"Are there any subtitles for this, or is anyone willing to make them for a deaf person like me? Subtitle Workshop"
Is there a such thing as an.AVI (well any playback medium, really...) with subtitles?
The directors cuts of the Star Trek movies have a subtitle commentary from Michael Okuda, an artist for the various versions of the franchise, who talked about some of the interesting little things that went into the making of the movie. I'd like to see Revelations with a commentary describing how they did some of the stuff.
So why do I want movie playback with the ability to select captions? Well, thing is, I think the poster I'm replying to has a bigger need for the subtitles than I do. Since with an AVI, to the best of my knowledge, you'd need to make the captions part of the footage, it would mean making several different versions of the video. But if there was a playback mechanism that supported multiple tracks like DVDs do, then we'd both be happy.
Come to think of it, it'd be pretty darned handy for indie film developers to have a DVD-esque playback package. Anything like that today?
Look, I think the PSP is overhyped. I think some of the uses for it (like playing movies) sound cooler than in practice they really are.
Despite my feelings on the PSP, however, I think you are missing the point. The point was to do something kind of fun and learn a few things in the process, not to make the remote obsolete.
I think it's pretty sad that Slashdot has attracted such a main-stream audience that collectively it has lost the ability to appreciate the true nerd-dom here.
"And those types of people aren't, in general, in the whole open source movement..."
Well, that depends on how they're recruited. Artists etc need a portfolio to get a job. The best type of portfolio to develop is the kind where you've done work on a project. An artist that's in-between jobs or trying to break into the industry would be an ideal candidate to work on an Open Source game. That is, more or less, what I did. I did some pro-bono work for a garage game. Since there were no real deadlines for the game, I was allowed to pursue my work to the point of learning new valuable skills. When job-search time came, my work on that game almost single-handedly got me a great job.
Unfortunately, I don't think a lot of new-to-the-industry artists would see the value in this. It would take a little attitude re-alignment, but I think with a few success stories like mine, it could be done.
Well, yeah, nobody quite got the implementation right. However, I can tell you that Disneyland still has the Muppet 3D adventure, Universal Studios still was Terminator and Shrek 3D, and Las Vegas has the Borg Experience '4D'. All big attractions. (well, the Muppet 3D one USED to be a big attraction, heh.)
" It didnt work in the cinema and personally I cant think of a compelling mainstream requirement for 3D on the desktop."
Err. If you're saying we can live with out it, I more or less agree. However, nearly every game is 3D. Stereo vision, if it can be accomplished comfortably, would be quite pleasant.
Now this isn't so mainstream, but as a 3D artist, I'd love to have it while making models. Right now, I do a lot of little rotations to get an idea of how it's working out. A GOOD stereo display (which I have difficulty imagining is all that attainable...) would definitely assist in the job. Heck, even the standard desktop UI would benefit from it. I actually saw a demo of a layered LCD a few years ago that was running Windows. The foreground layer had the window in focus and the BG layer had everything else. It was actually quite a pleasant visual cue.
Is the need or desire there? I'd have to say yes. Is it some sort of holy grail that'll make computing or video game life much better like going from monochrome to color did? Right now, I'd have to say no. My mind could be changed if the right technology came along, but for right now I remain unconvinced. I think the next big revolution will come if somebody figures out a way to project volumetric holograms.
"Two layers is not deep enough for 3D, you would need hundres of layers. But I doubt the technology described in TFA even attempts this."
I saw a demo of this back at Siggraph 2001. 3D? Nah. But having the foreground layer and the BG layer seperated was still a much nicer effect than the cross-eyed approach to 3D that has been done before.
Also, from a compuer using point of view, it was a little better, too. You could It showed the foreground window on the front plane and everything else in the back. Granted, this isn't worth the expense, but it was definitely a pleasant "this is your window focus" effect.
"I think it's rather sensational to say that the author thinks that's the only use or the primary use."
Amen to that.
What bugs me is that we want our computers to remain useful even when they're busy. Me personally, I do 3D rendering. My computer is often tied up for hours. However, I also have a dual-proc machine. Even when CPU usage is high and resources are low, I can still get to a web browser and at least read or something.
Okay, I'm not in the minority of computer users out there, but surely there's a significant market for those who do more than one thing at once on their computer. DVD-Ripping comes to mind.
...most of us are quite intentionally using multi-tasking OS's. A new chip comes along that helps that multi-tasking, and people are seeking reasons not to use it?
"Do you really think the maintenance of a few hundred wifi stations is THAT much more complicated than maintenance of 10,000 light poles?"
