....to create a new Microsoft icon for/.
I felt a slight chill as I read the article, realizing that if Bill Gates is stepping down, he must be getting kinda older....which means I'm getting kinda older.
It's been an interesting ride through the years with Microsoft.
Thanks for everything, Bill, and best of luck with your philanthropy. My city in particular (Windsor, ON, Canada) has benefitted from the B&MG foundation with new computers in our library for public use.
I think the game you're referring to was 'Majestic', by EA. The game was set up in such a way that you'd receive phone calls, faxes, IM's from people, etc, etc. all in the intent of solving mysteries and conspiracy theories and the like.
EA charged $9.95/month for this setup and I don't think it lasted beyond a couple months before they shut it down as a complete failure and shelved the whole thing.
Of course, there could be another similar one from the late 90's but this one was in mid-2000 or 2001.
Well, not to pick nits here, but Kevin Pollack is actually reappearing as Lazlo Gogolak, the "fahder" of the gangster who was torched in the Whole Nine Yards.
I'm sure it was the casting director's choice to have Pollack play that part since he did so well with the son in the first film, particularly with his pseudo-Hungarian accent. It's not really a continuity issue, but rather along the lines of "we chose the same actor to play a similar, yet quite different role" to keep the "family" look and feel.
It's possible that he's only in the film in the form of a flashback of some sort.
If he has any lines whatsoever, he has to be listed in the credits as a character in the movie, even if it's not part of the main story arc.
Just my $0.02.
Re:Future Crew members
on
Assembly '03
·
· Score: 1
There's not a lot of information about their exact whereabouts, but I do know that the main reason they stopped making demos was lack of time due to compulsory Finnish Army service.
Here's a short timeline which might offer you some more information.
If you want to talk about an insanely fast release from the theatres, that lame-ass American Idol-fest "From Justin to Kelly" will be available on DVD just 68 days after its theatre debut.
I'm surprised they feel that the same public who was so unwilling to drop $10 on that dreck will be more than happy to blow $20 on it as well.
Using this data, calculating the cost per day at $0.50 per person arrives at the amount of ~$89,277,450.00. The Apollo program ended in 1972 and began officially (I believe) in 1961, making it eleven years long.
365 days x 11 years = 4015 days.
4015 days x $89,277,450 = $358,448,961,750 (1960 value).
This is about as far as I can take the calculation, considering that I am not an economics major. Can anyone calculate the cost of the Apollo project in terms of y2000 value?
I'd be interested to see how much it cost in today's terms.
I'm probably going to get destroyed by all the super high res digital film fanatics out there, but here goes...
32mb per image.
24 images = 768mb +/- 1GB Kingston CompactFlash card = $856 dollars
1 roll film = $2.50 +/-
Developing charge = $4.00 +/-
What does it all mean? I can purchase 131 24 frame rolls of film (more if I buy in bulk) AND get them developed for the price of the card required to store 24 images on this thing.
I understand that the quality is phenomenal, but unless you're printing these shots into Iris prints, I feel this camera is overkill.
Photos have been just fine in terms of razor sharp quality and colour for the last 10 years...why do we need to make them 1000x better?
As a citizen of a nation that pronounces it "Zed", I am constantly at loggerheads with others of my country who pronounce it "Zee". (probably due to a close proximity to the USA)
I agree that there are times when "Zed" flows better than "Zee", such as "Zed"-24 (Cavalier) rather than "Zee"-24....or YZFR-1 (motorcycle) instead of Y"Zee"FR-1...but that's MHO and I could be wrong.
I guess there really are more important things to discuss, aren't there? --------------
...other issues besides nailing companies to the wall for attempting to prevent others from succeeding.
There are tens of thousands of homeless people in America, a health care system that is bleeding money (pardon the pun) and a Cabinet that has NO problem overspending for things they hardly need (ie. ground-based antimissile lasers).
If anything, it's likely that the millions of dollars in fines that will be garnered from hundreds of anti-trust suits will be used for nothing more than to line the pockets of those in the government that keep the focus away from the serious issues.
I work in marketing and I feel that there is nothing wrong with a pure monopoly within a category, provided that the company is producing high-quality goods that satisfies the customers. If you allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to pump out inferior products in order to prevent a monopoly, all you will do is create a bad image for the product and everyone will lose.
Granted, Microsoft engineers write bad code that is rife with bugs, but their products still sell -- because they're useful and allow for productivity. Remember all those pathetic side-scroller games that were pushed based on movie licenses? Same issue, different color.
I'm a former VHS collector turned DVD collector now, and I have over 200 VHS tapes that are crumbling away into nothing as the years (not many) slip away since I've purchased them.
