The flaw in your theory is in the assumption that the player is the most expensive part.
I have over 200 DVDs and I have at least three friends with probably 100+ each. Even if you get them from the pawn shop for $5 each that's more than $1000. Far more than any player.
Seriously, the movies ARE everything. Movie studios dont' give a flying leap for a player. They want to sell movies. If you've got a PS3 sitting on the shelf, who would buy HD-DVD? Also, after that PS3 goes to college, guess what, most of the movies are still at the house, prompting purchase of another BluRay player.
Would it be possible that the shipped HD-DVD rate from Netflix is because people are so nervous about HD-DVD that they're not willing to buy them? They don't want to get the shaft when the switch comes.
I almost never rent, by the time I rent, it's almost worth buying a movie.
Ok, I'll bite... Either your calculations are off, or you use more electricity than the average person.
We live in Seattle and only need a space on the roof about 12 feet by 8 feet to supply all our needs. This is even with the crappy clouds and low sun angle. We figured that we'd break even in about 5-6 years. Screaming that it can't be done is ridiculous considering people have given you examples and hard facts that contradict this obvious falsehood.
Where'd you come up with the idea you can't cover your usage with solar?
The device apparently in question is your standard pen green laser pointer. The output is 5mw classified as a Class IIIa type laser. It may be visible for almost two miles, but it isn't going to cause you pain unless you got hit square on for several seconds. It is generally accepted that the standard blink response will prevent any damage unless you intentionally stare at it.
I would be hard pressed to hit someone's eye at more than 500ft, much less someone who's head I cannot see, in the dark, inside a vehicle, moving, who may or may not be looking at me.
It's highly dubious claim that they had "pain and disorientation" for hours. I suppose it's possible, but I suspect it's overreaction to guarantee the perps come to trial. (Which I feel they should, but law/prosecutors shouldn't lie to do it.)
I've got one of the Suzuki Swifts myself. I get 43mpg and I have to drive half my commute in stop-n-go traffic. Anytime I hear someone talking about the cost of gas, new card, etc... I love to chime in with my car's gas mileage and the fact that it's got over 254,000 miles and still going. They always say, "Wow, what are you driving?!" and they're shocked every time they find out it's a car from 1995. However, often they still are not willing to trade down to a smaller car. They'll bitch about the price of gas, but they'll keep paying it because cars like the Geo are not "cool."
Oddly enough, the fortune at the bottom of my page was: "One way to make your old car run better is to look up the price of a new model."
Thank you. That's info that's helpful, and it leads me to ask a question. I'm genuinely interested in finding out how long it takes to make your average bone-type fossil. I was unable to find any concrete answer about either time to form, or minimum age, of a fossil. Of course, there are several "make your own fossil" type projects that are essentially impressions in clay/rock, but that's not what I want to know.
I know "millions of years" will do the trick, but can it be done in less than 500,000? Less than 100,000? Does anyone have an answer(and hopefully a source?)
I am not scientist, but I would guess that remains sitting there for 22,000 years would likely have been buried and unlikely to have been peppered by meteorite fragments. Also, fossilized remains probably wouldn't have the maleability of bone to give you impact shockwaves without causing either shattering or other obvious signs of the impact occuring after fossilization.
I don't call support people when I need a diagnosis. I call them when I know what the problem is and I lack the authority or software required to correct the problem. If a problem is possible for me to correct, I will figure out how to do so, and correct it myself.
You are a rarity in the world of end users.
My job is tech-support and I will acknowledge users who know what they're doing and change my behavior. It makes no sense for me to give step-by-step instructions for those who don't need them. If I can say "Uninstall the current software and reinstall from the downloaded file" then I will do so. To do otherwise annoys them and wastes my time. If I gain info from a user, I send that info to my team.
As tech, we cannot assume the user knows what they're doing until they demonstrate that to us. We cannot assume that what the user says is the problem, is actually the problem unless you can(quickly) explain WHY you think you know what the problem is. Without excellent communication skills, users who insist they know what's going on may get mentally filed into the "Know-it-All" category. At my workplace, it takes a bit of listening to try to translate what they say, to what they mean.
Perhaps if you changed your approach you may find more luck when dealing with techs. Some of us are willing to recognize an individual's skill, regardless of their position.
