"I once saw a beetle with a license plate that read "FEATURE.";)"
Heh. A few years ago, a company called Newtek released a muchly anticipated new version of their software, Lightwave. They had a massive beta. Anybody who pre-purchased Lightwave got to be on the beta team. As part of the fun, they shipped little plastic cockroaches to represent 'bugs' for the beta team to find. Somebody posted on the mailing list that they got a sucker.
I remember watching Channel 1 back in high school. For those who don't know what Channel 1 is, it's a news station for schools around the USA. Just before a commercial break, they'd ask a question and pop up the answer when it returned.
One day, they asked: "Q. What is the most common cause of plane crashes?"
Without thinking, I excited blurted out "Gravity!" Turns out, the answer was "Human Error". I learned a lesson about that on the way to the principal's office.
"You can get 4 Mb/s internet connection anywhere from free to $100/month. Who pocketed the remaining $1700 each month? Talking about corruption..."
Not necessarily. You still need upload, too. Sadly, deals like that don't typically have good upload speeds. You would also need more than one connection, unless you have one really big hotspot. Then you need people to maintain it. I'm suprised they don't have at least one full time guy on it, that would be a minimum of 4k a month right there.
Anyhoo, it's hardly consequential since the article doesn't say a bleeding thing about what went into the network.
"Video out on the PSP would look hideous on a big screen. 480x272 is the resolution of the screen"
It wouldn't be 'hideous', just not as good as DVD. It's still better than VHS.
You have to consider that this is meant to be a portable media. If I still had my previous job where I'd travel for a week or two at a time, I wouldn't mind the loss in quality considering how much smaller the player AND the media is. It's a LOT easier to carry around a PSP + a few discs than it is to carry a portable DVD player and some DVDs. Not a bad deal if the movies are cheap. But, I agree with other posters on this topic, $20 is too much.
"I hate "cheaters" as much as the next person. But I would have to agree with the grandparent's post, that level design should account for such things."
Personally, I don't call it cheating if both sides can do it. It may make the game un-fun, but it's hardly cheating.
I doubt that distinguishment means much, tho. Usually cries of cheating happen when somebody's losing. At that point, they're not terribly discriminant of whether or not the other guy was actually being unfair.
Just once I'd like to hear "Hey man, it's really not fun for me when you do that. Could you please try another tactic?" I'd be more than happy to comply for the sake of making the game fun, but instead everybody's a 'gay faggot llama'.
"If you consider your HTML content to be unproductible copyrighted material, might I ask why the hell is it publically accessible on the Web in the first place?"
"They actually have standards in the construction industry."
Yet houses still get broken into. A couple of years ago, my car was broken into and some stuff stolen from it. Should I scream at Honda about it because they didn't use transparent aluminum in all the windows?
"Don't spend large amounts of money, get the cheapest one you can find with reasonable features and quality and just allow for the fact that it needs to get replaced every so often."
That's great until it fails in the middle of a shoot. Don't forget the part of the question that involved them spending weeks on the road.
"For something as ethereal as bits on a platter, it hardly seems worth it to pay USD1.00 for a song. If I buy a CD for USD15.00, I get about 15 songs, so the price of the music is the same, and in addition I also get a nice case and a physical disk and liner notes."
That's all fine and dandy, except that you're likely paying for songs you don't want. All for the benefit of having a little platter with bits on it and a few scribbles on a piece of paper.
For a song I want, $1 per download is quite reasonable.
"How much is Warner Bros. paying for these ads poorly masquerading as "news"?"
Judging from your comment, it's working. Now Slashdot has another comment + more ads served as a result of it. Good job increasing value within a business practice you despise!
" UMD has been somehow in successful position. I have no doubt with this. Compare it with DVD at its first year. DVD was protected tightly as well. I guess if it is fully opened and rewritable by anyone, UMD and PSP wouldn't be this successful."
It's 'universal' in the sense that it does more than simply play music or video. It plays games and presumably other types of media, too. It's 'universal' in the sense that the V in DVD means 'versatile'.
"the real problem is with the apathy of "consumers" like yourself."
Apathy? If a sign says "Beware of Dog", and somebody pets dog, and that somebody gets bit, should I feel sorry for them? Call it apathy if you like. They picked a bad fight.
"but clearly, you are not intelligent enough to understand the importance of this case. this has very important ramifications for the entire industry."