However, I have over 100 DVDs now (and purchased that number in the last two years) and each and every one is just as pristine and enjoyable as the minute I brought it home.
VHS stretches over time and quality degrades to the point where a movie is no longer even enjoyable (at least, once you've seen the DVD of it, the VHS version is sub-par). As well, the MPAA trying to squeeze every last dollar out of VHS consumers by tacking on extra footage and other stuff at the END of the tapes, so you have to fast forward to the end. I think one of the other main selling points for DVD was the instant chapter access.
How many times have you wanted to see one part of a film and couldn't remember the exact HH:MM:SS of the spot? It will only get better with director edited cuts on DVD too (perhaps even a guide that shows certain extra things you might not notice on the disc - but with timecodes so you can actually LOOK for yourself)
Bravo to those who have championed DVD in the past and who will in the future - just make the next format's player backwards compatible - or I'm going to be really pissed.
Dare I say there's no need to? All of the games are set to work in N.A. already...so why mod it?
There have been hacks already to try and change the HD (which is unrecognizable by any file system, even Linux) and assorted other things, (including a USB controller patch-in), but no need for a modchip.
Once the Xbox gets released in Japan or Europe, watch the rapid proliferation of modchips for the Xbox then.
There are times when you just can't fix something because it isn't broken. MP3 is one of those things, and some people should just leave it alone.
Compared to each other, MP3Pro is no major enhancement. In fact - it's crap. The sound quality is sub-par (even for a 128kbps MP3), the encoding time is slow (even on a PIII 933) and its inability to playback properly on normal MP3 players (I know -- new format) makes me give it a double thumbs-down (gets off soapbox).
I encoded a jazz song (for frequency range) with Audiocatalyst at 128kbps which took about 34 seconds while ripping from CD. I then ripped the file from CD to WAV and encoded it with the MP3Pro encoder (same bitrate, took 56 seconds). Tested side-by-side (for 5 playbacks) MP3 was the clear winner. MP3Pro sounded flat and dead, while the normal MP3 had bright, clear horns and a solid bassline.
I can only hope that MP3-hardware manufacturers aren't planning on implementing MP3Pro codecs into their systems anytime soon - might hurt their business for good.
Slashdot Mirror
....to create a new Microsoft icon for /.
I felt a slight chill as I read the article, realizing that if Bill Gates is stepping down, he must be getting kinda older....which means I'm getting kinda older.
It's been an interesting ride through the years with Microsoft.
Thanks for everything, Bill, and best of luck with your philanthropy. My city in particular (Windsor, ON, Canada) has benefitted from the B&MG foundation with new computers in our library for public use.
I think the game you're referring to was 'Majestic', by EA. The game was set up in such a way that you'd receive phone calls, faxes, IM's from people, etc, etc. all in the intent of solving mysteries and conspiracy theories and the like.
EA charged $9.95/month for this setup and I don't think it lasted beyond a couple months before they shut it down as a complete failure and shelved the whole thing.
Of course, there could be another similar one from the late 90's but this one was in mid-2000 or 2001.
I'm sure it was the casting director's choice to have Pollack play that part since he did so well with the son in the first film, particularly with his pseudo-Hungarian accent. It's not really a continuity issue, but rather along the lines of "we chose the same actor to play a similar, yet quite different role" to keep the "family" look and feel.
Just my $0.02.
If he has any lines whatsoever, he has to be listed in the credits as a character in the movie, even if it's not part of the main story arc.
Just my $0.02.
Here's a short timeline which might offer you some more information.
I'm surprised they feel that the same public who was so unwilling to drop $10 on that dreck will be more than happy to blow $20 on it as well.
Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are "snaggers and chop"?
Using this data, calculating the cost per day at $0.50 per person arrives at the amount of ~$89,277,450.00. The Apollo program ended in 1972 and began officially (I believe) in 1961, making it eleven years long.
365 days x 11 years = 4015 days.
4015 days x $89,277,450 = $358,448,961,750 (1960 value).
This is about as far as I can take the calculation, considering that I am not an economics major. Can anyone calculate the cost of the Apollo project in terms of y2000 value?
I'd be interested to see how much it cost in today's terms.
"Oh no! The chainsaw kicked back and sliced open my neck!"
(tourniquet zips closed to stem bleeding)
"Gaaak!"
Sorry, had to.
"I like my coffee like I like my women...hot, and strong....with a spoon in them!"
Sorry, had to.
