As a P800 owner myself, I have the same complaints about the Treo. I've got quite attached to using bluetooth to connect to my office machine as well as use wireless headsets (which I love).
The 160x160 resolution is just pathetic - some of my coworkers have been buying palmOS devices and I've steered them towards the Sony Clie units because they actually have a respectable screen resolution.
I don't find the 800 to be too heavy, however the PDA function isn't as well-developed as the PalmOS versions. That said, the P800 and SymbianOS hasn't been around for as long as PalmOS either.
I really miss not having a directional control (and a few more buttons) on the P800. A few buttons on the front panel of the phone, or an analog pointer/stick would be great. The P810/900 will be coming out soon to address some of the deficencies (better camera, better screen, newer OS, etc), but there's still nothing I'd quite call my "perfect" phone.
If a wireless bluetooth mini-keypad and analog pointer stick was developed for the P800, I'd be in heaven...
That said, the P800 is as close as anything has ever come, and being able to ICQ and MSN in boring meetings at work is worth the full price of the unit IMHO;)
Part of the problem with existing copyright laws that many people have a problem with is the lack of innovation and creativity that they generate.
Take a company like disney (who made many millions off of works such as "Snow White" to which the copyright had expired and caused them to become public domain).
If not for the current copyright law, they might actually be FORCED (gasp!) to create new and innovative works to keep their company alive rather than simply repackaging and redistributin their prior work that is locked under an iron-clad (and apparently ever-lasting) copyright to protect their revenue stream.
I have no problem with a copyright, but as another slashdot article said a while ago, authors need to be given a choice, especially with regards to technological copy-prevention techniques:
Choice #1: Iron-clad, unbreakable (ya, I know), encryption. Can't be copied by any means (I said I know!;P). Companies/authors who own the rights control all distribution and playback methods. For 5 years. After which, by law, any re-releases in any form must be without any copy protection technology.
Choice #2: Casual copy-protection - the equivilent of macrovision or current DVD technology, would have no law against bypassing copy protection. Sharing (ie: P2P) not permitted. 20 year copyright.
Choice #3: No protection against copying, could not be used for other commercial purposes without the permission of the author. Able to be copied/traded freely. Copyright of author + 20 years.
You may choose one option, no mixing and matching.
If only the music industry was smart enough to listen to it. However I imagine that they'll be closing their eyes and ears hoping that suing the people they wish were customers will make all the bad times go away.
Erm, I think you just proved my point about how much I know.
Having a graphic library that is "relatively static for a long time" is pretty much going to force developers to go to an alternative that's not "static for a long time" isn't it?
Developers are not going to wait a few months or years for outside programmers working on a graphic library to "get their ass in gear" before releasing their new products...
nVidia apparently have a strong lead in Doom 3 scores, though (admittedly with the partial-precision NV3X-specific code path), so they will no doubt be hoping that Doom 3 outsells HalfLife 2... Myself, I have a 9600 Pro in my sights, just in time for the HL2 release:-)
Ironically, I bought my 9700 Pro the day (well, afternoon) that I got ahold of the Doom3 leaked alpha, so I could tinker with it under considerably improved performance than my old GeForce2GTS.
The fact that it turns out to have far superior performance in a game that I enjoyed a heck of a lot more than Doom/Quake is a heck of a bonus in my books...
Oddly enough, I'm looking at it from the opposite point of view.
I originally downloaded an ISO of HalfLife off of the net. I'll admit it! I played the entire game through to the end and went out the next day and bought an original (before I was even thinking about online play). The game was so immersive and enjoyable that I knew it was a classic keeper for my collection.
I've still got my original CD-R burn of HL sitting beside my nice "Game of the Year" edition of HL.
Granted, I've enjoyed any number of mods on it since then (with countershootemup being the most popular, but arguably the least interesting). I've enjoyed the Natural Selection mod much more.
Regardless, I'm going to buy HL2 the second it becomes available. Lights go down, surround sound goes up, and I'm going to enjoy what I'm sure is another totally immersive gaming experience.
OpenGL was great when there wasn't an alternative (except perhaps 3DFX's Glide).
