I wish this meant that XBox 1 would become MS's value console (like PS1 did a few years ago), and it would get a price cut. But as far as I know, they still couldn't make a profit on it at US$99, partly due to the way they licensed the chips.
I was hoping the price would fall, allowing me to complete the current-gen console trio, but I can't see any signs of that, and I'm a cheap bastard. I bought a PS2 last January when it slimmed down and hit $150, but I can't justify that price for an enormous machine that's quickly becoming obsolete.
Since Apple has said it won't actively prevent Windows booting on Intel Macs, Microsoft could probaby modify Windows to work around any problems, allowing them to sell copies of Windows to that last 4% or whatever of the market. I don't know if they will, but I bet they at least consider the idea. It probably wouldn't be an enormous technical hurdle just to change Windows (Vista maybe) not to interfere with OS X's boot system.
If I buy a Battlestar Galactica episode from iTunes and then go and download the same episode in HDTV resolution via BitTorrent, am I breaking the law?
Probably the license you agree to for iTunes use states that you are licensing the exact bits or something, not the content itself. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be legal or should be. But the truly relevant question is, of course, would some industry group sue you anyway if they found out? It's not about the law; it's about what they wish the law were and think they can get away with. And in the US, you can't get a ruling on such a point until you or someone else has actually come up against it.
Or you could do what almost everyone else does -- don't get caught, while in your own head thinking your actions are a combination of something that should or might be legal, civil disobedience, and teaching the studios about reality with the only language they understand -- money, or lack thereof.
. It would have ended up the same size as the Xbox 1 otherwise.
Yet I was still disappointed by how big it is. In fact, the only recent console it's smaller than is the original XBox. See the first picture on this page for a good comparison. With the power supply, it might have been bigger than XBox 1. I thought they were trying to sell in Japan by being small, but they don't seem to have achieved that.
This post is the oldest logical fallacy in the book: Argumentum ad Hominem
Ad hominem (latin: argument to the man) is perhaps the second oldest logical fallacy. The oldest, and still the best, will always be argumentam ad baculum (latin: argument with a stick). Regrettably, the advent of the internet as a medium for argument has rendered this time-honored technique somewhat less practical than it used to be, but I'm sure a creative debator could still find a way to employ it.
The ones with FireWire use FireWire 400, which is compatible with a FW 800 port the same way a USB 1.1 device is compatible with a USB 2 port, although in the case of FireWire you need an adapter cable to make the connection because the FW 800 port adds two extra pins.
The Wind Waker is the first, and likely only, 3D Zelda I will ever appreciate... yet it's the least boring of the bunch thus far
Let me get this straight: you're calling Ocarina of Time boring, even though you've never played it? You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but that comes across as a pretty shallow statment, especially for a game a lot of people would agree was the best game ever made.
2D or 3D is presentation. The kinds of exploration, rewards, and psychology that guide and encourage your actions are the game. But if you really are hung up on the 2D Zelda on a modern console thing, you're in luck. Nintendo actually did that: it's called Zelda 4 Swords Adventure. (Or get a GameBoy.)
I hate games that tell you the world is about to be conquered by Big Bad Guy then give me months of game time to pursue side quests and explore lost continents
Would you rather not be allowed to explore or do side-quests? It's a game, dude. A framework for hopefully having fun.
I've never played a good game with a totally believable story; there's always something silly that wouldn't happen that way in real life. But good gameplay will smooth that over really nicely. An RPG isn't supposed to be a simulation. The theming and story are used to make gameplay more fun, but they should never take precedence.
Apple won't ship an Intel PowerMac until probably late 2006/early 2007. Since they update their PowerMac line about twice a year, that means at least two major updates to the existing G5 line. So if you're worried about better PowerMacs in a year, you should be worried about a dual 3+ GHz G5 PowerPC machine, not a Pentium.
The best estimated roadmap I've seen of Apple's plans is still this column.
What was stunning was the lack of information during the keynote...
That's because it was a keynote. It was a media event, not a technical briefing. That's what all the WWDC sessions for the rest of the week were for. They gave a lot more information in detail on where Apple is going with this, especially the details that are actually practical and relevant to a software developer. Not all the big questions were answered, but a little allowance for the things still being in development and a little common sense can fill in most of the remaining holes.
Re:Wrong...will actually make native OOo wait long
on
Apple Switching to Intel
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· Score: 4, Informative
Apple's gcc supports universal (fat) binaries. XCode uses gcc for compilation, but it's just a wrapper. Gcc still works fine without it.
OK, oil doesn't conduct. That's good for not shorting everything out, but computers rely heavily on plugs. I imagine he plugged everything in before dumping it all in the aquarium, but when he wants to add something, he'll have to stick the cable or card into a socket already coated in nonconducting goop. Maybe the connections are tight enough to drive out the oil, but I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out to be somewhat fickle. Plus his hand will be all goopy. Yuck.
