"Of course there's the option of using a radio, but what if you wanted to watch your local news? Will these handheld t.v.s being manufactured still work, or will they become obsolete?"
Handheld TVs aren't exactly uber popular. The audience here is quite small. Whereas the audience for portable radios is quite quite large.
"Can the government somehow create censorship with this switch? With the way they will send t.v. programming out, is it possible to put certain restrictions (as opposed to options) on programming?"
Erm. What new types of censorship are they going to add that digital provides that analog can't? Maybe I just lack imagination, but the best answer I can come up with is that they could potentially broadcast to some people but not others. (even that's a stretch...) There has been chatter, however, about preventing recordings from happening. Supposing that happens, maybe it'll be harder to catch Bush'isms for comedic value on Jimmy Kimmel.
" Personally, I don't know why you would pay an actor over a million dollars to act in a movie. It's not that hard of a job, and they don't need that much money. Perhaps if they paid the actors less, the movies would cost less to buy or see."
I'd like to point out a couple of things:
1.) Actually yes, it is a hard job. Learning to act on a theatrical level takes a lot of time and commitment. Don't believe me? Go watch any fan film ever made, then go watch something like the Green Mile. Not only does good acting (i.e. the acting we take for granted in movies today) take a lot of time, energy, and talent, but the actor also typically put a lot of hours in to a day. Remember Star Trek Voyager? It wasn't uncommon for the main actors to put in a 20 hour day. Yes, 20 hours. Even movies require very stressful deadlines.
2.) The actors make millions in a movie because the movie makes millions as a result. You say it shouldn't be that way. Why? What's wrong with it? Acting is the most important factor of a film. Truely talented actors are the ones that really can fit the role. It's not something that just comes naturally, anybody would have to do some serious work to project their character into our minds. Even if you hire somebody who really really is the character you're making a movie of, just throwing them into a set and telling them to be themselves isn't going to make them a movie actor. There's a reason they call it acting instead of being. It's very difficult to set up a situation for them that causes them to react in precisely the way you need them to be for that particular shot in the film.
"I realized that the sick-claw was not a knife, but was rather more like the claw of a cat. Cats use their claws to pierce and hold prey, not to disembowel."
Right now I'm sitting here with a 2 inch long scratch on my tum... uh.. stom.. uh.. crap factory because last night my clutzy-ass-cat took a swipe at the cord to my sweat pants.
Weeeeelllll think about it. Doom isn't story driven, but at least it's a setting. So how do you turn that into a movie? Use the setting to tell a story. Where'd the monsters come from? Where is there a single marine there? Besides the obvious, what sort of conflicts would this character have? Etc.
Okay, it's still pretty shallow. But you know what? This would still make for an amusing parody. That was the charm of Red Vs. Blue. The world that Halo takes place in is fundamentally absurd. Cars with unlimited ammo? Respawning? The dude that was stuck with a pink uniform? Cute. "I've found armor! Now I can take a bullet to the face!"
"A college "gaming club" that meets weekly for an hour to discuss gaming. Wow. I bet those are some popular guys on campus."... said the guy posting on Slashdot on a Friday night.
"The larger problem here is that a lot of these tools (breathalyzers, RADAR and LIDAR guns, etc) are dealing with ambiguous data in the first place. For example, the algorithm used to determine BAC in a breathalyzer may be implemented correctly, but what if the algorithm itself is wrong?"
Heh. I remember reading a story once where a dude challenged a speeding ticket he recieved. He wanted proof that the machine was properly reading the speed of his vehicle. The company that made the radar gun refused to go into detail about how it worked, afterall that's proprietary information they don't want their competitors having. Ultimately the case was thrown out because they brought the radar gun into the court room and clocked a wall travelling at 4mph.
"He's got a point. Quicktime Pro is a $30 upgrade no user should have to pay for just to do this job."
Agreed. QT pro should come with the iPod. On the other hand, I can see why they didn't do it. Remember that bullshit Eisner started with Apple's 'rip mix and burn' campaign?
