The hype, the ads, etc etc is all good though, so long as they don't overreach what the product is capable of (or not capable of doing very well, in many cases).
Cramming the windows logo and now the MSN butterfly down people's throat is quite good marketing though. Like Intel and their little factory gnomes, a lot people seeing those radiation-suit wearing weirdos will automatically draw an association
Fueling the frenzy was one of its lead software engineers, Linus Torvalds, who was already famous for developing the core of the Linux operating system
Linus was one of the lead software engineers for this company, and yet it needs Microsoft to keep it from flopping? Perhaps MS can do the hardware and Linus the software, which might actually make a good product.
What we need is linux open-sourceness with Microsoft marketing
As this has been mentioned very many other places I'll make it short:
a) Does the contract limit your bandwidth. Does the advertising indicate certain speeds?
b) If I modified my modem to get an average "50x a 56k modem", wouldn't I just be getting half of what was advertised to me in the first place?
Seems to me that the result of of this will be scaring the crap out of a bunch of young kids, and probably further scaring other young kids so they don't do the same thing. In court, it will probably get thrown out, there are way too many counterarguements, but the cable company has already got what they wanted: scapegoats and a message. The most the kids might get is a fine
Of course, the flip side to this is that if it does go through court and the defendants get off 100% (plus, hopefully being awarded damages in a countersuit), then that will set a nice precedent and hopefully backfire on the cable company (which might be the main reason they don't get off 100%, judges hate bad precedents).
As if the battery life isn't short enough. Would anyone use this feature?
Boss: Bob, we tried calling you but you never answered your cell. You missed a $500,000 contract
Bob: Sorry boss, I drained my battery again listening to the radio.
It's nice to have features on a phone, but it seems to me that they will be adding unnecessary bulk to most phones without extra value. I'd much prefer a phone that has battery for 3-4 days than a built-in radio. My current Motorola Startac POS only lasts about 1.5-2 days, maybe just 1 if I run into analog or low-reception areas.
Toys are nice, but how about we improve the value as a phone first?
p.s. Who (of users with high-tech phones) listens to radio nowadays? Mp3 would still have been overkill but perhaps more useful and likely less battery drain.
This whole thread seems a bit offtopic, but to humour those in it...
Alaska wasn't actually a province, Canada lost out when the failed to buy it from the Russians, who sold it in 1867 (though it didn't become a state until 1959).
Look up "Seward's Folly" on google for more info.
It's always seemed somewhat odd having a American state attached on the northwestern borders, far from the rest of the US, but this page seems to cover most of the details
If anyone has ever gone into a hologram shop and looked at the merchandise...
Yes, they are cool, but they're also somewhat indistinct. For a lot of them, you get an overlap at various angles, and have to squint a bit. The colors are also way off. While this is ok for a novelty static image, I think that for my PC I would want something of a higher caliber.
The second article shows a "sample" picture. Obviously some of the realism and depth will be lost by showing it on a computer monitor (like those digital TV "see the clarity" ads on my normal set), but it looks pretty indistinct to me.
Showing a wireframe 16-color DNA molecule in pseudo-3d is one thing. Managing to get the broad spectrum of colours in a good refresh rate with realistic and crisp depth is probably going to take some time yet.
Oh, and what's with the demo. "Two cameras track eye movement???" Seems pretty dumb to me, as how is it going to handle multiple people for the stereoscopic view, or ever properly track eye moment.
I think I'll save my quarters for a high-def 21"+ monitor - phorm
What is 1x speed for a DVD-writer. Is it the same as a CD-writer (150KB/s). If so... it's still a looong time to burn a 4000MB DVD:
(2.4x) * (150KBps/x)=360KB/s
(1000 KB/MB) * (4000MB) = 4000 000 KB
(4000000KB) / (360KB/s) = 11111.11s
(11111.11s) / (60s/min) = 185.19 min
(185.19 min) / (60 min/h) = 3.09 h
Remember, this is a max speed (probably calculated on the outer ring?), chances are that your DVD is going to take longer to burn than optimal estimates.
Also, is 1x different for DVD-burners than CD-ROMs (1x=150KB/s), somebody please correct my 150KBps and recalculate.
I've always wondered why they have to use 1x, 2x etc instead of just putting the KB/s rating anyways.
