They key to competing with Microsoft will be to continue concentrating on the
game performance while allowing enough expandability for the user to add
on features to make the PS3 compete with full fledged home computers. I'm
sure the final design of the PS3 is going to have a hard drive, a decent amount
of RAM, and an Ethernet port. However, it doesn't need to compete with the
latest and greatest offering from Intel as long as it plays games great.
All the other stuff an average computer user needs to do (word processing, surf
the Internet, etc.) can be handled easily by the PS3's hardware. Just give
the "hackers" a way to beef it up if the need arises (and it
will). FireWire ports, standard HD interface, empty ram slots... In
short, embrace the hacker, don't shun him/her away by making the BIOS run
only Sony approved applications. Just as long as Sony can make a profit on
the hardware (and get good apps on Linux), they can beat MS.
Computer piracy and illegal mp3s may hurt the artists, but it's a boon to hardware manufacturers. It makes perfect sense for Gateway to take this stance.
Please, no flames about how CD burners and mp3s have legal uses. All I'm saying is that Gateway didn't have some devine revelation that the SCCCAAAAAA or whatever the hell it's called now was a bad bill. They simply realized that free software and no DRM equals lower cost for them and more people that can afford their overpriced computers.
Now that the protection on the currrent line of PS2s has been pretty much cracked to allow swaps using just non-evasive plugin-card, I wonder if Sony is planning to make these new ones different enough to foil hack attempts?
The reason you need a modchip for PSX discs is because the checksum for the "bootsector" is deliberately encoded to FAIL on original PSX discs. No CD burning software can instruct your burner to deliberately encode all zeroes instead of the properly calculated error-correction value. I have heard stories of people hacking CDR firmware to forcibly encode the bootsector like a PSX disc to eliminate the need for a modchip, but I never actually have seen any "pirate" firmware floating around the various PSX sites.
If this device doesn't use a standard CDR drive, then maybe their copying system CAN make perfect copies.
I wonder if this device is anything more than just a CDR connected to a 486? I'd love to know if you're able to make copies of CD-ROMs, especially copy protected ones like Playstation games and PC cds using SafeDisc.
I can't read the article because it's slashdotted. So can someone let me know if either of them explain why "The Sims" sold more copies than either of their games? Maybe they should include everyday aspects of life to bring more realism into the game. Think about it. When was the last time you had to play an FPS where after you came home from a day of fragging, you had to clean your virtual house and make virtual dinner? Or what about the characters falling in love? Wouldn't THAT be an interesting online player experience! Instead they concentrate on nightmareish atmosphere. How unoriginal! If they would just "pussify" their FPS games a little, more women would be playing.
"Many ISPs give their customers a software package to install
with their service like a branded browser/email package. Some also include
network diagnostics tools, even remote connection VNC packages for technical
reps to do remote support."
How the heck is an ISP tech support going to use VNC to do remote support if the
customer can't connect to the Internet? Unless you're talking about silly
little problems like "How do I change my start page?" I don't think
VNC is going to help much.
As far as diagnosing problems, both Windows and Linux OSes already have enough
utilities built in to diagnose a problem. The only issue is whether or not
a user is smart enough to use them. I'm sure any tech support person can
testify how long it takes some people just to understand how to do a "Click
Start, then Run."
An important algorithm I use everyday...
on
Deep Algorithms?
·
· Score: 5, Funny
begin while alarm ringing cover head with blankets mprecate the onerous noisemaker softly consider turning the damn thing off if feeling remarkably hyperactive then lethargically slither out of blankets sinuously stretch out arm sigh bang it to kingdom come else go back to sleep sweet sleep endif if hear name being called then see who it is if kid brother/sister then ready aim fire watch baneful clock execute a parabolic trajectory in approximate direction of youngster if target intercepted then ignore howls for Amnesty International else swear a thousand maledictions endif else if father then get out of bed hyper-quickly if feeling watched then turn alarm off gently else kick alarm off gently endif else if mother then scan her for arms, especially those prohibited by Geneva Convention if result is affirmative then begin negotiations else pretend not to have seen her increase snoring intensity endif endif if feel something cold and wet being sloshed onto blankets then yell blue murder get out endif endwhile end
Heh, I never could remember that nutty MTA address either. However, I use http://www.lirr.org to reach the MTA's main site since the true LIRR homepage is at http://www.lirr.org/lirr
It all depends whether or not Microsoft keeps a world-wide database of valid product keys for each and every version of Windows XP sold. I used to work for an employer that had a system that registered EACH and EVERY serial number
of a product BEFORE it was sent out to distribution. We could track the usage and blacklist any of the "products" we wanted. The system even was smart enough to detect fraud based on a number of
criteria (like if two serial numbers showed up at the same time). any
serial numbers that existed that weren't in the database were blacklisted
automatically.
