Well, not just that but you still, well, let's take American Football for instance, you'd need a ref down there to be a sort of "Field General" to relay the results of the computer tracked ball to the players, plus someone in a booth reading off the results, also you'd need refs down on the field to spot things like PI, encroachment, offsides, all sorts of other things.. There just has to be people on the field judging the game.. This goes for most sports... how about a runner heading to second base and getting there at the same time as the ball reaches the second baseman's mit, you want a sensor on the plate, a sensor in each of the players' shoes, a sensor in the ball and the glove to make a computer reading this play possible? even then there's a margin of error i'm sure, some things just don't need to be automated.
Now the example with tennis or racquetball, maybe even volleyball, these are all viable since you've got a designated area the ball needs to be in, you can tell if the ball is out, or if it hits the net or whatever, but that's really the only time I see this as useful, maybe if it's used as a tool that the refs use to HELP them do their jobs (like instant replay, or photo finishes in horse racing) then yeah, I agree it could be handy, of course people will always question the outcome of the computer's judgement if they disagree with the call anyway, but if used as another tool in the ref's belt, it could work I think.
When I was younger (at the end of secondary school) I used to have "pornographic" dreams where I did it with some woman. As a 15 year old virgin boy (back then) I found it really awesome and they were the kind of dreams were I didnt want to wake up.
Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of Sun God robes, on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Moving the zillion atoms that make up the human body seems like a longshot at best.
Does it matter which atoms and molecules you use as long as they construct the same end result?
In my thoughts, wouldn't it also have to be absolutely instantanious? Like, it can't just scan you in like in TRON, nor could it phase you out like Star Trek. Wouldn't your atoms be constantly changing or moving as it scans you in? The blood pumping through your veins would be in the wrong place, the electrons pulsing through your brain and body (even if you're completely unconcious) would be in different places/positions... Chances are, if this takes even longer than a fraction of a blink of an eye, you could be teleported incorectly as the one part of you that was teleported, say, the left half of your eye, is now in a different position than the right half of your eye because your eye was in the process of moving while you were being scanned in.. As great as it could be, there's some serious hurdles in the future of THAT idea.
With Blockbuster's latest system, you can just keep your blockbuster DVD and pay them for it later.
But you still have to go to Blockbuster. PPV exists because you don't have to go anywhere.
And as I just mentioned in another post, you're getting a used DVD for a higher price than you'd pay at a DVD outlet... $20+ for a USED DVD? Rent it, return it, buy it for $9 or 3for25 in a month once they make room on the shelves. Or buy it for 15 from a place that sells them... makes me think this PPV thing is pretty reasonable.. still paying more than I would at BestBuy, but at least it's a brand new copy and I don't even need to leave the house.
I'd like it if they gave you a week pass to view said movie on PPV too so you don't have to wait if you want to watch it again between the time you watched the PPV and the time the DVD arrives.
This sounds like a great idea to me. I've often watched a movie on PPV and wished afterwards I had purchased the hard copy. The best thing is that it sounds like they're selling the DVD at a reduced rate.
Y'know.. I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but you're right... If I had this service offered to me blockbuster would lose my business (Assuming whatever I wanted from BB was on PPV) since there's been enough times where I rented something and then thought "...wow, I wish I just bought it beforehand, now my purchased copy is going to be $rental+$purchase and cost me abother ~$4 or so...
One could argue that BB does this as well through their 'no more late fees' program where you can purchase the movie at full price, but then you're buying a used rental movie for 20 some dollars instead of getting a brand new copy for less..
I think this program has a ton of potential. I'm sure I'd use it.
Oh wait. Standalone DVD recorders are already available that burn in real time without a hard drive. You might want to check out some of the new electronics that have been released over the past five years...
But then what happens when a burn fails?
I as a sort of DVD 'collector' think this is a great idea, it's a couple bucks more than I usually pay for a DVD, but still a good idea none-the-less and the convenience factor is unbeatable. If they're sending out the actual retail DVD as you would get in the store I'm sold. I may still buy from BestBuy or whatever local DVD retailer, but I could see myself getting some DVDs from here from time to time.
For example, you couldn't patent a better way to do 3D graphic chipsets unless you could actually BUILD that chipset?
Effectively, you've narrowed the market down to a small cadre of companies.
I think this is a great example of "the little guy" being able to fight back against being crushed by the large corporations.
Well, yeah, why else would you patent something, litigation and 'maybe someday we'll be able to make this'? What other reason could you have?
I think it's more of an example of someone who never intended to build something patenting something in order to sue the first person with the means to build said product.
