Interesting... one of the projects I'm working on currently is essentially two things, a web based bookmark manager, and a way for you to easily tell your friends which sites you like. Don't have ratings in there just yet, but it's planned...
Interesting about hamachi, I'll have to give that a try. With regards to creating torrents, that's a pain in the you know what. I just want to do something like point at parts of my existing photo or music directory and share it with my family, not have to create a whole new subset of files and.torrents.
This is indeed a killer app... if it were a standalone app. Why isn't it? And why isn't there already an app like this? It doesn't seem as though it would be that hard to create, but everything I've tried for private filesharing within a group of friends has been either too complex (waste), too limited (grouper, icq, msn, etc) or too braindead (many others).
Just give me a torrent client or emule-like app that I can limit to a group of defined contacts.
I found someone on match.com who I ended up marrying a year later. I did receive a few messages from various people looking for dates, although none that I had actually sent messages to (my wife signed up just so she could send me a message).
One of the biggest problems people have on these sites is that their photos suck, and I mean really suck. For god's sake, use a good photo of yourself, not some party-picture candid shot with your ex's arm still in the picture around your waist.
We got my sister-in-law to try lavalife, and jeez was she picky, just based on the tiny thumbnail photos. So guys, do yourself a favor and use a good picture. And just because a girl doesn't have a picture doesn't mean she's not hot - quite often the opposite. The hot girls get so many emails they often have to remove their pictures just to make it manageable.
While the small-sized mega-bloks may not be quite as good as lego in terms of quality, they do have some nice products for younger kids, like the castle I bought my son for Christmas last year *that he can actually go inside*
For those of us who aren't Linux fanboys, BeyondTV is working out very well for me. I have a HTPC set up in my basement, on the other side of the wall from the media room, so that the cables can come through the wall and plug into my A/V receiver and projector. A satellite receiver feeds S-Video into a Hauppauge MPEG-2 encoder in the HTPC box, and it's all controlled by a Harmony universal remote. Video quality from the satellite on about a 100" screen ranges from awesome to so-so (mostly depending on how compressed any given channel is), but Divx/xvid movies look awesome, almost as good as DVD. The other two TVs in the house each have their own cheapo/old computer, nothing particularly powerful, running copies of BeyondTV Link which is a client version of the software, and each has one of SnapStream's Firefly remotes. In all, the system works pretty darn well, it even passes the wife test. Now if only Snapstream had a half-decent music playback solution (their Beyond Media software is, to put it kindly, not a great music player) I'd be super-happy.
You can't get anywhere near the resolution of a scanner by using a digital camera unless you shoot multiple pictures for each page and tile them. Think about it, a 600dpi scanner will give you an 8 1/2 x 11 page at a resolution of 5100x6600. You'd need a 34 megapixel camera to get the equivalent resolution!
"As known to those skilled in the art, the word processing application program 10 is operative to provide functionality for creating and editing electronic documents, such as the electronic document 24. According to one embodiment of the invention, the word processing application program 10 comprises the WORD word processing application program from MICROSOFT CORPORATION. It should be appreciated, however, that other word processing application programs from other manufacturers may be utilized to embody the various aspects of the present invention."
I read about a new game, usually online. I read a review or two. I look at some screengrabs, sometimes try the demo. And if it looks good, I go out and buy it. Who cares what the box looks like? With so many godawful games out there, how can anyone look at the box and use that in their buy/no-buy decision?
The one thing that bugs me the most about this whole thing (aside from the idea that consentual sex is worse than random acts of murder) is all the talk of "explicit" sex. Have these people never seen a porno? That's explicit sex. This is just badly-drawn simulated dry-humping, not even as "explicit" as can be seen on late-night cable TV most nights of the week.
I dunno, I thought the girl-on-girl lesbian action in The Sims 2 was pretty sexy, especially in their bikinis. Not that I'll ever admit to making them do that.
Beware of prismiq - It had a lot of promise when it first came out (over 2 years ago), but the firmware hasn't been updated in well over a year, there are a lot of bugs and incompatibilities (it's very bad at playing DivX files), and the interface for music playback is not very good at all. They've been putting all their resources into their player/recorder, which is now way overdue, and they've been completely ignoring the existing customer base which they've pretty much given the shaft.
As a long-time PC gamer, I've resisted consoles. I played Morrowind for countless hours on my PC, and even though this will be available for PC, it might be *the* title that gets me to buy a console (albeit an Xbox 360), if just so I can sit on the couch and play on my HD projector, rather than cooped up in my home office.