"It's supposed to be a portable video viewer, not a comfortable one."
Pretty simple premise, really. If you're sitting in a plane, having a little wire stand would mean the iPod could sit up on the tray table for you to watch without having to hold it the whole time. Frankly, I agree with him. Not only would it be super cheap to include, but it'd also make the iPod a killer travel accessory. My little 2.5" TV comes with one of these. It's just a little plastic flap sticking out the back. I've watched a number of hours of TV on that thing, and the little stand made it that much more convenient.
"I'm pretty sure that except for the youngest generation, most people have been exposed to computing prior to Windows dominating the market."
There is a bit of a difference between being exposed to computing and actually having one in nearly every home. Don't forget that programmers aren't the only ones that make a living with computers. Most (if not all...) of the 3D artists I know, for example, got their start because they learned skills in 3D at home on their PC.
In any event, it's silly to deny that Windows hasn't had a positive effect on the number of machines in people's homes these days. I realize it's not fun to think about and all, but honestly, that's just not something to be in denial about.
"I would be interested in knowing if anyone actually prefers the audio format to traditional page flipping."
I don't know if I prefer the audio format, but I do find it entertaining. I've listened to audio books while doing some mind numbing stuff at work. Great way to kill a few hours, but they often leave stuff out of the text version of the book. The Return of the Jedi audio play was kinda neat. Not precisely a book on CD, but it made my drive across country a little more interesting.
"In terms of going MP3, wouldn't the author have saved a lot in fees by going OGG, or is acceptance too much of a concern?"
Nope. MP3 fees are paid when you produce software that encodes MP3 audio. The book publisher, other than buying the software that can encode in MP3 format, isn't paying any additional fees. The MP3 fee was probably paid long before this audio book went for sale.
"...it shows an "update" icon, which updates when clicked. How much easier could it be without hijacking your system to do it for you?"
When you start FireFox, it could pop up a window saying "There's a critical update to FireFox available. Would you like todownload it now? [Yes] [No] ( ) Don't show this message again." Maybe even have another button you can click that'll tell you what is updated, or at least what's 'critical' about the update.
A little OT: Windows Update has a mode that's kind of interesting. You can tell it to download the updates and hold them somewhere. It'll then apply them when you go to shut down.
"When you buy UMD content, there's a fair chance you'll never be able to do anything worthwile with it, even if you manage to extract the video, it will look like VHS at best. But it's still sold at about the same price as a DVD."
Doesn't really bug me. The fact is, I'd be paying $15 for the convenience of having it in a really small form factor. When you're travelling by air, even a portable DVD player is too big. (and that's not including the delicate media.) As for getting stuff off it, I really don't care. The idea is that the PSP would be all I needed to play it. So what if it's only VHS quality? I'm in a hotel, EVERYTHING (including the food) is VHS quality. The movies are still quite watchable, just a little soft.
That all said, I agree with you, mainly because I think we have similar tastes. I don't want to buy movies twice, and I don't travel enough to justify it if I did. On the other hand, if I did find myself at times where the PSP as a movie machine would be interesting, it wouldn't be the end of the world. $30 and I've got a couple of movies to watch. One on the ride to, one on the ride back. There's no rule that states you have to buy UMD copies of what you already have on hand. Get one or two when you're going on a trip, no biggie.
Yeah, I'm dancing on both sides of the fence on this one. Basically, the PSP is interesting to me, but not interesting enough. Hence why I don't own one. I'd personally prefer something like the video iPod or the Archos media player because I can put my own stuff on it *and* have a library of things to watch ready to go. That suits me... well nearly. The PSP has the advantage because I could run to Walmart really quick just before a trip and get something I haven't seen before. That's mildly attractive.
