Linux is just not easy to use, when a hardcore geek like me cant print or update his graphics card driver without consulting multiple forms of documentation (because some of the documenation is utter gibberish), there is a problem. The problem isnt that its a bad operating system, it isthat it lacke elegance. Having tried multipel distributions for a long period of time, I have experience with that which I speak. I spent to much time using linux and not enough time getting work done with it. The first time I used mac I asked like two questions to the guy working in the computer lab, and felt stupid for not realizing the answer for myself...it is very much a pick up an use instantly operating system, no fuss no muss and no manual required. That is a good thing, believe it or not users dont like to have to consult poorly written manuals to use options that should have been designed with simplicity in mind. Windows is easy to use as long as you dont need to change any setting whatsoever, which most people usually dont..which is why computer security is so bad. But just getting on the web, working on documents and the checking email, installing software with an autoinstaller is a breeze with windows.
Linux on the other hand is exceptionally hard to install programs, drivers etc for compared to these two operating systems, and honestly fonts dont look as good. No matter what issues are causing this, no excuses can be made, these problems have to be fixed before it will be accepted. People are willing to pay for windows and linux vendors cant even give away linux for free..as John Dvorak pointed out that is a big problem.
Games have stories, stories should have an opinion, a guiding principle and a message or they are by definition crap and a waste of time. Stories are supposed to make people think, I know alot of you probably go run out and see the latest block buster crapfest holly wood is pumping out this week, though I doubt the fantastic four is actually very fantastic at all, though there probably are four of them so its not totally false advertising. Believe it or not, good film, literature and art make you question your own beliefs, why shouldnt a story in a video game do the same?
Just because a story has a moral or political polition doesnt mean its going to pervert your own sense of moral or political identity unless your are a completely weak minded fool. People who are against political and moral free speech are exactly the type of people who should be exposed to it the most, they are for the most part thoughtless and indifferent to the opinions of others, and when they see something that makes them quesiton their beliefs it makes them uncomfortable because they experience a sensation they rarely feel actual thought, not just ideas drilled into their heads by dogmatically.
Games can tell a store, games can have an opinion and games can make people question issues. Though they rarely do, and from a gameplay perspective that may be a good thing. But every world war II game has a politcal slant if you get down to it, facism is bad, freedom is good...that may sound basic but if the nazi party made world war II games I am sure they would play a little bit differently. Just look at the genres that are very popular in Japan, such as historical simulations that are only a niche market over here because the Japanese have a great interest in their long history and heritage, or in America we get many more war themed releases than other nations. What you purchase is also a political decision, if you dont like a games politics, either pro or against war, either liberal or conservative you can choose not to buy it, but want to stop games from having an opinion goes against not only the free market but against freedom of expression.
The playstation 3 will connect to anything, PS3 will also play Blu-Ray DVD. So instead of getting a new expensive dvd player that wont play games and wont work with your current tv, you can get a expensive game system that is the latest and greatest and supports Blue Ray dvd that will support HDTV if you ever decide to upgrade....doubt this will take long to be sorted out on the free market. I am a gadget freak and a technoholic, but I dont own a HDTV, their to expensive, as buy a second car expensive. I will wait until they drop to about 500 for a nice 32 incher before I shell out my rent and food money for one...the tv I got now is adequate and Im not going to upgrade it just to watch blue ray dvds...heck I cant even maximize my enjoyment of regular dvds so both formats are a waste of time to worry about for me and 90% of Americans.
Median Income Data Mirrors Red State-Blue State Divide
This map of the most recent census data (for 2003) shows an interesting divide: Blue States are those whose median income for a family of four exceeds the U.S. median of $65,093, while Red States are those whose median income is less than the U.S. median:
US Map Income
Note the eerie similarity with the 2004 presidential election map:
Red States Feed at Federal Trough, Blue States Supply the Feed
Monday, September 27, 2004
The Tax Foundation has released a fascinating report showing which states benefit from federal tax and spending policies, and which states foot the bill.
US 50 States MapThe report shows that of the 32 states (and the District of Columbia) that are "winners" -- receiving more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 76% are Red States that voted for George Bush in 2000. Indeed, 17 of the 20 (85%) states receiving the most federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Red States. Here are the Top 10 states that feed at the federal trough (with Red States highlighted in bold):
States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)
In contrast, of the 16 states that are "losers" -- receiving less in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 69% are Blue States that voted for Al Gore in 2000. Indeed, 11 of the 14 (79%) of the states receiving the least federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Blue States. Here are the Top 10 states that supply feed for the federal trough (with Blue States highlighted in bold):
States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)
Two states -- Florida and Oregon (coincidentally, the two closest states in the 2000 Presidential election) -- received $1.00 in federal spending for each $1.00 in federal taxes paid.
