Last summer I was in Chicago, staying with a relative, and I saw first-hand some of these shenannigans between AT&T and Earthlink. My relatives had chosen Earthlink DSL over the local AT&T service (probably because it was cheaper and/or faster) and the DSL connection went out every evening from about 7:00pm to 10:00pm.
Earthlink's official response was that AT&T would purposely detect non-AT&T-DSL customers and downgrade their connection somehow. Of course I'm not sure I believe them, because the daily outages only seemed to be happening during peak hours. They probably oversold their service in the area, but how would I have known either way? Well, needless to say nothing got done (at least while I was there).
Think about how it'll cut down on emissions. Sure it'll punish the poor for using the roads and further widen the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots", but at least it's environmentally friendly.
I was assuming that the artificial being in question could selectively choose to record and probably filter certain stimuli. It could record a play, but filter out the ambient breathing and perhaps the random cough. Even record at a lower quality. Ordinary humans with technological assistance can do that now, so it's not so far fetched.
Yes, you're right that the A.I. software in question would probably trim down a lot of information, though it should have a short-term buffer (memory) that keeps all the information for a short period of time. Maybe even an hour or so, if it has some on-the-fly compression hardware, and if RAM is cheap in the year 2020.
I would think that one of the perks of being a computer-based lifeform is that I could selectively record certain things to long-term memory. I mean, for instance, where are my car keys right now? No really, anyone have an idea? I need to get home.
I don't see how this is possible, since (theoretically) any electronic lifeform would have perfect memory. If you have a perfect, electronic memory then how would the government or MPAA/RIAA know that you're not "pirating" some music/movies/books in there? You could just listen to music once and play it back whenever you wanted. Heck, why buy a DVD when you can just play back the memory of when you saw it in a movie theater? It's much more convenient and impressive, not to mention free.
Nope, any and all electronic minds will have to have DRM technology built-in and have regular brain-sweeps to make sure the being has a digital right to whatever content is in it's brain. Heck, while they're in there they might as well clean up any unwanted (by them) memories or sentiments they encounter. Basic rights. Sure.
And need I point out that this would apply to any technology-enhanced human beings as well? I think we'll sooner see human beings with "PDA's" in their brains than true artificial intelligence.
Apparently the cutting edge of harvesting web information (in this case e-mail addresses) is in the spam business. We all like to think that entities like Google are at the forefront of Web searching technology, but it seems like shadowy, unscrupulous advertising firms may be just ahead of the curve.
I know I'll get modded down for this, but I think there are a lot of parallels between this case and that of pornography (another somewhat shadowy industry that is often looked down upon, yet is always there to profit off of new technologies as soon as they become available.)
I thought that one of the perks of living in the U.S.A. was that they didn't open all your mail, like in the Soviet Union or China. At least, that's what I was taught in grammar school.
Or was that never true of international mail? Exactly what can or can't they open? Is domestic mail safe? Do they need a warrant?
"Why did they rush out an otherwise fine product out with that one major flaw?"
You just answered your own question earlier:
"it isn't like there is huge competition for the handheld game market, and they already had a near perfect brand name to build on."
Competition is good, you see. They probably considered putting in their own backlight, but said "fsck it, they'll buy it anyway." So they get to say the GBA runs a ton of hours on a single battery charge, but in reality people have to use uncomfortable lighting situations or portable lights that drain the batteries much faster.
Or has anyone else noticed that the most sure-fire way to get an article on Slashdot is to wreck complex electronics?
Pouring concrete in a PC case, cooking your Palm Pilot, what's next? Xbox tossing? eBook flushing? Blasting a new iMac with a high-powered laser? Okay, that last one would be cool.
Is because it appeals to women. Not to say men don't like it, but it appeals to women in a BIG WAY. It's like a virtual dollhouse, except much more advanced and you don't lose any of the pieces.
Really, I've seen them do all sorts of imaginative/mentally-unhealthy things with the game. From spending hours creating their virtual dreamhouse to throwing the perfect party to hooking up their virtual persona with a virtual Justin Timberlake.
I mean, can you really think of any better, more efficient way to foster unrealistic expectations of life than The Sims? God bless innovation!;)
boondoggle (bndôgl, -dgl) Informal
n.
1. An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity.
2.
a. A braided leather cord worn as a decoration especially by Boy Scouts.
b. A cord of braided leather, fabric, or plastic strips made by a child as a project to keep busy.
It sounds like you're taking a lot of the stuff off the client's hands to add security. While this is a good idea, I can't stress enough the importance of the client predicting the positions of players and objects. Objects especially are easy to predict (an arrow arcing through the air, something rolling, etc.) Movement prediction can make or break a game; you'd be surprised how little tolerance players have for people/things jumping around with no movement in between.
Heck, players can be pretty predictable objects themselves, if you want to get fancy. Most games have pretty simple algorithms predicting the future state of a player character (if player X is moving in a straight line, he'll probably continue to do so.) But I think you can get fancier than that. What about curves? (circle strafing) Or if the player is repeatedly hitting a button every half-second. (chopping wood?)