It seems that for years, with each new console that comes out, we hear all about how it will revolutionize the living room, be the media hub of the world, etc etc, and then when it hits, it just gets used for games, until the next version is due, and then we go through it all again. Come on already, I want my console-based media center!
What a lame "unveiling" that was. Here's a rundown: MTV: Look, a live performance by The Killers. Me: Who? What does this have to do with the Xbox 360? MTV: Look at how the Monster Garage guys modded an original Xbox! Me: What does this have to do with the Xbox 360? MTV: Look, here's some pro gamers getting a tour of a game studio, and trying out some motion capture stuff. Me: What does this have to do with the Xbox 360? Oh, they're playing a game on it. Wow, those graphics and gameplay look just like stuff I've seen on PS2 and Xbox 2 years ago. MTV: Look, here's the gamers having a deathmatch competition. Me: WTF MTV? I don't care what the gamers look like while they're playing, show me the game! MTV: Well, that's it, now that you know everything about the Xbox 360, here's another live performance by The Killers! Me: Did I blink and miss the Xbox 360?
That's what I was thinking too. I can picture it now, a bunch of programmers and artists are sitting around congratulating themselves on how they used multiple layers and all kinds of mathematical magic to make the fps view adjust to the light levels, and then some smarty-pants pipes up and says "hey, I was just thinking, why didn't we just adjust the gamma?" and everyone else goed "Doh!"
As an administrator on ReviewFinder, I can tell by the number of reviews of mouse pads and cpu fans that it takes more than just a launched hardware site to get the high-end free stuff. Most of the sites reviewing $500 video cards either bought it themselves, have to send it back soon, or are insanely popular.
I leased a laptop instead of buying a few years back, even though I had the cash, for tax reasons. I was a newbie and didn't really know what I was doing. Turned out the interest rate on the lease was so high it more than offset any tax savings I was getting. In the end I ended up paying over $10,000 for a $5000 laptop.
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Interesting... one of the projects I'm working on currently is essentially two things, a web based bookmark manager, and a way for you to easily tell your friends which sites you like. Don't have ratings in there just yet, but it's planned...
Give it a try at http://www.ifaves.com/
Interesting about hamachi, I'll have to give that a try. With regards to creating torrents, that's a pain in the you know what. I just want to do something like point at parts of my existing photo or music directory and share it with my family, not have to create a whole new subset of files and .torrents.
This is indeed a killer app... if it were a standalone app. Why isn't it? And why isn't there already an app like this? It doesn't seem as though it would be that hard to create, but everything I've tried for private filesharing within a group of friends has been either too complex (waste), too limited (grouper, icq, msn, etc) or too braindead (many others).
Just give me a torrent client or emule-like app that I can limit to a group of defined contacts.
Anyone stupid enough to need a videogame to tell them how to commit crimes is stupid enough to get caught pretty quickly.
I found someone on match.com who I ended up marrying a year later. I did receive a few messages from various people looking for dates, although none that I had actually sent messages to (my wife signed up just so she could send me a message).
One of the biggest problems people have on these sites is that their photos suck, and I mean really suck. For god's sake, use a good photo of yourself, not some party-picture candid shot with your ex's arm still in the picture around your waist.
We got my sister-in-law to try lavalife, and jeez was she picky, just based on the tiny thumbnail photos. So guys, do yourself a favor and use a good picture. And just because a girl doesn't have a picture doesn't mean she's not hot - quite often the opposite. The hot girls get so many emails they often have to remove their pictures just to make it manageable.
While the small-sized mega-bloks may not be quite as good as lego in terms of quality, they do have some nice products for younger kids, like the castle I bought my son for Christmas last year *that he can actually go inside*
How about an open source music site in which anyone can create a basic composition, upload the midi and samples, and let other people improve it?
For those of us who aren't Linux fanboys, BeyondTV is working out very well for me. I have a HTPC set up in my basement, on the other side of the wall from the media room, so that the cables can come through the wall and plug into my A/V receiver and projector. A satellite receiver feeds S-Video into a Hauppauge MPEG-2 encoder in the HTPC box, and it's all controlled by a Harmony universal remote. Video quality from the satellite on about a 100" screen ranges from awesome to so-so (mostly depending on how compressed any given channel is), but Divx/xvid movies look awesome, almost as good as DVD. The other two TVs in the house each have their own cheapo/old computer, nothing particularly powerful, running copies of BeyondTV Link which is a client version of the software, and each has one of SnapStream's Firefly remotes. In all, the system works pretty darn well, it even passes the wife test. Now if only Snapstream had a half-decent music playback solution (their Beyond Media software is, to put it kindly, not a great music player) I'd be super-happy.