Missouri is in the same bag as bulgaria and romania, two nations hit hardest by the collapse of communism. What is hilarious is that this is a red republican state, as are most of the states with the largest percentage of poor people and lowest incomes....they vote against the welfare and social programs that would help them the most...talk about getting what you deserve for considering abortion and gay marriage more important than harsh economic realities.
I own a middle of the line palm pilot and a top fo the line Pocket PC that was given a 10 out of tend and a kick ass by maximum PC, and I think my old palm pilot with its pitiful 33 mhz processor was better. Why? For a few very simple reasons, first of all Pocket PC OS 2003 crashes, many times a month and sometimes hard where you lose all your data unless you actively back it up, my palm crashed very few times and only with a specific application which I used a crack on. Just two weeks ago I lost all my data that isnt automatically backed up by the desktop synching software (a surprising amount) and curse the fact it was designed so that when the batter goes out you lose your memory. I had to read the manual to erase the data off my palm pilot, you cant do it no matter how long its been sitting in a drawer.
Secondly, the batter life on the pocket PC is close to three hours, and on my palm it was twice as long or longer, so not only does it not run as long, you lose your memory if the battery totally dies...If I forgot to recharge it for a week, even if I didnt use it, it will lose its memory.
Third, Information management is not as responsive, it takes a good 5 to 10 seconds to get my contacts up, or to get to the to do list so Ican enter something, which even though it has well over a 10times faster processor than my palm it takes longer to load a contact or my to do list. Even worse is how long it takes to access my notes, it takes a good 20 seconds or more before I can begin writting a note, and if I dont type for a while and it turns off, it automatically closes the note I was working on and I have to reaccess it, which is a much shorter peroid of time the second time but still annoying.
Third, the pocket pc can play MP3s, but so can the palm, and the palm not only sounds better, but loads the songs more quickly and includes software that is better than the horrible version of media player on the pocket pc, but the tunes sound tiny no matter what software I use. No I cant play movies on my palm, but movies on my pocket pc are dreadful to watch and have to be converted and uploaded through a very cumbersome process that may actually take longer than the video you wish to watch.
I cant surf the web whatso ever with my palm, but even though my pocket pc has wireless, you can imagine how horrible it would be to surf the web by setting your resolution to 320X200 and not having your browser resizing the pages...I can see the slash dot logo and thats about it...everything else is scrolling around, its almost like playing the worlds worst puzzle game.
Yes you can play games on a pocket pc better, and they have prettier graphics and better sounds, but hte controls are horrible, especially on pocket pcs, my old palm while not good for gaming whatso ever still has better controls than my pocket pc. My pocket pc you can only hit one button at a time, so you can run, or jump, but not do a running jump...ensuring you a trip in to the abyss before the end of the first level of the game.
I wouldnt hate the pocket pc so much, but the two biggest problems, losing data at least once a month if I dont contantly backup or recharge every chance I get and the fact that it runs slowly for basic Information management functionality just makes it pretty worthless. Thankfully I can output to a projector or computer monitor with it, as well as type to a usb keyboard and it has a voice recorder and you can command it by speaking to it (which isnt as useful as it sounds..but it works well). But all in all the Pocket PC mentality is the mentality of everything but the kitchen sink, more worried about adding features rather than focusing on making what features you have extremely easy to use and refined.
The pocket pc is the anti-ipod, and the palm while not perfect is such a better device, and the only reason I dont go back to my old palm is that since my pocket pc sucks so bad I have just gotten used to not having a pda at all and using my cell phone to take contacts and quick notes on the voice re
I know its supposed to have this cool controller, but beyond that what does the revolutoin have going for it? I love gamecube and my gameboy advanced, but what they should do is see what Microsoft will put in the Xbox, and match it or exceed it...since they are both using the same processor type (powerpc) and graphic card company. Or they should launch the system at a much lower price, like 150, not a price like the budget dreamcast price like of 200 versus 300 for a full featured system.
However, I am eager to see their new controller, Nintendo brought both the rumble pack an analogue stick to consoles, Playstation and Sega Saturn both did not have analog controls until after the Nintendo 64 had laucned, nintendo is like the apple of the console business and its to early to count them out. Lets face it, the dual analog sticks have their limitations, I am hoping they create some radical interface that can beat the mouse and keyboard for strategy games and first person shooter (could happen) while keeping all the advantages console controls have for action games.