In a sense. Light pole operation can actually mean life or death. It's hard to consider Wifi as important, especially when California's generally always bitching about not having enough money for the services they have.
Then there's the matter of sustaining decent net service through tens of thousands of connections. (Hundreds of thousands even?) Each of those 'few hundred' wifi stations has to have a working net connection plus hte ability to perform routing etc. This is not nearly as simple as simply running a power cable over to a light. Each of those stations will probably require fairly expensive administrators to maintain. (even if it's not EVERY single one, we're still talking hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain.)
I don't know whether or not I think this would be more complex than lightpoles. I do know that from an essentials point of view, it isn't as high of priority, yet it would still require significant money and man-power.
It's really up to SF, but I think the CEO had a point.
"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy might seem like a million wonders, like stars speckling the night sky. It is not. It is a dangerous weapon to sap you of your humanity and dignity. When walking into the theater your first thought will be: Do I want popcorn or JuJuBes with my Coke? And upon walking out you will feel a strange desire to kiss a woman. Resist this temptation!!! Join the mass of thinking men who will avoid this capitalist propaganda and SAAAAAAVE YOURSELVES!!!!"
I've heard enough of this sort of bullshit over the years that I would have considered this satire before 'troll'.
What really hacks me off is that they should have a refund policy in place. Heck, even a %50 return on your tickets if you didn't like the movie would be sufficient.
Truth be told, I think the problem will be more to do with the fans than with the movie itself. You're gonna have one group of fans who wants to see a literal play by play of everything in the book. (Fat chance.) You're gonna have another group of fans who'll like it simply because it provides some visuals to what theyv'e seen. You're gonna have another group of fans who think they know what the formula to success was, then count up all the ways the movie didn't succeed.
I'm worried that if I end up liking the movie, I'll convince somebody else to see it and get chewed for it.
" I get the impression he's complaining about people who call to whine that the phone doesn't work in certain, limited patches even though it works fine everywhere else."
What really gets me is that Slashdotters, most of whom KNOW how radio works, bitch about it too. They also seem to think that the handset itself is the problem.
" We trully are living in the "throw-away" society. Quality is just another buzzword in advertising anymore, it doesn't actually mean anything."
You realize we're talking about the digital world where standards are always in flux, right? It's a lot easier to pay $50 for a DVD player that'll last a year or two than it is to spend $300 on one and hope it 'lasts'. It isn't like these are items of high importance.
"Why does the Doctor have to keep getting younger and younger? To me he should be an eccentric older man, with enough years to give gravitas to some of the absurd lines he'll surely have to say!"
We've got like 25 years of that. Frankly, I like Eccleston because his eccentricity is a little weird to watch coming from somebody who is fairly young and, for once, dresses sensibly.
Truth be told, I don't think there's any requirement that the Doctor be 'old', just carrying the experience of traveeling around the universe on his shoulders.
"We're told that it is so "youth" can relate to him - but that's surely nonsense. As a kid I grew up with Tom Baker, and didn't relate to him any less because he was is his forties."
Well, your data pool of one is certainly very convincing, however... come on! Surely you can see the benefit of adding a little more energy to the show? It's certainly gotten a little faster paced in its latest incarnation. Can you imagine William Hartnell trying to keep up? Ick.
"I still haven't found anything that truely taxes my existing 3.2ghz P4. "
In all seriousness, you'd probably see the difference right away when running on a dual. It's not so much about getting things done faster, but getting two done at one time. In Windows, anyway, I noticed a big difference when switching to Dual. If I start an app, for example, Explorer doesn't just sit there waiting until it's done loading. It's still there, ready to go, presumably because it still has CPU resources.
Dual core is a different philosophy, not just another stab at prettier benchmarks. Frankly, I think it's kind of sad that dual machines didn't become more mass market in recent years.
" leaving us with what, three more before he's out of Regenerations?"
Actually, there was a mention in an episode years ago about being able to renew regenerations in a Time Lord. I don't remember the specifics, sorry. (I do wonder, tho, how come the Doc was able to live to 900 years in his first incarnation?)
Now that the Time Lords are gone, I'm curious how that'll play out. Hehe.
Slashdot Mirror
"Yes. Dumbass."
Care to enlighten me, or do you think jackasses are held in higher regard than dumbasses?
"Star Wars Kid got a girlfriend?"
Heh. Imagine the pain that'd cause most of the Slashdot community.
"Are there any subtitles for this, or is anyone willing to make them for a deaf person like me? Subtitle Workshop"
.AVI (well any playback medium, really...) with subtitles?