Times have changed however, and DirectX development has lept forward in a way that would be nearly impossible for OpenGL to do as quickly. Mainting platform compatbility is great, but it does severely limit the development speed of the language when it comes to new features that developers need. With DirectX, there's a single codebase for all developers that's updated fairly frequently with new features available to everyone.
I'm not bashing OpenGL, it's a great language that is well suited to jobs where platform cross-compatibility is of paramount importance, industial graphics applications, 3D, etc. That said, most of those said applications now support DirectX as well, but retain OpenGL for compatibility reasons.
OpenGL is just not all that valuable for games anymore, with DirectX being a better alternative for Windows games where porting to other platforms isn't a concern.
That was the point of the article that was linked to, however the original submitter seemed to infer that the benchmark results are inaccurate in some way or biased towards ATI because they got the exclusive bundling deal for HL2.
About all the article in the inquirer says is that Valve put the bundling rights for HL2 up for grabs. Makes sense.
I don't think that article says anything about one hardware platform being better than the other, and I don't doubt that had NVidia won the bundling deal, they would've had a "NVidia Shader Day" event, regardless of the performance of the product.
I still find the most interesting point being that Valve says that they had to put in a lot more time and effort making the gaming experience on NVidia cards good than on ATI cards, to the point of developing a seperate graphics path for NVidia chips.
If the solution to the performance issues was a simple driver update from NVidia (WITHOUT degrading quality in any way), then surely Valve would've left it to Nvidia to handle and proceeded to spend their time working on the game iteself...
Hmm... It's looking good, but still not quite there.
I've got a SE P800 and I really like it - it's not quite perfect either, but also getting there.
Some of the problems:
Treo:
-Lo-res screen. 160x160. Ugh. Needs to be at least doubled to 320x320.
-Protruding antenna bulge on the top, not so good, likely to get hooked on stuff.
-No bluetooth? I was skeptical about bluetooth at first, but I love it now - it's a great way to interface headsets to the phone and sync/move files without having to plug the unit into a cradle.
P800:
-12bit screen (4096 colours) - needs more, and has been rectified in P810/P900 with a 16bit screen.
-Symbian OS isn't as polished as Palm OS and not nearly as much free software (everyone wants to make a buck)
-Directional control pad/some accessory buttons on the front would be nice.
I like the full qwerty pad on the treo, but would prefer that someone just made a tiny bluetooth keypad for the P800 that you could just use seperately from the phone.
Woz is a class act all the way. A true engineer that really enjoys tinkering with hardware. Oddly enough, the combination of Jobs and Woz was the only thing that got Apple off the ground, the business sense of Jobs (along with the overwhelming ego), and the hardware savvy of Woz.
I wrote Woz an email a couple years ago thanking him for creating the Apple and starting the whole ball rolling. It was the first computer I ever owned and it got me programming and using the machine at a young age. Love at first sight...
The interesting question would be if they're doing it purposefully as a firewall for added protection, preventing servers, etc - or just because their address block is too small (or mismanaged) and they can't generate enough IPs for all of their customers.
Of course, didn't you see the arguement from our pals over in the television industry that said you were stealing their programming if you went to the washroom during a commercial instead of sitting like a mushroom and watching their advertising?
I can see MS's point if other (non-free) clients are using their network to make money. Those clients SHOULD pay MS a fee for connectivity to their network.
They should however, retain a free path (possibily with more limited features?) for those who use clients that are distributed free of charge.
I'm interested in a Roomba, but it's still a bit pricey I think, and I'm not sure how well it would work on a short carpet. Buying it would be a no-brainer for a hardwood floor or other flat flooring.
Maybe I'll pick up a used one on Ebay or something to play with and see how it works.
What it means is that the old codgers with lots of cash could get better kit going than the young punks overclockin' their hot PCs.
Ever see one of those old silverhaired businessman-types that are riding ultra-polished chrome harlies and such? Trying in vain to recapture their lost youth because they can "afford" to?:P
I don't think you know how Bayesian filters work - they use a weighted list of words or word pairs that tips the balance towards spam, or not-spam.