Once one group wins against MS, it sets a nice precedent for others to go and sue their monopolistic ass. Law is very much about precedent, so where 1 case has gone subsequent cases will often go as well.
That's not really such a problem. I'm much more likely to buy a string of really good RPG's in a year (were they to be PC-available) as opposed to 3-4+ shooters. There are only so many ways to blow somebody into kibbles, while an RPG with a good storyline is like a playable book. Cost is also a factor though, with big new titles coming in the >$60 range...
Mind you, I am looking forward to doom3 and new kibbles, but that's probably not for a little while yet.
How about a wide-spectrum IR-type keyboard. You'd have to align the transmitter and receiver, but at least the signal wouldn't be escaping the confines of your house/apartment/etc.
Also, how about security wireless mice? There's no password-sniffing risk, but I guess somebody could move the cursor around on your PC and delete files etc... not quite as bad as keybpard access though.
Can anyone give any info on available IR mice/keyboards? Most checks in search engines seem to just links about mice using IR for movement detection, not transmission
It's important for us to realize that you have certain concerns as victim companies that we have to acknowledge," FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert Mueller said. He promised, for example, that FBI agents called to investigate hacking crimes will arrive at offices discretely without wearing official jackets with "FBI" emblazoned on them
In other words, they are probably coming in "discreetly" to investigate the company that is hacked, not the hackers. Having a hoard of FBI agents mulling around your office is not the best publicity, worse at times than being hacked and having "J00 R 0WZ3R3D, PAY ME $1000000"
tagged on to one's webpage...
Having your webpage hacked, people know you have a security issue. Having the FBI swarm your office, people imagine for themselves what you have done to have them there. Anyone care to guess which is worse?
When keeping a secret, make sure others do not even know you are keeping a secret, lest their own imaginations persue a worse scenario than reality - phorm
Haven't you guys ever heard of autoresponders. Geeze, a lot of companies I know are smart enough that as part of the default action on a suspended account, an autoresponder is tagged on.
All it takes is a simple response email such as: Re: Message header
Sorry, this person's account is temporarily disable and he/she will not be able to read this email until the matter is resolved
This would have notified the sender, while still retaining the emails for the customer until the account is re-enabled.
As for bouncing the email, if I'd just talked to somebody, probably already gotten emails from them, and then got a subsequent bounce... yeah, I'd probably call them.
I've dealt with ISP's who screwed up the billing for months on end (hello Shaw cable, are you reading this). After several phone calls each month, I finally got a bill that didn't have double-charges coupled with back-charges.
I think the main point of this is, the problem is not just due to the disabling of the account, but a flaw in the ISP's billing system. If that flaw hadn't happened, no disabling, no problem. Therefore, it is their screw-up, regardless of what happened later with billing resolution
To throw in another (on top of many others) analogy:
If the power company screwed up in their billing system and cut a business' power, and the business lost money or business... I would guess that it would be much the same scenario.
I'm very much hoping that D3 lives up to expections. Actually, sad as it may sound, I'm planning a nice upgrade just to run it optimally, should I be a little short hardware-wise.
Meanwhile if you get the chance, check out Nocturne. I found it for $10 in a Radio Shack bargain bin, and for an older game the graphics are quite impressive (apparently when first released most cards had issues handling it).
I use RedHat, but I still use a mantra of:
Configure... bum bum... Make... la la... Make Install..
and whatever steps in between. But then I'm a linux control freak, so I've never liked RPM's very much
DLL version management is one thing, but sometimes an older app for some reason doesn't like a newer DLL (don't ask me why, aren't these things supposed to be backward compatible). If you've ever installed some new software or an update and had something older go *poof* you'll have seen this.
For those who haven't heard of it, I recently picked up an older game called "Nocturne." The gameplay was clunky, and the storyline at times annoying, but the lighting effects were quite awesome for its time. In fact, in comparison to some games I've played today, the lighting is quite superior.
From what I've read up on the game, all scenes are rendered from complete darkness. This means that only the point and spot light sources exist (no ambient). Shadows in the game are incredible. If an object passes in front of a light, the shadow blocks it.