Is there a such thing as an
The directors cuts of the Star Trek movies have a subtitle commentary from Michael Okuda, an artist for the various versions of the franchise, who talked about some of the interesting little things that went into the making of the movie. I'd like to see Revelations with a commentary describing how they did some of the stuff.
So why do I want movie playback with the ability to select captions? Well, thing is, I think the poster I'm replying to has a bigger need for the subtitles than I do. Since with an AVI, to the best of my knowledge, you'd need to make the captions part of the footage, it would mean making several different versions of the video. But if there was a playback mechanism that supported multiple tracks like DVDs do, then we'd both be happy.
Come to think of it, it'd be pretty darned handy for indie film developers to have a DVD-esque playback package. Anything like that today?
"Because we all need a $250 remote. "
Look, I think the PSP is overhyped. I think some of the uses for it (like playing movies) sound cooler than in practice they really are.
Despite my feelings on the PSP, however, I think you are missing the point. The point was to do something kind of fun and learn a few things in the process, not to make the remote obsolete.
I think it's pretty sad that Slashdot has attracted such a main-stream audience that collectively it has lost the ability to appreciate the true nerd-dom here.
"And those types of people aren't, in general, in the whole open source movement..."
Well, that depends on how they're recruited. Artists etc need a portfolio to get a job. The best type of portfolio to develop is the kind where you've done work on a project. An artist that's in-between jobs or trying to break into the industry would be an ideal candidate to work on an Open Source game. That is, more or less, what I did. I did some pro-bono work for a garage game. Since there were no real deadlines for the game, I was allowed to pursue my work to the point of learning new valuable skills. When job-search time came, my work on that game almost single-handedly got me a great job.
Unfortunately, I don't think a lot of new-to-the-industry artists would see the value in this. It would take a little attitude re-alignment, but I think with a few success stories like mine, it could be done.
"... and while it is traveling along the rest of the tube there is no resistance."
Of course, that would be futile.
" It didnt work in the cinema..."
Well, yeah, nobody quite got the implementation right. However, I can tell you that Disneyland still has the Muppet 3D adventure, Universal Studios still was Terminator and Shrek 3D, and Las Vegas has the Borg Experience '4D'. All big attractions. (well, the Muppet 3D one USED to be a big attraction, heh.)
" It didnt work in the cinema and personally I cant think of a compelling mainstream requirement for 3D on the desktop."
Err. If you're saying we can live with out it, I more or less agree. However, nearly every game is 3D. Stereo vision, if it can be accomplished comfortably, would be quite pleasant.
Now this isn't so mainstream, but as a 3D artist, I'd love to have it while making models. Right now, I do a lot of little rotations to get an idea of how it's working out. A GOOD stereo display (which I have difficulty imagining is all that attainable...) would definitely assist in the job.
Heck, even the standard desktop UI would benefit from it. I actually saw a demo of a layered LCD a few years ago that was running Windows. The foreground layer had the window in focus and the BG layer had everything else. It was actually quite a pleasant visual cue.
Is the need or desire there? I'd have to say yes. Is it some sort of holy grail that'll make computing or video game life much better like going from monochrome to color did? Right now, I'd have to say no. My mind could be changed if the right technology came along, but for right now I remain unconvinced. I think the next big revolution will come if somebody figures out a way to project volumetric holograms.
"Two layers is not deep enough for 3D, you would need hundres of layers. But I doubt the technology described in TFA even attempts this."
I saw a demo of this back at Siggraph 2001. 3D? Nah. But having the foreground layer and the BG layer seperated was still a much nicer effect than the cross-eyed approach to 3D that has been done before.
Also, from a compuer using point of view, it was a little better, too. You could It showed the foreground window on the front plane and everything else in the back. Granted, this isn't worth the expense, but it was definitely a pleasant "this is your window focus" effect.
These monitors are actually pretty cool.
"*new since Windows 3.1!"
And then three years later:
"We finally copied some of Longhorns features into Linux!"
"I think it's rather sensational to say that the author thinks that's the only use or the primary use."
Amen to that.
What bugs me is that we want our computers to remain useful even when they're busy. Me personally, I do 3D rendering. My computer is often tied up for hours. However, I also have a dual-proc machine. Even when CPU usage is high and resources are low, I can still get to a web browser and at least read or something.
Okay, I'm not in the minority of computer users out there, but surely there's a significant market for those who do more than one thing at once on their computer. DVD-Ripping comes to mind.
...most of us are quite intentionally using multi-tasking OS's. A new chip comes along that helps that multi-tasking, and people are seeking reasons not to use it?