I bought a few dvds for $15-23 dollars, guess how often I use em? $1 for a dvd is great, I would be hard pressed not to justify getting a movie I am even vaugely interested in for a price like that, I wonder how they make any money with it?
The sega saturn launched at 400 dollars, but of course a inept marketing campaign, launching at "select retailers" instead of everywhere, and games that were rushed to market when it was released 3 months early to prempt the playstatoin didnt help either.
Just because the sega saturn launched at 400 dollars doesnt doom the PS3, but launching it with to few games combined with a expensive price tag will....the Xbox 360 will be a 100 dollars cheaper...that is a big advantage for me.
Fire emblem for gameboy, Resident Evil 2 and Bionic commando are nearly as good today as they were back then. I played doom 3 for a half hour, got bored. Played Half life 2 and just got bored...but those old shootem ups like Ikaruga, Gunbird, Castle Shikigami 2(just came out for PS2 a few months ago) are also great games that will at least entertain you for a hour or two. But Fire Embelm for Gameboy has that old style gameplay that is really hard and rewarding mixed with some pretty slick design.
With how powerful the Nintendo DS hardware is compared to the original (and still useful) old Palm pilots I am not surprised it could be a PDA, but it seems Nintendo already thought of that.
Nintendo had recently licensed Palm OS based PDA software without any details on why they had done it. Nintendo sources have now revealed that the V-Pocket patent filed by Nintendo a few days ago concerns this licensing. E3 2005 will be the first witness of the Nintendo V-Pocket suite: a complete line of personal organizer tools for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo believes PDA software coupled with the already existing touch screen of the DS will put it above its high profiled rival, the PSP.
Having used paypal and ebay when selling, I know well that the fees and such add up quickly when using these services. I didnt even use all the special junk they try to push on you like bold headings, gallery etc and I still wound up paying 11 dollars to sell a 75 dollar item...thats robbery. Hopefully this google wallet will make paypal's credit card use fees come back down to earth.
I am buying this thing, I doubt I will buy more than 3 psp games to go with it...I always dreamed of having a portable SNES, Final Fantasy III, all the translated Fire Emblem games as well as about oh 1000 or so other games on a 1gig memory card like some crazy game jukebox. That beats any single new game that comes out today.
"The Linux world suffers from a lack of modern intuitive menus and commands"
"Let's face it, Linux is free, useful and powerful. That alone says that it should have made a bigger impact on the desktop market than it has. There are obviously some problems." From the Dvorak article.
Instead of saying why he is wrong why dont you correct those problems that everybody has been pointing out for years...namely that linux is not even close to being as user friendly as mac or windows. I used Linux but found it very difficult to do simple things like printing or changing settings. I may be more stable or secure, but on a everyday basis it is a pain in the neck to use for a nerd like me and everybody else who uses my system asks me where my real computer is (the windows one). Nobody says that about the mac operating system computers at work, since people can use them with out reading line one of any manual. Having to read a manual to figure out how to do basic functions should be a sign of failure for a developer of an operating system. Apple is still in business because they create elegant solutions where people spend more time doing work using a computer than figuring out how to get the computer to work.
Sorry, I dont believe the energy industry friendly epa's ideas about the dangers of radiation...long term exposure to radiation and its consequences would not be a good trade off for having your laptop work longer.
I care more about my health than my computer and would hope that readers on slashdot would not care only about their own health, but for the health of those in the society around them that sit next to them on the plane when they are using this radioactive device...xrays are harmless but yet the technician stands behind a lead enclosure when they take the xray because over the long term it will wreck your body. I would be seriously angry if people sat next to me in public with a nuclear battery on a regular basis...that worse than second hand smoke!
I thought conservatives were against big goverment getting into our lives...such as how they want to deregulate industries that contribute to them, uphold segregation and lower taxes on the rich, but when it comes to what we do in our bedroom, the right to decide if we want to have children, what scientists can research, whether we have the right to end our lives or even what we do on the internet the conservatives stand for big brother and want to control what we do. Please be consistent, if you want to promote less intrusive government for business have the moral consistency to support it for the private citizen as well, other wise the Republicans might appear to value campaign contributions and religious values more than the constitution.