As I understand it, Apple can't add DRM on their servers because they use Akamai to cache their content.
What they can do (and I don't know if they actually do/will) is encrypt all their music with a standard key before distribution, then have iTunes remove that encryption and re-encrypt with a personal key. This is still breakable (like all DRM), but it would be harder.
Use the greater than and less than signs as data delimiters in the 'next generation' of data encoding (XML)? WTF were they thinking?
Well, you've got to use something to delimit. As long as people aren't writing XML files by hand, it shouldn't be a problem. And it they are, the increased readability of < and > is surely preferable in terms of usability to that of something like a null character. What would you have used?
Stamp machines are not connected to your bank. Big difference. In fact, the ones in the post office near me only take cash. If I were going to mug you, I'd do it before you turned your cash into stamps, not after. (Although I do have a friend who got mugged recently for his dice. I guess it's a good thing he didn't also have stamps.)
Re:Course in physics by counter-examples, probably
on
Physics Goes To Hollywood
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· Score: 3, Insightful
You forgot the best one of all, present in so many SF movies I can't even count them: the aft-thrusters-at-full-power, ship-swerving-like-it's-an-airplane, powered crash landing, complete with audible explosion and (more recently) an annulus of shockwave through the vacuum.
True, anyone with a decent high school education should detect that as total BS, but I know many people who never even notice anything odd when spaceships routinely fly around with their engines at full power no matter what they're doing at the moment. Is it so hard to reinforce correct physics in people's minds, instead of this hogwash? Such a simple public service to perform.
What MMOs should do is make a lot of targeted servers for specific portions of their audience. Hardcore PK server. Role play server. PVP- server. And so on.
But who would want to play on the griefers' server? That part of (online) gaming isn't dying, that's for sure.
A LaserDisc version of the original was released. It seems that Lucas never intends to make the "mistake" of releasing the original versions again, though. Slate published a good article about this just a few days ago here.
The 350mHz G3 that used to be in my PowerMac before I upgraded the processor was made by Motorola. I just dug it out of my closet and looked. Mine is rather old, though. IBM may make them all now days.
Slashdot Mirror
I wish this meant that XBox 1 would become MS's value console (like PS1 did a few years ago), and it would get a price cut. But as far as I know, they still couldn't make a profit on it at US$99, partly due to the way they licensed the chips.
I was hoping the price would fall, allowing me to complete the current-gen console trio, but I can't see any signs of that, and I'm a cheap bastard. I bought a PS2 last January when it slimmed down and hit $150, but I can't justify that price for an enormous machine that's quickly becoming obsolete.
Since Apple has said it won't actively prevent Windows booting on Intel Macs, Microsoft could probaby modify Windows to work around any problems, allowing them to sell copies of Windows to that last 4% or whatever of the market. I don't know if they will, but I bet they at least consider the idea. It probably wouldn't be an enormous technical hurdle just to change Windows (Vista maybe) not to interfere with OS X's boot system.
If I buy a Battlestar Galactica episode from iTunes and then go and download the same episode in HDTV resolution via BitTorrent, am I breaking the law?
Probably the license you agree to for iTunes use states that you are licensing the exact bits or something, not the content itself. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be legal or should be. But the truly relevant question is, of course, would some industry group sue you anyway if they found out? It's not about the law; it's about what they wish the law were and think they can get away with. And in the US, you can't get a ruling on such a point until you or someone else has actually come up against it.
Or you could do what almost everyone else does -- don't get caught, while in your own head thinking your actions are a combination of something that should or might be legal, civil disobedience, and teaching the studios about reality with the only language they understand -- money, or lack thereof.
I wonder how many of these will actually go straight from the store to eBay
2734 when I checked. That might be one or two percent of the entire US supply so far.
. It would have ended up the same size as the Xbox 1 otherwise.
Yet I was still disappointed by how big it is. In fact, the only recent console it's smaller than is the original XBox. See the first picture on this page for a good comparison. With the power supply, it might have been bigger than XBox 1. I thought they were trying to sell in Japan by being small, but they don't seem to have achieved that.
This post is the oldest logical fallacy in the book: Argumentum ad Hominem
Ad hominem (latin: argument to the man) is perhaps the second oldest logical fallacy. The oldest, and still the best, will always be argumentam ad baculum (latin: argument with a stick). Regrettably, the advent of the internet as a medium for argument has rendered this time-honored technique somewhat less practical than it used to be, but I'm sure a creative debator could still find a way to employ it.
No iPod supports FireWire 800.
The ones with FireWire use FireWire 400, which is compatible with a FW 800 port the same way a USB 1.1 device is compatible with a USB 2 port, although in the case of FireWire you need an adapter cable to make the connection because the FW 800 port adds two extra pins.
