" Yeah, America is the world's great respector of human sexuality - we'd never pass things like DOMAs."
Look, if you can find things like Tubgirl on the internet (and no, I ain't posting a link), you ain't got a whole lot of room to bitch about how the US handles sexuality on the internet. And what's the favorite slashdot spammed website? Something to do with goats? Yeah, the US is REALLY cracking down hard, isn't it?
Please. With as much control and enforcement as you credit the government with, it's simply AMAZING how these and countless porn sites still not simply exist, but thrive. Sure some are based off shore, but the world according to the paranoid United States of the Empire says we can shut them down with a snap of the fingers, regardless of where they're based.
Give it a rest already. The facts don't support this level of conspiracy theory paranoia.
"Helium-3 is regarded by some researchers as the perfect non-polluting fuel source."
We've had this discussion before. It takes MASSIVE amounts of raw material to harvest Helium-3, so much so that we're effectvely talking about strip-mining the moon. Me thinks that a LOT of people are going to be opposed to turning the face of the moon into one huge resource operation. Of course, you could try the darkside and mess it up to your heart's content, but that'll create huge logistics problems beyond just strip mining the moon.
Sorry, but just don't see this as anything more than 'moon propaganda' on the part of whowever brings it, not just China. Of course, i tend to take their claims with a grain of salt anyway, but...
I'll put another question to you to answer yours-- Why would microsoft get into the gaming industry when two of the top players are more than happy to corner the market with their own games?
Because there is money to be made.
Why not BE the OS that seemlessly integrates into the web and lock in your customer base from the get-go? Really, it's not THAT outlandish. Microsoft did if with Windows before the web, Google is doing it with the web as we speak. It's a small move to take total possession of your PC at this point. Now to be honest, I don't think the public is ripe for this eventiality yet. it's a ways off. But totally unbelievable? Not by a long shot.
When you, as a human being, call a business over an issue you deserve to talk to a human being with a real name.
If this is a hangup for you, you'll be sorry to note how many industries don't use real names when you call their customer severvice reps. I can't count the number of people in my old job as an airline CS rep where the people around me used aliases. Granted, you're not calling united Airlines and talking to PalzgarSlayer, but its close enough not to matter. "Real names" are a commodity these days, eespecially when talkint to Jim Smith based in India
I use firefox and even I can't keep a strait face reading that line. I mean have some self-worth, man. There's nothing respectable about that. Can't we aim just a tad higher here? Especially if we're gonna tag on the word "very"?
News for Nerds, Stuff that's stale.
on
Homer Becomes Omar
·
· Score: 0, Redundant
Somebody has to take the karma hit, so i guess I'll be be one of the people to point out this is pretty stale news already. The story is at least a week old, and i have no doubt several somebodies submitted it the very day it broke.
Ok, I love the PSP and all... But we're getting into some pretty rare pricing air here. You just paid $250 for a PSP. another $50 for a game. Maybe $50 to $100 on a decent memory stick. I know! Lets crop another duce and spend $200 for a micro HDD. That's a minimum of nearly $600 we're now investing on a handheld gaming system, assuming you don't buy any other games.
Now I have to point out that the incremental approach that Sony seems to be engaging in is not a bad strategy-- Buy only what you want or can afford, thereby trying to appeal to everybody, and a 4gb micro drive + battery ain't exactly cheap, but we're approaching some rare finacial air here and I wonder if they couldn't have gone about this a better way because I can all but gaurantee that adding one of those on to a handheld is going to be the niche of a niche market, especially when it's iPod competition kicks into gear for price comparison sake. i get the feeling that they're splitting apart their own market doing this...
Okay then, how about free(er) speech than most of the world? Of course, there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech, but the US is unique among the world when it comes right down to it, expecially when considering the nessisary autonomy required for the internet to work. First, you have to go a long way toward matching the the US in terms of our free speech standards. Then you have to ensure not only are they economically stable, but economically vibrant as well, as in being able to recover from 9-11 type events, te demolision of an entire city due to hurricain and STILL hold the ability to fund other countries forgien aid AND turn right around and send extra> disaster relief to places like Afganistan.
I'm not citing all this to toot the US horn, but right now the internet is based in a country with stong freedom of speech standards and an excellent economic foundation. And there are plenty of other elements that make the one of the few countries that you would actually want preciding over the net as opposed to a loose coalition of countries. Come on, do you really want the UN on the internet?
More to the point, do you really think the internet would have grown and propered the same if it had started out as a UN-like activity? Honestly, I think you're kidding yourself if you think it would have.
Didn't you know that it's a script that accepts and rejects your stories based on keywords, the status of your slashdot subscription and a random accept/reject flag? Obviously you either forgot to subscribe, spam the proper keywords or just plain failed the randomly scripted check.