This will work because most people arent willing to scour the internet looking for free roms instead of just going somewhere simple and reliable and getting them for a small price..time is money and the cost of convinence and being trustworthy is important to non techies...lets face it, do you want your kid going to roms sites...their filled with all kind of weird porn advertisements.
Stop insulting microsoft even when they did something good...no matter what they do they are wrong to to alot of people here. I dont like em, I dont trust em, but I will say that when they do things like this that are really good ideas and help millions of people for no profit to themselves I applaud that and wish they did this more...think how much better the computer world would be if microsoft did positive things like this all the time...and I encourage them to do these magnanamous acts more. If this keeps up mabey they can win the hearts and minds of the computing public (though I doubt it)
Dont listen to what half the the anti-communist conservatives and media say about China. Yes its true human rights are trampled when in the states interest...BUT and that was a big but for a reason, the Chinese have a totally different attitude about policing their citizens than American police. As a criminal justice instructor I am very interested in these difference.
In china the situation is much different, their saying is "its only illegal if you get caught" Which has a deeper meaning than many understand...many times the police are not looking to arrest people for petty matters, they are more interested in social order...or as they refer to it "harmony". However this cultural view of harmony represents tome things we consider unpleasant. But the upshot is that unless the government is interested at that point in time in cracking down on something...it is usually just ignored...for example it is illegal to manufacture or distribute bootleg cds and dvds, but when my girlfriend and her family were in china right when you get off the bus...and the government doesnt care. Many people go to banned websites, download illegal things, hell half the banned games in china can be bought off a store shelf! The point is remember when those cybercafes got busted, that was a crackdown. Chinese policing usually let things go for a while then crackdown to show it is illegal...then let it go again...remember they have limited resources and are more interested in maintaining their fragile power structure than concerning themselves with if your watching porn...which you can totally get in china, easily..as well as hookers but both technically illegal. That wouldnt happen in america,
In many ways american police are much more facist than chinese police, in that if you are breaking a rule they will arrest you. If it were illegal to sell pornography in america, no stores sell it..but it is illegal in china but still sold out in the open in many places..DWI check points are a perfect example...people who are over an arbirtrary legal limit but still in control of their vehicles get the same punishment as those who are swerving all over the road because they cant handle their liquor. This over emphasis on enforcing every rule is due a great deal to the colletion of fines, which police departments in America use to fund themselves...ever notice why they go after drug dealer so aggressivley but if you aparment gets burglarized they dont even dust for prints?
I have the same problem, I spend 10 dollars a week on games...you would be surprised how much you get get for under 20 dollars every two weeks. I have stacks of games from years back that are unplayed...and I have come to the conclusion that it is a collector thing, not a game playing thing...the point isnt to beat the game just to own it...just like people who collect toys that never come out of their wrappers or comics they pay over ten dollars for, read once then put on a shelf never to look at again. Just a typical nerd behavior!
Ever wonder why the PC section at your local gamestore is shrinking while the game console shelves are expaning? Its easy to copy pc games but very difficult without hardware modification to pirate console games but pc games are cracked and distributed online in less time than it takes to get to the store shelves..dont believe me look how doom was available online a few days before it was released. Seriously, i love free stuff as much as the next person, but it has gone beyond casual copying into the realm of absurdly easy to distribute pirated goods quickly..(bittorent, overnet, newsgroups..take your pick).
Pc game makers have to do something to stop the bleeding since there is no inherent copy protection in the pc, mabey a small something like this watermarking could help us avoid legally mandated DRM like Microsoft wants to install in every PC. I would choose this over havinga motherboard that I have to mod to play mp3s.
If you want gaming on the go buy a Pocket PC, it emulates games at full speed with sound, even super nintendo games work...if you want to play strategy games or rpg. However, one word of warning, the controls on a pocket pc are terrible, definitely not designed for gaming at all and playing any action game is like playing it on hard. I thought I could be content gaming on the go with a pocket PC, I was wrong...GBA SP is by far the coolest game gadget, nothing else compares. Play Advance Wars, that game is aboslutely brilliant when traveling.
I have been on a similar quest, and found that the original SNES gamepad is the best...go to www.deepdarksea.com to order a SNES gamepad adapter. It works as advertised! Before I got that I was using a Logitech Wingman Wireless rumblepad, a heck of a unit witha excellent directional pad but it has some quirks that make it unusable in certain emulators (something to do with the analog controls on it.)
