Well, they better get with the 90's then, shouldn't they...
There is a totally unsubstantiated, unconfirmed roumer that Valve might release a "no internet necessary" version for those without network connections in a few months once things have died-down a bit.
But since it can authorize pretty quickly on even a dialup, I don't think it's that much of an issue. If Valve wanted to be really sporting, they'd have a 1-800 number you could dial with your modem to authorize games that you purchase in the store (no preloading, just an authorize-only server).
Overhead projectors are usually not very even with regards to illumination or focus either. It's hard to see from those photos, but if you look closely, you'll find that the center of the image is sharper and brighter than the surrounding image.
It's OK for watching DVDs (which are relatively low resolution anyway - just 720 x 480), but watching higher resolution sources like 1024x768 VGA computer displays just won't provide the same pixel-sharp accuracy of a true LCD or DLP projector.
Decent DLP projectors can be had for under $800 now, and they're pretty decent investments. I purchased one a year ago and it's a great unit - much nicer than a clunky bigscreen or an expensive plasma that will grow dimmer as the years pass.
Valve built a very clever content distribution and protection scheme into HL2 that will activate on Nov 16th. Everyone buying online with Steam knows this and has accepted it.
Stores decide to jump the gun and sell early. They know the street date is on Tuesday, but they release anyway because "everyone else is doing it". Customers get home and find that they can't activate and start whining up a storm. This wouldn't have happened if stores stuck to the dates they were told.
Vivendi is pleased.
They know Valve can't release the game early or break the contract, but stores CAN release the game early and they know that the stupider section of the population is going to be mad at Valve and be all bent out of shape about how their "RIGHTS" are being violated, and how unfair it is that they might actually have to wait until the real "street date" in order to play.
Vivendi WANTS this uneducated reaction because they DON'T want people to accept Steam.
They want people complaining about "some kind of retarded copy-protection scheme" to try and frighten people away from online distribution that will cut them out of the equation. Just like the RIAA and MPAA don't want people buying media online but make a few lame attempts to do something (ie: new napster) to pretend they're not the bad guys.
Stores also don't like the idea of Steam. They like selling products to their customers, retail markups, etc. If more game designers sell direct to customers in the future, that's less money in the bank for them.
And because Valve can update the code anytime they want with Steam, it's easy to make changes that will make life more difficult for hackers. If you have to keep re-hacking a game every few days as Valve adjusts and patches, eventually you're going to get tired of it.
I'm just waiting for Valve's new anti-cheat code to kick in. I can't WAIT for the moment the switch is thrown that hands-out year long bans to anyone cheating online in a Valve game.
The whining will be incredible, and I'll be laughing harder than I've ever laughed... before!
Because the retail CDs are basically just a "preload" for people who don't want to download, or have a low-speed network connection.
Current theory is that the CDs are either encrypted in the same manner as the steam preloads, and/or that they're missing a few small key-files that will be transferred on release day.
It's rather clever really. I can't think of the last time I've seen a major game that wasn't available from pirates before release day - and game publishers are certainly taking note...
And for the most part, I'm very happy with Steam - the initial growing pains it have vanished for the most part. It's quite stable, fast, and certainly convenient (can play at home or at work, simply by typing in my password).
The only thing I wish they'd fix (SOON!) is that it's possible for people to steal Steam accounts if they get someone's password (through any number of methods) because there is no email-validation required for changes to your account (changing name, password, email contact, etc.).
Most of their money comes from ink and toner. And just like a crack dealer on a street, they know that once they have you hooked (by buying one of their printers), like a junkie on a fix, you'll need to keep coming back to them for ink.
Remember folks. IMHO, Lexmark = crack dealer.
I will NEVER buy a Lexmark printer or any of their other products. Hopefully they go out of business.
One of the (odd?) things is that local Staples, Office Depot, and Costco stores don't seem to carry many Epson printers anymore. I assume it's because of some sort of licensing deal with the store. All they usually carry is Lexmark and HP crap, so I go directly to computer dealers to buy decent printers.
Personally, I believe that consumers should have the option of either mailing-in a rebate, or getting a rebate immediately, and having the store apply it to their purchase right then and there at the register to reduce the total price paid.
Maybe if you choose the "instant rebate", the store keeps 5% of the rebate price for their effort to send in the rebates?
Rebates are a huge scam anyway - I know LOTS of people that have NEVER got the rebates they've been promised.
And most companies give you so much runaround/hassle when you try and collect that people just give up.
I know that the 10 days applies to door-to-door sales, but I doubt it applies to all retail stores.
AFAIK, stores can refuse to accept any returns from the moment the transaction is complete. Returns, refunds, or exchanges are at the discretion of the retailer.
If you look closer at that page, you'll see that the new video hook driver is part of the 3.0 server which is what us registered owners have been clamoring for, not the viewer.