Uh huh. I'm not turning into a drama queen over it, so I'm not intelligent. Never mind that these guys picked a legal battle that they stood weak on. Never mind that they not only gave Blizzard and any other game company (Valve, for example) strong reason to want the DMCA around. Never mind that there's now a court case backing up that sort of lawsuit. No no no, I should run around hating Blizzard because they behaved exactly as expected and I should love BNetD because they were reckless and got themselves into trouble.
Please. There's an old saying: Choose your battles. Understand what this means before going off half-cocked again.
"Just remember that whatever country you're from has ugly ill-based stereotypes, too."
I resent the flamebait moderation for my post. Some people spout off like their shit don't stink. I was pointing out that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't be so quick to cast stones.
Ever since the US invaded Iraq, there's been a green light to wrap up 300 million people in vague stereotypes. We're fat, we're self obsessed, we're wasteful, we're ignorant. Insightful, Interesting, Informative. Then we turn around and pat ourselves on the back for wanting to work for the greater good of humanity. It's about America, so it's not okay for me to point out the less than civil behaviour going on here?
"Let's face it, there is a definite kind of web/mob (wob?) mentality here. Generally, we like wikipedia and google. We don't like Microsoft, NY Times (reg req'd) etc. I'm not really sure how we feel abuot the LA Times. There are obvious exceptions to the above, but I think generally, this is a true statement for slashdot."
Yep. Slashdot goes through its little fads. In a race for karma, people make harsh criticisms and draw thick lines. You're rewarded with a magical number when you support public opinion. It's funny, really. We've got a group-think that can do some actual damage. Pity the targets aren't being fairly judged.
Slashdot Mirror
How do you put a blond into an infinite loop? Have her click the link in my sig.
"If I remember my grammar correctly, it's "I" before "E" EXCEPT after "C"."
Your memory's not bad, but I bet it's because you're not polluting it with girls phone numbers.
"I once saw a beetle with a license plate that read "FEATURE." ;)"
Heh. A few years ago, a company called Newtek released a muchly anticipated new version of their software, Lightwave. They had a massive beta. Anybody who pre-purchased Lightwave got to be on the beta team. As part of the fun, they shipped little plastic cockroaches to represent 'bugs' for the beta team to find. Somebody posted on the mailing list that they got a sucker.
"A: Turdulence."
Uh huh.
I remember watching Channel 1 back in high school. For those who don't know what Channel 1 is, it's a news station for schools around the USA. Just before a commercial break, they'd ask a question and pop up the answer when it returned.
One day, they asked: "Q. What is the most common cause of plane crashes?"
Without thinking, I excited blurted out "Gravity!" Turns out, the answer was "Human Error". I learned a lesson about that on the way to the principal's office.
"You can get 4 Mb/s internet connection anywhere from free to $100/month. Who pocketed the remaining $1700 each month? Talking about corruption..."
Not necessarily. You still need upload, too. Sadly, deals like that don't typically have good upload speeds. You would also need more than one connection, unless you have one really big hotspot. Then you need people to maintain it. I'm suprised they don't have at least one full time guy on it, that would be a minimum of 4k a month right there.
Anyhoo, it's hardly consequential since the article doesn't say a bleeding thing about what went into the network.
"Video out on the PSP would look hideous on a big screen. 480x272 is the resolution of the screen"
It wouldn't be 'hideous', just not as good as DVD. It's still better than VHS.
You have to consider that this is meant to be a portable media. If I still had my previous job where I'd travel for a week or two at a time, I wouldn't mind the loss in quality considering how much smaller the player AND the media is. It's a LOT easier to carry around a PSP + a few discs than it is to carry a portable DVD player and some DVDs. Not a bad deal if the movies are cheap. But, I agree with other posters on this topic, $20 is too much.
"Can MS really be held at fault when illegal usage of the OS results in a huge failure of the Internet?"
Why not spread some of the blame to the hackers, crackers, and script kiddies?
"Thanks for being Frank with us. *ducks*"
Oh you guys..." that Burns!
"I hate "cheaters" as much as the next person. But I would have to agree with the grandparent's post, that level design should account for such things."
Personally, I don't call it cheating if both sides can do it. It may make the game un-fun, but it's hardly cheating.
I doubt that distinguishment means much, tho. Usually cries of cheating happen when somebody's losing. At that point, they're not terribly discriminant of whether or not the other guy was actually being unfair.
Just once I'd like to hear "Hey man, it's really not fun for me when you do that. Could you please try another tactic?" I'd be more than happy to comply for the sake of making the game fun, but instead everybody's a 'gay faggot llama'.
