while i agree that the antivirus companies have some dubious tactics, i dunno if this is really all that inappropriate. people studying diseases often study transmission patterns and infection rates, but we don't accuse them of any impropriety. you'd expect an oncologist to have some decent pictures of a cancer spreading, wouldn't you?
how about a dark room with a tv or CRT monitor on? could a simple light sensor (maybe the remote control sensor? or would it not work with IR?)allow a tv to function as a camera? hello george orwell!
AMEN, BROTHER- this ain't the news desk, buddy, this is the nerd table in the high school cafeteria. Most of the time here is spent trying to make milk come out of eachother's noses...
I've used both, and Blockbuster seems about the same to me. Of course, Houston probably has its own distribution center, so that may be part of it.
I was talking to an employee at the Blockbuster store by our house (when we were using one of our 2 free monthly in-store rentals, which are handy when you want something on a whim) says they're in talks with the USPS to have them scan the returning DVD's when they receive them, so that they can send outgoing ones before the returning ones even arrive at the distribution center.
Agreed- One of my favorite games, snood, has some of the dumbest graphics i've ever seen. I almost feel embarrassed playing it, yet it's so frickin' addictive!...and so reasonably priced that I actually paid for a piece of software for once. $15 to register- I got it for my PocketPC and my desktop.
Yeah, I see your point, however I find the learning process the most fun part of most games. The rest of many games is just running around the maps and killing stuff, which gets old pretty quick...
Games suck these days, with few exceptions every game is just a variant of one of a few formulas- FPS's, RPG's, RTS's, Sports games, Racing games, and a couple of basic puzzle formulas. I don't think the game market's about to implode or anything, but it's been a long time since a wholly original game has come out. Need more Katamari Damacy, less run-around-and-shoot-crap games...
That doesn't really make sense, though- because they could've saved money on legal bills by not bothering with this guy (keeping prices low), AND avoided the bad publicity.
as an owner of an HP iPaq 6315, I think this will be good for the market. The more competition there is in the market for PocketPC phones, the cheaper they'll get and the more they'll try to innovate.
I've had my iPaq since January, and it has definitely impacted my life. I surf the web, play games, and listen to MP3's on the bus, can view the PDF bus schedules if I need to, I can sync with MS money, which is really handy because I'm terrible about keeping a check register. I think if these were cheaper (I got mine used & unlocked off of the company bb for $400) and there were a little more innovation, everyone would want one.
I've been a temp for almost a year now, and I've seen a lot of offices and a lot of spreadsheets. The thing I've seen in common with most of them is that they usually are things that would be better served by databases. The problem is that databases have no obvious real-world analog that the average computer user can understand and implement properly. Spreadsheets, though, they get.
So when it comes time to do a report that they do every quarter and which have the same formulas, they just duplicate the worksheet on their excel spreadsheet and enter the data, or just throw in another column.
They're not shared easily, they're not protected easily, and it usually involves retyping information that's already in some computer format into excel (good thing too, because they usually hire a temp to do it!).
The Enron thing in California had nothing to do with oil.
I'm not saying it's Econ 101 simple, and it's certainly more complex than most markets, but we can't really do anything about OPEC controlling the amount of supply, so then it really comes down to the companies that do the stuff WITH the oil (i.e., make gas) and that is as basically as supply-and-demand as any other market. In a way, though, OPEC's really controlling the supply as best as they can- they could flood the market with cheap oil, but it would seriously screw things up. Likewise, they could drive the price even higher and it would seriously screw things up, too. It sucks, but it's really about as good as it can get...
they don't fix the prices, they control production. the market determines the prices. they could suck it all out of the ground as fast as they could build more wells and flood the market w/cheap oil, but they'd be screwing themselves and the rest of the world over. there's a reason that production is where it is, because that's the optimal balance of production and demand.
What evidence do you have that the gas companies are price fixing? That gas is expensive? It's a finite resource in high demand. Welcome to the way economics works. The infrastructure to drill for, transport, and refine oil into gasoline costs billions of dollars, and yet how much do you pay per gallon for bottled sugar water? Not to mention that here in the US ~$.30/gallon is tax...
"But, in my opinion, nobody suggested making MIDI files from sheet music."
I even have this fancy software (not sure if it's still published) called 'Desktop Sheet Music' published by Midisoft. It lets you enter the score, completely and 100% accurately, and then it's played back EXACTLY how the composer intended
sure sounds to me like he did. maybe he meant playing it into the program w/a MIDI controller, but that was not inferred. in any case, if you just enter the sheet music, it's not going to sound EXACTLY how the composer intended.
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while i agree that the antivirus companies have some dubious tactics, i dunno if this is really all that inappropriate. people studying diseases often study transmission patterns and infection rates, but we don't accuse them of any impropriety. you'd expect an oncologist to have some decent pictures of a cancer spreading, wouldn't you?
how about a dark room with a tv or CRT monitor on? could a simple light sensor (maybe the remote control sensor? or would it not work with IR?)allow a tv to function as a camera? hello george orwell!