Well, I was referring to the fact that 2.x do not support multi-monitor environments, and that the video hook driver which gives a tremendous speed advantage under older windows operating systems doesn't work now.
3.0 server has been promised for 2 years now with no apparent movement from Famatech. Now they are deleting/locking threads on their discussion forum from unhappy customers. These are warning signs in my book...
Which plays music (MP3, WAV, WMA), acts as a digital photo viewer (ala new iPod), but can also transfer those photos off of your compactflash card via the built-in CF interface (adaptors to other formats available), and can also view movies in DivX format (either on the screen, or utilizing the included video-out port for a regular TV set).
Oh yes, and it's also a portable gaming system...
And it's the same size as an iPod. 20gb version now, hopefully larger soon.
Is this an iPod killer? I don't know, but it's currently where I'd put my money.
The biggest problem (imho) with Radmin is that they havn't update it in about 3 years. While it is fairly good at what it does, the video hook driver (responsible for the speed under previous Windows OSs), doesn't work under XP (and I think the last few service packs for 2K).
There are also issues with dual-monitor displays (ie: they don't work).
Despite that, I find it very useful for my purposes. I'd use VNC, but I like the encrypted connection with Radmin and I don't want to fool with encryption libraries for VNC. If VNC could enable encryption as well as file transfers over their java client, I'd drop Radmin in a second.
Heck, if some pollster was to call me, I'd purposefully LIE and say that I supported Bush to throw their numbers off as far as possible and make the republicans confident and complacent...
Before the rug is jerked out from under them.
But I'm not an American, and I'm not voting in your election. You guys are responsible for whoever wins, and if it happens to be Bush... Well, that will say a few things about people in your country...
Ah yes, but the longer VU sits on the game, the more pre-orders through Steam are rolling directly into Valve's pockets (via CS:Source) and bypassing VU.
Basically what happened was that the Xing DVD player didn't encrypt their decryption code/keys, so it was possible for the hackers to easily reverse-engineer it and figure the system out.
I have no mouse lag at all on my Samsung 172T - the mouse movement (MS Optical) is very accurate and fast to the monitor.
Of course, there IS some monitor refresh lag, but that's just the nature of the LCD I'm using. Newer models are better.
The reviewer doesn't say if they are using a VGA or DVI interface. It's possible that if it's a VGA interface, there's some sort of VGA/Digital conversion lag possibly based on some sort of chipset the monitor?
Well, the obvious solution is that they should be MARKING what they're censoring so people know that "something" was censored, even if they can't see it. When they return results for searches, or display news stories, they should just be returning a "censored" link that goes to a page explaining why they are unable to provide the content.
Kind of like their old policy on takedown notices.
Journalists used to do the same thing before they sold-out to the government. For eaxmple, if they were in a war situation and the government censored pieces of their footage, they'd just broadcast black on-air so that viewers knew SOMETHING was being withheld from them by the government and they could start asking questions.
But journalists have become the pawns and puppets of government now, and rather than holding them accountable, they're just climbing into bed with them. Makes me sick.
Toyota's Continually Variable Transmission (Prius, et. all) is a thing of beauty. The design is absolutely elegant in simplicity and adaptability. I imagine they are very, very happy owning the patent on that one. (And I'm very happy driving one:)
The one other advancement I'm waiting for is a "low speed" radar cruise control. To explain:
It would only operate at low speed (0-40km/h), and would use a directional radar beam (or laser) to gauge the distance of the car in front of you, then match the speed of that car and maintain a safe driving distance (say, 2 or 3 car lengths). As the car in front of you accelerated, your car would match it (up to the max allowed speed). As they slowed down (or someone cut-in), it would slow down, or stop if required.
It would be amazingly handy in the daily traffic jams that most cities experience. Of course, having some sort of safety system that required you to keep one hand on the wheel at all times when the system is active would seem like a good idea.
Ya, no kidding. I work in the video production/post-production field and I have yet to hear from someone who hasn't been screwed-over by their "partner".
Slashdot Mirror
Well, they better get with the 90's then, shouldn't they...
There is a totally unsubstantiated, unconfirmed roumer that Valve might release a "no internet necessary" version for those without network connections in a few months once things have died-down a bit.
But since it can authorize pretty quickly on even a dialup, I don't think it's that much of an issue. If Valve wanted to be really sporting, they'd have a 1-800 number you could dial with your modem to authorize games that you purchase in the store (no preloading, just an authorize-only server).
N.
Well, this already happens to some degree - when my Epson printer gets low on, or runs out of ink.
A dialog will appear with a "Clink Here to Buy Ink" button, which oddly enough, takes you right to the Epson online store...
N.
Overhead projectors are usually not very even with regards to illumination or focus either. It's hard to see from those photos, but if you look closely, you'll find that the center of the image is sharper and brighter than the surrounding image.