Slashdot Mirror
Linux is just not easy to use, when a hardcore geek like me cant print or update his graphics card driver without consulting multiple forms of documentation (because some of the documenation is utter gibberish), there is a problem. The problem isnt that its a bad operating system, it isthat it lacke elegance. Having tried multipel distributions for a long period of time, I have experience with that which I speak. I spent to much time using linux and not enough time getting work done with it. The first time I used mac I asked like two questions to the guy working in the computer lab, and felt stupid for not realizing the answer for myself...it is very much a pick up an use instantly operating system, no fuss no muss and no manual required. That is a good thing, believe it or not users dont like to have to consult poorly written manuals to use options that should have been designed with simplicity in mind. Windows is easy to use as long as you dont need to change any setting whatsoever, which most people usually dont..which is why computer security is so bad. But just getting on the web, working on documents and the checking email, installing software with an autoinstaller is a breeze with windows.
Linux on the other hand is exceptionally hard to install programs, drivers etc for compared to these two operating systems, and honestly fonts dont look as good. No matter what issues are causing this, no excuses can be made, these problems have to be fixed before it will be accepted. People are willing to pay for windows and linux vendors cant even give away linux for free..as John Dvorak pointed out that is a big problem.
Games have stories, stories should have an opinion, a guiding principle and a message or they are by definition crap and a waste of time. Stories are supposed to make people think, I know alot of you probably go run out and see the latest block buster crapfest holly wood is pumping out this week, though I doubt the fantastic four is actually very fantastic at all, though there probably are four of them so its not totally false advertising. Believe it or not, good film, literature and art make you question your own beliefs, why shouldnt a story in a video game do the same?
Just because a story has a moral or political polition doesnt mean its going to pervert your own sense of moral or political identity unless your are a completely weak minded fool. People who are against political and moral free speech are exactly the type of people who should be exposed to it the most, they are for the most part thoughtless and indifferent to the opinions of others, and when they see something that makes them quesiton their beliefs it makes them uncomfortable because they experience a sensation they rarely feel actual thought, not just ideas drilled into their heads by dogmatically.
Games can tell a store, games can have an opinion and games can make people question issues. Though they rarely do, and from a gameplay perspective that may be a good thing. But every world war II game has a politcal slant if you get down to it, facism is bad, freedom is good...that may sound basic but if the nazi party made world war II games I am sure they would play a little bit differently. Just look at the genres that are very popular in Japan, such as historical simulations that are only a niche market over here because the Japanese have a great interest in their long history and heritage, or in America we get many more war themed releases than other nations. What you purchase is also a political decision, if you dont like a games politics, either pro or against war, either liberal or conservative you can choose not to buy it, but want to stop games from having an opinion goes against not only the free market but against freedom of expression.
ALSO: Deus ex is a simulation?
The playstation 3 will connect to anything, PS3 will also play Blu-Ray DVD. So instead of getting a new expensive dvd player that wont play games and wont work with your current tv, you can get a expensive game system that is the latest and greatest and supports Blue Ray dvd that will support HDTV if you ever decide to upgrade....doubt this will take long to be sorted out on the free market. I am a gadget freak and a technoholic, but I dont own a HDTV, their to expensive, as buy a second car expensive. I will wait until they drop to about 500 for a nice 32 incher before I shell out my rent and food money for one...the tv I got now is adequate and Im not going to upgrade it just to watch blue ray dvds...heck I cant even maximize my enjoyment of regular dvds so both formats are a waste of time to worry about for me and 90% of Americans.
Get images here, they were shy and didnt want to show up
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e s/redblueelection.gif
http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/taxprof/linkimag
http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/taxprof/linkimag
Median Income Data Mirrors Red State-Blue State Divide
e dian_income_d.html
This map of the most recent census data (for 2003) shows an interesting divide: Blue States are those whose median income for a family of four exceeds the U.S. median of $65,093, while Red States are those whose median income is less than the U.S. median:
US Map Income
Note the eerie similarity with the 2004 presidential election map:
Source:
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2005/05/m
Red States Feed at Federal Trough, Blue States Supply the Feed
Monday, September 27, 2004
The Tax Foundation has released a fascinating report showing which states benefit from federal tax and spending policies, and which states foot the bill.
US 50 States MapThe report shows that of the 32 states (and the District of Columbia) that are "winners" -- receiving more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 76% are Red States that voted for George Bush in 2000. Indeed, 17 of the 20 (85%) states receiving the most federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Red States. Here are the Top 10 states that feed at the federal trough (with Red States highlighted in bold):
States Receiving Most in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)
In contrast, of the 16 states that are "losers" -- receiving less in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes -- 69% are Blue States that voted for Al Gore in 2000. Indeed, 11 of the 14 (79%) of the states receiving the least federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Blue States. Here are the Top 10 states that supply feed for the federal trough (with Blue States highlighted in bold):
States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:
1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)
Two states -- Florida and Oregon (coincidentally, the two closest states in the 2000 Presidential election) -- received $1.00 in federal spending for each $1.00 in federal taxes paid.