Second Reality / Future Crew
Megademo / The Space Pigs
Cronologia / Cascada
Unreal / Future Crew
Amnesia / Renaissance
Panic / Future Crew
Sheeesh....people gotta learn to read before they go off, y'know?
Just in case you were curious, you were quoted in a Wired News article found here
Here's a link to a bigger image of that same poster, if you want a closer look at it...
32mb per image.
24 images = 768mb +/-
1GB Kingston CompactFlash card = $856 dollars
1 roll film = $2.50 +/-
Developing charge = $4.00 +/-
What does it all mean? I can purchase 131 24 frame rolls of film (more if I buy in bulk) AND get them developed for the price of the card required to store 24 images on this thing.
I understand that the quality is phenomenal, but unless you're printing these shots into Iris prints, I feel this camera is overkill.
Photos have been just fine in terms of razor sharp quality and colour for the last 10 years...why do we need to make them 1000x better?
Okay...cue the flames.
I'd be willing to bet that the reason Tetris was the most bought and sold game for that system was that it came bundled with Gameboy systems, AFAIK...
'course, I could just be stating the fscking obvious....
I agree that there are times when "Zed" flows better than "Zee", such as "Zed"-24 (Cavalier) rather than "Zee"-24....or YZFR-1 (motorcycle) instead of Y"Zee"FR-1...but that's MHO and I could be wrong.
I guess there really are more important things to discuss, aren't there?
--------------
There are tens of thousands of homeless people in America, a health care system that is bleeding money (pardon the pun) and a Cabinet that has NO problem overspending for things they hardly need (ie. ground-based antimissile lasers).
If anything, it's likely that the millions of dollars in fines that will be garnered from hundreds of anti-trust suits will be used for nothing more than to line the pockets of those in the government that keep the focus away from the serious issues.
I work in marketing and I feel that there is nothing wrong with a pure monopoly within a category, provided that the company is producing high-quality goods that satisfies the customers. If you allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to pump out inferior products in order to prevent a monopoly, all you will do is create a bad image for the product and everyone will lose.
Granted, Microsoft engineers write bad code that is rife with bugs, but their products still sell -- because they're useful and allow for productivity. Remember all those pathetic side-scroller games that were pushed based on movie licenses? Same issue, different color.
Just my 2 cents.
I'm a former VHS collector turned DVD collector now, and I have over 200 VHS tapes that are crumbling away into nothing as the years (not many) slip away since I've purchased them.
However, I have over 100 DVDs now (and purchased that number in the last two years) and each and every one is just as pristine and enjoyable as the minute I brought it home.
VHS stretches over time and quality degrades to the point where a movie is no longer even enjoyable (at least, once you've seen the DVD of it, the VHS version is sub-par). As well, the MPAA trying to squeeze every last dollar out of VHS consumers by tacking on extra footage and other stuff at the END of the tapes, so you have to fast forward to the end. I think one of the other main selling points for DVD was the instant chapter access.
How many times have you wanted to see one part of a film and couldn't remember the exact HH:MM:SS of the spot? It will only get better with director edited cuts on DVD too (perhaps even a guide that shows certain extra things you might not notice on the disc - but with timecodes so you can actually LOOK for yourself)
Bravo to those who have championed DVD in the past and who will in the future - just make the next format's player backwards compatible - or I'm going to be really pissed.
There have been hacks already to try and change the HD (which is unrecognizable by any file system, even Linux) and assorted other things, (including a USB controller patch-in), but no need for a modchip.
Once the Xbox gets released in Japan or Europe, watch the rapid proliferation of modchips for the Xbox then.
Especially some of the graphics stuff -- anyone take a look at the Realtime Fur rendering demo? I doubt there's any source, though...heh.
Jed Lengyel's page
-------
What ARE the employment requirements for a government intern, anyway? The ability to squat?
Compared to each other, MP3Pro is no major enhancement. In fact - it's crap. The sound quality is sub-par (even for a 128kbps MP3), the encoding time is slow (even on a PIII 933) and its inability to playback properly on normal MP3 players (I know -- new format) makes me give it a double thumbs-down (gets off soapbox).
I encoded a jazz song (for frequency range) with Audiocatalyst at 128kbps which took about 34 seconds while ripping from CD. I then ripped the file from CD to WAV and encoded it with the MP3Pro encoder (same bitrate, took 56 seconds). Tested side-by-side (for 5 playbacks) MP3 was the clear winner. MP3Pro sounded flat and dead, while the normal MP3 had bright, clear horns and a solid bassline.
I can only hope that MP3-hardware manufacturers aren't planning on implementing MP3Pro codecs into their systems anytime soon - might hurt their business for good.