When you click on a "trust/non-spam" classification button, it reads the entire header and body of the message and adds that to the "weighted good" corpus. The opposite if you classify it as spam.
Simply having one valid "from" line with a friend's email address won't do much if anything to tip the balance towards the "not-spam" bin.
POPFile (Bayesian) is over 98% accurate for me and climbing - none of this spam has even come close to misclassifying as legit.
This is all well and good about how TiVO runs, and the basis for their hardware...
But what I REALLY want to know from TiVO is why they don't offer service in Canada yet.
Canadians = People who love TVs
We'll put up with idiot politicians, tax increases, poor canadian dollar, less than thrilling economy, but we'll fight to the bitte end if anyone screws with our TVs.
TiVO would sell REALLY damn well here, but there hasn't been any official info about why it's not released here yet, and when it might be.
"Microsoft has pushed the idea that not only can you be an idiot and own a computer, that you should be one, too. That they will handle everything for you, and you should just be click-happy. It is this atmosphere that is most damaging."
'Scuse me? And you're saying Macs are better?
Isn't this philosophy exactly why people buy Macs (Windows machines are too complex, so buy a Mac instead?).
Having never played roulette in my life, I was amazed that there was any game at a casino that would give me more than a straight 50% chance of winning.
I made a fairly decent chunk of change by just playing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd "12" groups - betting the same amount on two groups at once. Was certainly slower than people who won by playing single digits or groups on the main board, but I didn't lose my bet too often.
Certainly did better than at the slots (ie: no skill or strategy involved).
It'd almost be as if teams of doctors were to go around injecting children with fragments of dead viruses in order to help people's immune system build up to kill the virus in the future.
Oh. Wait.
That already happens, because society has decided it was the lesser of two evils. Children get vaccinated to protect them in the future, and if I understand properly, it's mandatory, both in schools and hospitals. I'm sure there are still some "frikkenidiots(tm)" that refuse to get their kids vaccinated, but they probably change their minds when their kids get sick and/or die.
Remember that Soldier who got ordered to take the Anthrax vaccine before operation desert-something-or-other? He didn't have any choice in the matter, it was "get the vaccine, or get out of the service".
Sometimes overriding the individual's right to choose is better for the community as a whole. Otherwise known as "people smarter than you are making these decisions".
Of course, the author of the anti-blast worm didn't have any political or professional industry permission to do so, but what if he had?
Hmm... Doesn't do that on my systems and I just installed XP on my machine at work a few days ago.
Windows:
Partition
Format
Install base NTFS system
reboot
Optionally Configure Network if not DHCP
finish installing XP
reboot
Windows Update
Install MS Office
Microsoft Office Update
Granted I use XP Corp edition at work, but there's not nearly as much rebooting and installing as you claim. It rebooted twice, then was done.
The obvious thing you are missing at this point is that most people have unix installed know what they're doing. Even with all it's recent GUI advances, unix is still a pain to setup and configure.
Disagree? Give a brand new machine to your parents, or grandparents and get them to install unix. See what happens, and if you have any hair left after walking them through.
Now, granted, a good unix installation can be very secure indeed. So can a good windows installation. I know how to configure my webserver (running on apache under windows), and it's never been hacked, and never will. I keep on top of security issues, watch bugtraq, regularly check for updates and patches, etc.
The problem is regular users - just wait until "joe average" who wants to surf the web, look at Pr0n, and read his email installs unix. Maybe he'll be running as root "because it's easier". I'm sure lots of security problems will spring up.
At the moment, I'd argue Unix has the old "security through obscurity" to some extent. As soon as everyone has a Unix/Linux desktop, the exploits will come out in full-force.
Slashdot Mirror
As a P800 owner myself, I have the same complaints about the Treo. I've got quite attached to using bluetooth to connect to my office machine as well as use wireless headsets (which I love).
;)
The 160x160 resolution is just pathetic - some of my coworkers have been buying palmOS devices and I've steered them towards the Sony Clie units because they actually have a respectable screen resolution.
I don't find the 800 to be too heavy, however the PDA function isn't as well-developed as the PalmOS versions. That said, the P800 and SymbianOS hasn't been around for as long as PalmOS either.