Missouri is in the same bag as bulgaria and romania, two nations hit hardest by the collapse of communism. What is hilarious is that this is a red republican state, as are most of the states with the largest percentage of poor people and lowest incomes....they vote against the welfare and social programs that would help them the most...talk about getting what you deserve for considering abortion and gay marriage more important than harsh economic realities.
I own a middle of the line palm pilot and a top fo the line Pocket PC that was given a 10 out of tend and a kick ass by maximum PC, and I think my old palm pilot with its pitiful 33 mhz processor was better. Why? For a few very simple reasons, first of all Pocket PC OS 2003 crashes, many times a month and sometimes hard where you lose all your data unless you actively back it up, my palm crashed very few times and only with a specific application which I used a crack on. Just two weeks ago I lost all my data that isnt automatically backed up by the desktop synching software (a surprising amount) and curse the fact it was designed so that when the batter goes out you lose your memory. I had to read the manual to erase the data off my palm pilot, you cant do it no matter how long its been sitting in a drawer.
Secondly, the batter life on the pocket PC is close to three hours, and on my palm it was twice as long or longer, so not only does it not run as long, you lose your memory if the battery totally dies...If I forgot to recharge it for a week, even if I didnt use it, it will lose its memory.
Third, Information management is not as responsive, it takes a good 5 to 10 seconds to get my contacts up, or to get to the to do list so Ican enter something, which even though it has well over a 10times faster processor than my palm it takes longer to load a contact or my to do list. Even worse is how long it takes to access my notes, it takes a good 20 seconds or more before I can begin writting a note, and if I dont type for a while and it turns off, it automatically closes the note I was working on and I have to reaccess it, which is a much shorter peroid of time the second time but still annoying.
Third, the pocket pc can play MP3s, but so can the palm, and the palm not only sounds better, but loads the songs more quickly and includes software that is better than the horrible version of media player on the pocket pc, but the tunes sound tiny no matter what software I use. No I cant play movies on my palm, but movies on my pocket pc are dreadful to watch and have to be converted and uploaded through a very cumbersome process that may actually take longer than the video you wish to watch.
I cant surf the web whatso ever with my palm, but even though my pocket pc has wireless, you can imagine how horrible it would be to surf the web by setting your resolution to 320X200 and not having your browser resizing the pages...I can see the slash dot logo and thats about it...everything else is scrolling around, its almost like playing the worlds worst puzzle game.
Yes you can play games on a pocket pc better, and they have prettier graphics and better sounds, but hte controls are horrible, especially on pocket pcs, my old palm while not good for gaming whatso ever still has better controls than my pocket pc. My pocket pc you can only hit one button at a time, so you can run, or jump, but not do a running jump...ensuring you a trip in to the abyss before the end of the first level of the game.
I wouldnt hate the pocket pc so much, but the two biggest problems, losing data at least once a month if I dont contantly backup or recharge every chance I get and the fact that it runs slowly for basic Information management functionality just makes it pretty worthless. Thankfully I can output to a projector or computer monitor with it, as well as type to a usb keyboard and it has a voice recorder and you can command it by speaking to it (which isnt as useful as it sounds..but it works well). But all in all the Pocket PC mentality is the mentality of everything but the kitchen sink, more worried about adding features rather than focusing on making what features you have extremely easy to use and refined.
The pocket pc is the anti-ipod, and the palm while not perfect is such a better device, and the only reason I dont go back to my old palm is that since my pocket pc sucks so bad I have just gotten used to not having a pda at all and using my cell phone to take contacts and quick notes on the voice re
I know its supposed to have this cool controller, but beyond that what does the revolutoin have going for it? I love gamecube and my gameboy advanced, but what they should do is see what Microsoft will put in the Xbox, and match it or exceed it...since they are both using the same processor type (powerpc) and graphic card company. Or they should launch the system at a much lower price, like 150, not a price like the budget dreamcast price like of 200 versus 300 for a full featured system.