You can't get anywhere near the resolution of a scanner by using a digital camera unless you shoot multiple pictures for each page and tile them. Think about it, a 600dpi scanner will give you an 8 1/2 x 11 page at a resolution of 5100x6600. You'd need a 34 megapixel camera to get the equivalent resolution!
"As known to those skilled in the art, the word processing application program 10 is operative to provide functionality for creating and editing electronic documents, such as the electronic document 24. According to one embodiment of the invention, the word processing application program 10 comprises the WORD word processing application program from MICROSOFT CORPORATION. It should be appreciated, however, that other word processing application programs from other manufacturers may be utilized to embody the various aspects of the present invention."
I read about a new game, usually online. I read a review or two. I look at some screengrabs, sometimes try the demo. And if it looks good, I go out and buy it. Who cares what the box looks like? With so many godawful games out there, how can anyone look at the box and use that in their buy/no-buy decision?
The one thing that bugs me the most about this whole thing (aside from the idea that consentual sex is worse than random acts of murder) is all the talk of "explicit" sex. Have these people never seen a porno? That's explicit sex. This is just badly-drawn simulated dry-humping, not even as "explicit" as can be seen on late-night cable TV most nights of the week.
Software prices will be coming down now, right? RIGHT???
I dunno, I thought the girl-on-girl lesbian action in The Sims 2 was pretty sexy, especially in their bikinis. Not that I'll ever admit to making them do that.
Beware of prismiq - It had a lot of promise when it first came out (over 2 years ago), but the firmware hasn't been updated in well over a year, there are a lot of bugs and incompatibilities (it's very bad at playing DivX files), and the interface for music playback is not very good at all. They've been putting all their resources into their player/recorder, which is now way overdue, and they've been completely ignoring the existing customer base which they've pretty much given the shaft.
"Signed with a top agent last week."
Hmmm....
1. Write a blog about your job and the idiots you work with/teach
2. Get fired for it
3. Get an agent
4. ???
5. Profit!
As a long-time PC gamer, I've resisted consoles. I played Morrowind for countless hours on my PC, and even though this will be available for PC, it might be *the* title that gets me to buy a console (albeit an Xbox 360), if just so I can sit on the couch and play on my HD projector, rather than cooped up in my home office.
It seems that for years, with each new console that comes out, we hear all about how it will revolutionize the living room, be the media hub of the world, etc etc, and then when it hits, it just gets used for games, until the next version is due, and then we go through it all again. Come on already, I want my console-based media center!
Woohoo, can't wait for the Xbox 360 version of Llamatron! I just hope it's as good as the C-64 version was.
What a lame "unveiling" that was.
Here's a rundown:
MTV: Look, a live performance by The Killers.
Me: Who? What does this have to do with the Xbox 360?
MTV: Look at how the Monster Garage guys modded an original Xbox!
Me: What does this have to do with the Xbox 360?
MTV: Look, here's some pro gamers getting a tour of a game studio, and trying out some motion capture stuff.
Me: What does this have to do with the Xbox 360? Oh, they're playing a game on it. Wow, those graphics and gameplay look just like stuff I've seen on PS2 and Xbox 2 years ago.
MTV: Look, here's the gamers having a deathmatch competition.
Me: WTF MTV? I don't care what the gamers look like while they're playing, show me the game!
MTV: Well, that's it, now that you know everything about the Xbox 360, here's another live performance by The Killers!
Me: Did I blink and miss the Xbox 360?
That's what I was thinking too. I can picture it now, a bunch of programmers and artists are sitting around congratulating themselves on how they used multiple layers and all kinds of mathematical magic to make the fps view adjust to the light levels, and then some smarty-pants pipes up and says "hey, I was just thinking, why didn't we just adjust the gamma?" and everyone else goed "Doh!"
Who would have thought that cables would be the printer ink of the cell phone industry?
As an administrator on ReviewFinder, I can tell by the number of reviews of mouse pads and cpu fans that it takes more than just a launched hardware site to get the high-end free stuff. Most of the sites reviewing $500 video cards either bought it themselves, have to send it back soon, or are insanely popular.
Until your robo-shark, with you in it, gets eaten by a passing Orca.
I leased a laptop instead of buying a few years back, even though I had the cash, for tax reasons. I was a newbie and didn't really know what I was doing. Turned out the interest rate on the lease was so high it more than offset any tax savings I was getting. In the end I ended up paying over $10,000 for a $5000 laptop.