While some newer games have good shadow effects, having a realistic shadow that follows the characters movement (in the game, your character has a trenchcoat which swishes around, making the shadow move too) is extremely cool in comparison to the often used "dark blob" shadow effects in many games. I'm hoping Doom 3 uses these "dark and sinister" effects too. It would be extremely cool to be able to site who is coming around the corner by their shadow cast on the wall or ground.
In short, polygons and texture rendering play a great part in detail, but realistic light and shadow rendering make scenes much more lifelike.
Any user running Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 is running exactly the same system that was evaluated
Which doesn't nearly going into counting all the fun software that finds inconstencies, holes, and breaches in windows, not to mention finding their own. Often, it's the new software or hardware that breaks an OS.
How about a fix to "DLL hell", where windows can obtain online a list of known DLL versions, and can be updated by software manufacturers as to which are compatible. From previously working in a software certification branch, I know that DLL and modular conflicts often cause a lot of the instability between apps or when installing new applicatons.
That a company so high in technology and intended to deal with the new frontiers of space and science cannot even deal with blatant fraud and rampant idiocy?
What have they got, a few hundred scientists at $100/hr each and a then backroom accountant and token lawyers that can't even save the company several thousand buckazoids (anyone get this reference) in fraud?
Depending on work hours, employees in Canada are entitled to certain breaks. Unless its very consistent, being 5 minutes late isn't a big thing. I've been late a few times, but not as often as I've worked a little extra time unpaid. The same applies to breaks.
It's hard to feel bad about taking an extra 5 minutes breather when you spent to previous 3 days working through lunch, and most employers would probably agree. It's those whose attendance or performance is consistently poor that cause problems. Taking a 5 minute break (smoking or otherwise), is not nearly comparable to taking collect calls on the company budget (and from the size of the bill, probably spending a lot of company time on the phone).
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The hype, the ads, etc etc is all good though, so long as they don't overreach what the product is capable of (or not capable of doing very well, in many cases).
Cramming the windows logo and now the MSN butterfly down people's throat is quite good marketing though. Like Intel and their little factory gnomes, a lot people seeing those radiation-suit wearing weirdos will automatically draw an association
Agent #1: You're under arrest
Librarian: Shhhh
Agent #1: You have the right to be silent
Librarian: Shhhh
Agent #1: Somebody shut that librarian up
Agent #2: Shhhhh
Agent #1: Not that way you idiot...
Fueling the frenzy was one of its lead software engineers, Linus Torvalds, who was already famous for developing the core of the Linux operating system
Linus was one of the lead software engineers for this company, and yet it needs Microsoft to keep it from flopping? Perhaps MS can do the hardware and Linus the software, which might actually make a good product.
What we need is linux open-sourceness with Microsoft marketing
As this has been mentioned very many other places I'll make it short:
a) Does the contract limit your bandwidth. Does the advertising indicate certain speeds?
b) If I modified my modem to get an average "50x a 56k modem", wouldn't I just be getting half of what was advertised to me in the first place?
Seems to me that the result of of this will be scaring the crap out of a bunch of young kids, and probably further scaring other young kids so they don't do the same thing. In court, it will probably get thrown out, there are way too many counterarguements, but the cable company has already got what they wanted: scapegoats and a message. The most the kids might get is a fine
Of course, the flip side to this is that if it does go through court and the defendants get off 100% (plus, hopefully being awarded damages in a countersuit), then that will set a nice precedent and hopefully backfire on the cable company (which might be the main reason they don't get off 100%, judges hate bad precedents).
No kidding...
and also offers an integrated stereo FM radio
As if the battery life isn't short enough. Would anyone use this feature?
Boss: Bob, we tried calling you but you never answered your cell. You missed a $500,000 contract
Bob: Sorry boss, I drained my battery again listening to the radio.
It's nice to have features on a phone, but it seems to me that they will be adding unnecessary bulk to most phones without extra value. I'd much prefer a phone that has battery for 3-4 days than a built-in radio. My current Motorola Startac POS only lasts about 1.5-2 days, maybe just 1 if I run into analog or low-reception areas.
Toys are nice, but how about we improve the value as a phone first?
p.s. Who (of users with high-tech phones) listens to radio nowadays? Mp3 would still have been overkill but perhaps more useful and likely less battery drain.
This whole thread seems a bit offtopic, but to humour those in it...
Alaska wasn't actually a province, Canada lost out when the failed to buy it from the Russians, who sold it in 1867 (though it didn't become a state until 1959).