Only after all that does it go to a live reviewer to be duped ^_^
So in other words we've built a giant battle cruiser with an ultra powerful partical beam cannon as its primary weapon that can be used as a last resort and can also launch transformable combat mecha which can only be piloted by nubile 16 year old girls clad in tight environmental suits that leave nothing to the imagination against a vast armada of souless automatons at 20:1 odds bent on wiping out the last vestiges of humanity from the universe?
""If successful, the move could add a new wrinkle to the battle between HD DVD and the competing Blu-ray Disc formats over which will become the dominant new DVD standard. "
If successful, the could also heavily regulate what their populace is allowed to view given their complete control over this specialized format that nobody else will ever use. Yeah, color me a tad paranoid, but I nearly always assume that the Chinese government has ulterior motive beyond the headlines. Of course, they could be doing it for pure profit and control of an industry standard, but lets face it, they're starting a bit late in the game and offering little in the way of innovation to actually have any sort of leverage. But saying 'yay' or 'nay' as to which movies (and ideas) get pressed for their populace to view? Yeah, I can see that.
That's not to say I think it'll work in either senario. The standards are too entrenched either way and their competition already has a head start and mass marketing experience.
"New Battery Technology Powers For 12 Years...developing a new lithium battery technology capable of making batteries smaller, last longer and, soon, accept a charge from outside..."
Are they sure they want to be putting Apple out of business like that? (chortle-chortle)
"he thing is amazingly small, but it looks as though worries about the screen being too small and too dim aren't true. "
Ok, I can accept making it smaller. I can accept repackaging for the next generation. But what I find hard to accept is a price point of $99 ??? I mean honestly, you're saturating your own market with three different versions of the same piece of hardware. It's only going to be a matter of time before somebody figures out a few inches here and there really doesn't make that big of a difference. I mean you're paying top dollar for trailing edge hardware here. The DS is going for what, $129 (quick check at Amazon)?
Talk about running the bleedin' fine line of overpricing and market saturation...
I don't care what you say, this'll be a great game to movie adaptation!...Especially when the protaganist in question wears a mirror visored helemet at all time.
Actually this is quite interesting considering it is a known fact [past slashdot story here, too lazy to link] that Google is actively courting a business relationship with China and has already agreed to the censorship of their own search engine. Perhapse it smacks a bit of conspiracy theory (ok, no perhapse about it), but it's not exactly a huge stretch to believe that this may have been part of that business agreement. Google wants Chinese business, China demands a few small concessions, this being one of them. Honestly, what is Taiwan going to do about it? Whose economic impact is more important to google as a whole?
Yeah, I know it goes against everybody's sensibilities that Google is the self proclaimed 'good company' but I think the fact they caved to censorship in the first place already puts that particular bit in doubt.
On a side note, it's absolutely facinating what you CAN find using Google Earth. Scouring the naval shipyards in Yokosuka, Japan (old stomping grounds) found me a few cruisers and an aircraft carrier in port (35.17.28N by 139.39.46E for the curious). Also wonder if they have specific agreements to limit the resolution of any given area to comply with that nation's policy. I may not hold any love for the company, but it's a damn useful tool, I'll give em that.
Wait, I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie before... Or was it a book? Wait! No! An anime! Ghost in the USB or something...! (ok, so the title was bad)
""Neowin reports, that a new web mail service launched today is promising to bring users an email inbox of 30gb."
Will 30gb be enough to knock gmail from PC World's spot as the #2 best product of 2005? Of course, they might have to shovel some cash PC World's way to do it, as that's the only conceivable way I can see gmail even placing in the top 20, let alone number two.
Honestly, can we get a name that doesn't reek of pop culture? But then again, why not I guess. It's either name it after a long string of numbers, some obscure historical diety or a show about lesbian dominatrix warrior women in leather. Hmmm, I guess that's not such a tough choice after all. That, and I just wanted to use "lesbian dominatrix warrior women" in a sentance.
Um, GMail? Now I know we love google and all, but its web-based email. Admittedly, it has more storage than its competitor, but I'm still missing the part that makes it thesecond best product of 2005. Are we that hard up for products? Of course when it comes to "Top Ten" lists such as these opinions are like armpits, but web-based email? I wouldn't have put it in the top 20, to be honest with you, but that's just IMFreakinO. Number two???? Sigh.
Slashdot Mirror
Or you could just dump some iron into the ocean to supercharge plankton growth. Probably cheaper, easier and a tad more of a natural way to do it.
" Yeah, America is the world's great respector of human sexuality - we'd never pass things like DOMAs."