I had the same understanding with the science teacher. I could listen to stuff on Monday and Tuesday and sleep the rest of the week(except for the tests on Friday which I slept after completing). It was easy for me to pick things up the way he taught. The teacher made all the relevant points by Tuesday and spent the rest of the week making sure the students understood. Unfortunately this means the rest of us were held to a class "average" of sorts.
As I understand things have gotten worse under the No Child Left Behind act(my mother's a teacher.) She refers to it as "No child gets ahead." Almost everything is taught by being focused on test results. The attitude from administrators is now, "Who cares if they'll learn anything, just make sure they pass the tests." Funding is everything for the schools, so that's what matters the most now, tests.
This may not be useful for your everyday Joe on the street, but it'll probably be used as another layer for the Nomex bomb suits they already wear while disarming a bomb.
Yes, but that decision would have been made four years ago while designing the machines. It's a little late to change that now. Perhaps they'll consider this a lesson to learn. While I like my Wii, I hope that the competition will continue so that we all benefit next generation.
Lemme see...Head of company only responsible for making profits off software expects hardware manufacturers(MS/Sony) to take even larger losses on their hardware just to make the software companies happy. Yeah, that'll happen any day now.
There's a point where the loss might be a justifiable risk and MS/Sony bean counters have already worked that dollar figure out. Activision's, or any other software vendor's most sincere wish for a price cut isn't going to make a bit of difference when the managers at Microsoft or Sony have meetings to determine when to make that choice. Trying to put pressure on the console makers by making this a press release just makes Activision look dumb.
Interesting thoughts on this angle of the discovery. I had expected the "cost of development" and "new tech is always more expensive because it's not selling as many units," but you've gone another step. To wit, I'd not thought thoroughly about the fact that my examples weren't as "apples to apples" as I had intended. It's interesting to think about the implications for space travel and the physical aspect of the media this offers. It'll be interesting to see if this tech plays out as well as we're imagining it.
It may cost 1/10th the cost to make, but I submit that we'll be charged double the current price simply because it's "new and improved." Just look at CDs vs. Tape or VHS vs. DVD.
There was a case a couple of years ago where they found that the entire basis for a song was three notes(orchestra "hits") from another work. The infringing song was from the 1970s if I remember correctly. The court decided that it was indeed a copyright infringement.
The sample in question was indeed direct and then frequency shifted to produce different "notes" during the song. Regardless of the changes applied, apparently even samples less than two seconds can cost you quite a bit... That being said, I am sure that the profits they made far outweighed the cost of the judgement against them. Still, that's appropriate since the sample was not the ONLY thing in the new piece of music.
That, and for people who move? I've had friends who've moved here from Europe. This is the example of DVD Region locking taken to the most extreme possible. You've screwed, remotely, after the purchase, with no easy option to fix it other than reinstalling and futzing around with registry settings.
You know I'll be buying it. I never owned a PS2 and was DREAMING they would make this for the Wii. I don't care if there's no new content, being able to draw with the Wii remote will be far more appreciated than with the analog sticks.
There's quite a few more games I'd love to see even a straight port of. You hear people screaming about the Wii has nothing but PS2 ports, but this is one game that will benefit greatly from the Wii controls.
Yes, the content takes time, but I suspect the controls are what the real issue is. It's nice to have pretty visuals; but if it plays like crap, you get something like Rise of the Robots for SNES.
If they have something like the wiggle turbo boosts from the previous games, it might be hard to get it to feel just right.
I liked it as a kid, but seriously, the first one sucks by today's standards(except the music was good.) Plot was barest of bones, and was far better on all of the later Dragon Quest games. The first one was 20 levels of grinding with a couple of cool moments/fights.
I'll tell you the reason they don't change it. A) It costs less money to leave the manufacturing the way it is. New shells mean retooling the line. B) Why would they want to let people know they're buying a neutered product?
It's too easy to be cynical. I know McAfee would love to have some of those 49% of computers that need antivir buy their stuff, but the NCSA is a well respected organization.
Honestly, if the message gets it across to some of the millions of computer users who have zombie computers, then perhaps we'll cut the problem down a bit. There's no way we'll ever get 100% compliance, but a mainstream story like this(heard it on the radio) will hopefully improve things.