Eh, blah, I didn't really go anywhere with my post. But hopefully my feelings are a little clearer. No, it's not for everybody. No, it's not perfect. It still, however, fills a nice little niche. Frankly, I wish that the next generation format for movies would have a similar form factor to UMDs. Those little 2" cartridge/discs are great for portability, modern DVDs and their currently announced successors are not. It sucks. It's the main reason why I'd want to rip them in the first place. Fuck sharing them with others, I'm a selfish leech. I want.avi versions to dump on my TabletPC or even a smaller device down the road. Sony and Apple have picked two different methods to supply my demand, good for them.
Given the exact nature of how Slashdot gets its news to 'report', I'm not sure why anybody would be ill at them for being a few days late. By the time Slashdot posts the story, you could have heard it. Until they actually get reporters on their staff, this'll always be the case.
"If you paid $20 for content on UMD so you could watch it on a tiny little screen, you deserve to be shot. Spending $20+ on a full sized DVD that you can watch on your widescreen television once or twice in your life is absurd enough, much less this PSP UMD nonsense. But it just proves, people will buy anything!"
Or it proves that some people find themselves spending time idling and they want something to occupy themselves. I've heard a few times that people who ride the bus a lot find the PSP to be a wonderful little device. Frankly, I'd probably be interested in one as well if I were still at my previous job. I travelled by plane a lot. Sometimes I'd spend up to a week at a time in a hotel. The idea of a pocket sized device with an interesting collection of movies would have been quite attractive to me. Every trip, I'd pick up a couple of UMDs and be off.
That said, I'm actually more attracted to the video iPod. 30/60 gigs of storage plus a video out. I could keep a reasonably large library of shows or movies to watch on it, then hook it up to the TV at the hotel to kill a couple of hours before bed. Not a bad deal since I'm on the market for an iPod anyway.
You don't see it, that's fine, but that doesn't mean everybody's stupid.
"It ones of those that requires a knack for seeing the simple things"
Funny you should mention that. The particular site I saw that mentioned this game had a few comments on the site complaining about the suggestion that it is harder for smart people to get this. Your comment is, in a vague way, similar to this feeling. (well.. at least enough for the purposes of my post...) Frankly, I wouldn't have ever gotten this puzzle if not for some of the hints that have repeatedly dished out from the various sites I read about it. I don't attribute this to being particularly smart, though I can understand why people would see it this way. The problem is that when you solve computer problems, you instantly reduce everything down to numbers. I was looking for a numerical solution, not one based on the visual I was given. When you program for a while, you have a reflex to do just that. I think it's more of a reflection of one's occupation than it is a reflection of how one sees the 'simple things'. (Not that those are polar opposites or anything..)
Is the answer to ask one statue what the other would say, then assume it's the opposite? For example, let's say you point to the door that the lying statue is guarding, then ask that statue how the other statue would identify it. Let's say he says "he would say I am guarding the death door." In that case, the truth statue would say that was the life door because the lying statue is saying the opposite. So, if you do the opposite, then that turns out to be the life door. The other way around: If the truthful statue was guarding the life door, he would say that the other statue would call it the death door. The other statue is lying, so he'd say it was the death door. So the opposite is.. life.
Is that the answer? If so, well it's not because I'm smart. I think I saw this on an old episode of Doctor Who or something. In my defense, though, I did get curious one day and whip out a pencil and paper and did a little math to prove it.
Slashdot Mirror
"Of course there's the option of using a radio, but what if you wanted to watch your local news? Will these handheld t.v.s being manufactured still work, or will they become obsolete?"
Handheld TVs aren't exactly uber popular. The audience here is quite small. Whereas the audience for portable radios is quite quite large.
"Can the government somehow create censorship with this switch? With the way they will send t.v. programming out, is it possible to put certain restrictions (as opposed to options) on programming?"
Erm. What new types of censorship are they going to add that digital provides that analog can't? Maybe I just lack imagination, but the best answer I can come up with is that they could potentially broadcast to some people but not others. (even that's a stretch...) There has been chatter, however, about preventing recordings from happening. Supposing that happens, maybe it'll be harder to catch Bush'isms for comedic value on Jimmy Kimmel.
"Blue screen of death !! What can be more scary ?"
A screen grab of a bash prompt that reads 'man mount'?
