Well now, I'm so glad I'm shelling out big bucks for my high-def digital cable and DVR service so I can watch all these hundreds of TV stations on my nice big new HDTV...
Oh wait, where did all my favorite channels go? Where are my kids channels going?
I'd say that these tax proposals are extremely short-sighted and show that our (un-elected) Governor lacks a vision or direction, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone
Congratulations, now get to work on delivering a better Trackball.
My Microsoft Trackball Explorer is ten years old, and in that time I haven't once found a suitable replacement from Logitec. There are a couple really odd ones, but nothing that comes close to the natural feel of the explorer.
Satellite radio, like TV and radio and the internet, is simply a delivery system for media. Unfortunately, their design philosophy takes very close cues from the antiquated system they're trying to compete against (traditional radio) without taking any advantage of their technological superiority. In fact, it's two biggest weaknesses are what makes terrestrial radio so ubiqutious:
Portability and Price.
You can get an XM radio for your car or you can listen to it streamed over the internet, but go for a jog and you're SOL. Commute via mass transit and you're SOL. The power goes out and you're SOL. Not true with a five dollar walkman -- pop in two AA batteries and you're good for hours on your own. And most of them have a secondary medium, such as tape or CD. My MP3 Player also has an FM radio. My CELLPHONE has an FM radio.
Also, you don't have to *pay* for FM or AM service. Mobile users with unlimited data plans don't need to pay extra for audio streams. They're weak solutions, but they're ad supported and there's almost always something else on another station to listen to when the Weight-Loss-Drug-Of-The-Month is being pitched.
So what should Satellite radio do to compete?
First of all, open the hardware to anyone who wants to make a receiver. They still control the content, but when you can buy a Coby XM receiver for twenty bucks it'll be much more appealing.
Second, ditch the subscription model. It's dead, Jim. For music stations, only allow advertising that's in the form of music content -- ie, jingles or full length songs that feature product placement. For talk radio or news stations, let the talent do the pitch work themselves. Howard Stern was one of the most memorable pitch men I've ever heard -- all you need is "What is this?" and you know it's an ad. See also: Paul Harvey.
Finally, put some storage in the receiver and add a "Burst Delivery" mode, where the upcoming content for the next 12 hours is sent to the receiver all at once, ahead of time. Set it in a time sliced format with archived material where the "live" feed would go if a signal's unavailable. This would give it functionality in dead spots, tunnels, subways, on the go, wherever. It also gives you a chance to rewind or fast-forward if there's a particular song you want to hear again.
Satellite Radio, this is your official invitation to join us here in the 21st century.
And the ironic part is that I actually picked it because of the low server pop. I just didn't realize it would be going from overcrowded hell to an empty void.
I just picked up this game recently after a few years away, and I have to say I'm extremely disappointed that most of the reasons I quit continue to plague the game to this day. The interface is still terrible, the config STILL requires registry hacking to up the resolution, and most of the content is heavily guild-based making solo playing difficult. In game organization is terrible, the item limits are definitely geared towards making you pay for mule characters, and the quest system is vague at best.
In fact, the one thing that HAS changed has actually made the game worse -- the areas in the early part of the game are barren, deserted, devoid of any players at all. While areas like Valkurm used to be camped to hell, now it's impossible to find a gang of more than 2-3 to play with. Because so much of the content requires you to complete group quests to access, this severely handicaps newer players who aren't playing with friends or aren't quickly sucked into large guilds.
And those that are around don't speak English.
In fact, I've only seen ONE PERSON talking since I started a few weeks ago. One person. It's a decent game and deserves a chance, and has a TON of "end gambut good luck in finding anything more than a single player experience
In other news, Sony corp announced today that they will be laying off every female employed by the company. In a press release, a spokesman for Sony explained that this is part of their ongoing efforts to be less offensive to culturally sensitive peoples around the world.
Sony has also announced plans to eventually halt any product lines that require electricity to operate.
Slashdot Mirror
For you and I, Battlefield Earth was a cheesy sci-fi flick.
For Travolta, it's a documentary.
But what time is it in Djibouti?
Party Time!
Back in my day, games didn't have talking characters with digitized voices.
All the profanity and cursing came from the player. And oh boy, did it.
Well now, I'm so glad I'm shelling out big bucks for my high-def digital cable and DVR service so I can watch all these hundreds of TV stations on my nice big new HDTV...
Oh wait, where did all my favorite channels go? Where are my kids channels going?
Well, shit.
I'm also one of those people that loves the idea of E-ZPass... but have yet to install one due to privacy concerns.
Don't worry, they just take a picture of your license plate when you pull up to the toll booth.
A penny a mile is like $1,000 on the life of most cars. It can't pay to run some kind of GPS tracking system for that.
Then why not just raise the tax on new cars by $1000?
Actually, without the actual byte count listed in the article I assumed they meant 2^39, which would be 549,755,813,888 bytes and rounded up to 550gb.
