If it was a reputable company, then they would have had at least a 1 year warranty. That said I have bought $20 psu's (with the pretty lights) and had them crap out in a few weeks.
Now buying PSUs from reputable vendors (cost isn't the only factor, you have to look at user reviews for excessive failures and the warranty period). I have had no PSU failures in many years. I picked a reputable brand and have stuck with them at great success.
Now add the energy savings from buying higher quality (and more efficient) PSUs and in the end you will come out ahead.
PC Idle with 3 monitors, Hex core, a mid range video card and 80 plus PSU I see about 140w to 180w. Suspend is really nice nowadays though and I set my machine to suspend after 30 min (power usage shows as 0 on the UPS). Comes back from suspend in less than 10s.
Wouldn't be too bad if most systems were set by default to suspend since so many users won't bother with those settings.
Another consideration when calculating power loss, if you live in a warm climate (and thus use AC) remember that any power wasted by your PC also produces heat in the local environment and will cause your AC system to work harder (and use more power) to remove said heat.
A shortcut for how much you're spending for leaving x device on is that for every watt of continuous power (at 10c a kWh) = $0.88 at the end of the year or 7.3c a month. For something on 8 hours a day (1/3rd of the day) divide it's power usage by 3 and apply the above conversion.
Makes it easy to figure out if its worth to add a switch/sensor to the device, switch your PCs PSU for an efficient one, and if you should leave x device unplugged (if it has a high standby power use) . The above doesn't take into consideration the loss due to added home cooling costs during the summer months.
Magnatune does this . So if you're a member, you are free to use their music in your non-commercial projects.
This was the reason I took all the money from CDs I had abstained from buying from RIAA Members and instead got a lifetime subscription from Magnatune.
I know how this ends...with a giant sucking sound as the world's oceans drain into the earth's core. Then,
The whole world gets covered in a thick layer of steam. For weeks it becomes hard to breath and see. After the steam subsides people start to wipe their fogged up windows to reveal every TV screen, every computer screen, every phone and tablet with the same message:
A user may get upset that their $200 Video card performs no better than a $150 video card because of inefficiencies in the OS WM.
Also the performance difference should scale with more demanding games. So with a new enough game the user may be looking at 25 fps vs the 30fps they should be getting OR 50fps vs 60 fps, both of which are noticeable differences.
You forgot The Lik Sang saga . Sony shut down the hardware importer Lik Sang because they were importing PSPs (when they were new) from Japan for sale in Europe. On what basis did Sony Sue them? They sued them by claiming that Lik Sang was selling devices that were "unsafe" in Europe. They also sued them from different countries in different languages. Lik Sang could no longer afford to defend itself and thus folded.
Yeah, I think it sucks that it gets such a bad rap here. After hearing all the bitching and moaning about the shortcomings of commercial games, here comes a tool for us to literally put our money where our mouth is and fund the titles we want to see!
I'm stoked. I'm also very stoked that over half the titles are pledging Linux support.
And of course, with all the work they're doing porting steam and the source engine to Linux, it would make sense that Linux would be a strong contender for their 'Steam Box' .
The game is on Steam too with a 2 pack deal. The first is sometimes sold for 75% off (2.50 or 3.25 with all the expansions). The first one is a blast and I can't wait to try this one out. Both games have demos.
On the topic of tower defense, check out Defense Grid . It's a more pure tower defense game (with a crapload of polish). Free demo on steam. Do note, it's cheaper to buy the game (with expansions) on their kickstarter (belive $15 gets you the game + expansions + any games developed from the Kickstarter even the full sequel, I did the $60 level to get 3 sets of codes for friends). They'll send you one steam game code right away (which you get to keep even if they don't make their funding goal). They're also aiming to port their engine to Linux and Mac OS.
Last there's Dungeon Defenders and Sanctum on Steam. Both co-op tower defense games. DD seemed more slow paced but had more rpg elements in it (and 4 player co-op). Sanctum I was not too impressed with. That said Orcs Must Die is very solid, humorous, and fun.
But really, if you haven't tried a tower defense game yet, start with Defense Grid (again free demo) and you'll see what a good polished game it is.
