipper slider being ground into my cheek, or rolling over and having a zipper slider grind across my eye socket.
You'd think they be molded plastic and padded. I don't know why they're made of metal with YKK stamped on them.
Hey, don't blame those of us in SF and the peninsula for the "signature span"... our side of the Bay Bridge looks awesome (when it's not being retrofitted).
Blame the east bay. They're to blame for this stupid mess.
Odd are it was spearheaded by some hummer driving morons from Blackhawk. But don't hold me to that.
I don't know why anyone would actually want that UI. The transparency, the gradients, the bad typography... It looks like Photoshop threw up.
Believe it or not, that stuff has a big effect on usability and interactivity. Hopefully this new UI will get canned before launch. It's horrible.
And I thought "brushed metal" was annoying.
When this happens right before launch it's like a punch in the gut. You've already developed an expensive corporate identity, you've developed marketing materials, you have products associated with the name, your legal and business relationships utilize the name. It's awful. Switching to a new name is not that simple.
We were stupid? You're the one commenting on a situation and a timeline you know little to nothing about.
Really, it's a long story involving several domain names taken from more then one basket. Moreover, there is also the issue of IP rights, registered business names and product lines, expensive corporate identities, marketing materials, etc.
If someone is already habitually doing business with VeriSign, they're accustom to abysmal service, so I doubt this merger will force them to abandon ship.
In my professional geek career, I have yet to met a business that could top VeriSign's ability to cause grief, stress, development delays, and outrageous legal fees.
VeriSign is responsible for the collapse of the last company I worked for. We spent 2 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars designing and developing a retail solution based around a particular domain name. Unfortunately, the CEO fell victim of identity theft before we launched and some a-hole was able to acquire our domain names though ****ing VeriSign.
You'd think we'd be able to get them back easily. We had receipts and we didn't authorize the transfer. But, nooo. They wouldn't cooperate with our lawyers or the California Computer Crimes Task Force. It was SUCH a pain.
And I know I'm not alone on this one. VeriSign is the biggest POS.
I have several, less destructive, examples of being screwed by that company. But I'll spare you for now.
Hopefully, Ebay will make VeriSign slightly less crappy.
Personally, I'm a fan of iPhoto. It's a brainless way to imports pictures and order prints.
But, in an ideal situation I would be able to pay for prints via iPhoto and pick them up an hour later at the local 1 hour photo. As of now, I need to wait 24 hours before I get them.
mm er mm I I I I'll burn the building down.
I had been doing something similar with my 20gig iPod for a while. At the time, I owned a desktop computer, so portability was a problem. Eventually installed OS X and all of my graphic design applications onto the iPod and used it as a boot disk.
It worked pretty well. Whenever I came to a new mac, I would turn it off, plug in the iPod, and boot while holding down the "T" key to target the new drive. Unfortunately, the iPod's hard disk is not the speediest thing in the world. Moreover, I doubt toshiba drive would last long if it was being used 8+ hours a day, everyday.
But as for the article. They harddrive-less / headless computer is not a new idea. As well all know, it's older then dirt. Yet ballooning operating systems, massive applications, and multimedia content have made it fairly impractical. Although flash drives and micro hard drives will grow in reliability and size, the amount data people use will undoubtedly grow as well.
I doubt we'll go back to harddrive-less computers any time soon. However they might be useful within academic institutions. Diskettes were handy in computer labs back in the 80's and early 90's. Students could carry their applications and projects with them... lab computer's weren't littered with crap like they are now.
When I was fired from my first tech job, these were the signs...
1) 6 months before leaving: Snack room no longer contains free snacks. Just a water cooler.
2) 3 months before leaving: Water cooler no longer contains water, janitor stops coming frequently, VP takes a "sabbatical."
3) 1 month before leaving: Secretary is now cleaning the toilet and answering the phone; more employees go on "sabbatical," storage boxes begin to appear in my office.
4) 2 weeks before leaving: Secretary is now on "sabbatical;" bathroom is getting funky; I am now replacing the urinal cakes out of good will; my office is now doubling as a storage facility, "why is the DEA at our office?"
5) 1 week before leaving: "where is the CEO?"
6) Day I leave: I have been asked to go on "unpaid sabbatical"
7) 2 years after starting my unpaid sabbatical: I have yet to be called back to work.
true story... urinal mints and all
So here's my question... was that a hack, or poor editing?
Either way, I screamed, then laughed, then shivered in disgust.
now, let's see how long this stays online.
JavaScript... in Internet Explorer?
:p
Don't you mean "Jscript" ?
It is incredibly short sighted to assume P2P piracy leads to other forms of deviance. It could be, and IMHO probably is, primarily the other way around. People that are comfortable with bending or ignoring the rules in the real world will probably function similarly online. Especially since they're aided with increased anonymity and massive peer support online.
That hypothesis makes a much more sense to me. Going from online deviance to real world deviance is a big step to take. You would need to cope with the loss of anonymity and peer support. That's not very appealing. It's easier the other way around.
Yet, a multiyear academic study with controls would have to be conducted. Until that is done, you can't form conclusions one way or the other.
Unfortunately, Brasso is the reason I now own a beige iPod. It might work well for the black model, but the plastic on the iPod is porous, so it might not be the best thing for white iPods.
Well, not all universities are like that. I've done undergrad work and grad work (industrial design & computer science) through the California CSU system, and I've been a TA several times. Although grad work is absolutely exhausting, It's I've never wanted to shoot anyone.
However, In a California State University class sizes are usually kept to a minimum. Moreover, faculty members teach what they know, must make themselves accessible to everyone within the classroom, are critiqued by students every semester, and are reviewed by their peers every two years (at least I think it's two).
Since classes are typically typically around 25 students, you're directly taught by the professor or instructor. A TA is there to help, but they're not there to fill the void of a distant instructor. TA's a are not instructors. They're assistants, and they're usually compensated in units.
I've been in a few massive classes with heavy emphasis upon TA's. It works for certain subjects, but for the most part, it totally blows. IMHO, small seminar classes are the way to go. They're more personal and they're more dynamic.
Ehh, not really, there are actually differences in usability between the window styles.
And as for the web. Well good sites have consistent interfaces throughout the site. And at the very least, the browser doesn't change in appearance for every site.
Agreed. A major problem with most current software is that it doesn't utilize usability conventions and metaphors that people understand without saying.
No doubt, revolutionary new tools will almost always require a learning curve. However, we could be doing a lot better.
That not what I was talking about at all. Cool for cool's sake is always a mistake.
Design is not about making thinks look "cool". "Cool" is a byproduct of intensive research, human factors, visual communication, etc. Good design is, quite literally, a science. It is NOT shinny skinned UIs and hot photoshop filters.
Interactive designers are individuals who understand usability, interactivity, and development. Yet, in addition to that, they are aware of the ways color, shape, hierarchy, form, balance, materials, etc can affect, direct, assist and communicate to users.
Anonymous ass. Powerbooks are notorious for their 2 hour batteries.
And for the record... I'm usually working in photoshop or illustrator. However, my battery doesn't last much longer if I'm only typing emails and browsing the web.
Aqua goodness, brushed-metal goodness, unified tool bar grayish-ness, the new iTunes post brushed-metal dark grayish-ness, etc. Basically, whatever shinny inconstant interface turd Apple thinks is cool this month.
;)
And yes, I realize the irony of an Apple interface rant coming from some a-hole who's screen name is "Aqua OS X"
My brand new 15in Powerbook can only last 2 hours without needing a recharge. "runs longer on a battery" my ass ;).