"Do you really think the maintenance of a few hundred wifi stations is THAT much more complicated than maintenance of 10,000 light poles?"
In a sense. Light pole operation can actually mean life or death. It's hard to consider Wifi as important, especially when California's generally always bitching about not having enough money for the services they have.
Then there's the matter of sustaining decent net service through tens of thousands of connections. (Hundreds of thousands even?) Each of those 'few hundred' wifi stations has to have a working net connection plus hte ability to perform routing etc. This is not nearly as simple as simply running a power cable over to a light. Each of those stations will probably require fairly expensive administrators to maintain. (even if it's not EVERY single one, we're still talking hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain.)
I don't know whether or not I think this would be more complex than lightpoles. I do know that from an essentials point of view, it isn't as high of priority, yet it would still require significant money and man-power.
It's really up to SF, but I think the CEO had a point.
I've heard enough of this sort of bullshit over the years that I would have considered this satire before 'troll'.
Hey, at least Slashdot's fiction section still has plenty of MS entries to entertain!
"The point is to not pay for bad movies."
What really hacks me off is that they should have a refund policy in place. Heck, even a %50 return on your tickets if you didn't like the movie would be sufficient.
"I'm sure it isn't as good as the books were..."
Truth be told, I think the problem will be more to do with the fans than with the movie itself. You're gonna have one group of fans who wants to see a literal play by play of everything in the book. (Fat chance.) You're gonna have another group of fans who'll like it simply because it provides some visuals to what theyv'e seen. You're gonna have another group of fans who think they know what the formula to success was, then count up all the ways the movie didn't succeed.
I'm worried that if I end up liking the movie, I'll convince somebody else to see it and get chewed for it.
"Are you kidding me? Why would a person buy a cell phone unless they are lead to believe it works in the area they live in??"
oh... I dunno... basic understanding of radio maybe? Anybody who's ever had bunny ears should get the hint.
" I get the impression he's complaining about people who call to whine that the phone doesn't work in certain, limited patches even though it works fine everywhere else."
What really gets me is that Slashdotters, most of whom KNOW how radio works, bitch about it too. They also seem to think that the handset itself is the problem.
"The developing world doesn't need fast web browsing. It needs less corrupt leaders..."
Wouldnt broad access to uncensored information help deal with this problem?
" We trully are living in the "throw-away" society. Quality is just another buzzword in advertising anymore, it doesn't actually mean anything."
You realize we're talking about the digital world where standards are always in flux, right? It's a lot easier to pay $50 for a DVD player that'll last a year or two than it is to spend $300 on one and hope it 'lasts'. It isn't like these are items of high importance.
"Why does the Doctor have to keep getting younger and younger? To me he should be an eccentric older man, with enough years to give gravitas to some of the absurd lines he'll surely have to say!"
We've got like 25 years of that. Frankly, I like Eccleston because his eccentricity is a little weird to watch coming from somebody who is fairly young and, for once, dresses sensibly.
Truth be told, I don't think there's any requirement that the Doctor be 'old', just carrying the experience of traveeling around the universe on his shoulders.
"We're told that it is so "youth" can relate to him - but that's surely nonsense. As a kid I grew up with Tom Baker, and didn't relate to him any less because he was is his forties."
Well, your data pool of one is certainly very convincing, however... come on! Surely you can see the benefit of adding a little more energy to the show? It's certainly gotten a little faster paced in its latest incarnation. Can you imagine William Hartnell trying to keep up? Ick.
"What about the 10 regeneration limitation?"
Is consistency really so important that it could mean killing the show?
This would have been funny like 6 years ago.
"I still haven't found anything that truely taxes my existing 3.2ghz P4. "
In all seriousness, you'd probably see the difference right away when running on a dual. It's not so much about getting things done faster, but getting two done at one time. In Windows, anyway, I noticed a big difference when switching to Dual. If I start an app, for example, Explorer doesn't just sit there waiting until it's done loading. It's still there, ready to go, presumably because it still has CPU resources.
Dual core is a different philosophy, not just another stab at prettier benchmarks. Frankly, I think it's kind of sad that dual machines didn't become more mass market in recent years.
" leaving us with what, three more before he's out of Regenerations?"
Actually, there was a mention in an episode years ago about being able to renew regenerations in a Time Lord. I don't remember the specifics, sorry. (I do wonder, tho, how come the Doc was able to live to 900 years in his first incarnation?)
Now that the Time Lords are gone, I'm curious how that'll play out. Hehe.