Hollywood has been trying to use CG to make animated movies that look real, such that they're indistinguishable from RL film clips. But the point was, The Incredibles exagerated features such that you knew you were watching CG, but it didn't affect your enjoyment of the film itself.
The more realistic the animation becomes, as you may know, the closer designers come to wandering into the "uncanny valley". This phenomenon is one explanation as to why "cartoony" 3D films such as The Incredibles are generally better-received than "realistic" movies such as The Polar Express or Final Fantasy, whose animated characters had a "reanimated corpse" quality about them.
WI-FI just seems to me to be pointless on a camera. It's not like I'm going to be out taking photos near hotspots all the time (for example, backpacking through Costa Rica) What I really want to see is a GPS-enabled camera that records not only time and date in the metadata, but also latitude and longitude. I always seem to have a hard time recalling where it was I took my photos once I have all of them on my hard drive. Imagine being able to integrate these photos with, say, Google Earth (a satellite flyover slideshow!). Or, imagine being able to search for photos using Spotlight in OS X Tiger by location. I can see real geek appeal to something like this, instead of adding a battery-sucking feature that would only be functional in a narrow slice of locations.
This is flamebait or trolling. Or, I suppose you could just be that clueless.
Calm down. I wasn't trying to light a fire under your ass or anything, I was just pointing out that very little happens in a totally free market without sufficient motive (that would be the profit I spoke of). Some undertakings (things like major logistical operations or the evacuation of millions of people in a short time span) require a tremendous amount of capital. Why would anyone expend such resources, assume such risk, without the possibility of reward?
Human nature is human nature, my friend. Don't shoot the messenger.
The government should stay out of these areas and let the private sector take care of them, since the private sector does things more efficently, more cheaply, and over all better than the government does.
You conveniently left out the most important part, the one that is always forgotten when espousing the wonders of unchecked libertarianism: as long as there is profit to be made!
No more waiting behind some mom trying to buy two shopping carts full of goods while controlling 3 kids.:)
Are you kidding me? It seems like the biggest, slowest morons are always the ones using the self-checking stations (seriously, this is walmart we're talking about here... do you really think the fatass, NASCAR-obsessed mouthbreathers that shop there have the cognitive power to figure out how those contraptions work?) Plus, it seems like every store is required by law to have at least one of them offline during busy times of the day. And don't get me started on the "tech helpers" they employ!
Seriously, though I find walmart checkers in general to be borderline retarted, they can usually operate their equipment-- probably through mere muscle memory-- quicker than any civilian.
There's not a title security company that would play that game
Title companies are desperate for a piece of the pie, too. Nobody wants the reputation among the money-producing realtors of being a pain in the ass to work with, though I think that the Title Officers are probably the most honest of the lot.
not a lender that would ever give the time of day to a broker who did that
Except the lenders who are getting kickbacks... and don't think it doesn't happen!
no reputable agency that would employ them
Agencies make money off of desk fees, transaction fees, etc. They are the pimp. Realtors are the whores working the streets. The better the whores do, the more money they bring back to papa. Trust me, agencies will only do enough to avoid getting sued, no more. They will look the other way as long as the agents are bringing in dough and not being so flagrant as to warrant an investigation by the state licening authority. Even then, conveniently enough, Realtors aren't full employees of the agency but independent contractors. The agency will go to bat (legally) for someone who makes them a lot of money, even if they are on the fringe of legality. Would you kill your biggest cash cow? Trust me, these places will hire pretty much anyone (so long as they pass a background check and can pay the $600 and actually pass the exam)
I work in the periphery of the RE business ("marketing", though honestly, there is no real marketing involved... it's basically glorified graphic design, house flyers, postcards and such), and I can tell you unequivocally that just about everyone involved in the business (except me, of course...) is a slimeball looking to get rich quick. If it means a mortgage officer colludes with a shady appraiser to beef up the value of a home (remember, the higher the loan, the more the lender makes...), so be it. If it means a Realtor makes up phantom offers to spead FUD and jack the price (and hence, their commision) up, so be it. Pretty much everyone I work for is, in my estimation, a crook.
But hey, at least I've been employed for the last 3 years since getting my degree! Truth be told, though, I've been looking for jobs in other industries-- not only to escape the petty egomania and general idiocy of most of the Realtors and mortgage people I have to deal with, but also because once the bubble bursts, I'm in all likelihood out of a job.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that $199 also bought you, in addition to Combat (the "Nine action-packed games" hype referred, I believe, to the different modes and options in Combat), two joysticks and two paddle controllers. Not too shabby, considering that bundled-in games are now usually only offered on more expensive "gamer's packs" or somesuch offerings (and forget a bundled-in memory card!) You're lucky to even get a controller in the box for that $300 today!
