I'm a bit confused..I thought the game was delayed yet again in order to put the online mode *back in.*
Let me guess...Sony forced them to release something in time for x-moose. Something tells me that with the release of an online version, which is what just about everyone interested in this game was waiting for, the sales for a non-online version will be limited to x-moose gifts from the same kind of parents who gave their kid the Twid Pod Cloud Car instead of a TIE Fighter or Snowspeeder Star Wars toy.
Though it seems as if most of the slashdot userbase has noticed. I would be curious to know how many of those who regularly rant against the evils of Microsoft are now frothing at the mouth and more than happy to give Microsoft their money.
Oh, and unless Diebold manufactured scantron-style counters and are responsible for printing provisional ballots with no addresses, I think your little rant is just slightly misplaced.
Yes, in fact they do manufacture optical "scantron-style" scanners, though the likely vector for tampering is the central "PC" computers, running Windows and Diebold's GEMS software which count the e-votes from the various Diebold optical and touch-screen machines.
fidelity, according to dictionary.com, means: The degree to which an electronic system accurately reproduces the sound or image of its input signal.
Fidelity is not a value in itself; it is merely a concept used to describe the faithfulness of the sound. You can have good or bad fidelity. So, in the case of "WiFi," you have a level of fidelity associated with the limitations of wireless technology.
When I walked by a local EB last night they were selling San Andreas early. Two ~12 year-old kids were standing in the line the EB employees had set up, waiting to buy it. Really made me angry because the EB employees had obviously done nothing to prevent their purchase.
I'm going to assume that your reply was sarcastic in intent and tone. So I will offer a couple of examples as counterpoints to a belief that the Bush administration's motives are non-imperial in nature:
1. From a NYT article: "The [Bush] aide said that guys like me [the writer] were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''"
2. Now if you believe that the above quote is just heresay and didn't come from the horse or asses' mouth, I would direct you to browse the pages of The Project For a New American Century:
I would in particular direct you to this page, which is their statement of principles, and which lists among the signees such members of the Bush administration as Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld. In fact, 10 of the 18 signatories of the PNAC doctrine have positions in the Bush administration.
Now whether you believe an American global empire is a good thing or not is up to your particular political compass, but it is hard to refute the evidence that the neo-cons and superhawks in the Bush administration are carrying out their plans to expand America's reach for political and economic gain, and for what they believe is the safety and prosperity of America as a whole. They want an empire.
Perhaps the Western world has advanced technologically farther in the last 20 years than the last 5000, but we have certainly not advanced much farther as a society. In fact, in some ways ancient Greece was a more civilized society. And what do we have these days? Basically a 2nd Roman Empire, this time as the Pax Americana -- civility and peace through superior technological and economic might. Except we're not doing quite so well as the Romans.
The one point I agree with you on is that giving these people internet access would open the floodgates of cultural exchange and gathered knowledge, and the sharing of ideas is the best way for humanity to evolve.
I don't know, but I would consider Dark Angel, and its setting of a post-apocalyptic society where a corrupt government scrutinized the moves of all citizens, certain members of society were seen as "dangerous", and basic Constitutional rights were seriously abridged, to have been vitally more relevant to the current state of our society in all its Big Brother glory. It was more than a *little* curious that FOX cancelled Dark Angel after 9/11 and the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and the war machine were all gearing up for action.
Yes, perhaps that's a little conspiratorial, and DA didn't have that good of ratings near the end, but Firefly's ratings didn't exactly wow any tv execs either. Dark Angel just seemed in my opinion to have been cancelled too abruptly, especially since it seems like show creator James Cameron (who wanted the series to continue) would have more pull.
First: It is not wrong for Google to expand its offerings. Any business, no matter how viable its main service is, needs to diversify in order to continue growing and survive climatic business changes. Now, a business can certainly overextend itself and get into trouble, but I have not seen Google do this. They're taking things slow. And I certainly don't see how this makes them "evil."
Second: I hate when the word "slave" is bandied about like dropping an f-bomb. Slavery, as in people who are literally bought and sold, sadly still exists in the world today. But there is no slavery, even in a loose sense of the word, going on in the context of Microsoft. People have a choice of operating systems. Just because most people choose Microsoft doesn't mean they are slaves to our favorite Redmond company; it just means they are ignorant or short-sighted. And on that I'll agree: there are a lot of ignorant and short-sighted people in this world.