Look, if you can find things like Tubgirl on the internet (and no, I ain't posting a link), you ain't got a whole lot of room to bitch about how the US handles sexuality on the internet. And what's the favorite slashdot spammed website? Something to do with goats? Yeah, the US is REALLY cracking down hard, isn't it?
Please. With as much control and enforcement as you credit the government with, it's simply AMAZING how these and countless porn sites still not simply exist, but thrive. Sure some are based off shore, but the world according to the paranoid United States of the Empire says we can shut them down with a snap of the fingers, regardless of where they're based.
Give it a rest already. The facts don't support this level of conspiracy theory paranoia.
"Helium-3 is regarded by some researchers as the perfect non-polluting fuel source."
We've had this discussion before. It takes MASSIVE amounts of raw material to harvest Helium-3, so much so that we're effectvely talking about strip-mining the moon. Me thinks that a LOT of people are going to be opposed to turning the face of the moon into one huge resource operation. Of course, you could try the darkside and mess it up to your heart's content, but that'll create huge logistics problems beyond just strip mining the moon.
Sorry, but just don't see this as anything more than 'moon propaganda' on the part of whowever brings it, not just China. Of course, i tend to take their claims with a grain of salt anyway, but...
I'll put another question to you to answer yours-- Why would microsoft get into the gaming industry when two of the top players are more than happy to corner the market with their own games?
Because there is money to be made.
Why not BE the OS that seemlessly integrates into the web and lock in your customer base from the get-go? Really, it's not THAT outlandish. Microsoft did if with Windows before the web, Google is doing it with the web as we speak. It's a small move to take total possession of your PC at this point. Now to be honest, I don't think the public is ripe for this eventiality yet. it's a ways off. But totally unbelievable? Not by a long shot.
When you, as a human being, call a business over an issue you deserve to talk to a human being with a real name.
If this is a hangup for you, you'll be sorry to note how many industries don't use real names when you call their customer severvice reps. I can't count the number of people in my old job as an airline CS rep where the people around me used aliases. Granted, you're not calling united Airlines and talking to PalzgarSlayer, but its close enough not to matter. "Real names" are a commodity these days, eespecially when talkint to Jim Smith based in India
"but Firefox had a very respectable 9.7% share."
I use firefox and even I can't keep a strait face reading that line. I mean have some self-worth, man. There's nothing respectable about that. Can't we aim just a tad higher here? Especially if we're gonna tag on the word "very"?
Somebody has to take the karma hit, so i guess I'll be be one of the people to point out this is pretty stale news already. The story is at least a week old, and i have no doubt several somebodies submitted it the very day it broke.
Ok, I love the PSP and all... But we're getting into some pretty rare pricing air here. You just paid $250 for a PSP. another $50 for a game. Maybe $50 to $100 on a decent memory stick. I know! Lets crop another duce and spend $200 for a micro HDD. That's a minimum of nearly $600 we're now investing on a handheld gaming system, assuming you don't buy any other games.
Now I have to point out that the incremental approach that Sony seems to be engaging in is not a bad strategy-- Buy only what you want or can afford, thereby trying to appeal to everybody, and a 4gb micro drive + battery ain't exactly cheap, but we're approaching some rare finacial air here and I wonder if they couldn't have gone about this a better way because I can all but gaurantee that adding one of those on to a handheld is going to be the niche of a niche market, especially when it's iPod competition kicks into gear for price comparison sake. i get the feeling that they're splitting apart their own market doing this...
Okay then, how about free(er) speech than most of the world? Of course, there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech, but the US is unique among the world when it comes right down to it, expecially when considering the nessisary autonomy required for the internet to work. First, you have to go a long way toward matching the the US in terms of our free speech standards. Then you have to ensure not only are they economically stable, but economically vibrant as well, as in being able to recover from 9-11 type events, te demolision of an entire city due to hurricain and STILL hold the ability to fund other countries forgien aid AND turn right around and send extra> disaster relief to places like Afganistan.
I'm not citing all this to toot the US horn, but right now the internet is based in a country with stong freedom of speech standards and an excellent economic foundation. And there are plenty of other elements that make the one of the few countries that you would actually want preciding over the net as opposed to a loose coalition of countries. Come on, do you really want the UN on the internet?
More to the point, do you really think the internet would have grown and propered the same if it had started out as a UN-like activity? Honestly, I think you're kidding yourself if you think it would have.
Didn't you know that it's a script that accepts and rejects your stories based on keywords, the status of your slashdot subscription and a random accept/reject flag? Obviously you either forgot to subscribe, spam the proper keywords or just plain failed the randomly scripted check.
Only after all that does it go to a live reviewer to be duped ^_^
"Record Labels Unveil Greed 2.0"
I'm pretty sure we're already up to version 5 or 6.0 beta, but don't quote me on that one.