"Since when does a movie star's popularity have to do with his/her acting capabilities?"
Since box office earnings started shooting up with big movies when big name actors are involved.
"Is Arnold Schwarzenneger a good "actor"? Or is Sylvester Stallone a good "actor"?"
The Terminator and Rocky are cultural icons.
" Personally, I don't know why you would pay an actor over a million dollars to act in a movie. It's not that hard of a job, and they don't need that much money. Perhaps if they paid the actors less, the movies would cost less to buy or see."
I'd like to point out a couple of things:
1.) Actually yes, it is a hard job. Learning to act on a theatrical level takes a lot of time and commitment. Don't believe me? Go watch any fan film ever made, then go watch something like the Green Mile. Not only does good acting (i.e. the acting we take for granted in movies today) take a lot of time, energy, and talent, but the actor also typically put a lot of hours in to a day. Remember Star Trek Voyager? It wasn't uncommon for the main actors to put in a 20 hour day. Yes, 20 hours. Even movies require very stressful deadlines.
2.) The actors make millions in a movie because the movie makes millions as a result. You say it shouldn't be that way. Why? What's wrong with it? Acting is the most important factor of a film. Truely talented actors are the ones that really can fit the role. It's not something that just comes naturally, anybody would have to do some serious work to project their character into our minds. Even if you hire somebody who really really is the character you're making a movie of, just throwing them into a set and telling them to be themselves isn't going to make them a movie actor. There's a reason they call it acting instead of being. It's very difficult to set up a situation for them that causes them to react in precisely the way you need them to be for that particular shot in the film.
Could movies be cheaper? Yeah, but we'd notice.
"I realized that the sick-claw was not a knife, but was rather more like the claw of a cat. Cats use their claws to pierce and hold prey, not to disembowel."
Right now I'm sitting here with a 2 inch long scratch on my tum... uh.. stom.. uh.. crap factory because last night my clutzy-ass-cat took a swipe at the cord to my sweat pants.
"The story?
Have you played Doom? Ever?"
Weeeeelllll think about it. Doom isn't story driven, but at least it's a setting. So how do you turn that into a movie? Use the setting to tell a story. Where'd the monsters come from? Where is there a single marine there? Besides the obvious, what sort of conflicts would this character have? Etc.
Okay, it's still pretty shallow. But you know what? This would still make for an amusing parody. That was the charm of Red Vs. Blue. The world that Halo takes place in is fundamentally absurd. Cars with unlimited ammo? Respawning? The dude that was stuck with a pink uniform? Cute. "I've found armor! Now I can take a bullet to the face!"
"You do realize some people have careers which include obligations beyond just stocking shelves and doing a 9-5, right?"
So what you're saying is that because I didn't know your reasons for needlessly bitching on Slashdot on a Friday night, I shouldn't judge you. Right?
"A college "gaming club" that meets weekly for an hour to discuss gaming. Wow. I bet those are some popular guys on campus." ... said the guy posting on Slashdot on a Friday night.
"The larger problem here is that a lot of these tools (breathalyzers, RADAR and LIDAR guns, etc) are dealing with ambiguous data in the first place. For example, the algorithm used to determine BAC in a breathalyzer may be implemented correctly, but what if the algorithm itself is wrong?"
Heh. I remember reading a story once where a dude challenged a speeding ticket he recieved. He wanted proof that the machine was properly reading the speed of his vehicle. The company that made the radar gun refused to go into detail about how it worked, afterall that's proprietary information they don't want their competitors having. Ultimately the case was thrown out because they brought the radar gun into the court room and clocked a wall travelling at 4mph.
"He's got a point. Quicktime Pro is a $30 upgrade no user should have to pay for just to do this job."
Agreed. QT pro should come with the iPod. On the other hand, I can see why they didn't do it. Remember that bullshit Eisner started with Apple's 'rip mix and burn' campaign?
"It's supposed to be a portable video viewer, not a comfortable one."