I have to wonder if Microsoft has done this? I mean, logging every single
serial number for every copy of WindowsXP produced everywhere in the
world...and then maintaining it. That's a tall order, even for them.
I think they'd get more bang for the buck by blacklisting every copy of XP that
uses that "FCK" serial that was distributed like crazy.
Yep, I did this, too. However, I noticed that when I run CNET's CatchUp scan, it picks up a MSN Messenger DLL still on my hard drive. I'm kind of afraid to delete it. I wonder if anything else is using it or if there still exists some kind of security risk with it being there?
If you want that kind of information that badly, you're not going to pay 20 different firms for similar information and then datamine the whole mess so you can fill in the gaps. The companies that have the beter consumer data (e.g., Amazon) will win out and/or companies will pool their data together and provide a single database to sell. Either way, the market becomes saturated to the point where only a few entities will have data worth buying. Everyone else will get undercut by the "big guys" and get weeded out just like the majority of the dot coms did in 2000-present.
Let's see how many companies want to gather your personal information:
Comcast
Doubleclick
Real Networks
TiVo
Slashdot
Sourceforge
Amazon
Microsoft ...etc.
Hmmm. Seems to me that the market is flooded with companies trying
to sell consumer statistics. With all that competition, how do any of them
expect to make any money?
Reminds me when banner ads were all the rage. Everyone assumed they
would get a good return for their advertising dollar.
The "patch penguin" would not be doing the same thing as Linus. The patch penguin is supposed to be a lower level manager, so to speak.
Personally, I'd rather Linus embrace CVS and use branches on code that he's not 100% sure on. That would allow more visability to the updated source without it being in the "official" kernel release. If a person wanted to use the new code, he/she would just pull the tips of the branches instead of the trunk. Linus would decide when the branches gets merged into the trunk.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know about you, but I'm moving to whatever country ends in "co", "ec", "kr", "ve", or "ph". At least I know they have Internet access there.
They key to competing with Microsoft will be to continue concentrating on the game performance while allowing enough expandability for the user to add on features to make the PS3 compete with full fledged home computers. I'm sure the final design of the PS3 is going to have a hard drive, a decent amount of RAM, and an Ethernet port. However, it doesn't need to compete with the latest and greatest offering from Intel as long as it plays games great. All the other stuff an average computer user needs to do (word processing, surf the Internet, etc.) can be handled easily by the PS3's hardware. Just give the "hackers" a way to beef it up if the need arises (and it will). FireWire ports, standard HD interface, empty ram slots... In short, embrace the hacker, don't shun him/her away by making the BIOS run only Sony approved applications. Just as long as Sony can make a profit on the hardware (and get good apps on Linux), they can beat MS.
Computer piracy and illegal mp3s may hurt the artists, but it's a boon to hardware manufacturers. It makes perfect sense for Gateway to take this stance.
Please, no flames about how CD burners and mp3s have legal uses. All I'm saying is that Gateway didn't have some devine revelation that the SCCCAAAAAA or whatever the hell it's called now was a bad bill. They simply realized that free software and no DRM equals lower cost for them and more people that can afford their overpriced computers.
Now that the protection on the currrent line of PS2s has been pretty much cracked to allow swaps using just non-evasive plugin-card, I wonder if Sony is planning to make these new ones different enough to foil hack attempts?
The reason you need a modchip for PSX discs is because the checksum for the "bootsector" is deliberately encoded to FAIL on original PSX discs. No CD burning software can instruct your burner to deliberately encode all zeroes instead of the properly calculated error-correction value. I have heard stories of people hacking CDR firmware to forcibly encode the bootsector like a PSX disc to eliminate the need for a modchip, but I never actually have seen any "pirate" firmware floating around the various PSX sites.
If this device doesn't use a standard CDR drive, then maybe their copying system CAN make perfect copies.
I wonder if this device is anything more than just a CDR connected to a 486? I'd love to know if you're able to make copies of CD-ROMs, especially copy protected ones like Playstation games and PC cds using SafeDisc.
Don't you mean Dihydrogen Monoxide?
I doubt it, but I did read a statistic about Dungeons and Dragons suicide rates from the book "Innumeracy" and it's lower than the national rate.
I can't read the article because it's slashdotted. So can someone let me know if either of them explain why "The Sims" sold more copies than either of their games? Maybe they should include everyday aspects of life to bring more realism into the game. Think about it. When was the last time you had to play an FPS where after you came home from a day of fragging, you had to clean your virtual house and make virtual dinner? Or what about the characters falling in love? Wouldn't THAT be an interesting online player experience! Instead they concentrate on nightmareish atmosphere. How unoriginal! If they would just "pussify" their FPS games a little, more women would be playing.