"Manga Explains Nasa Mission"
So in other words we've built a giant battle cruiser with an ultra powerful partical beam cannon as its primary weapon that can be used as a last resort and can also launch transformable combat mecha which can only be piloted by nubile 16 year old girls clad in tight environmental suits that leave nothing to the imagination against a vast armada of souless automatons at 20:1 odds bent on wiping out the last vestiges of humanity from the universe?
God, why didn't we fund this sooner!?
All your Innobase are belong to us. Or them. One of the two.
(Ok, yeah, you can shoot me now.)
""If successful, the move could add a new wrinkle to the battle between HD DVD and the competing Blu-ray Disc formats over which will become the dominant new DVD standard. "
If successful, the could also heavily regulate what their populace is allowed to view given their complete control over this specialized format that nobody else will ever use. Yeah, color me a tad paranoid, but I nearly always assume that the Chinese government has ulterior motive beyond the headlines. Of course, they could be doing it for pure profit and control of an industry standard, but lets face it, they're starting a bit late in the game and offering little in the way of innovation to actually have any sort of leverage. But saying 'yay' or 'nay' as to which movies (and ideas) get pressed for their populace to view? Yeah, I can see that.
That's not to say I think it'll work in either senario. The standards are too entrenched either way and their competition already has a head start and mass marketing experience.
"Dissecting Songs Down to Their 'Musical Genome'"
Or the alternate title, "God I'm really, really, REALLY bored."
"New Battery Technology Powers For 12 Years ...developing a new lithium battery technology capable of making batteries smaller, last longer and, soon, accept a charge from outside..."
Are they sure they want to be putting Apple out of business like that?
(chortle-chortle)
"Autodesk Acquires Alias"
You sure ABC was ok with this?
(waaaait for it....)
"he thing is amazingly small, but it looks as though worries about the screen being too small and too dim aren't true. "
Ok, I can accept making it smaller. I can accept repackaging for the next generation. But what I find hard to accept is a price point of $99 ??? I mean honestly, you're saturating your own market with three different versions of the same piece of hardware. It's only going to be a matter of time before somebody figures out a few inches here and there really doesn't make that big of a difference. I mean you're paying top dollar for trailing edge hardware here. The DS is going for what, $129 (quick check at Amazon)?
Talk about running the bleedin' fine line of overpricing and market saturation...
"Taiwan Irked at Google's Version of Earth"
Actually this is quite interesting considering it is a known fact [past slashdot story here, too lazy to link] that Google is actively courting a business relationship with China and has already agreed to the censorship of their own search engine. Perhapse it smacks a bit of conspiracy theory (ok, no perhapse about it), but it's not exactly a huge stretch to believe that this may have been part of that business agreement. Google wants Chinese business, China demands a few small concessions, this being one of them. Honestly, what is Taiwan going to do about it? Whose economic impact is more important to google as a whole?
Yeah, I know it goes against everybody's sensibilities that Google is the self proclaimed 'good company' but I think the fact they caved to censorship in the first place already puts that particular bit in doubt.
On a side note, it's absolutely facinating what you CAN find using Google Earth. Scouring the naval shipyards in Yokosuka, Japan (old stomping grounds) found me a few cruisers and an aircraft carrier in port (35.17.28N by 139.39.46E for the curious). Also wonder if they have specific agreements to limit the resolution of any given area to comply with that nation's policy. I may not hold any love for the company, but it's a damn useful tool, I'll give em that.
"Condensing Your Life on to a USB Flash Drive?
Wait, I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie before... Or was it a book? Wait! No! An anime! Ghost in the USB or something...! (ok, so the title was bad)
""Neowin reports, that a new web mail service launched today is promising to bring users an email inbox of 30gb."
Will 30gb be enough to knock gmail from PC World's spot as the #2 best product of 2005? Of course, they might have to shovel some cash PC World's way to do it, as that's the only conceivable way I can see gmail even placing in the top 20, let alone number two.
"...but do the lack of criminal accountability..."
It is tough to find accountable criminals these days....
Honestly, can we get a name that doesn't reek of pop culture? But then again, why not I guess. It's either name it after a long string of numbers, some obscure historical diety or a show about lesbian dominatrix warrior women in leather. Hmmm, I guess that's not such a tough choice after all. That, and I just wanted to use "lesbian dominatrix warrior women" in a sentance.
Um, GMail? Now I know we love google and all, but its web-based email. Admittedly, it has more storage than its competitor, but I'm still missing the part that makes it thesecond best product of 2005. Are we that hard up for products? Of course when it comes to "Top Ten" lists such as these opinions are like armpits, but web-based email? I wouldn't have put it in the top 20, to be honest with you, but that's just IMFreakinO. Number two???? Sigh.