As a nerd who was heavily into consumer VR headsets and has been disappointed in the offerings available since the 90s, this excites me. Now consider that:
1. People here are highly interested in tech stuff (you know, stuff that matters) 2. Putting something here, to the attention of the 100s of thousands of Slashdot users increases the chances that a project such as this will reach its funding goal and you know, we get the story about it successfully shipping in the next year. 3. They already have a working prototype (must have missed the duct tape) and working software. 4. The developer units (you know if you pledge $300) ship in December. 5. Not all of us are cynical assholes and are willing to chip into other fellow geeks/techies/engineer's dreams.
So excuse us while we get excited over new tech and chip in any way we can to make it happen instead of bitching and moaning about it on a forum.
I hope they reintroduce it with the same shape... With the Nexus Q and the Boxee Box I'm one pyramid shaped device away from recreating the old EA logo on my TV stand!
Remember too, the touchscreen isn't your only possible source of input for the tablet. You also have your accelerometers! So for a platformer, tilt left right to run, jerk up to jump etc.
Remember that this has the same hardware and the same OS as Tablets that are getting released now. From wikipedia:
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, IdeaTab K2 / LePad K2, Acer Iconia Tab A510, Acer Iconia Tab A700, LG Optimus 4X HD, HTC One X, ZTE Era, ZTE PF 100, ZTE T98, Toshiba AT270, Toshiba AT300 (Excite 10), Asus Tablet 610, Fuhu Inc. nabi 2 Tablet, Asus Nexus 7, Asus Transformer 300 and 700.
So anybody who has written an app that runs on any of those tablets/devices just has to add the ability for the app to recognize the input from the controller. Keep in mind the controller will also have a touchpad (for apps that want to still use the old interface). Plus if it's as open as they say, it's only a matter of weeks (if not days) before someone adds the Google Play store to it.
Also the inverse applies too. A developer can make a game for the OUYA and then produce a touchscreen input version of the game for the tablets listed above (and even a graphically scaled back version for Tegra2 tablets).
Honestly, the price jump was only because of idiots that rushed out and bought drives when they heard of a possible "shortage" and thus created a shortage.
Or you know, smart people who knew they had a need for certain drives for their home or business use through the next 6-8 months and realized they should fulfill their needs before retailers used the flood to hike prices.
Kinda like what happened in that (Taiwan I believe) earthquake in the 90s when RAM prices went through the roof.
Between Netflix, Hulu (free), and Redbox all of our household entertainment needs are taken care of. With the savings we can pick up a season or two (or more if we buy used) of our favorite shows.
Recently picked up an HD Homerunner box and things are great! Awesome to watch shows on *your* schedule
The way I see it, you have a limited number of photons striking the cube before it crosses the event horizon. Once the object crosses the event horizon then the photons striking it would also cross the event horizon. These limited number of photons (pre-event horizon) which at first were striking your eyes at a regular pace get slowed down and less and less are hitting your eye per time period.
Thus, per my understanding, the object becomes dimmer as time passes.
With each new version, Waze is shaping up to be *the* turn by turn GPS for the G1 (and other android phones) and with that any android phone should be your all in one device.
Waze (which is free btw) got turn by turn in 1.2 (currently at 1.3.1) and can do voice directions while playing an mp3 (as long as you have it on 2D view - still stutters occasionally* when you have 3D view on the G1. Also do a sanity check on the directions, occasionally I've gotten some wonky (6 mile directions to a location 1/2 mile away).
There's even a specific wikipedia app. I have these all on my G1 and have been happy (plus the Amazon Barcode app, pretty sweet to pull up the Amazon reviews and prices when shopping locally).
*This was as of version 1.3.0 I haven't tested 1.3.1 in this regard.
Slashdot Mirror
Most PSUs hit their peak efficiency at 50% load. So if you have a 350W typical load then you'll want to go with a 700W PSU to minimize your at the wall power consumption.
Also its nice to have a little room for power demand variance and future expansion.
1. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2624/3
2. http://hexus.net/tech/tech-explained/psu/29911-80-plus-certification/
If it was a reputable company, then they would have had at least a 1 year warranty. That said I have bought $20 psu's (with the pretty lights) and had them crap out in a few weeks.
Now buying PSUs from reputable vendors (cost isn't the only factor, you have to look at user reviews for excessive failures and the warranty period). I have had no PSU failures in many years. I picked a reputable brand and have stuck with them at great success.
Now add the energy savings from buying higher quality (and more efficient) PSUs and in the end you will come out ahead.
This could get exciting! Everyone would go to zero-click buying.