"'We get it from animal sources,' he said. Humans produce ferritin. But instead of getting it from employees, NanoMagnetics buys its ferritin from collagen manufacturers who get it from cows. The company is currently looking at ways to produce it in the lab 'because my wife is a vegetarian,' Mayes joked."
So it looks like they are already cognizant of the possible backlash by the vegetarian/vegan community. I have no problems with lab-grown ferritin; it's just the support of the dairy/beef industry that I'm not down with. Kudos to NanoMagnetics for their foresight.
Well, it will definitely offend vegans such as myself. I imagine Hindus wouldn't be too keen on this, either. And what about the anti-GMO movement in Europe?
I never thought I'd have to worry about whether my media storage contains animal parts! What's next, hooking up genetically-altered electro-hamsters as a power supply?
Steve Allison of Midway charges: "The guys bitching about this new trend are inching up on 35 years old, and they grew up on old-school gameplay. They're a very vocal bunch, but they're just not the market anymore."
I just turned 30 and I spend more on games now than I ever did as a kid. I was part of the first mainstream videogame generation and most of us have a lot more disposable income these days. And we still play games, even though some of us are married and/or have families.
It's incredibly stupid to dismiss us like that, but it's something I see over and over again. Games aren't maturing as my generation does, and although I spend a lot on games, I find the number of games that truly excite me anymore to be slim. My feeling is that a lot of this is due to the immaturity of many game developers, who think it's more important to have big-breasted polygons than a good storyline or gameplay. The other problem is arrogant and uninformed attitudes like this guy at Midway, which is very prevalent at the superpublishers which control the industry. I don't believe that the traditional business philosophy that the 12-18 market spends the most translates to the games market. From just personal experience I haven't seen the usual dropoff. What is needed is more independent studios again who have the creative integrity to concentrate on quality, which is what the 25-35 segment is begging for and not getting often.
Oh, and by the way Midway guy, 95% of the games your company has put out are trash.
The problem isn't the food. The problem is lack of population control. There are already more people than the earth can sustain. The faster we produce more babies, the faster the non-renewable energy sources we have on earth are depleted, and the faster we poison ourselves with our own pollution (especially since pop. growth is the largest in developing countries, who also have the lowest pollution standards).
Unfortunately, a lot of this comes down to cultural issues. Many "developing" nations have cultural views about birth control which are entirely outdated -- i.e. they don't want to use birth control at all. China had the right idea, but I'm not sure if any other countries have the cohones to follow their lead. Most seem to still be in the 20th century, short-sighted mindset that resources and expansion is unlimited.
Actually, you can already drink water that old. Trinity Water is taken from a 2.2 mile deep spring under Idaho. It's been carbon-dated at over 16,000 years old and is basically as pure as it was then due to the granite formation protecting the source below from groundwater contamination. Best water I've had..something about the unique mineral content.
I have a bit more info on the system. We're using a Cisco (oh no) setup. Desk phones are 7940 Series IP phones. The wireless phones are Spectralink Netlink DS models.
I don't think this fellow tried very hard. The company I work for just replaced all of our phones in our local office (500+ people) with a VOIP system, including wireless VOIP phones for many. While they had to iron out some issues early on, the system (and more to the point, wireless VOIP via a wireless LAN) is working extremely well. (Unfortunately I don't know the specifics of the system off-hand)
Seems like Mr. Kewney has an alternate agenda, or is just really quick to jump to conclusions.
Does "ahead of the curve" mean "watching mind-numbing crap on network TV, oh but in glorious high-def?" The only HD worth watching is cable, which is pretty much limited to Showtime and HBO. And that equals a ridiculous monthly cable or satellite bill since they are both premium channels. I've had a HDTV for several years now, but I don't watch any HD content. Believe me, I'd like to, but there's no compelling content that is reasonably priced. The HDTV revolution hasn't happened, and I put that blame squarely on the shoulders of Congress. At least my TV has a very nice built-in line doubler, so it's not a total wash.
Replacing those $100 speakers every year would generate a lot more toxic waste (in the form of all those electronics and plastics) than your single pair of $2000 speakers. And so it would not be a win for the environment, and hence you or I, over the long term with such a plan.