Look up "Seward's Folly" on google for more info.
It's always seemed somewhat odd having a American state attached on the northwestern borders, far from the rest of the US, but this page seems to cover most of the details
I thought so too, until I asked and somebody answered: 2X for DVD is apparently quite different than 2X for CD, as far as data transfer in KB/s.
See the comment of the person nice enough to answer me before I got modded down as overrated
If anyone has ever gone into a hologram shop and looked at the merchandise...
Yes, they are cool, but they're also somewhat indistinct. For a lot of them, you get an overlap at various angles, and have to squint a bit. The colors are also way off. While this is ok for a novelty static image, I think that for my PC I would want something of a higher caliber.
The second article shows a "sample" picture. Obviously some of the realism and depth will be lost by showing it on a computer monitor (like those digital TV "see the clarity" ads on my normal set), but it looks pretty indistinct to me.
Showing a wireframe 16-color DNA molecule in pseudo-3d is one thing. Managing to get the broad spectrum of colours in a good refresh rate with realistic and crisp depth is probably going to take some time yet.
Oh, and what's with the demo. "Two cameras track eye movement???" Seems pretty dumb to me, as how is it going to handle multiple people for the stereoscopic view, or ever properly track eye moment.
I think I'll save my quarters for a high-def 21"+ monitor - phorm
- (2.4x) * (150KBps/x)=360KB/s
- (1000 KB/MB) * (4000MB) = 4000 000 KB
- (4000000KB) / (360KB/s) = 11111.11s
- (11111.11s) / (60s/min) = 185.19 min
- (185.19 min) / (60 min/h) = 3.09 h
Remember, this is a max speed (probably calculated on the outer ring?), chances are that your DVD is going to take longer to burn than optimal estimates.Also, is 1x different for DVD-burners than CD-ROMs (1x=150KB/s), somebody please correct my 150KBps and recalculate.
I've always wondered why they have to use 1x, 2x etc instead of just putting the KB/s rating anyways.
That one quirked a smile for me too... Does that come as part of the default content for "My Pictures" or was it added by somebody else just for fun.
Once one group wins against MS, it sets a nice precedent for others to go and sue their monopolistic ass. Law is very much about precedent, so where 1 case has gone subsequent cases will often go as well.
I have to make an...um... withdrawal from a few banks. Yeah, withdrawal, that's it...
That's not really such a problem. I'm much more likely to buy a string of really good RPG's in a year (were they to be PC-available) as opposed to 3-4+ shooters. There are only so many ways to blow somebody into kibbles, while an RPG with a good storyline is like a playable book. Cost is also a factor though, with big new titles coming in the >$60 range...
Mind you, I am looking forward to doom3 and new kibbles, but that's probably not for a little while yet.
How about a wide-spectrum IR-type keyboard. You'd have to align the transmitter and receiver, but at least the signal wouldn't be escaping the confines of your house/apartment/etc.
Also, how about security wireless mice? There's no password-sniffing risk, but I guess somebody could move the cursor around on your PC and delete files etc... not quite as bad as keybpard access though.
Can anyone give any info on available IR mice/keyboards? Most checks in search engines seem to just links about mice using IR for movement detection, not transmission
It's important for us to realize that you have certain concerns as victim companies that we have to acknowledge," FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert Mueller said. He promised, for example, that FBI agents called to investigate hacking crimes will arrive at offices discretely without wearing official jackets with "FBI" emblazoned on them
In other words, they are probably coming in "discreetly" to investigate the company that is hacked, not the hackers. Having a hoard of FBI agents mulling around your office is not the best publicity, worse at times than being hacked and having "J00 R 0WZ3R3D, PAY ME $1000000" tagged on to one's webpage...
Having your webpage hacked, people know you have a security issue. Having the FBI swarm your office, people imagine for themselves what you have done to have them there. Anyone care to guess which is worse?
When keeping a secret, make sure others do not even know you are keeping a secret, lest their own imaginations persue a worse scenario than reality - phorm
Haven't you guys ever heard of autoresponders. Geeze, a lot of companies I know are smart enough that as part of the default action on a suspended account, an autoresponder is tagged on.