All storefronts would be rendered in flash and as soon as the page loads items would start crawling their way towards your shopping cart!
Your "shopping" experience would consist of *preventing* items from getting into your cart.
Just realized, this would work really well as a tower defense game.
PC Idle with 3 monitors, Hex core, a mid range video card and 80 plus PSU I see about 140w to 180w. Suspend is really nice nowadays though and I set my machine to suspend after 30 min (power usage shows as 0 on the UPS). Comes back from suspend in less than 10s.
Wouldn't be too bad if most systems were set by default to suspend since so many users won't bother with those settings.
Another consideration when calculating power loss, if you live in a warm climate (and thus use AC) remember that any power wasted by your PC also produces heat in the local environment and will cause your AC system to work harder (and use more power) to remove said heat.
A shortcut for how much you're spending for leaving x device on is that for every watt of continuous power (at 10c a kWh) = $0.88 at the end of the year or 7.3c a month. For something on 8 hours a day (1/3rd of the day) divide it's power usage by 3 and apply the above conversion.
Makes it easy to figure out if its worth to add a switch/sensor to the device, switch your PCs PSU for an efficient one, and if you should leave x device unplugged (if it has a high standby power use) . The above doesn't take into consideration the loss due to added home cooling costs during the summer months.
Magnatune does this . So if you're a member, you are free to use their music in your non-commercial projects.
This was the reason I took all the money from CDs I had abstained from buying from RIAA Members and instead got a lifetime subscription from Magnatune.
I know how this ends...with a giant sucking sound as the world's oceans drain into the earth's core. Then,
The whole world gets covered in a thick layer of steam. For weeks it becomes hard to breath and see. After the steam subsides people start to wipe their fogged up windows to reveal every TV screen, every computer screen, every phone and tablet with the same message:
STEAM: NOW AVAILABLE ON ALL PLATFORMS
Seems like everyone makes that mistake.
A user may get upset that their $200 Video card performs no better than a $150 video card because of inefficiencies in the OS WM.
Also the performance difference should scale with more demanding games. So with a new enough game the user may be looking at 25 fps vs the 30fps they should be getting OR 50fps vs 60 fps, both of which are noticeable differences.
You forgot The Lik Sang saga . Sony shut down the hardware importer Lik Sang because they were importing PSPs (when they were new) from Japan for sale in Europe. On what basis did Sony Sue them? They sued them by claiming that Lik Sang was selling devices that were "unsafe" in Europe. They also sued them from different countries in different languages. Lik Sang could no longer afford to defend itself and thus folded.
Marvin is that you?
"Brain the size of a planet and they expect me to be excited over a console built with smart phone hardware...."
Yeah, I think it sucks that it gets such a bad rap here. After hearing all the bitching and moaning about the shortcomings of commercial games, here comes a tool for us to literally put our money where our mouth is and fund the titles we want to see!
I'm stoked. I'm also very stoked that over half the titles are pledging Linux support.
So besides that what else has changed for Linux since RedHat gave up on the desktop and Loki fell?
Valve is now porting the source engine to Linux (Left4dead 2 first, but other titles are sure to follow).
Many indie games on steam have been offered via humble bundles (which require they provide a Linux version).
And here I compiled a list of Kickstarter games (Thanks to the Phoronix and reddit/r/Linux community) that got funded and are releasing with a Linux version.
And of course, with all the work they're doing porting steam and the source engine to Linux, it would make sense that Linux would be a strong contender for their 'Steam Box' .
Everyone knows the QWOP keys are the real choice of gaming champions!
The game is on Steam too with a 2 pack deal. The first is sometimes sold for 75% off (2.50 or 3.25 with all the expansions). The first one is a blast and I can't wait to try this one out. Both games have demos.
On the topic of tower defense, check out Defense Grid . It's a more pure tower defense game (with a crapload of polish). Free demo on steam. Do note, it's cheaper to buy the game (with expansions) on their kickstarter (belive $15 gets you the game + expansions + any games developed from the Kickstarter even the full sequel, I did the $60 level to get 3 sets of codes for friends). They'll send you one steam game code right away (which you get to keep even if they don't make their funding goal). They're also aiming to port their engine to Linux and Mac OS.
Last there's Dungeon Defenders and Sanctum on Steam. Both co-op tower defense games. DD seemed more slow paced but had more rpg elements in it (and 4 player co-op). Sanctum I was not too impressed with. That said Orcs Must Die is very solid, humorous, and fun.