And just like other posters stated, the O in OLED does not mean the materials are biodegradable or non-toxic. It just means the same as O as in OChem, albeit a little less hellish. However, I will agree that these panels are certainly a step forward from traditional CRTs.
yeah..Matmos, the electronic group who did a lot of the beat programming for Bjork's last album Vespertine, are big into circuit bending.
I mean, for electronic-focused music, there's only so many things you can do with an 808. More groups are breaking out of the confines of dance music, and I think that's a Good Thing.
Well, it's not that Microsoft isn't interested in taking action against Linux. They're just playing it smart and fighting a war by proxy - by pumping up SCO with lots of money for litigation. If they solve the Linux "problem" with a little money and not get personally dragged into the fight, then all the better in their eyes.
I doubt Ansel Adams used a flash much, except for close-up nighttime work. You can't exactly carry around a flash system that will light up a whole mountainside. Digital camera systems use flashes also, so that's sort of a moot point.
The net battery usage of a digital system is greater, if you compare it to a fully manual analog camera (where the film is wound manually).
Renegotiate with the RIAA? Their idea of negotiating is "Sure Steve, we'll talk prices. Oh yeah, it's our music and you have no negotiating leverage. Muhahaha. Now pay us double what you have been, fools!"
I can't believe that so many people in this thread are totally unconcerned about the RIAA getting 80% of what you pay. Of which the ARTISTS probably get 1%. Everyone thinks that Apple has won one for the little guy, but the RIAA is the one laughing all the way to the bank.
Well, I think the biggest market for tablets is for graphic designers who can design on-the-go with stylus in hand. For this purpose it is really useful. However, Microsoft seems to not be marketing to this audience at all.
Just to correct a minor point, Seinfeld had a Macintosh on his desk during the entire run of the series, not a Sony Vaio. I have a feeling it is what Seinfeld probably uses in real life.
But I agree, cool is manufactured by advertising agencies every day. That is the *purpose* of advertising agencies. It is an insidious art of mass hypnosis, and it usually works. You know why? Because the vast majority of people are NOT cool, and have no idea how to BE cool, but they desperately want to told how. In fact, most people would rather just be told how to do everything instead of make choices to define themselves, because they instinctually want to conform to a herd. But even people in the know can sometimes be coerced with a good ad campaign.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a bit confused..I thought the game was delayed yet again in order to put the online mode *back in.*
Let me guess...Sony forced them to release something in time for x-moose. Something tells me that with the release of an online version, which is what just about everyone interested in this game was waiting for, the sales for a non-online version will be limited to x-moose gifts from the same kind of parents who gave their kid the Twid Pod Cloud Car instead of a TIE Fighter or Snowspeeder Star Wars toy.
Though it seems as if most of the slashdot userbase has noticed. I would be curious to know how many of those who regularly rant against the evils of Microsoft are now frothing at the mouth and more than happy to give Microsoft their money.
Oh, and unless Diebold manufactured scantron-style counters and are responsible for printing provisional ballots with no addresses, I think your little rant is just slightly misplaced.
Yes, in fact they do manufacture optical "scantron-style" scanners, though the likely vector for tampering is the central "PC" computers, running Windows and Diebold's GEMS software which count the e-votes from the various Diebold optical and touch-screen machines.
I think WiFi means exactly what it says.
fidelity, according to dictionary.com, means:
The degree to which an electronic system accurately reproduces the sound or image of its input signal.
Fidelity is not a value in itself; it is merely a concept used to describe the faithfulness of the sound. You can have good or bad fidelity. So, in the case of "WiFi," you have a level of fidelity associated with the limitations of wireless technology.
When I walked by a local EB last night they were selling San Andreas early. Two ~12 year-old kids were standing in the line the EB employees had set up, waiting to buy it. Really made me angry because the EB employees had obviously done nothing to prevent their purchase.
Or Burning Library of Congresses for that matter...
1. From a NYT article: "The [Bush] aide said that guys like me [the writer] were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''"
2. Now if you believe that the above quote is just heresay and didn't come from the horse or asses' mouth, I would direct you to browse the pages of The Project For a New American Century: I would in particular direct you to this page, which is their statement of principles, and which lists among the signees such members of the Bush administration as Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld. In fact, 10 of the 18 signatories of the PNAC doctrine have positions in the Bush administration.