All it takes is a simple response email such as:
Re: Message header
Sorry, this person's account is temporarily disable and he/she will not be able to read this email until the matter is resolved
This would have notified the sender, while still retaining the emails for the customer until the account is re-enabled.
As for bouncing the email, if I'd just talked to somebody, probably already gotten emails from them, and then got a subsequent bounce... yeah, I'd probably call them.
I've dealt with ISP's who screwed up the billing for months on end (hello Shaw cable, are you reading this). After several phone calls each month, I finally got a bill that didn't have double-charges coupled with back-charges.
I think the main point of this is, the problem is not just due to the disabling of the account, but a flaw in the ISP's billing system. If that flaw hadn't happened, no disabling, no problem. Therefore, it is their screw-up, regardless of what happened later with billing resolution
To throw in another (on top of many others) analogy:
If the power company screwed up in their billing system and cut a business' power, and the business lost money or business... I would guess that it would be much the same scenario.
I'm very much hoping that D3 lives up to expections. Actually, sad as it may sound, I'm planning a nice upgrade just to run it optimally, should I be a little short hardware-wise.
Meanwhile if you get the chance, check out Nocturne. I found it for $10 in a Radio Shack bargain bin, and for an older game the graphics are quite impressive (apparently when first released most cards had issues handling it).
How about just something with a referer check? If the referer is the other guy's site, do a: window.open("www.somedirtypornsite.com", _top);
RPM?
I use RedHat, but I still use a mantra of:
Configure... bum bum... Make... la la... Make Install..
and whatever steps in between. But then I'm a linux control freak, so I've never liked RPM's very much
I haven't used .NET. Most of my issues come through older software or games, which might be bypassing the version system or doing something sneaky/bad.
Current: Windows 98/XP (dual boot, different partition).
Previous: Windows 98/2k
Yes, I still use 98, but only to play the games which XP mangles...
DLL version management is one thing, but sometimes an older app for some reason doesn't like a newer DLL (don't ask me why, aren't these things supposed to be backward compatible). If you've ever installed some new software or an update and had something older go *poof* you'll have seen this.
For those who haven't heard of it, I recently picked up an older game called "Nocturne." The gameplay was clunky, and the storyline at times annoying, but the lighting effects were quite awesome for its time. In fact, in comparison to some games I've played today, the lighting is quite superior.
From what I've read up on the game, all scenes are rendered from complete darkness. This means that only the point and spot light sources exist (no ambient). Shadows in the game are incredible. If an object passes in front of a light, the shadow blocks it.
While some newer games have good shadow effects, having a realistic shadow that follows the characters movement (in the game, your character has a trenchcoat which swishes around, making the shadow move too) is extremely cool in comparison to the often used "dark blob" shadow effects in many games. I'm hoping Doom 3 uses these "dark and sinister" effects too. It would be extremely cool to be able to site who is coming around the corner by their shadow cast on the wall or ground.
In short, polygons and texture rendering play a great part in detail, but realistic light and shadow rendering make scenes much more lifelike.
Any user running Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 is running exactly the same system that was evaluated
Which doesn't nearly going into counting all the fun software that finds inconstencies, holes, and breaches in windows, not to mention finding their own. Often, it's the new software or hardware that breaks an OS.
How about a fix to "DLL hell", where windows can obtain online a list of known DLL versions, and can be updated by software manufacturers as to which are compatible. From previously working in a software certification branch, I know that DLL and modular conflicts often cause a lot of the instability between apps or when installing new applicatons.
That a company so high in technology and intended to deal with the new frontiers of space and science cannot even deal with blatant fraud and rampant idiocy?
What have they got, a few hundred scientists at $100/hr each and a then backroom accountant and token lawyers that can't even save the company several thousand buckazoids (anyone get this reference) in fraud?
Depending on work hours, employees in Canada are entitled to certain breaks. Unless its very consistent, being 5 minutes late isn't a big thing. I've been late a few times, but not as often as I've worked a little extra time unpaid. The same applies to breaks.
It's hard to feel bad about taking an extra 5 minutes breather when you spent to previous 3 days working through lunch, and most employers would probably agree. It's those whose attendance or performance is consistently poor that cause problems. Taking a 5 minute break (smoking or otherwise), is not nearly comparable to taking collect calls on the company budget (and from the size of the bill, probably spending a lot of company time on the phone).