It's OK for watching DVDs (which are relatively low resolution anyway - just 720 x 480), but watching higher resolution sources like 1024x768 VGA computer displays just won't provide the same pixel-sharp accuracy of a true LCD or DLP projector.
Decent DLP projectors can be had for under $800 now, and they're pretty decent investments. I purchased one a year ago and it's a great unit - much nicer than a clunky bigscreen or an expensive plasma that will grow dimmer as the years pass.
N.
Actually, I look at it rather differently.
Valve built a very clever content distribution and protection scheme into HL2 that will activate on Nov 16th. Everyone buying online with Steam knows this and has accepted it.
Stores decide to jump the gun and sell early. They know the street date is on Tuesday, but they release anyway because "everyone else is doing it". Customers get home and find that they can't activate and start whining up a storm. This wouldn't have happened if stores stuck to the dates they were told.
Vivendi is pleased.
They know Valve can't release the game early or break the contract, but stores CAN release the game early and they know that the stupider section of the population is going to be mad at Valve and be all bent out of shape about how their "RIGHTS" are being violated, and how unfair it is that they might actually have to wait until the real "street date" in order to play.
Vivendi WANTS this uneducated reaction because they DON'T want people to accept Steam.
They want people complaining about "some kind of retarded copy-protection scheme" to try and frighten people away from online distribution that will cut them out of the equation. Just like the RIAA and MPAA don't want people buying media online but make a few lame attempts to do something (ie: new napster) to pretend they're not the bad guys.
Stores also don't like the idea of Steam. They like selling products to their customers, retail markups, etc. If more game designers sell direct to customers in the future, that's less money in the bank for them.
So get a clue folks... get a clue.
N.
I agree with everything you've said :)
And because Valve can update the code anytime they want with Steam, it's easy to make changes that will make life more difficult for hackers. If you have to keep re-hacking a game every few days as Valve adjusts and patches, eventually you're going to get tired of it.
I'm just waiting for Valve's new anti-cheat code to kick in. I can't WAIT for the moment the switch is thrown that hands-out year long bans to anyone cheating online in a Valve game.
The whining will be incredible, and I'll be laughing harder than I've ever laughed... before!
N.
Well, except that's not going to happen.
Because the retail CDs are basically just a "preload" for people who don't want to download, or have a low-speed network connection.
Current theory is that the CDs are either encrypted in the same manner as the steam preloads, and/or that they're missing a few small key-files that will be transferred on release day.
It's rather clever really. I can't think of the last time I've seen a major game that wasn't available from pirates before release day - and game publishers are certainly taking note...
And for the most part, I'm very happy with Steam - the initial growing pains it have vanished for the most part. It's quite stable, fast, and certainly convenient (can play at home or at work, simply by typing in my password).
The only thing I wish they'd fix (SOON!) is that it's possible for people to steal Steam accounts if they get someone's password (through any number of methods) because there is no email-validation required for changes to your account (changing name, password, email contact, etc.).
N.
Oh, I understand Lexmark perfectly.
Most of their money comes from ink and toner. And just like a crack dealer on a street, they know that once they have you hooked (by buying one of their printers), like a junkie on a fix, you'll need to keep coming back to them for ink.
Remember folks. IMHO, Lexmark = crack dealer.
I will NEVER buy a Lexmark printer or any of their other products. Hopefully they go out of business.
One of the (odd?) things is that local Staples, Office Depot, and Costco stores don't seem to carry many Epson printers anymore. I assume it's because of some sort of licensing deal with the store. All they usually carry is Lexmark and HP crap, so I go directly to computer dealers to buy decent printers.
N.
Yup.
NONE of the local retailers around here will match ANY prices off of websites.
Only printed newspaper flyers, or if they call the store in person to verify the price (and they typically won't do that without a fight).
N.
Personally, I believe that consumers should have the option of either mailing-in a rebate, or getting a rebate immediately, and having the store apply it to their purchase right then and there at the register to reduce the total price paid.
Maybe if you choose the "instant rebate", the store keeps 5% of the rebate price for their effort to send in the rebates?
Rebates are a huge scam anyway - I know LOTS of people that have NEVER got the rebates they've been promised.
And most companies give you so much runaround/hassle when you try and collect that people just give up.
N.
Hmm... Do you have an official source for that?
I know that the 10 days applies to door-to-door sales, but I doubt it applies to all retail stores.
AFAIK, stores can refuse to accept any returns from the moment the transaction is complete. Returns, refunds, or exchanges are at the discretion of the retailer.
N.
Bush and religion...
I need not say any more...
N.
It's also somewhat ironic that "he" uses the phrase "Yellow Journalism" in there, which should he need enlightening, is a racial slur itself.
So maybe he should be the one reported for "hate crimes"...
N.
That's only the viewer program, not the server.