Hell, you could start patenting hoverboards straight out of Back to the Future II 'just because' the technology will -someday- be possible.
Granted while I couldn't agree more that there's no way Topher could possibly match the physique of Venom, I think they were trying to match him with Eddie Brock more than Venom.. They seem to go for a more character based story in these films than a "Throw these guys in costumes and have 'em brawl" approach. And I can see Topher looking like Eddie, but he seriously needs to pack on a few lbs before he's a bad mofo like Venom. That was Venom's appeal, just a big massive badass. Then again, they could always throw someone else in the Venom suit.. I'm on your side on this one, I think he's way too small for the role, but Raimi seems to know what he's doing, Green Goblin, Doc Oc, Hobgoblin, Spidey, all very well cast, even when you initially thought "what the...!?"
The second Batman movie -- Batman Returns -- had Danny De Vito as Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and it wasn't too bad, in my opinion. (Even if you didn't like it, you'll have to admit it was much, much better than Batman and Robin.)
I agree, in fact, I'll go as far as to say I really liked the first 2 Batman movies (and Batman Begins, but that's a whole 'nother story.) Had they stayed on that track they'd have a sweet little franchise instead of one poisoned by Batman and Robin...what were they THINKING... how could they have thought "Y'know, this is way better than the first two!" and put it to print? Plus I think they should have stopped making them when they stopped using Michael Keaton, he was great for the role, Val Kilmer? eesh...
PS: Love Val Kilmer, but Batman? Real Genius, Top Gun, Heat, Top Secret? Sure.. Batman? Not a shot in hell.
Or my favorite, Pinata: Survival Island (aka demon island) about a bunch of college kids on an underwear scavenger hunt on an island where they awaken a posessed PINATA (the worst CG pinata you'll ever see at that) who runs around the island killing people like he's f'ing rambo.
I've never seen anything worse.. Saw it at a screening in OC, then found the DVD in the $5 bin at WalMart so I -had- to get it and put my friends through it too. A movie so bad Jamie Pressley couldn't save it.
There's also the fact that in certain situations it's more likely to break.
First thing that came to my mind... Yeah if it's something I'm going to keep in my pocket... I don't think I want it to be glass, that'd suck to have broken glass in my pocket if something went wrong.. That plastic will just crack and split, but probably won't shatter and end up all over your pocket..
If you play with the 1.5 beta, it's fixed, just like in the nightlies, and none of your plugins will work, just like the nightlies.
It just took a week or two for the people managing the extensions to catch up and make them work in the new release.. That's to be expected.. In any case I use about 10 extensions (mostly tab related) and all but TabX and Google Toolbar have been updated (even mouse gestures, which took the longest) now works. I've now ditched Safari entirely.
Say they raise the price to $89.95, that means my wholesale price would be about $65.00. I would buy 0-Day DVDs put them on my New Release shelf for $3.00 a night, so would all of the other videostores. It would be no different than it was in the early 1990s, they would reprice them sell thru in a few months. I 'll bet that videostores would love it! I know I would, and I own a videostore. It would be just like the early days of movie rentals, I'd be making money again.
Ahhh, so true, I used to work for Blockbuster myself, I hadn't thought of that... DVDs have taken over VHS to such a degree that that's the next logical step... Release to the rental chains the same day as the theaters, charge $89/$99 each, then in 3-6months put them on full release for the prices they sell for now (and 1-3 months you can probably get a few of them previously viewed if you're impatient?) In this case DVDs will take the place of cinema the way they took the place of VHS and completely take over the movie viewing market, essentially. But yeah, this is one logical way they could jack the prices up for compensation (still wouldn't compensate for box office sales, but it'd help, I guess) and still not screw the customers or jack the prices up to a point where nobody could afford them..
Let's just hope the price of these 0-day DVDs don't skyrocket to the price of admission for a family of 4 to the theater in order to compensate. But with the coming of home theaters, 5.1+ DTS in your living room.. affordable speakers and audio units.. home PROJECTORS costing not much more than a TV (and sometimes less for a far bigger 'screen'... Maybe theaters will someday go the way of the Drive-in. However I doubt they'd disappear completely because of a move such as simultanious releases, because some movies I'd love to see in the theater.. That could go either way.
Hell so does my dad, when playing MARIO BROS fer godsake!