I really miss not having a directional control (and a few more buttons) on the P800. A few buttons on the front panel of the phone, or an analog pointer/stick would be great. The P810/900 will be coming out soon to address some of the deficencies (better camera, better screen, newer OS, etc), but there's still nothing I'd quite call my "perfect" phone.
If a wireless bluetooth mini-keypad and analog pointer stick was developed for the P800, I'd be in heaven...
That said, the P800 is as close as anything has ever come, and being able to ICQ and MSN in boring meetings at work is worth the full price of the unit IMHO
N.
Part of the problem with existing copyright laws that many people have a problem with is the lack of innovation and creativity that they generate.
;P). Companies/authors who own the rights control all distribution and playback methods. For 5 years. After which, by law, any re-releases in any form must be without any copy protection technology.
Take a company like disney (who made many millions off of works such as "Snow White" to which the copyright had expired and caused them to become public domain).
If not for the current copyright law, they might actually be FORCED (gasp!) to create new and innovative works to keep their company alive rather than simply repackaging and redistributin their prior work that is locked under an iron-clad (and apparently ever-lasting) copyright to protect their revenue stream.
I have no problem with a copyright, but as another slashdot article said a while ago, authors need to be given a choice, especially with regards to technological copy-prevention techniques:
Choice #1: Iron-clad, unbreakable (ya, I know), encryption. Can't be copied by any means (I said I know!
Choice #2: Casual copy-protection - the equivilent of macrovision or current DVD technology, would have no law against bypassing copy protection. Sharing (ie: P2P) not permitted. 20 year copyright.
Choice #3: No protection against copying, could not be used for other commercial purposes without the permission of the author. Able to be copied/traded freely. Copyright of author + 20 years.
You may choose one option, no mixing and matching.
N.
Well said.
This article was brilliant.
If only the music industry was smart enough to listen to it. However I imagine that they'll be closing their eyes and ears hoping that suing the people they wish were customers will make all the bad times go away.
Poor bastards...
N.
Erm, I think you just proved my point about how much I know.
Having a graphic library that is "relatively static for a long time" is pretty much going to force developers to go to an alternative that's not "static for a long time" isn't it?
Developers are not going to wait a few months or years for outside programmers working on a graphic library to "get their ass in gear" before releasing their new products...
N.
nVidia apparently have a strong lead in Doom 3 scores, though (admittedly with the partial-precision NV3X-specific code path), so they will no doubt be hoping that Doom 3 outsells HalfLife 2... Myself, I have a 9600 Pro in my sights, just in time for the HL2 release :-)
Ironically, I bought my 9700 Pro the day (well, afternoon) that I got ahold of the Doom3 leaked alpha, so I could tinker with it under considerably improved performance than my old GeForce2GTS.
The fact that it turns out to have far superior performance in a game that I enjoyed a heck of a lot more than Doom/Quake is a heck of a bonus in my books...
N.
Oddly enough, I'm looking at it from the opposite point of view.
I originally downloaded an ISO of HalfLife off of the net. I'll admit it! I played the entire game through to the end and went out the next day and bought an original (before I was even thinking about online play). The game was so immersive and enjoyable that I knew it was a classic keeper for my collection.
I've still got my original CD-R burn of HL sitting beside my nice "Game of the Year" edition of HL.
Granted, I've enjoyed any number of mods on it since then (with countershootemup being the most popular, but arguably the least interesting). I've enjoyed the Natural Selection mod much more.
Regardless, I'm going to buy HL2 the second it becomes available. Lights go down, surround sound goes up, and I'm going to enjoy what I'm sure is another totally immersive gaming experience.
N.
OpenGL was great when there wasn't an alternative (except perhaps 3DFX's Glide).
Times have changed however, and DirectX development has lept forward in a way that would be nearly impossible for OpenGL to do as quickly. Mainting platform compatbility is great, but it does severely limit the development speed of the language when it comes to new features that developers need. With DirectX, there's a single codebase for all developers that's updated fairly frequently with new features available to everyone.