If you look closer at that page, you'll see that the new video hook driver is part of the 3.0 server which is what us registered owners have been clamoring for, not the viewer.
N.
Well, I was referring to the fact that 2.x do not support multi-monitor environments, and that the video hook driver which gives a tremendous speed advantage under older windows operating systems doesn't work now.
3.0 server has been promised for 2 years now with no apparent movement from Famatech. Now they are deleting/locking threads on their discussion forum from unhappy customers. These are warning signs in my book...
N.
I suspect that for me, that "something better" might very well be this unit reviewed by Tom's Hardware:
x .html
Archos Gmini 400 - http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20041021/inde
Which plays music (MP3, WAV, WMA), acts as a digital photo viewer (ala new iPod), but can also transfer those photos off of your compactflash card via the built-in CF interface (adaptors to other formats available), and can also view movies in DivX format (either on the screen, or utilizing the included video-out port for a regular TV set).
Oh yes, and it's also a portable gaming system...
And it's the same size as an iPod. 20gb version now, hopefully larger soon.
Is this an iPod killer? I don't know, but it's currently where I'd put my money.
N.
The biggest problem (imho) with Radmin is that they havn't update it in about 3 years. While it is fairly good at what it does, the video hook driver (responsible for the speed under previous Windows OSs), doesn't work under XP (and I think the last few service packs for 2K).
There are also issues with dual-monitor displays (ie: they don't work).
Despite that, I find it very useful for my purposes. I'd use VNC, but I like the encrypted connection with Radmin and I don't want to fool with encryption libraries for VNC. If VNC could enable encryption as well as file transfers over their java client, I'd drop Radmin in a second.
N.
Heck, if some pollster was to call me, I'd purposefully LIE and say that I supported Bush to throw their numbers off as far as possible and make the republicans confident and complacent...
Before the rug is jerked out from under them.
But I'm not an American, and I'm not voting in your election. You guys are responsible for whoever wins, and if it happens to be Bush... Well, that will say a few things about people in your country...
N.
Ah yes, but the longer VU sits on the game, the more pre-orders through Steam are rolling directly into Valve's pockets (via CS:Source) and bypassing VU.
N.
Well, he already is an evangelist, so it probably wouldn't be all that much of a stretch to see Jobs in a white suit - PRAISE THE LORD (of spin)!!! ;P
N.
Here's wired's story on it from 1999:
t ml
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,32263,00.h
Basically what happened was that the Xing DVD player didn't encrypt their decryption code/keys, so it was possible for the hackers to easily reverse-engineer it and figure the system out.
N.
I have no mouse lag at all on my Samsung 172T - the mouse movement (MS Optical) is very accurate and fast to the monitor.
Of course, there IS some monitor refresh lag, but that's just the nature of the LCD I'm using. Newer models are better.
The reviewer doesn't say if they are using a VGA or DVI interface. It's possible that if it's a VGA interface, there's some sort of VGA/Digital conversion lag possibly based on some sort of chipset the monitor?
Well, the obvious solution is that they should be MARKING what they're censoring so people know that "something" was censored, even if they can't see it. When they return results for searches, or display news stories, they should just be returning a "censored" link that goes to a page explaining why they are unable to provide the content.
Kind of like their old policy on takedown notices.
Journalists used to do the same thing before they sold-out to the government. For eaxmple, if they were in a war situation and the government censored pieces of their footage, they'd just broadcast black on-air so that viewers knew SOMETHING was being withheld from them by the government and they could start asking questions.
But journalists have become the pawns and puppets of government now, and rather than holding them accountable, they're just climbing into bed with them. Makes me sick.
N.
Toyota's Continually Variable Transmission (Prius, et. all) is a thing of beauty. The design is absolutely elegant in simplicity and adaptability. I imagine they are very, very happy owning the patent on that one. (And I'm very happy driving one :)
The one other advancement I'm waiting for is a "low speed" radar cruise control. To explain:
It would only operate at low speed (0-40km/h), and would use a directional radar beam (or laser) to gauge the distance of the car in front of you, then match the speed of that car and maintain a safe driving distance (say, 2 or 3 car lengths). As the car in front of you accelerated, your car would match it (up to the max allowed speed). As they slowed down (or someone cut-in), it would slow down, or stop if required.
It would be amazingly handy in the daily traffic jams that most cities experience. Of course, having some sort of safety system that required you to keep one hand on the wheel at all times when the system is active would seem like a good idea.
N.
Ya, no kidding. I work in the video production/post-production field and I have yet to hear from someone who hasn't been screwed-over by their "partner".
I'd never form a partnership.
N.
Ya, that's more or less what I was thinking. It's easier to just shoot the photos yourself and come up with some BS about finding the card in a taxi.
Sadly, people are gullible and will fall for it. Personally, I'm not going to waste my time on his fiction...
N.