However, I am eager to see their new controller, Nintendo brought both the rumble pack an analogue stick to consoles, Playstation and Sega Saturn both did not have analog controls until after the Nintendo 64 had laucned, nintendo is like the apple of the console business and its to early to count them out. Lets face it, the dual analog sticks have their limitations, I am hoping they create some radical interface that can beat the mouse and keyboard for strategy games and first person shooter (could happen) while keeping all the advantages console controls have for action games.
I bought a few dvds for $15-23 dollars, guess how often I use em? $1 for a dvd is great, I would be hard pressed not to justify getting a movie I am even vaugely interested in for a price like that, I wonder how they make any money with it?
The sega saturn launched at 400 dollars, but of course a inept marketing campaign, launching at "select retailers" instead of everywhere, and games that were rushed to market when it was released 3 months early to prempt the playstatoin didnt help either.
Just because the sega saturn launched at 400 dollars doesnt doom the PS3, but launching it with to few games combined with a expensive price tag will....the Xbox 360 will be a 100 dollars cheaper...that is a big advantage for me.
Fire emblem for gameboy, Resident Evil 2 and Bionic commando are nearly as good today as they were back then. I played doom 3 for a half hour, got bored. Played Half life 2 and just got bored...but those old shootem ups like Ikaruga, Gunbird, Castle Shikigami 2(just came out for PS2 a few months ago) are also great games that will at least entertain you for a hour or two. But Fire Embelm for Gameboy has that old style gameplay that is really hard and rewarding mixed with some pretty slick design.
With how powerful the Nintendo DS hardware is compared to the original (and still useful) old Palm pilots I am not surprised it could be a PDA, but it seems Nintendo already thought of that.
Nintendo had recently licensed Palm OS based PDA software without any details on why they had done it. Nintendo sources have now revealed that the V-Pocket patent filed by Nintendo a few days ago concerns this licensing. E3 2005 will be the first witness of the Nintendo V-Pocket suite: a complete line of personal organizer tools for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo believes PDA software coupled with the already existing touch screen of the DS will put it above its high profiled rival, the PSP.
Having used paypal and ebay when selling, I know well that the fees and such add up quickly when using these services. I didnt even use all the special junk they try to push on you like bold headings, gallery etc and I still wound up paying 11 dollars to sell a 75 dollar item...thats robbery. Hopefully this google wallet will make paypal's credit card use fees come back down to earth.
I am buying this thing, I doubt I will buy more than 3 psp games to go with it...I always dreamed of having a portable SNES, Final Fantasy III, all the translated Fire Emblem games as well as about oh 1000 or so other games on a 1gig memory card like some crazy game jukebox. That beats any single new game that comes out today.
"The Linux world suffers from a lack of modern intuitive menus and commands"
"Let's face it, Linux is free, useful and powerful. That alone says that it should have made a bigger impact on the desktop market than it has. There are obviously some problems."
From the Dvorak article.
Instead of saying why he is wrong why dont you correct those problems that everybody has been pointing out for years...namely that linux is not even close to being as user friendly as mac or windows. I used Linux but found it very difficult to do simple things like printing or changing settings. I may be more stable or secure, but on a everyday basis it is a pain in the neck to use for a nerd like me and everybody else who uses my system asks me where my real computer is (the windows one). Nobody says that about the mac operating system computers at work, since people can use them with out reading line one of any manual. Having to read a manual to figure out how to do basic functions should be a sign of failure for a developer of an operating system. Apple is still in business because they create elegant solutions where people spend more time doing work using a computer than figuring out how to get the computer to work.
Sorry, I dont believe the energy industry friendly epa's ideas about the dangers of radiation...long term exposure to radiation and its consequences would not be a good trade off for having your laptop work longer.
I care more about my health than my computer and would hope that readers on slashdot would not care only about their own health, but for the health of those in the society around them that sit next to them on the plane when they are using this radioactive device...xrays are harmless but yet the technician stands behind a lead enclosure when they take the xray because over the long term it will wreck your body. I would be seriously angry if people sat next to me in public with a nuclear battery on a regular basis...that worse than second hand smoke!
I thought conservatives were against big goverment getting into our lives...such as how they want to deregulate industries that contribute to them, uphold segregation and lower taxes on the rich, but when it comes to what we do in our bedroom, the right to decide if we want to have children, what scientists can research, whether we have the right to end our lives or even what we do on the internet the conservatives stand for big brother and want to control what we do. Please be consistent, if you want to promote less intrusive government for business have the moral consistency to support it for the private citizen as well, other wise the Republicans might appear to value campaign contributions and religious values more than the constitution.