Here's Apple's page confirming that the current full-size iPod has FW 400, not 800: http://www.apple.com/ipod/color/specs.html
M is just the electronic equivalent of hanging out at the mall
IM is the electronic equivalent of telephones, which are a notorious teen passtime.
The Wind Waker is the first, and likely only, 3D Zelda I will ever appreciate... yet it's the least boring of the bunch thus far
Let me get this straight: you're calling Ocarina of Time boring, even though you've never played it? You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but that comes across as a pretty shallow statment, especially for a game a lot of people would agree was the best game ever made.
2D or 3D is presentation. The kinds of exploration, rewards, and psychology that guide and encourage your actions are the game. But if you really are hung up on the 2D Zelda on a modern console thing, you're in luck. Nintendo actually did that: it's called Zelda 4 Swords Adventure. (Or get a GameBoy.)
I hate games that tell you the world is about to be conquered by Big Bad Guy then give me months of game time to pursue side quests and explore lost continents
Would you rather not be allowed to explore or do side-quests? It's a game, dude. A framework for hopefully having fun.
I've never played a good game with a totally believable story; there's always something silly that wouldn't happen that way in real life. But good gameplay will smooth that over really nicely. An RPG isn't supposed to be a simulation. The theming and story are used to make gameplay more fun, but they should never take precedence.
Apple won't ship an Intel PowerMac until probably late 2006/early 2007. Since they update their PowerMac line about twice a year, that means at least two major updates to the existing G5 line. So if you're worried about better PowerMacs in a year, you should be worried about a dual 3+ GHz G5 PowerPC machine, not a Pentium.
The best estimated roadmap I've seen of Apple's plans is still this column.
What was stunning was the lack of information during the keynote...
That's because it was a keynote. It was a media event, not a technical briefing. That's what all the WWDC sessions for the rest of the week were for. They gave a lot more information in detail on where Apple is going with this, especially the details that are actually practical and relevant to a software developer. Not all the big questions were answered, but a little allowance for the things still being in development and a little common sense can fill in most of the remaining holes.
Apple's gcc supports universal (fat) binaries. XCode uses gcc for compilation, but it's just a wrapper. Gcc still works fine without it.
OK, oil doesn't conduct. That's good for not shorting everything out, but computers rely heavily on plugs. I imagine he plugged everything in before dumping it all in the aquarium, but when he wants to add something, he'll have to stick the cable or card into a socket already coated in nonconducting goop. Maybe the connections are tight enough to drive out the oil, but I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out to be somewhat fickle. Plus his hand will be all goopy. Yuck.
Thanks, Cody.
BTW, did they always do that, or was that the change in iTunes 4.7?
How old fashioned. Most people just use a credit card nowdays.
As I understand it, Apple can't add DRM on their servers because they use Akamai to cache their content.
What they can do (and I don't know if they actually do/will) is encrypt all their music with a standard key before distribution, then have iTunes remove that encryption and re-encrypt with a personal key. This is still breakable (like all DRM), but it would be harder.
The day you can walk into IBM and see row upon row of gleaming Mac minis... ahhhhhhhh POW! (head explodes)
Use the greater than and less than signs as data delimiters in the 'next generation' of data encoding (XML)? WTF were they thinking?
Well, you've got to use something to delimit. As long as people aren't writing XML files by hand, it shouldn't be a problem. And it they are, the increased readability of < and > is surely preferable in terms of usability to that of something like a null character. What would you have used?
Stamp machines are not connected to your bank. Big difference. In fact, the ones in the post office near me only take cash. If I were going to mug you, I'd do it before you turned your cash into stamps, not after. (Although I do have a friend who got mugged recently for his dice. I guess it's a good thing he didn't also have stamps.)
You forgot the best one of all, present in so many SF movies I can't even count them: the aft-thrusters-at-full-power, ship-swerving-like-it's-an-airplane, powered crash landing, complete with audible explosion and (more recently) an annulus of shockwave through the vacuum.
True, anyone with a decent high school education should detect that as total BS, but I know many people who never even notice anything odd when spaceships routinely fly around with their engines at full power no matter what they're doing at the moment. Is it so hard to reinforce correct physics in people's minds, instead of this hogwash? Such a simple public service to perform.
I must get too much spam. For a second, I thought I saw Nigeria and Viagra in the same headline. D'oh.
What MMOs should do is make a lot of targeted servers for specific portions of their audience. Hardcore PK server. Role play server. PVP- server. And so on.
But who would want to play on the griefers' server? That part of (online) gaming isn't dying, that's for sure.
A LaserDisc version of the original was released. It seems that Lucas never intends to make the "mistake" of releasing the original versions again, though. Slate published a good article about this just a few days ago here.
First of all, IBM manufactures the G3...
The 350mHz G3 that used to be in my PowerMac before I upgraded the processor was made by Motorola. I just dug it out of my closet and looked. Mine is rather old, though. IBM may make them all now days.