"Many ISPs give their customers a software package to install with their service like a branded browser/email package. Some also include network diagnostics tools, even remote connection VNC packages for technical reps to do remote support."
How the heck is an ISP tech support going to use VNC to do remote support if the customer can't connect to the Internet? Unless you're talking about silly little problems like "How do I change my start page?" I don't think VNC is going to help much.
As far as diagnosing problems, both Windows and Linux OSes already have enough utilities built in to diagnose a problem. The only issue is whether or not a user is smart enough to use them. I'm sure any tech support person can testify how long it takes some people just to understand how to do a "Click Start, then Run."
begin
while alarm ringing
cover head with blankets
mprecate the onerous noisemaker softly
consider turning the damn thing off
if feeling remarkably hyperactive
then
lethargically slither out of blankets
sinuously stretch out arm
sigh
bang it to kingdom come
else
go back to sleep sweet sleep
endif
if hear name being called
then
see who it is
if kid brother/sister
then
ready
aim
fire
watch baneful clock execute a parabolic trajectory
in approximate direction of youngster
if target intercepted
then
ignore howls for Amnesty International
else
swear a thousand maledictions
endif
else if father
then
get out of bed hyper-quickly
if feeling watched
then
turn alarm off gently
else
kick alarm off gently
endif
else if mother
then
scan her for arms, especially those prohibited by
Geneva Convention
if result is affirmative
then
begin negotiations
else
pretend not to have seen her
increase snoring intensity
endif
endif
if feel something cold and wet being sloshed onto
blankets
then
yell blue murder
get out
endif
endwhile
end
Dinoj Surendran @ 1995 - no rights reserved
...will this mean less sales of bukake films or more?
So when someone get's busted for illegal copies of mp3s, is that the value the MPAA will use to calculate damages?
Sorry. It was there. how do you deal with the 20 second thing?
Heh, I never could remember that nutty MTA address either. However, I use http://www.lirr.org to reach the MTA's main site since the true LIRR homepage is at http://www.lirr.org/lirr
Yeah, until the trademark owner with the ".com" domain sues the ".us" domain holder and gets it anyway.
Why bother having new domains if anyone that has a ".com" is going to end up having first crack buying every other "dot" extension under the sun?
It all depends whether or not Microsoft keeps a world-wide database of valid product keys for each and every version of Windows XP sold. I used to work for an employer that had a system that registered EACH and EVERY serial number of a product BEFORE it was sent out to distribution. We could track the usage and blacklist any of the "products" we wanted. The system even was smart enough to detect fraud based on a number of criteria (like if two serial numbers showed up at the same time). any serial numbers that existed that weren't in the database were blacklisted automatically.
I have to wonder if Microsoft has done this? I mean, logging every single serial number for every copy of WindowsXP produced everywhere in the world...and then maintaining it. That's a tall order, even for them. I think they'd get more bang for the buck by blacklisting every copy of XP that uses that "FCK" serial that was distributed like crazy.
Now when I try to delete files, they fight back! Damn, now I gotta practice my railgun skillz.
Yep, I did this, too. However, I noticed that when I run CNET's CatchUp scan, it picks up a MSN Messenger DLL still on my hard drive. I'm kind of afraid to delete it. I wonder if anything else is using it or if there still exists some kind of security risk with it being there?
...Nintendo sues the poor guy for making an "unlicensed" GBA add-on?
If you want that kind of information that badly, you're not going to pay 20 different firms for similar information and then datamine the whole mess so you can fill in the gaps. The companies that have the beter consumer data (e.g., Amazon) will win out and/or companies will pool their data together and provide a single database to sell. Either way, the market becomes saturated to the point where only a few entities will have data worth buying. Everyone else will get undercut by the "big guys" and get weeded out just like the majority of the dot coms did in 2000-present.
Let's see how many companies want to gather your personal information:
...etc.
Comcast
Doubleclick
Real Networks
TiVo
Slashdot
Sourceforge
Amazon
Microsoft
Hmmm. Seems to me that the market is flooded with companies trying to sell consumer statistics. With all that competition, how do any of them expect to make any money?
Reminds me when banner ads were all the rage. Everyone assumed they would get a good return for their advertising dollar.
What about Atari Football? I believe that predates Missle Command.
The "patch penguin" would not be doing the same thing as Linus. The patch penguin is supposed to be a lower level manager, so to speak.
Personally, I'd rather Linus embrace CVS and use branches on code that he's not 100% sure on. That would allow more visability to the updated source without it being in the "official" kernel release. If a person wanted to use the new code, he/she would just pull the tips of the branches instead of the trunk. Linus would decide when the branches gets merged into the trunk.