It'd take a lot of coding, but the master server could conceivably take note of each player's input characteristics and compile some sort of "personality" profile for each one, which it could transmit to clients every time they start up, to help with their local prediction.
Please note that I have no idea how much CPU time this would take up,
Besides funding, product placement can add realism to a game. We're immersed in product placement in real life, so it seems strange to not see it in a supposedly reality-based game.
Of course, in real life we see competing brands advertised all the time, but that wouldn't happen in a game. You won't see both Coke and Pepsi billboards in one game any time soon. Furthermore, games usually have just a handful of sponsors - sometimes even just one. The Illusion is somewhat broken if all you see in a game are Nike ads and nothing else.
But the most common offense I see is when they put in ads for their own company or development team. Sure it was funny maybe a few years ago, but I don't want to see giant ads for Interplay, Inc. or "Team Blue" in every game I play. (Note to developers: this also goes for pictures of your family and obscure in-jokes that only Bob will find hilarous.)
Why on Earth do they have just two face buttons? Sure, triggers are nice and everything, but the addition of just two more little plastic buttons on the front would allow much greater depth (or at least convenience) to any game.
Better yet, squeeze on six face buttons and we'll be able to properly play all those Capcom fighters that are coming out for it. I'm still puzzling over why Nintendo didn't put more buttons on the GBA, and now this system has the same problem too? Is there some kind of conspiracy?
Slashdot Mirror
1) Which is more important, satillite radio or wireless internet access?
2) Which is the FCC most likely to understand better?
3) Which side has more money?
I think it's obvious which side will win out (if there can be only one, that is).
"MPAA wants a pony for Christmas"
Some things just ain't gonna happen.
Last summer I was in Chicago, staying with a relative, and I saw first-hand some of these shenannigans between AT&T and Earthlink. My relatives had chosen Earthlink DSL over the local AT&T service (probably because it was cheaper and/or faster) and the DSL connection went out every evening from about 7:00pm to 10:00pm.
Earthlink's official response was that AT&T would purposely detect non-AT&T-DSL customers and downgrade their connection somehow. Of course I'm not sure I believe them, because the daily outages only seemed to be happening during peak hours. They probably oversold their service in the area, but how would I have known either way? Well, needless to say nothing got done (at least while I was there).
Think about how it'll cut down on emissions. Sure it'll punish the poor for using the roads and further widen the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots", but at least it's environmentally friendly.
a reason to plug in my coat!
...what? Why are you all looking at me like that?
"...has ratified a anti-music piracy treaty"
;-)
I assume you meant "anti-music-piracy" or "anti music-piracy" but I like your version better.
Seems like all these damned laws are anti-music.
I was assuming that the artificial being in question could selectively choose to record and probably filter certain stimuli. It could record a play, but filter out the ambient breathing and perhaps the random cough. Even record at a lower quality. Ordinary humans with technological assistance can do that now, so it's not so far fetched.
Yes, you're right that the A.I. software in question would probably trim down a lot of information, though it should have a short-term buffer (memory) that keeps all the information for a short period of time. Maybe even an hour or so, if it has some on-the-fly compression hardware, and if RAM is cheap in the year 2020.
I would think that one of the perks of being a computer-based lifeform is that I could selectively record certain things to long-term memory. I mean, for instance, where are my car keys right now? No really, anyone have an idea? I need to get home.
electronic lifeform given basic rights (2020).
I don't see how this is possible, since (theoretically) any electronic lifeform would have perfect memory. If you have a perfect, electronic memory then how would the government or MPAA/RIAA know that you're not "pirating" some music/movies/books in there? You could just listen to music once and play it back whenever you wanted. Heck, why buy a DVD when you can just play back the memory of when you saw it in a movie theater? It's much more convenient and impressive, not to mention free.
Nope, any and all electronic minds will have to have DRM technology built-in and have regular brain-sweeps to make sure the being has a digital right to whatever content is in it's brain. Heck, while they're in there they might as well clean up any unwanted (by them) memories or sentiments they encounter. Basic rights. Sure.
And need I point out that this would apply to any technology-enhanced human beings as well? I think we'll sooner see human beings with "PDA's" in their brains than true artificial intelligence.
Apparently the cutting edge of harvesting web information (in this case e-mail addresses) is in the spam business. We all like to think that entities like Google are at the forefront of Web searching technology, but it seems like shadowy, unscrupulous advertising firms may be just ahead of the curve.
I know I'll get modded down for this, but I think there are a lot of parallels between this case and that of pornography (another somewhat shadowy industry that is often looked down upon, yet is always there to profit off of new technologies as soon as they become available.)
Showtime may change one or two things about the show before passing it on to the Sci-Fi Channel, as evidenced by this recently leaked image.
---
"Sic 'em up, little buddy."