Pretty simple premise, really. If you're sitting in a plane, having a little wire stand would mean the iPod could sit up on the tray table for you to watch without having to hold it the whole time. Frankly, I agree with him. Not only would it be super cheap to include, but it'd also make the iPod a killer travel accessory. My little 2.5" TV comes with one of these. It's just a little plastic flap sticking out the back. I've watched a number of hours of TV on that thing, and the little stand made it that much more convenient.
"Can it be used on a no-paper-in-the-bathroom emergency?"
Absolutely. The best part is, if you're using mainly it to read Slashdot comments, you'll still be able to interpret the contents afterwards!
"I don't see the killer demand or application for this? Reading slashdot while on the can??"
Porn e-paper with a boss mode.
"How does having a bisexual character constitute an "agenda" or "uncomfortable sexual baggage"?"
The same way a light hearted kiss is considered 'homo erotic'.
"I'm sorry sir, was that a Chocolate SSHake?"
Would you like a hot Apple pIe?
"aren't we the ones who always speak of freedom of choice being such a wonderful thing?"
Let's test this, shall we?
"I think Slashdot's site should look more like Microsoft's!"
"I'd rather father a wookie."
....!
I can arrange that. You could use a good
"I wonder if they are going to preserve key points and dialogues in computing history like "No one needs 640 kilobytes of ram..."
You want them to preserve a fictional history?
"I'm pretty sure that except for the youngest generation, most people have been exposed to computing prior to Windows dominating the market."
There is a bit of a difference between being exposed to computing and actually having one in nearly every home. Don't forget that programmers aren't the only ones that make a living with computers. Most (if not all...) of the 3D artists I know, for example, got their start because they learned skills in 3D at home on their PC.
In any event, it's silly to deny that Windows hasn't had a positive effect on the number of machines in people's homes these days. I realize it's not fun to think about and all, but honestly, that's just not something to be in denial about.
"I would be interested in knowing if anyone actually prefers the audio format to traditional page flipping."
I don't know if I prefer the audio format, but I do find it entertaining. I've listened to audio books while doing some mind numbing stuff at work. Great way to kill a few hours, but they often leave stuff out of the text version of the book. The Return of the Jedi audio play was kinda neat. Not precisely a book on CD, but it made my drive across country a little more interesting.
"In terms of going MP3, wouldn't the author have saved a lot in fees by going OGG, or is acceptance too much of a concern?"
Nope. MP3 fees are paid when you produce software that encodes MP3 audio. The book publisher, other than buying the software that can encode in MP3 format, isn't paying any additional fees. The MP3 fee was probably paid long before this audio book went for sale.
"...it shows an "update" icon, which updates when clicked. How much easier could it be without hijacking your system to do it for you?"
When you start FireFox, it could pop up a window saying "There's a critical update to FireFox available. Would you like todownload it now? [Yes] [No] ( ) Don't show this message again." Maybe even have another button you can click that'll tell you what is updated, or at least what's 'critical' about the update.
A little OT: Windows Update has a mode that's kind of interesting. You can tell it to download the updates and hold them somewhere. It'll then apply them when you go to shut down.
"When you buy UMD content, there's a fair chance you'll never be able to do anything worthwile with it, even if you manage to extract the video, it will look like VHS at best. But it's still sold at about the same price as a DVD."
... well nearly. The PSP has the advantage because I could run to Walmart really quick just before a trip and get something I haven't seen before. That's mildly attractive.
.avi versions to dump on my TabletPC or even a smaller device down the road. Sony and Apple have picked two different methods to supply my demand, good for them.
Doesn't really bug me. The fact is, I'd be paying $15 for the convenience of having it in a really small form factor. When you're travelling by air, even a portable DVD player is too big. (and that's not including the delicate media.) As for getting stuff off it, I really don't care. The idea is that the PSP would be all I needed to play it. So what if it's only VHS quality? I'm in a hotel, EVERYTHING (including the food) is VHS quality. The movies are still quite watchable, just a little soft.