But really, if you haven't tried a tower defense game yet, start with Defense Grid (again free demo) and you'll see what a good polished game it is.
As a nerd who was heavily into consumer VR headsets and has been disappointed in the offerings available since the 90s, this excites me. Now consider that:
1. People here are highly interested in tech stuff (you know, stuff that matters)
2. Putting something here, to the attention of the 100s of thousands of Slashdot users increases the chances that a project such as this will reach its funding goal and you know, we get the story about it successfully shipping in the next year.
3. They already have a working prototype (must have missed the duct tape) and working software.
4. The developer units (you know if you pledge $300) ship in December.
5. Not all of us are cynical assholes and are willing to chip into other fellow geeks/techies/engineer's dreams.
So excuse us while we get excited over new tech and chip in any way we can to make it happen instead of bitching and moaning about it on a forum.
Now go check to see what things have been made possible via Kickstarter . Even things for all to enjoy .
I hope they reintroduce it with the same shape... With the Nexus Q and the Boxee Box I'm one pyramid shaped device away from recreating the old EA logo on my TV stand!
Remember too, the touchscreen isn't your only possible source of input for the tablet. You also have your accelerometers! So for a platformer, tilt left right to run, jerk up to jump etc.
Remember that this has the same hardware and the same OS as Tablets that are getting released now. From wikipedia:
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, IdeaTab K2 / LePad K2, Acer Iconia Tab A510, Acer Iconia Tab A700, LG Optimus 4X HD, HTC One X, ZTE Era, ZTE PF 100, ZTE T98, Toshiba AT270, Toshiba AT300 (Excite 10), Asus Tablet 610, Fuhu Inc. nabi 2 Tablet, Asus Nexus 7, Asus Transformer 300 and 700.
So anybody who has written an app that runs on any of those tablets/devices just has to add the ability for the app to recognize the input from the controller. Keep in mind the controller will also have a touchpad (for apps that want to still use the old interface). Plus if it's as open as they say, it's only a matter of weeks (if not days) before someone adds the Google Play store to it.
Also the inverse applies too. A developer can make a game for the OUYA and then produce a touchscreen input version of the game for the tablets listed above (and even a graphically scaled back version for Tegra2 tablets).
Honestly, the price jump was only because of idiots that rushed out and bought drives when they heard of a possible "shortage" and thus created a shortage.
Or you know, smart people who knew they had a need for certain drives for their home or business use through the next 6-8 months and realized they should fulfill their needs before retailers used the flood to hike prices.
Kinda like what happened in that (Taiwan I believe) earthquake in the 90s when RAM prices went through the roof.
I prefer to just wear this. Plus it makes the theater manager uncomfortable!
Scumbag Bush:
Says terrorists hate our freedoms ...
Proceeds to take away our freedoms
Between Netflix, Hulu (free), and Redbox all of our household entertainment needs are taken care of. With the savings we can pick up a season or two (or more if we buy used) of our favorite shows.
Recently picked up an HD Homerunner box and things are great! Awesome to watch shows on *your* schedule
The way I see it, you have a limited number of photons striking the cube before it crosses the event horizon. Once the object crosses the event horizon then the photons striking it would also cross the event horizon. These limited number of photons (pre-event horizon) which at first were striking your eyes at a regular pace get slowed down and less and less are hitting your eye per time period.
Thus, per my understanding, the object becomes dimmer as time passes.
What about selling a fine set of hunting knives along with a DVD box set of Dexter?
http://img269.imageshack.us/i/pbygd.png/
With each new version, Waze is shaping up to be *the* turn by turn GPS for the G1 (and other android phones) and with that any android phone should be your all in one device.
Waze (which is free btw) got turn by turn in 1.2 (currently at 1.3.1) and can do voice directions while playing an mp3 (as long as you have it on 2D view - still stutters occasionally* when you have 3D view on the G1. Also do a sanity check on the directions, occasionally I've gotten some wonky (6 mile directions to a location 1/2 mile away).
There's even a specific wikipedia app. I have these all on my G1 and have been happy (plus the Amazon Barcode app, pretty sweet to pull up the Amazon reviews and prices when shopping locally).
*This was as of version 1.3.0 I haven't tested 1.3.1 in this regard.