I never got that, sometimes he looked like he was going to fall off the couch like a dog with an itch, meanwhile I'm wondering... What're you gunna do, make Mario DODGE something? run faster? heh. Not talkin' bad, I think it's cool that my dad plays SMB (to this DAY)..kinda sad though, he's still convinced he can beat me:)
Powerglove was interfaced with sensors on the TV, it was horribly unresponsive. With the Revolution controller having an internal gyroscope, responsiveness should be perfect!
If it has a Gyroscope... does that mean we can hope for and expect a GyroMITE!?!?
Y'know, all very valid points. I guess I was thinking of it more from my own experience as a very casual TV watcher. The only thing I ever stored lonoger than a week was some HBO Originals, and most other shows were highly syndicated and overwritten on a daily basis because I told it not to store more than 5 of a show (and they were on like 10 times a day, simpsons, cheers, stuff like that)... So yeah, for the casual user This isn't THAT much of a big deal, but yes, for your purposes such as moving things to a home theaterPC and such, I can see it as becoming a hassle.
The lifetime subscription is still available. The only problem is that the subscription is tied to the box, not the owner. that's why I stick with monthly subscriptions.
PROBLEM is that the subscription is tied to the box? I see that as a MAJOR benefit. Say you don't want your TiVo anymore, ups the resell that's for damned sure. I'd sooner buy a TiVo off of eBay with a lifetime subscription for $300 than a new one for $99 with a monthly subscription. Of course it takes a couple years to make up the difference, but I see it as completely worth it..
I think in writing this I see your point.. You can't transfer your lifetime subscription to a new TiVo if you decide to upgrade.. but then, you can still pawn off your old TiVo (which you'd need a subscription for 2 TiVos if you kept it anyway) for enough to cover the lifetime subscription for your new box.. I don't see it as a downside, major upside for purchasing a used TiVo, or selling one, but not really a good or bad thing for if you want to upgrade..
Slashdot Mirror
More accurately:
:: Final Cut Pro : iMovie
:: Final Cut Pro : iMovie ....?
Aperture : Google's Picasa
Or maybe..
Aperture : iPhoto
Well, not just that but you still, well, let's take American Football for instance, you'd need a ref down there to be a sort of "Field General" to relay the results of the computer tracked ball to the players, plus someone in a booth reading off the results, also you'd need refs down on the field to spot things like PI, encroachment, offsides, all sorts of other things.. There just has to be people on the field judging the game.. This goes for most sports... how about a runner heading to second base and getting there at the same time as the ball reaches the second baseman's mit, you want a sensor on the plate, a sensor in each of the players' shoes, a sensor in the ball and the glove to make a computer reading this play possible? even then there's a margin of error i'm sure, some things just don't need to be automated.
Now the example with tennis or racquetball, maybe even volleyball, these are all viable since you've got a designated area the ball needs to be in, you can tell if the ball is out, or if it hits the net or whatever, but that's really the only time I see this as useful, maybe if it's used as a tool that the refs use to HELP them do their jobs (like instant replay, or photo finishes in horse racing) then yeah, I agree it could be handy, of course people will always question the outcome of the computer's judgement if they disagree with the call anyway, but if used as another tool in the ref's belt, it could work I think.
When I was younger (at the end of secondary school) I used to have "pornographic" dreams where I did it with some woman. As a 15 year old virgin boy (back then) I found it really awesome and they were the kind of dreams were I didnt want to wake up.
Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of Sun God robes, on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
... and the server is a smoking husk before the first comment is posted.
;)
Riiiiight, like people read the articles before posting
Moving the zillion atoms that make up the human body seems like a longshot at best.
Does it matter which atoms and molecules you use as long as they construct the same end result?
In my thoughts, wouldn't it also have to be absolutely instantanious? Like, it can't just scan you in like in TRON, nor could it phase you out like Star Trek. Wouldn't your atoms be constantly changing or moving as it scans you in? The blood pumping through your veins would be in the wrong place, the electrons pulsing through your brain and body (even if you're completely unconcious) would be in different places/positions... Chances are, if this takes even longer than a fraction of a blink of an eye, you could be teleported incorectly as the one part of you that was teleported, say, the left half of your eye, is now in a different position than the right half of your eye because your eye was in the process of moving while you were being scanned in.. As great as it could be, there's some serious hurdles in the future of THAT idea.
With Blockbuster's latest system, you can just keep your blockbuster DVD and pay them for it later.
But you still have to go to Blockbuster. PPV exists because you don't have to go anywhere.
And as I just mentioned in another post, you're getting a used DVD for a higher price than you'd pay at a DVD outlet... $20+ for a USED DVD? Rent it, return it, buy it for $9 or 3for25 in a month once they make room on the shelves. Or buy it for 15 from a place that sells them... makes me think this PPV thing is pretty reasonable.. still paying more than I would at BestBuy, but at least it's a brand new copy and I don't even need to leave the house.