That all said, I agree with you, mainly because I think we have similar tastes. I don't want to buy movies twice, and I don't travel enough to justify it if I did. On the other hand, if I did find myself at times where the PSP as a movie machine would be interesting, it wouldn't be the end of the world. $30 and I've got a couple of movies to watch. One on the ride to, one on the ride back. There's no rule that states you have to buy UMD copies of what you already have on hand. Get one or two when you're going on a trip, no biggie.
Yeah, I'm dancing on both sides of the fence on this one. Basically, the PSP is interesting to me, but not interesting enough. Hence why I don't own one. I'd personally prefer something like the video iPod or the Archos media player because I can put my own stuff on it *and* have a library of things to watch ready to go. That suits me
Eh, blah, I didn't really go anywhere with my post. But hopefully my feelings are a little clearer. No, it's not for everybody. No, it's not perfect. It still, however, fills a nice little niche. Frankly, I wish that the next generation format for movies would have a similar form factor to UMDs. Those little 2" cartridge/discs are great for portability, modern DVDs and their currently announced successors are not. It sucks. It's the main reason why I'd want to rip them in the first place. Fuck sharing them with others, I'm a selfish leech. I want
"Slow news day?"
Given the exact nature of how Slashdot gets its news to 'report', I'm not sure why anybody would be ill at them for being a few days late. By the time Slashdot posts the story, you could have heard it. Until they actually get reporters on their staff, this'll always be the case.
"If you paid $20 for content on UMD so you could watch it on a tiny little screen, you deserve to be shot. Spending $20+ on a full sized DVD that you can watch on your widescreen television once or twice in your life is absurd enough, much less this PSP UMD nonsense. But it just proves, people will buy anything!"
Or it proves that some people find themselves spending time idling and they want something to occupy themselves. I've heard a few times that people who ride the bus a lot find the PSP to be a wonderful little device. Frankly, I'd probably be interested in one as well if I were still at my previous job. I travelled by plane a lot. Sometimes I'd spend up to a week at a time in a hotel. The idea of a pocket sized device with an interesting collection of movies would have been quite attractive to me. Every trip, I'd pick up a couple of UMDs and be off.
That said, I'm actually more attracted to the video iPod. 30/60 gigs of storage plus a video out. I could keep a reasonably large library of shows or movies to watch on it, then hook it up to the TV at the hotel to kill a couple of hours before bed. Not a bad deal since I'm on the market for an iPod anyway.
You don't see it, that's fine, but that doesn't mean everybody's stupid.
"It ones of those that requires a knack for seeing the simple things"
Funny you should mention that. The particular site I saw that mentioned this game had a few comments on the site complaining about the suggestion that it is harder for smart people to get this. Your comment is, in a vague way, similar to this feeling. (well.. at least enough for the purposes of my post...) Frankly, I wouldn't have ever gotten this puzzle if not for some of the hints that have repeatedly dished out from the various sites I read about it. I don't attribute this to being particularly smart, though I can understand why people would see it this way. The problem is that when you solve computer problems, you instantly reduce everything down to numbers. I was looking for a numerical solution, not one based on the visual I was given. When you program for a while, you have a reflex to do just that. I think it's more of a reflection of one's occupation than it is a reflection of how one sees the 'simple things'. (Not that those are polar opposites or anything..)
(Note: I didn't un-ROT the answer... )
Is the answer to ask one statue what the other would say, then assume it's the opposite? For example, let's say you point to the door that the lying statue is guarding, then ask that statue how the other statue would identify it. Let's say he says "he would say I am guarding the death door." In that case, the truth statue would say that was the life door because the lying statue is saying the opposite. So, if you do the opposite, then that turns out to be the life door. The other way around: If the truthful statue was guarding the life door, he would say that the other statue would call it the death door. The other statue is lying, so he'd say it was the death door. So the opposite is.. life.
Is that the answer? If so, well it's not because I'm smart. I think I saw this on an old episode of Doctor Who or something. In my defense, though, I did get curious one day and whip out a pencil and paper and did a little math to prove it.