I thought that one of the perks of living in the U.S.A. was that they didn't open all your mail, like in the Soviet Union or China. At least, that's what I was taught in grammar school.
Or was that never true of international mail? Exactly what can or can't they open? Is domestic mail safe? Do they need a warrant?
"Why did they rush out an otherwise fine product out with that one major flaw?"
You just answered your own question earlier:
"it isn't like there is huge competition for the handheld game market, and they already had a near perfect brand name to build on."
Competition is good, you see. They probably considered putting in their own backlight, but said "fsck it, they'll buy it anyway." So they get to say the GBA runs a ton of hours on a single battery charge, but in reality people have to use uncomfortable lighting situations or portable lights that drain the batteries much faster.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I want them back, DAMN YOU!
I'm glad I'm not the onlt one noticing the dissapearence of the Middle Class.
Or has anyone else noticed that the most sure-fire way to get an article on Slashdot is to wreck complex electronics?
Pouring concrete in a PC case, cooking your Palm Pilot, what's next? Xbox tossing? eBook flushing? Blasting a new iMac with a high-powered laser? Okay, that last one would be cool.
I thought is was supposed to be "Rifen: The Sequel to Myth".
(Ba-Dum. Dum. Ksssh!)
Bah, mod me down for that. I deserve it.
Is because it appeals to women. Not to say men don't like it, but it appeals to women in a BIG WAY. It's like a virtual dollhouse, except much more advanced and you don't lose any of the pieces.
;)
Really, I've seen them do all sorts of imaginative/mentally-unhealthy things with the game. From spending hours creating their virtual dreamhouse to throwing the perfect party to hooking up their virtual persona with a virtual Justin Timberlake.
I mean, can you really think of any better, more efficient way to foster unrealistic expectations of life than The Sims? God bless innovation!
"It was not made by ID Software, it was made by a publisher named Softdisk [3dgamers.com]."
You DO know the difference between publishing and developing, right?
Good point, but do you know who made Catacomb Abyss?
That's right, id Software. Seems it all keeps coming back to them. Sp00ky, eh?
boondoggle (bndôgl, -dgl) Informal
n.
1. An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity.
2.
a. A braided leather cord worn as a decoration especially by Boy Scouts.
b. A cord of braided leather, fabric, or plastic strips made by a child as a project to keep busy.
I just hope the information isn't passed through too many hands (or too many languages):
> They will strike the White House on the 27th of September.
> Ils heurteront Maison Blanche sur le 27ème septembre.
> Sie werden sich weißes Haus auf 27. September stoßen.
> ih biti njoj samoj bjeloa dom da 27. rujan aktivnost.
> áü á áëçí îí÷ííé îí âî ä äëü 27. íáü äí ü.
> ay 27. .
> Their close amplitude modulation her six flower bone territory ay reservation 27. September attack.
Bah, I'll probably get modded down for this.
It sounds like you're taking a lot of the stuff off the client's hands to add security. While this is a good idea, I can't stress enough the importance of the client predicting the positions of players and objects. Objects especially are easy to predict (an arrow arcing through the air, something rolling, etc.) Movement prediction can make or break a game; you'd be surprised how little tolerance players have for people/things jumping around with no movement in between.
Heck, players can be pretty predictable objects themselves, if you want to get fancy. Most games have pretty simple algorithms predicting the future state of a player character (if player X is moving in a straight line, he'll probably continue to do so.) But I think you can get fancier than that. What about curves? (circle strafing) Or if the player is repeatedly hitting a button every half-second. (chopping wood?)
It'd take a lot of coding, but the master server could conceivably take note of each player's input characteristics and compile some sort of "personality" profile for each one, which it could transmit to clients every time they start up, to help with their local prediction.
Please note that I have no idea how much CPU time this would take up,
Besides funding, product placement can add realism to a game. We're immersed in product placement in real life, so it seems strange to not see it in a supposedly reality-based game.
Of course, in real life we see competing brands advertised all the time, but that wouldn't happen in a game. You won't see both Coke and Pepsi billboards in one game any time soon. Furthermore, games usually have just a handful of sponsors - sometimes even just one. The Illusion is somewhat broken if all you see in a game are Nike ads and nothing else.
But the most common offense I see is when they put in ads for their own company or development team. Sure it was funny maybe a few years ago, but I don't want to see giant ads for Interplay, Inc. or "Team Blue" in every game I play. (Note to developers: this also goes for pictures of your family and obscure in-jokes that only Bob will find hilarous.)
Can't get enough of that Sam Waterson.
Why on Earth do they have just two face buttons? Sure, triggers are nice and everything, but the addition of just two more little plastic buttons on the front would allow much greater depth (or at least convenience) to any game.
Better yet, squeeze on six face buttons and we'll be able to properly play all those Capcom fighters that are coming out for it. I'm still puzzling over why Nintendo didn't put more buttons on the GBA, and now this system has the same problem too? Is there some kind of conspiracy?