AMEN, BROTHER- this ain't the news desk, buddy, this is the nerd table in the high school cafeteria. Most of the time here is spent trying to make milk come out of eachother's noses...
really? i'd imagine most slashdotters haven't even heard that before, much less know who it was... let's hope you're right :)
Don't forget to give credit where credit is due. That's Gil Scott-Heron.
I've used both, and Blockbuster seems about the same to me. Of course, Houston probably has its own distribution center, so that may be part of it.
I was talking to an employee at the Blockbuster store by our house (when we were using one of our 2 free monthly in-store rentals, which are handy when you want something on a whim) says they're in talks with the USPS to have them scan the returning DVD's when they receive them, so that they can send outgoing ones before the returning ones even arrive at the distribution center.
FYI- it's H.L. Mencken
I wonder which will work better- The Telltale Heart, or The Raven? Maybe The Cask of Amontillado?
also true, but probably not what was intended- "participate" :)
Agreed- One of my favorite games, snood, has some of the dumbest graphics i've ever seen. I almost feel embarrassed playing it, yet it's so frickin' addictive! ...and so reasonably priced that I actually paid for a piece of software for once. $15 to register- I got it for my PocketPC and my desktop.
Yeah, I see your point, however I find the learning process the most fun part of most games. The rest of many games is just running around the maps and killing stuff, which gets old pretty quick...
Games suck these days, with few exceptions every game is just a variant of one of a few formulas- FPS's, RPG's, RTS's, Sports games, Racing games, and a couple of basic puzzle formulas. I don't think the game market's about to implode or anything, but it's been a long time since a wholly original game has come out. Need more Katamari Damacy, less run-around-and-shoot-crap games...
That doesn't really make sense, though- because they could've saved money on legal bills by not bothering with this guy (keeping prices low), AND avoided the bad publicity.
Usually colleagues have a habit of making emssy files and storing things all over the shop
unfortunately, spotlight won't help you find your files if you name them dyslexically...
I guess here's one instance where we can be glad MS rarely lives up to their promises...
as an owner of an HP iPaq 6315, I think this will be good for the market. The more competition there is in the market for PocketPC phones, the cheaper they'll get and the more they'll try to innovate.
I've had my iPaq since January, and it has definitely impacted my life. I surf the web, play games, and listen to MP3's on the bus, can view the PDF bus schedules if I need to, I can sync with MS money, which is really handy because I'm terrible about keeping a check register. I think if these were cheaper (I got mine used & unlocked off of the company bb for $400) and there were a little more innovation, everyone would want one.
I've been a temp for almost a year now, and I've seen a lot of offices and a lot of spreadsheets. The thing I've seen in common with most of them is that they usually are things that would be better served by databases. The problem is that databases have no obvious real-world analog that the average computer user can understand and implement properly. Spreadsheets, though, they get.
So when it comes time to do a report that they do every quarter and which have the same formulas, they just duplicate the worksheet on their excel spreadsheet and enter the data, or just throw in another column.
They're not shared easily, they're not protected easily, and it usually involves retyping information that's already in some computer format into excel (good thing too, because they usually hire a temp to do it!).
Isn't Apple Microsoft's market research department?
I believe they call them R&D South
The Enron thing in California had nothing to do with oil.
I'm not saying it's Econ 101 simple, and it's certainly more complex than most markets, but we can't really do anything about OPEC controlling the amount of supply, so then it really comes down to the companies that do the stuff WITH the oil (i.e., make gas) and that is as basically as supply-and-demand as any other market. In a way, though, OPEC's really controlling the supply as best as they can- they could flood the market with cheap oil, but it would seriously screw things up. Likewise, they could drive the price even higher and it would seriously screw things up, too. It sucks, but it's really about as good as it can get...
they don't fix the prices, they control production. the market determines the prices. they could suck it all out of the ground as fast as they could build more wells and flood the market w/cheap oil, but they'd be screwing themselves and the rest of the world over. there's a reason that production is where it is, because that's the optimal balance of production and demand.
check again- how much of what you pay in Canada is tax?
What evidence do you have that the gas companies are price fixing? That gas is expensive? It's a finite resource in high demand. Welcome to the way economics works. The infrastructure to drill for, transport, and refine oil into gasoline costs billions of dollars, and yet how much do you pay per gallon for bottled sugar water? Not to mention that here in the US ~$.30/gallon is tax...
whatever. i guess that shows how one person can read something one way and another can read it completely differently.
Strange, I thought they were called Germans...
"But, in my opinion, nobody suggested making MIDI files from sheet music."
I even have this fancy software (not sure if it's still published) called 'Desktop Sheet Music' published by Midisoft. It lets you enter the score, completely and 100% accurately, and then it's played back EXACTLY how the composer intended
sure sounds to me like he did. maybe he meant playing it into the program w/a MIDI controller, but that was not inferred. in any case, if you just enter the sheet music, it's not going to sound EXACTLY how the composer intended.