I'm not bashing OpenGL, it's a great language that is well suited to jobs where platform cross-compatibility is of paramount importance, industial graphics applications, 3D, etc. That said, most of those said applications now support DirectX as well, but retain OpenGL for compatibility reasons.
OpenGL is just not all that valuable for games anymore, with DirectX being a better alternative for Windows games where porting to other platforms isn't a concern.
N.
That was the point of the article that was linked to, however the original submitter seemed to infer that the benchmark results are inaccurate in some way or biased towards ATI because they got the exclusive bundling deal for HL2.
At least that's the way I read it.
N.
About all the article in the inquirer says is that Valve put the bundling rights for HL2 up for grabs. Makes sense.
I don't think that article says anything about one hardware platform being better than the other, and I don't doubt that had NVidia won the bundling deal, they would've had a "NVidia Shader Day" event, regardless of the performance of the product.
I still find the most interesting point being that Valve says that they had to put in a lot more time and effort making the gaming experience on NVidia cards good than on ATI cards, to the point of developing a seperate graphics path for NVidia chips.
If the solution to the performance issues was a simple driver update from NVidia (WITHOUT degrading quality in any way), then surely Valve would've left it to Nvidia to handle and proceeded to spend their time working on the game iteself...
N.
Hmm... It's looking good, but still not quite there.
I've got a SE P800 and I really like it - it's not quite perfect either, but also getting there.
Some of the problems:
Treo:
-Lo-res screen. 160x160. Ugh. Needs to be at least doubled to 320x320.
-Protruding antenna bulge on the top,
not so good, likely to get hooked on stuff.
-No bluetooth? I was skeptical about bluetooth at first, but I love it now - it's a great way to interface headsets to the phone and sync/move files without having to plug the unit into a cradle.
P800:
-12bit screen (4096 colours) - needs more, and has been rectified in P810/P900 with a 16bit screen.
-Symbian OS isn't as polished as Palm OS and not nearly as much free software (everyone wants to make a buck)
-Directional control pad/some accessory buttons on the front would be nice.
I like the full qwerty pad on the treo, but would prefer that someone just made a tiny bluetooth keypad for the P800 that you could just use seperately from the phone.
I'll stick with my P800 thanks. It's plenty-customizible and doesn't look as butt-ugly as that nokia phone.
Nokia needs to remember that functionality is a higher priority than style.
Well, it is for me anyway...
N.
Exactly - so long as the driver had an option "enhanced quality screenshots" or something, no problem.
If it's hidden and/or permanently enabled, there is a problem...
N.
Woz is a class act all the way. A true engineer that really enjoys tinkering with hardware. Oddly enough, the combination of Jobs and Woz was the only thing that got Apple off the ground, the business sense of Jobs (along with the overwhelming ego), and the hardware savvy of Woz.
I wrote Woz an email a couple years ago thanking him for creating the Apple and starting the whole ball rolling. It was the first computer I ever owned and it got me programming and using the machine at a young age. Love at first sight...
Woz replied to me! I still have his reply saved.
Like I said, a real class act!
N.
The interesting question would be if they're doing it purposefully as a firewall for added protection, preventing servers, etc - or just because their address block is too small (or mismanaged) and they can't generate enough IPs for all of their customers.
N.
Of course, didn't you see the arguement from our pals over in the television industry that said you were stealing their programming if you went to the washroom during a commercial instead of sitting like a mushroom and watching their advertising?
I can see MS's point if other (non-free) clients are using their network to make money. Those clients SHOULD pay MS a fee for connectivity to their network.
They should however, retain a free path (possibily with more limited features?) for those who use clients that are distributed free of charge.
N.
Ya, that was my other concern :P
:|
I just picture it swinging by the computer in the livingroom and getting all caught up in the cabling and such
N.
I'm interested in a Roomba, but it's still a bit pricey I think, and I'm not sure how well it would work on a short carpet. Buying it would be a no-brainer for a hardwood floor or other flat flooring.
Maybe I'll pick up a used one on Ebay or something to play with and see how it works.
N.
Processor surcharges...