Slashdot Mirror
It was as if millions of gamers cried out and were silenced.
The flaw in your theory is in the assumption that the player is the most expensive part.
I have over 200 DVDs and I have at least three friends with probably 100+ each. Even if you get them from the pawn shop for $5 each that's more than $1000. Far more than any player.
Seriously, the movies ARE everything. Movie studios dont' give a flying leap for a player. They want to sell movies. If you've got a PS3 sitting on the shelf, who would buy HD-DVD? Also, after that PS3 goes to college, guess what, most of the movies are still at the house, prompting purchase of another BluRay player.
Would it be possible that the shipped HD-DVD rate from Netflix is because people are so nervous about HD-DVD that they're not willing to buy them? They don't want to get the shaft when the switch comes.
I almost never rent, by the time I rent, it's almost worth buying a movie.
That tower defense is good. :)
Ok, I'll bite...
Either your calculations are off, or you use more electricity than the average person.
We live in Seattle and only need a space on the roof about 12 feet by 8 feet to supply all our needs. This is even with the crappy clouds and low sun angle. We figured that we'd break even in about 5-6 years. Screaming that it can't be done is ridiculous considering people have given you examples and hard facts that contradict this obvious falsehood.
Where'd you come up with the idea you can't cover your usage with solar?
The device apparently in question is your standard pen green laser pointer.
The output is 5mw classified as a Class IIIa type laser. It may be visible for almost two miles, but it isn't going to cause you pain unless you got hit square on for several seconds. It is generally accepted that the standard blink response will prevent any damage unless you intentionally stare at it.
I would be hard pressed to hit someone's eye at more than 500ft,
much less someone who's head I cannot see,
in the dark,
inside a vehicle,
moving,
who may or may not be looking at me.
It's highly dubious claim that they had "pain and disorientation" for hours. I suppose it's possible, but I suspect it's overreaction to guarantee the perps come to trial. (Which I feel they should, but law/prosecutors shouldn't lie to do it.)
Amen.
I've got one of the Suzuki Swifts myself. I get 43mpg and I have to drive half my commute in stop-n-go traffic. Anytime I hear someone talking about the cost of gas, new card, etc... I love to chime in with my car's gas mileage and the fact that it's got over 254,000 miles and still going. They always say, "Wow, what are you driving?!" and they're shocked every time they find out it's a car from 1995. However, often they still are not willing to trade down to a smaller car. They'll bitch about the price of gas, but they'll keep paying it because cars like the Geo are not "cool."
Oddly enough, the fortune at the bottom of my page was: "One way to make your old car run better is to look up the price of a new model."
Thank you. That's info that's helpful, and it leads me to ask a question.
I'm genuinely interested in finding out how long it takes to make your average bone-type fossil. I was unable to find any concrete answer about either time to form, or minimum age, of a fossil. Of course, there are several "make your own fossil" type projects that are essentially impressions in clay/rock, but that's not what I want to know.
I know "millions of years" will do the trick, but can it be done in less than 500,000? Less than 100,000? Does anyone have an answer(and hopefully a source?)
I am not scientist, but I would guess that remains sitting there for 22,000 years would likely have been buried and unlikely to have been peppered by meteorite fragments.
Also, fossilized remains probably wouldn't have the maleability of bone to give you impact shockwaves without causing either shattering or other obvious signs of the impact occuring after fossilization.
You are a rarity in the world of end users.
My job is tech-support and I will acknowledge users who know what they're doing and change my behavior. It makes no sense for me to give step-by-step instructions for those who don't need them. If I can say "Uninstall the current software and reinstall from the downloaded file" then I will do so. To do otherwise annoys them and wastes my time. If I gain info from a user, I send that info to my team.
As tech, we cannot assume the user knows what they're doing until they demonstrate that to us. We cannot assume that what the user says is the problem, is actually the problem unless you can(quickly) explain WHY you think you know what the problem is. Without excellent communication skills, users who insist they know what's going on may get mentally filed into the "Know-it-All" category. At my workplace, it takes a bit of listening to try to translate what they say, to what they mean.
Perhaps if you changed your approach you may find more luck when dealing with techs. Some of us are willing to recognize an individual's skill, regardless of their position.