Yeah, but RTFA: to access this service, you need to have cable tv and internet. From T-W. Where I live (OK, we're Comcast, so YMMV), that runs around $100 per month. I guarantee you that if you're using DSL or indeed any other ISP, you will be unable to access it.
The thing I really don't understand about this setup is this: if I already have to have cable TV to use this service, why wouldn't I just watch TV on, you know, my regular old TV set? Now if I could get a cable-like service over the internet, perhaps including all the channels I get with my digital box (and maybe even a slew of international networks thrown in) -- using the connectivity and ISP of my choice, and billed for what I actually watched (as opposed to paying $59 a month for digital cable and only watching maybe 8-10 hours per week)--that would be something to get excited about.
I've run afoul of the paranoid photobots a few times at my local Wal-Mart. As part of my job as piss boy-- er, marketing director-- for a real estate agency, I occasionally have to take digital portraits of realtors for use in their business cards and other materials (*why* realtors need to have their photos on their business cards still befuddles me... does toothiness, a fake tan, or big hair eminently qualify someone to sell my home?) Since the printing vendor we do business with inexplicably won't guarantee color fidelity on electronically submitted photos, I've taken to having them printed at the closest processing joint, which just happens to be Wally World (which I otherwise refuse to set foot in). I once spent 20 minutes having to plead my case to the counter clerk, the photo/electronics manager, and the *store* manager just to get two bloody 16-cent 4x6's printed, even after signing the standard disclaimer forms. I understand they're just coving their own asses, and I am flattered that my quick-n-dirty shots look so "professional," but they literally treated me like I was some kind of criminal!
Still, it was better than having to tell some big-ego'ed sales ass that they would have to wait an extra two days for their precious business cards.
//Currently trying to convince management in my company to drop $200 on a 4x6 dye-sub photo printer for just such occasions...
...or, if you've got the balls to try it, rip out the slower 4200/5400 rpm drive and install a nice 7200 2.5" drive in the Mini itself...
of course, this will add to the overall cost of the machine, so be prepared to defend yourself from an onslaught of "OMG d00d, my $399 1337 d311 PWNZ0rZ yr gay MAC!!!"
Seeing as how they're still having a helluva time developing a G5 Powerbook, my guess is that you shouldn't start holding your breath. Dual core G4's might be a distant option, but seriously, I would much rather see a memory bump to 512MB on the Minis, followed by perhaps a faster CoreImage-supporting video card or maybe a 7200 RPM hard drive.
/Already waited 3 months for Tiger-loaded Minis to consider purchasing one
Jeez louise, I mean, I know that a lot of us here have Asperger tendencies and don't pick up on subtle social cues (and even more simply don't RTFA), but I can't believe how many people are falling for this obvious April Fool's troll!!!
Slashdot Mirror
The more realistic the animation becomes, as you may know, the closer designers come to wandering into the "uncanny valley". This phenomenon is one explanation as to why "cartoony" 3D films such as The Incredibles are generally better-received than "realistic" movies such as The Polar Express or Final Fantasy, whose animated characters had a "reanimated corpse" quality about them.
WI-FI just seems to me to be pointless on a camera. It's not like I'm going to be out taking photos near hotspots all the time (for example, backpacking through Costa Rica) What I really want to see is a GPS-enabled camera that records not only time and date in the metadata, but also latitude and longitude. I always seem to have a hard time recalling where it was I took my photos once I have all of them on my hard drive. Imagine being able to integrate these photos with, say, Google Earth (a satellite flyover slideshow!). Or, imagine being able to search for photos using Spotlight in OS X Tiger by location. I can see real geek appeal to something like this, instead of adding a battery-sucking feature that would only be functional in a narrow slice of locations.
Calm down. I wasn't trying to light a fire under your ass or anything, I was just pointing out that very little happens in a totally free market without sufficient motive (that would be the profit I spoke of). Some undertakings (things like major logistical operations or the evacuation of millions of people in a short time span) require a tremendous amount of capital. Why would anyone expend such resources, assume such risk, without the possibility of reward?
Human nature is human nature, my friend. Don't shoot the messenger.
You conveniently left out the most important part, the one that is always forgotten when espousing the wonders of unchecked libertarianism: as long as there is profit to be made!
Say hi to Steve Gutenberg and that guy who makes all the funny noises while you're at it.
...oh, wait. Grammar Police Academy? That doesn't sound like any fun at all...