:P
:P
What it means is that the old codgers with lots of cash could get better kit going than the young punks overclockin' their hot PCs.
Ever see one of those old silverhaired businessman-types that are riding ultra-polished chrome harlies and such? Trying in vain to recapture their lost youth because they can "afford" to?
You get the idea
N.
I don't think you know how Bayesian filters work - they use a weighted list of words or word pairs that tips the balance towards spam, or not-spam.
When you click on a "trust/non-spam" classification button, it reads the entire header and body of the message and adds that to the "weighted good" corpus. The opposite if you classify it as spam.
Simply having one valid "from" line with a friend's email address won't do much if anything to tip the balance towards the "not-spam" bin.
POPFile (Bayesian) is over 98% accurate for me and climbing - none of this spam has even come close to misclassifying as legit.
N.
This is all well and good about how TiVO runs, and the basis for their hardware...
But what I REALLY want to know from TiVO is why they don't offer service in Canada yet.
Canadians = People who love TVs
We'll put up with idiot politicians, tax increases, poor canadian dollar, less than thrilling economy, but we'll fight to the bitte end if anyone screws with our TVs.
TiVO would sell REALLY damn well here, but there hasn't been any official info about why it's not released here yet, and when it might be.
N.
"Microsoft has pushed the idea that not only can you be an idiot and own a computer, that you should be one, too. That they will handle everything for you, and you should just be click-happy. It is this atmosphere that is most damaging."
'Scuse me? And you're saying Macs are better?
Isn't this philosophy exactly why people buy Macs (Windows machines are too complex, so buy a Mac instead?).
N.
Having never played roulette in my life, I was amazed that there was any game at a casino that would give me more than a straight 50% chance of winning.
I made a fairly decent chunk of change by just playing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd "12" groups - betting the same amount on two groups at once. Was certainly slower than people who won by playing single digits or groups on the main board, but I didn't lose my bet too often.
Certainly did better than at the slots (ie: no skill or strategy involved).
YA, I totally agree with you!
It'd almost be as if teams of doctors were to go around injecting children with fragments of dead viruses in order to help people's immune system build up to kill the virus in the future.
Oh. Wait.
That already happens, because society has decided it was the lesser of two evils. Children get vaccinated to protect them in the future, and if I understand properly, it's mandatory, both in schools and hospitals. I'm sure there are still some "frikkenidiots(tm)" that refuse to get their kids vaccinated, but they probably change their minds when their kids get sick and/or die.
Remember that Soldier who got ordered to take the Anthrax vaccine before operation desert-something-or-other? He didn't have any choice in the matter, it was "get the vaccine, or get out of the service".
Sometimes overriding the individual's right to choose is better for the community as a whole. Otherwise known as "people smarter than you are making these decisions".
Of course, the author of the anti-blast worm didn't have any political or professional industry permission to do so, but what if he had?
N.
Hmm... Doesn't do that on my systems and I just installed XP on my machine at work a few days ago.
Windows:
Partition
Format
Install base NTFS system
reboot
Optionally Configure Network if not DHCP
finish installing XP
reboot
Windows Update
Install MS Office
Microsoft Office Update
Granted I use XP Corp edition at work, but there's not nearly as much rebooting and installing as you claim. It rebooted twice, then was done.
The obvious thing you are missing at this point is that most people have unix installed know what they're doing. Even with all it's recent GUI advances, unix is still a pain to setup and configure.
Disagree? Give a brand new machine to your parents, or grandparents and get them to install unix. See what happens, and if you have any hair left after walking them through.
Now, granted, a good unix installation can be very secure indeed. So can a good windows installation. I know how to configure my webserver (running on apache under windows), and it's never been hacked, and never will. I keep on top of security issues, watch bugtraq, regularly check for updates and patches, etc.
The problem is regular users - just wait until "joe average" who wants to surf the web, look at Pr0n, and read his email installs unix. Maybe he'll be running as root "because it's easier". I'm sure lots of security problems will spring up.
At the moment, I'd argue Unix has the old "security through obscurity" to some extent. As soon as everyone has a Unix/Linux desktop, the exploits will come out in full-force.
N.