I had the same understanding with the science teacher. I could listen to stuff on Monday and Tuesday and sleep the rest of the week(except for the tests on Friday which I slept after completing).
It was easy for me to pick things up the way he taught. The teacher made all the relevant points by Tuesday and spent the rest of the week making sure the students understood. Unfortunately this means the rest of us were held to a class "average" of sorts.
As I understand things have gotten worse under the No Child Left Behind act(my mother's a teacher.) She refers to it as "No child gets ahead." Almost everything is taught by being focused on test results. The attitude from administrators is now, "Who cares if they'll learn anything, just make sure they pass the tests." Funding is everything for the schools, so that's what matters the most now, tests.
This may not be useful for your everyday Joe on the street, but it'll probably be used as another layer for the Nomex bomb suits they already wear while disarming a bomb.
Yes, but that decision would have been made four years ago while designing the machines. It's a little late to change that now. Perhaps they'll consider this a lesson to learn.
While I like my Wii, I hope that the competition will continue so that we all benefit next generation.
Lemme see...Head of company only responsible for making profits off software expects hardware manufacturers(MS/Sony) to take even larger losses on their hardware just to make the software companies happy. Yeah, that'll happen any day now.
There's a point where the loss might be a justifiable risk and MS/Sony bean counters have already worked that dollar figure out. Activision's, or any other software vendor's most sincere wish for a price cut isn't going to make a bit of difference when the managers at Microsoft or Sony have meetings to determine when to make that choice. Trying to put pressure on the console makers by making this a press release just makes Activision look dumb.
Marking for later.
Interesting thoughts on this angle of the discovery. I had expected the "cost of development" and "new tech is always more expensive because it's not selling as many units," but you've gone another step. To wit, I'd not thought thoroughly about the fact that my examples weren't as "apples to apples" as I had intended.
It's interesting to think about the implications for space travel and the physical aspect of the media this offers. It'll be interesting to see if this tech plays out as well as we're imagining it.
It may cost 1/10th the cost to make, but I submit that we'll be charged double the current price simply because it's "new and improved." Just look at CDs vs. Tape or VHS vs. DVD.
There was a case a couple of years ago where they found that the entire basis for a song was three notes(orchestra "hits") from another work. The infringing song was from the 1970s if I remember correctly. The court decided that it was indeed a copyright infringement.
The sample in question was indeed direct and then frequency shifted to produce different "notes" during the song. Regardless of the changes applied, apparently even samples less than two seconds can cost you quite a bit... That being said, I am sure that the profits they made far outweighed the cost of the judgement against them. Still, that's appropriate since the sample was not the ONLY thing in the new piece of music.
That, and for people who move? I've had friends who've moved here from Europe. This is the example of DVD Region locking taken to the most extreme possible.
You've screwed, remotely, after the purchase, with no easy option to fix it other than reinstalling and futzing around with registry settings.
You know I'll be buying it.
I never owned a PS2 and was DREAMING they would make this for the Wii. I don't care if there's no new content, being able to draw with the Wii remote will be far more appreciated than with the analog sticks.
There's quite a few more games I'd love to see even a straight port of. You hear people screaming about the Wii has nothing but PS2 ports, but this is one game that will benefit greatly from the Wii controls.
Yes, the content takes time, but I suspect the controls are what the real issue is.
It's nice to have pretty visuals; but if it plays like crap, you get something like Rise of the Robots for SNES.
If they have something like the wiggle turbo boosts from the previous games, it might be hard to get it to feel just right.
I liked it as a kid, but seriously, the first one sucks by today's standards(except the music was good.) Plot was barest of bones, and was far better on all of the later Dragon Quest games.
The first one was 20 levels of grinding with a couple of cool moments/fights.
I'll tell you the reason they don't change it.
A) It costs less money to leave the manufacturing the way it is. New shells mean retooling the line.
B) Why would they want to let people know they're buying a neutered product?
It's too easy to be cynical.
I know McAfee would love to have some of those 49% of computers that need antivir buy their stuff, but the NCSA is a well respected organization.
Honestly, if the message gets it across to some of the millions of computer users who have zombie computers, then perhaps we'll cut the problem down a bit. There's no way we'll ever get 100% compliance, but a mainstream story like this(heard it on the radio) will hopefully improve things.