Are you kidding me? It seems like the biggest, slowest morons are always the ones using the self-checking stations (seriously, this is walmart we're talking about here... do you really think the fatass, NASCAR-obsessed mouthbreathers that shop there have the cognitive power to figure out how those contraptions work?) Plus, it seems like every store is required by law to have at least one of them offline during busy times of the day. And don't get me started on the "tech helpers" they employ!
Seriously, though I find walmart checkers in general to be borderline retarted, they can usually operate their equipment-- probably through mere muscle memory-- quicker than any civilian.
Kinda reminds me of this Simpsons episode:
Woman: Gavin, don't you already have this game?
Gavin: No, Mom, you idiot! I have Bloodstorm, and Bone Squad, and Bloodstorm II, stupid.
Woman: Oh, I'm sorry, honey. We'll take a Bonestorm.
Gavin: Get two. I'm not sharing with Kaitlin!
Bart: [dreamily] That must be the happiest kid in the world.
Oh Simpsons, you are so applicable to every situation...
Title companies are desperate for a piece of the pie, too. Nobody wants the reputation among the money-producing realtors of being a pain in the ass to work with, though I think that the Title Officers are probably the most honest of the lot.
not a lender that would ever give the time of day to a broker who did that
Except the lenders who are getting kickbacks... and don't think it doesn't happen!
no reputable agency that would employ them
Agencies make money off of desk fees, transaction fees, etc. They are the pimp. Realtors are the whores working the streets. The better the whores do, the more money they bring back to papa. Trust me, agencies will only do enough to avoid getting sued, no more. They will look the other way as long as the agents are bringing in dough and not being so flagrant as to warrant an investigation by the state licening authority. Even then, conveniently enough, Realtors aren't full employees of the agency but independent contractors. The agency will go to bat (legally) for someone who makes them a lot of money, even if they are on the fringe of legality. Would you kill your biggest cash cow? Trust me, these places will hire pretty much anyone (so long as they pass a background check and can pay the $600 and actually pass the exam)
But hey, at least I've been employed for the last 3 years since getting my degree! Truth be told, though, I've been looking for jobs in other industries-- not only to escape the petty egomania and general idiocy of most of the Realtors and mortgage people I have to deal with, but also because once the bubble bursts, I'm in all likelihood out of a job.
You think you've got it bad, I live in Eugene!
Sigh...
See my earlier post...
That's not totally true...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that $199 also bought you, in addition to Combat (the "Nine action-packed games" hype referred, I believe, to the different modes and options in Combat), two joysticks and two paddle controllers. Not too shabby, considering that bundled-in games are now usually only offered on more expensive "gamer's packs" or somesuch offerings (and forget a bundled-in memory card!) You're lucky to even get a controller in the box for that $300 today!
Two words: Robot Chicken
Daaaaaaaamn!
It's the Legend of Zelda and it's really rad,
Those creatures from Gannon are pretty bad,
Octoroks, Tektites, and Leevers too,
But with your help, our hero pulls through...
Wikki wikki wik!!!
The thing I really don't understand about this setup is this: if I already have to have cable TV to use this service, why wouldn't I just watch TV on, you know, my regular old TV set? Now if I could get a cable-like service over the internet, perhaps including all the channels I get with my digital box (and maybe even a slew of international networks thrown in) -- using the connectivity and ISP of my choice, and billed for what I actually watched (as opposed to paying $59 a month for digital cable and only watching maybe 8-10 hours per week)--that would be something to get excited about.
Still, it was better than having to tell some big-ego'ed sales ass that they would have to wait an extra two days for their precious business cards.
//Currently trying to convince management in my company to drop $200 on a 4x6 dye-sub photo printer for just such occasions...
/me thinks I'm on to something...
of course, this will add to the overall cost of the machine, so be prepared to defend yourself from an onslaught of "OMG d00d, my $399 1337 d311 PWNZ0rZ yr gay MAC!!!"
Just make sure you have the processing power to also replicate hot grits and... nevermind...
You insensitive clod! Kyle is a woman...
...and in other news, trees are made of wood...
Seeing as how they're still having a helluva time developing a G5 Powerbook, my guess is that you shouldn't start holding your breath. Dual core G4's might be a distant option, but seriously, I would much rather see a memory bump to 512MB on the Minis, followed by perhaps a faster CoreImage-supporting video card or maybe a 7200 RPM hard drive.
/Already waited 3 months for Tiger-loaded Minis to consider purchasing one
//Considering waiting for 512MB memory bumps
///Really want a damn Mini NOW!
Sometimes geeks can be so gullible...