I'd like it if they gave you a week pass to view said movie on PPV too so you don't have to wait if you want to watch it again between the time you watched the PPV and the time the DVD arrives.
This sounds like a great idea to me. I've often watched a movie on PPV and wished afterwards I had purchased the hard copy. The best thing is that it sounds like they're selling the DVD at a reduced rate.
Y'know.. I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but you're right... If I had this service offered to me blockbuster would lose my business (Assuming whatever I wanted from BB was on PPV) since there's been enough times where I rented something and then thought "...wow, I wish I just bought it beforehand, now my purchased copy is going to be $rental+$purchase and cost me abother ~$4 or so...
One could argue that BB does this as well through their 'no more late fees' program where you can purchase the movie at full price, but then you're buying a used rental movie for 20 some dollars instead of getting a brand new copy for less..
I think this program has a ton of potential. I'm sure I'd use it.
Oh wait. Standalone DVD recorders are already available that burn in real time without a hard drive. You might want to check out some of the new electronics that have been released over the past five years...
But then what happens when a burn fails?
I as a sort of DVD 'collector' think this is a great idea, it's a couple bucks more than I usually pay for a DVD, but still a good idea none-the-less and the convenience factor is unbeatable. If they're sending out the actual retail DVD as you would get in the store I'm sold. I may still buy from BestBuy or whatever local DVD retailer, but I could see myself getting some DVDs from here from time to time.
For example, you couldn't patent a better way to do 3D graphic chipsets unless you could actually BUILD that chipset?
Effectively, you've narrowed the market down to a small cadre of companies.
I think this is a great example of "the little guy" being able to fight back against being crushed by the large corporations.
Well, yeah, why else would you patent something, litigation and 'maybe someday we'll be able to make this'? What other reason could you have?
I think it's more of an example of someone who never intended to build something patenting something in order to sue the first person with the means to build said product.
Hell, you could start patenting hoverboards straight out of Back to the Future II 'just because' the technology will -someday- be possible.
Which one of them was Hobgoblin in? And no Harry Osborn wasn't Hobgoblin, he was Green Goblin II
Yeah that was my mistake, whoops!
...and you can imagine where it goes from there...
He indexes the cable?
are you sure that wasn't quickly followed by the second coming or the apocolypse??? ;-)
;)
No but it will probably be quickly followed by the second posting of the story, so they can see it the second time around.
everything but the main search engine is beta at google.
Well, not EVERYTHING.. Just the other day slashdot ran a story on the fact that the Google Toolbar has left Beta..
Granted while I couldn't agree more that there's no way Topher could possibly match the physique of Venom, I think they were trying to match him with Eddie Brock more than Venom.. They seem to go for a more character based story in these films than a "Throw these guys in costumes and have 'em brawl" approach. And I can see Topher looking like Eddie, but he seriously needs to pack on a few lbs before he's a bad mofo like Venom. That was Venom's appeal, just a big massive badass. Then again, they could always throw someone else in the Venom suit.. I'm on your side on this one, I think he's way too small for the role, but Raimi seems to know what he's doing, Green Goblin, Doc Oc, Hobgoblin, Spidey, all very well cast, even when you initially thought "what the ...!?"
The second Batman movie -- Batman Returns -- had Danny De Vito as Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and it wasn't too bad, in my opinion. (Even if you didn't like it, you'll have to admit it was much, much better than Batman and Robin.)
...what were they THINKING... how could they have thought "Y'know, this is way better than the first two!" and put it to print? Plus I think they should have stopped making them when they stopped using Michael Keaton, he was great for the role, Val Kilmer? eesh...
I agree, in fact, I'll go as far as to say I really liked the first 2 Batman movies (and Batman Begins, but that's a whole 'nother story.) Had they stayed on that track they'd have a sweet little franchise instead of one poisoned by Batman and Robin
PS: Love Val Kilmer, but Batman? Real Genius, Top Gun, Heat, Top Secret? Sure.. Batman? Not a shot in hell.
Or my favorite, Pinata: Survival Island (aka demon island) about a bunch of college kids on an underwear scavenger hunt on an island where they awaken a posessed PINATA (the worst CG pinata you'll ever see at that) who runs around the island killing people like he's f'ing rambo.
I've never seen anything worse.. Saw it at a screening in OC, then found the DVD in the $5 bin at WalMart so I -had- to get it and put my friends through it too. A movie so bad Jamie Pressley couldn't save it.