Now whether you believe an American global empire is a good thing or not is up to your particular political compass, but it is hard to refute the evidence that the neo-cons and superhawks in the Bush administration are carrying out their plans to expand America's reach for political and economic gain, and for what they believe is the safety and prosperity of America as a whole. They want an empire.
Perhaps the Western world has advanced technologically farther in the last 20 years than the last 5000, but we have certainly not advanced much farther as a society. In fact, in some ways ancient Greece was a more civilized society. And what do we have these days? Basically a 2nd Roman Empire, this time as the Pax Americana -- civility and peace through superior technological and economic might. Except we're not doing quite so well as the Romans.
The one point I agree with you on is that giving these people internet access would open the floodgates of cultural exchange and gathered knowledge, and the sharing of ideas is the best way for humanity to evolve.
I don't know, but I would consider Dark Angel, and its setting of a post-apocalyptic society where a corrupt government scrutinized the moves of all citizens, certain members of society were seen as "dangerous", and basic Constitutional rights were seriously abridged, to have been vitally more relevant to the current state of our society in all its Big Brother glory. It was more than a *little* curious that FOX cancelled Dark Angel after 9/11 and the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and the war machine were all gearing up for action.
Yes, perhaps that's a little conspiratorial, and DA didn't have that good of ratings near the end, but Firefly's ratings didn't exactly wow any tv execs either. Dark Angel just seemed in my opinion to have been cancelled too abruptly, especially since it seems like show creator James Cameron (who wanted the series to continue) would have more pull.
First: It is not wrong for Google to expand its offerings. Any business, no matter how viable its main service is, needs to diversify in order to continue growing and survive climatic business changes. Now, a business can certainly overextend itself and get into trouble, but I have not seen Google do this. They're taking things slow. And I certainly don't see how this makes them "evil."
Second: I hate when the word "slave" is bandied about like dropping an f-bomb. Slavery, as in people who are literally bought and sold, sadly still exists in the world today. But there is no slavery, even in a loose sense of the word, going on in the context of Microsoft. People have a choice of operating systems. Just because most people choose Microsoft doesn't mean they are slaves to our favorite Redmond company; it just means they are ignorant or short-sighted. And on that I'll agree: there are a lot of ignorant and short-sighted people in this world.
I just had time to fully read the article:
"'We get it from animal sources,' he said. Humans produce ferritin. But instead of getting it from employees, NanoMagnetics buys its ferritin from collagen manufacturers who get it from cows. The company is currently looking at ways to produce it in the lab 'because my wife is a vegetarian,' Mayes joked."
So it looks like they are already cognizant of the possible backlash by the vegetarian/vegan community. I have no problems with lab-grown ferritin; it's just the support of the dairy/beef industry that I'm not down with. Kudos to NanoMagnetics for their foresight.
Well, it will definitely offend vegans such as myself. I imagine Hindus wouldn't be too keen on this, either. And what about the anti-GMO movement in Europe?
I never thought I'd have to worry about whether my media storage contains animal parts! What's next, hooking up genetically-altered electro-hamsters as a power supply?
Steve Allison of Midway charges: "The guys bitching about this new trend are inching up on 35 years old, and they grew up on old-school gameplay. They're a very vocal bunch, but they're just not the market anymore."
I just turned 30 and I spend more on games now than I ever did as a kid. I was part of the first mainstream videogame generation and most of us have a lot more disposable income these days. And we still play games, even though some of us are married and/or have families.
It's incredibly stupid to dismiss us like that, but it's something I see over and over again. Games aren't maturing as my generation does, and although I spend a lot on games, I find the number of games that truly excite me anymore to be slim. My feeling is that a lot of this is due to the immaturity of many game developers, who think it's more important to have big-breasted polygons than a good storyline or gameplay. The other problem is arrogant and uninformed attitudes like this guy at Midway, which is very prevalent at the superpublishers which control the industry. I don't believe that the traditional business philosophy that the 12-18 market spends the most translates to the games market. From just personal experience I haven't seen the usual dropoff. What is needed is more independent studios again who have the creative integrity to concentrate on quality, which is what the 25-35 segment is begging for and not getting often.
Oh, and by the way Midway guy, 95% of the games your company has put out are trash.
The problem isn't the food. The problem is lack of population control. There are already more people than the earth can sustain. The faster we produce more babies, the faster the non-renewable energy sources we have on earth are depleted, and the faster we poison ourselves with our own pollution (especially since pop. growth is the largest in developing countries, who also have the lowest pollution standards).