"If you consider your HTML content to be unproductible copyrighted material, might I ask why the hell is it publically accessible on the Web in the first place?"
Ad revenue.
"They actually have standards in the construction industry."
Yet houses still get broken into. A couple of years ago, my car was broken into and some stuff stolen from it. Should I scream at Honda about it because they didn't use transparent aluminum in all the windows?
Cue karma-whoring privacy concerns in 3...2...
"Don't spend large amounts of money, get the cheapest one you can find with reasonable features and quality and just allow for the fact that it needs to get replaced every so often."
That's great until it fails in the middle of a shoot. Don't forget the part of the question that involved them spending weeks on the road.
"What about the silent masses illegally downloading music that is not measured?"
What about the masses downloading music they already have licenses for so they can skip the burning step? Not every 'illegal' download is illegal.
"For something as ethereal as bits on a platter, it hardly seems worth it to pay USD1.00 for a song. If I buy a CD for USD15.00, I get about 15 songs, so the price of the music is the same, and in addition I also get a nice case and a physical disk and liner notes."
That's all fine and dandy, except that you're likely paying for songs you don't want. All for the benefit of having a little platter with bits on it and a few scribbles on a piece of paper.
For a song I want, $1 per download is quite reasonable.
"I'm just waiting for when it comes back as a near omnipotent being and starts demanding to see it's creator."
Why do I have the feeling there won't be any MrDoh decendents around to see that day?
"How much is Warner Bros. paying for these ads poorly masquerading as "news"?"
Judging from your comment, it's working. Now Slashdot has another comment + more ads served as a result of it. Good job increasing value within a business practice you despise!
"he is dead... and ?"
Ever lost a close friend or a relative? Did you say "..and?" then, too? If not, then why not RTFA and find out how he contributed to your life?
" UMD has been somehow in successful position. I have no doubt with this. Compare it with DVD at its first year. DVD was protected tightly as well. I guess if it is fully opened and rewritable by anyone, UMD and PSP wouldn't be this successful."
It's 'universal' in the sense that it does more than simply play music or video. It plays games and presumably other types of media, too. It's 'universal' in the sense that the V in DVD means 'versatile'.
"No, that's just ol' Billieboy's penis you're thinking about..."
Uh... you really shouldn't be posting around dinner time.
"the real problem is with the apathy of "consumers" like yourself."
Apathy? If a sign says "Beware of Dog", and somebody pets dog, and that somebody gets bit, should I feel sorry for them? Call it apathy if you like. They picked a bad fight.
"but clearly, you are not intelligent enough to understand the importance of this case. this has very important ramifications for the entire industry."
Uh huh. I'm not turning into a drama queen over it, so I'm not intelligent. Never mind that these guys picked a legal battle that they stood weak on. Never mind that they not only gave Blizzard and any other game company (Valve, for example) strong reason to want the DMCA around. Never mind that there's now a court case backing up that sort of lawsuit. No no no, I should run around hating Blizzard because they behaved exactly as expected and I should love BNetD because they were reckless and got themselves into trouble.
Please. There's an old saying: Choose your battles. Understand what this means before going off half-cocked again.
That's not why you're mad at Blizzard.
"Just remember that whatever country you're from has ugly ill-based stereotypes, too."
I resent the flamebait moderation for my post. Some people spout off like their shit don't stink. I was pointing out that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't be so quick to cast stones.
Ever since the US invaded Iraq, there's been a green light to wrap up 300 million people in vague stereotypes. We're fat, we're self obsessed, we're wasteful, we're ignorant. Insightful, Interesting, Informative. Then we turn around and pat ourselves on the back for wanting to work for the greater good of humanity. It's about America, so it's not okay for me to point out the less than civil behaviour going on here?
America sucks, mod me up.
"Americans can't relate to things that happen to people who aren't American in countries that aren't the US."
Just remember that whatever country you're from has ugly ill-based stereotypes, too.
"Let's face it, there is a definite kind of web/mob (wob?) mentality here. Generally, we like wikipedia and google. We don't like Microsoft, NY Times (reg req'd) etc. I'm not really sure how we feel abuot the LA Times. There are obvious exceptions to the above, but I think generally, this is a true statement for slashdot."
Yep. Slashdot goes through its little fads. In a race for karma, people make harsh criticisms and draw thick lines. You're rewarded with a magical number when you support public opinion. It's funny, really. We've got a group-think that can do some actual damage. Pity the targets aren't being fairly judged.