There's also the fact that in certain situations it's more likely to break.
First thing that came to my mind... Yeah if it's something I'm going to keep in my pocket... I don't think I want it to be glass, that'd suck to have broken glass in my pocket if something went wrong.. That plastic will just crack and split, but probably won't shatter and end up all over your pocket..
I'm calling bullshit on that one too. arstechnica threw theirs out a car window at 50mph and it's less scratched than the grandparent poster's image.
;D
I can't believe ars forgot the "put it in your pocket and be terribly delicate with it" test! the most obvious test of all!
If you play with the 1.5 beta, it's fixed, just like in the nightlies, and none of your plugins will work, just like the nightlies.
It just took a week or two for the people managing the extensions to catch up and make them work in the new release.. That's to be expected.. In any case I use about 10 extensions (mostly tab related) and all but TabX and Google Toolbar have been updated (even mouse gestures, which took the longest) now works. I've now ditched Safari entirely.
But.....
Say they raise the price to $89.95, that means my wholesale price would be about $65.00. I would buy 0-Day DVDs put them on my New Release shelf for $3.00 a night, so would all of the other videostores. It would be no different than it was in the early 1990s, they would reprice them sell thru in a few months. I 'll bet that videostores would love it! I know I would, and I own a videostore. It would be just like the early days of movie rentals, I'd be making money again.
Ahhh, so true, I used to work for Blockbuster myself, I hadn't thought of that... DVDs have taken over VHS to such a degree that that's the next logical step... Release to the rental chains the same day as the theaters, charge $89/$99 each, then in 3-6months put them on full release for the prices they sell for now (and 1-3 months you can probably get a few of them previously viewed if you're impatient?) In this case DVDs will take the place of cinema the way they took the place of VHS and completely take over the movie viewing market, essentially. But yeah, this is one logical way they could jack the prices up for compensation (still wouldn't compensate for box office sales, but it'd help, I guess) and still not screw the customers or jack the prices up to a point where nobody could afford them..
Let's just hope the price of these 0-day DVDs don't skyrocket to the price of admission for a family of 4 to the theater in order to compensate. But with the coming of home theaters, 5.1+ DTS in your living room.. affordable speakers and audio units.. home PROJECTORS costing not much more than a TV (and sometimes less for a far bigger 'screen'... Maybe theaters will someday go the way of the Drive-in. However I doubt they'd disappear completely because of a move such as simultanious releases, because some movies I'd love to see in the theater.. That could go either way.
Remeber when??? Hell, I STILL do that...
..kinda sad though, he's still convinced he can beat me :)
Hell so does my dad, when playing MARIO BROS fer godsake!
I never got that, sometimes he looked like he was going to fall off the couch like a dog with an itch, meanwhile I'm wondering... What're you gunna do, make Mario DODGE something? run faster? heh. Not talkin' bad, I think it's cool that my dad plays SMB (to this DAY)
Powerglove was interfaced with sensors on the TV, it was horribly unresponsive. With the Revolution controller having an internal gyroscope, responsiveness should be perfect!
If it has a Gyroscope... does that mean we can hope for and expect a GyroMITE!?!?
Y'know, all very valid points. I guess I was thinking of it more from my own experience as a very casual TV watcher. The only thing I ever stored lonoger than a week was some HBO Originals, and most other shows were highly syndicated and overwritten on a daily basis because I told it not to store more than 5 of a show (and they were on like 10 times a day, simpsons, cheers, stuff like that)... So yeah, for the casual user This isn't THAT much of a big deal, but yes, for your purposes such as moving things to a home theaterPC and such, I can see it as becoming a hassle.
The lifetime subscription is still available. The only problem is that the subscription is tied to the box, not the owner. that's why I stick with monthly subscriptions.
PROBLEM is that the subscription is tied to the box? I see that as a MAJOR benefit. Say you don't want your TiVo anymore, ups the resell that's for damned sure. I'd sooner buy a TiVo off of eBay with a lifetime subscription for $300 than a new one for $99 with a monthly subscription. Of course it takes a couple years to make up the difference, but I see it as completely worth it..
I think in writing this I see your point.. You can't transfer your lifetime subscription to a new TiVo if you decide to upgrade.. but then, you can still pawn off your old TiVo (which you'd need a subscription for 2 TiVos if you kept it anyway) for enough to cover the lifetime subscription for your new box.. I don't see it as a downside, major upside for purchasing a used TiVo, or selling one, but not really a good or bad thing for if you want to upgrade..