Unfortunately, a lot of this comes down to cultural issues. Many "developing" nations have cultural views about birth control which are entirely outdated -- i.e. they don't want to use birth control at all. China had the right idea, but I'm not sure if any other countries have the cohones to follow their lead. Most seem to still be in the 20th century, short-sighted mindset that resources and expansion is unlimited.
Actually, you can already drink water that old. Trinity Water is taken from a 2.2 mile deep spring under Idaho. It's been carbon-dated at over 16,000 years old and is basically as pure as it was then due to the granite formation protecting the source below from groundwater contamination. Best water I've had..something about the unique mineral content.
I have a bit more info on the system. We're using a Cisco (oh no) setup. Desk phones are 7940 Series IP phones. The wireless phones are Spectralink Netlink DS models.
I don't think this fellow tried very hard. The company I work for just replaced all of our phones in our local office (500+ people) with a VOIP system, including wireless VOIP phones for many. While they had to iron out some issues early on, the system (and more to the point, wireless VOIP via a wireless LAN) is working extremely well. (Unfortunately I don't know the specifics of the system off-hand)
Seems like Mr. Kewney has an alternate agenda, or is just really quick to jump to conclusions.
Does "ahead of the curve" mean "watching mind-numbing crap on network TV, oh but in glorious high-def?" The only HD worth watching is cable, which is pretty much limited to Showtime and HBO. And that equals a ridiculous monthly cable or satellite bill since they are both premium channels. I've had a HDTV for several years now, but I don't watch any HD content. Believe me, I'd like to, but there's no compelling content that is reasonably priced. The HDTV revolution hasn't happened, and I put that blame squarely on the shoulders of Congress. At least my TV has a very nice built-in line doubler, so it's not a total wash.
Replacing those $100 speakers every year would generate a lot more toxic waste (in the form of all those electronics and plastics) than your single pair of $2000 speakers. And so it would not be a win for the environment, and hence you or I, over the long term with such a plan.
And just like other posters stated, the O in OLED does not mean the materials are biodegradable or non-toxic. It just means the same as O as in OChem, albeit a little less hellish. However, I will agree that these panels are certainly a step forward from traditional CRTs.
yeah..Matmos, the electronic group who did a lot of the beat programming for Bjork's last album Vespertine, are big into circuit bending. I mean, for electronic-focused music, there's only so many things you can do with an 808. More groups are breaking out of the confines of dance music, and I think that's a Good Thing.
Well, it's not that Microsoft isn't interested in taking action against Linux. They're just playing it smart and fighting a war by proxy - by pumping up SCO with lots of money for litigation. If they solve the Linux "problem" with a little money and not get personally dragged into the fight, then all the better in their eyes.
I doubt Ansel Adams used a flash much, except for close-up nighttime work. You can't exactly carry around a flash system that will light up a whole mountainside. Digital camera systems use flashes also, so that's sort of a moot point.
The net battery usage of a digital system is greater, if you compare it to a fully manual analog camera (where the film is wound manually).
Renegotiate with the RIAA? Their idea of negotiating is "Sure Steve, we'll talk prices. Oh yeah, it's our music and you have no negotiating leverage. Muhahaha. Now pay us double what you have been, fools!"
I can't believe that so many people in this thread are totally unconcerned about the RIAA getting 80% of what you pay. Of which the ARTISTS probably get 1%. Everyone thinks that Apple has won one for the little guy, but the RIAA is the one laughing all the way to the bank.
Well, I think the biggest market for tablets is for graphic designers who can design on-the-go with stylus in hand. For this purpose it is really useful. However, Microsoft seems to not be marketing to this audience at all.
Just to correct a minor point, Seinfeld had a Macintosh on his desk during the entire run of the series, not a Sony Vaio. I have a feeling it is what Seinfeld probably uses in real life.
But I agree, cool is manufactured by advertising agencies every day. That is the *purpose* of advertising agencies. It is an insidious art of mass hypnosis, and it usually works. You know why? Because the vast majority of people are NOT cool, and have no idea how to BE cool, but they desperately want to told how. In fact, most people would rather just be told how to do everything instead of make choices to define themselves, because they instinctually want to conform to a herd. But even people in the know can sometimes be coerced with a good ad campaign.