This will work because most people arent willing to scour the internet looking for free roms instead of just going somewhere simple and reliable and getting them for a small price..time is money and the cost of convinence and being trustworthy is important to non techies...lets face it, do you want your kid going to roms sites...their filled with all kind of weird porn advertisements.
Stop insulting microsoft even when they did something good...no matter what they do they are wrong to to alot of people here. I dont like em, I dont trust em, but I will say that when they do things like this that are really good ideas and help millions of people for no profit to themselves I applaud that and wish they did this more...think how much better the computer world would be if microsoft did positive things like this all the time...and I encourage them to do these magnanamous acts more. If this keeps up mabey they can win the hearts and minds of the computing public (though I doubt it)
Its called "wrath unleashed" for xbox and ps2, if you like archon you will dig this.
Dont listen to what half the the anti-communist conservatives and media say about China. Yes its true human rights are trampled when in the states interest...BUT and that was a big but for a reason, the Chinese have a totally different attitude about policing their citizens than American police. As a criminal justice instructor I am very interested in these difference.
In china the situation is much different, their saying is "its only illegal if you get caught" Which has a deeper meaning than many understand...many times the police are not looking to arrest people for petty matters, they are more interested in social order...or as they refer to it "harmony". However this cultural view of harmony represents tome things we consider unpleasant. But the upshot is that unless the government is interested at that point in time in cracking down on something...it is usually just ignored...for example it is illegal to manufacture or distribute bootleg cds and dvds, but when my girlfriend and her family were in china right when you get off the bus...and the government doesnt care. Many people go to banned websites, download illegal things, hell half the banned games in china can be bought off a store shelf! The point is remember when those cybercafes got busted, that was a crackdown. Chinese policing usually let things go for a while then crackdown to show it is illegal...then let it go again...remember they have limited resources and are more interested in maintaining their fragile power structure than concerning themselves with if your watching porn...which you can totally get in china, easily..as well as hookers but both technically illegal.
That wouldnt happen in america,
In many ways american police are much more facist than chinese police, in that if you are breaking a rule they will arrest you. If it were illegal to sell pornography in america, no stores sell it..but it is illegal in china but still sold out in the open in many places..DWI check points are a perfect example...people who are over an arbirtrary legal limit but still in control of their vehicles get the same punishment as those who are swerving all over the road because they cant handle their liquor. This over emphasis on enforcing every rule is due a great deal to the colletion of fines, which police departments in America use to fund themselves...ever notice why they go after drug dealer so aggressivley but if you aparment gets burglarized they dont even dust for prints?
I have the same problem, I spend 10 dollars a week on games...you would be surprised how much you get get for under 20 dollars every two weeks. I have stacks of games from years back that are unplayed...and I have come to the conclusion that it is a collector thing, not a game playing thing...the point isnt to beat the game just to own it...just like people who collect toys that never come out of their wrappers or comics they pay over ten dollars for, read once then put on a shelf never to look at again. Just a typical nerd behavior!
Ever wonder why the PC section at your local gamestore is shrinking while the game console shelves are expaning? Its easy to copy pc games but very difficult without hardware modification to pirate console games but pc games are cracked and distributed online in less time than it takes to get to the store shelves..dont believe me look how doom was available online a few days before it was released. Seriously, i love free stuff as much as the next person, but it has gone beyond casual copying into the realm of absurdly easy to distribute pirated goods quickly..(bittorent, overnet, newsgroups..take your pick).
Pc game makers have to do something to stop the bleeding since there is no inherent copy protection in the pc, mabey a small something like this watermarking could help us avoid legally mandated DRM like Microsoft wants to install in every PC. I would choose this over havinga motherboard that I have to mod to play mp3s.
If you want gaming on the go buy a Pocket PC, it emulates games at full speed with sound, even super nintendo games work...if you want to play strategy games or rpg. However, one word of warning, the controls on a pocket pc are terrible, definitely not designed for gaming at all and playing any action game is like playing it on hard. I thought I could be content gaming on the go with a pocket PC, I was wrong...GBA SP is by far the coolest game gadget, nothing else compares. Play Advance Wars, that game is aboslutely brilliant when traveling.
I have been on a similar quest, and found that the original SNES gamepad is the best...go to www.deepdarksea.com to order a SNES gamepad adapter. It works as advertised! Before I got that I was using a Logitech Wingman Wireless rumblepad, a heck of a unit witha excellent directional pad but it has some quirks that make it unusable in certain emulators (something to do with the analog controls on it.)