The rest of it is a joke.
It may say 512GB now, but we all know that once marketing gets a hold of it, it'll be
Tosiba's Brand New 550GB* drive.
*1GB = 1,000 MB
I'd say that these tax proposals are extremely short-sighted and show that our (un-elected) Governor lacks a vision or direction, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone
What Apple appears to be doing about it
At first, I read that as "42 minutes of Helfer
Yes Please!
Once the last cylon is revealed, the first season of the new spinoff will be a lengthy debate about what the definition of "Not in your fleet" means.
Congratulations, now get to work on delivering a better Trackball.
My Microsoft Trackball Explorer is ten years old, and in that time I haven't once found a suitable replacement from Logitec. There are a couple really odd ones, but nothing that comes close to the natural feel of the explorer.
I hate mice.
Satellite radio, like TV and radio and the internet, is simply a delivery system for media. Unfortunately, their design philosophy takes very close cues from the antiquated system they're trying to compete against (traditional radio) without taking any advantage of their technological superiority. In fact, it's two biggest weaknesses are what makes terrestrial radio so ubiqutious:
Portability and Price.
You can get an XM radio for your car or you can listen to it streamed over the internet, but go for a jog and you're SOL. Commute via mass transit and you're SOL. The power goes out and you're SOL. Not true with a five dollar walkman -- pop in two AA batteries and you're good for hours on your own. And most of them have a secondary medium, such as tape or CD. My MP3 Player also has an FM radio. My CELLPHONE has an FM radio.
Also, you don't have to *pay* for FM or AM service. Mobile users with unlimited data plans don't need to pay extra for audio streams. They're weak solutions, but they're ad supported and there's almost always something else on another station to listen to when the Weight-Loss-Drug-Of-The-Month is being pitched.
So what should Satellite radio do to compete?
First of all, open the hardware to anyone who wants to make a receiver. They still control the content, but when you can buy a Coby XM receiver for twenty bucks it'll be much more appealing.
Second, ditch the subscription model. It's dead, Jim. For music stations, only allow advertising that's in the form of music content -- ie, jingles or full length songs that feature product placement. For talk radio or news stations, let the talent do the pitch work themselves. Howard Stern was one of the most memorable pitch men I've ever heard -- all you need is "What is this?" and you know it's an ad. See also: Paul Harvey.
Finally, put some storage in the receiver and add a "Burst Delivery" mode, where the upcoming content for the next 12 hours is sent to the receiver all at once, ahead of time. Set it in a time sliced format with archived material where the "live" feed would go if a signal's unavailable. This would give it functionality in dead spots, tunnels, subways, on the go, wherever. It also gives you a chance to rewind or fast-forward if there's a particular song you want to hear again.
Satellite Radio, this is your official invitation to join us here in the 21st century.
It's not even so much that the game is geared towards groups, but that there are specific tasks that absolutely *cannot* be soloed.
Areas that cap your level or count how many are in your party before allowing access are the biggest pains, especially on low-pop servers.
Garuda.
And the ironic part is that I actually picked it because of the low server pop. I just didn't realize it would be going from overcrowded hell to an empty void.
I just picked up this game recently after a few years away, and I have to say I'm extremely disappointed that most of the reasons I quit continue to plague the game to this day. The interface is still terrible, the config STILL requires registry hacking to up the resolution, and most of the content is heavily guild-based making solo playing difficult. In game organization is terrible, the item limits are definitely geared towards making you pay for mule characters, and the quest system is vague at best.
In fact, the one thing that HAS changed has actually made the game worse -- the areas in the early part of the game are barren, deserted, devoid of any players at all. While areas like Valkurm used to be camped to hell, now it's impossible to find a gang of more than 2-3 to play with. Because so much of the content requires you to complete group quests to access, this severely handicaps newer players who aren't playing with friends or aren't quickly sucked into large guilds.
And those that are around don't speak English.
In fact, I've only seen ONE PERSON talking since I started a few weeks ago. One person. It's a decent game and deserves a chance, and has a TON of "end gambut good luck in finding anything more than a single player experience
The Amarr Titan unleashes JUDGEMENT
Not only that, but they'll be able to tell you where you left them, too.
The white guy earned his money the old fasioned way -- he married a rich lady.
the fuck is a band like Morbid Angel stuffed in a "Rock" category? And no Burzum or Bathory videos? This suxs
And thus, MTV has successfully brought the Beavis and Butthead experience to the internet.
Screw the music videos.
Give me Liquid Television back!
Aeon Flux and The Maxx, too, while you're at it.
I thought that was Blizzard...
In other news, Sony corp announced today that they will be laying off every female employed by the company. In a press release, a spokesman for Sony explained that this is part of their ongoing efforts to be less offensive to culturally sensitive peoples around the world.
Sony has also announced plans to eventually halt any product lines that require electricity to operate.
If you can't write it in a .BAT file, it can't be done.