The manual used to be my secret weapon. I didn't get a gaming console until I was old enough to afford it with my own money, which meant I was always playing at friends houses. Whenever I would rent a game with my friends whoever owned the console would play first. This left me with sitting around reading the manual, so by the time it was my turn to play I was ahead of the game (so to speak).
Occasionally this meant my play session degenerated into cries of "Hey! How did you do that?", but it was always a nice feeling to be the first one to pull off the 'super move' in the game.
The *IAAs have proved in the past that they're not above using scripts to send out their warnings... not to give them any ideas, but why not just whip up a script to grab results from this search engine (through screen scraping, or whatever), run the results through reg-exs of their 'IP', and crapflood the service with takedown notices for everything that matches?
After that all they have to do is wait for a.torrent link to 'fall through the cracks', and the service is open for a lawsuit, n'est pas ?
I'm sure their lawyers wouldn't object to arguing how prompt 'promtly' means at $200+ an hour... do Bram's lawyers feel the same way ?
Maybe someone better versed in copyright law than my IANAL self could clear something up for me...
The GPL is based on copyright law, extending the rights of a distribution to those who receive the code, assuming they follow the conditions of the GPL. However, if I go out and buy a Tom Clancy novel, change the names of the main characters and rewrite some portions of it, I can still be sued for creating a derivative work... at what point does their use of open source code bases to 'boot strap' their own app, and rewriting those portions of code afterwards constitute a derivative work? At what point does further code written after seeing the other implimentations become something covered under a new copyright, and not a derivative work?
I've been in this situation several times as a developer. Last year I did a 99%-complete rewrite of a GPL app, and went with the idea that because the code I wrote was so heavily influenced by the original, that mine would have to be GPL'ed as well. In my case the new app was based on an LGPL library that forced the two apps to be very similar in structure, and I was working from a copy of the old apps code in order to grok the library. It seems that in the spirit of the GPL and copyright law (not to mention morally...), that keeping it GPL'ed is the right thing to do... but can companies (legally) write a cheap clone of a GPL'ed product, with full access to the source code, and then claim full copyright ?
P.S. I'm not saying that this is what SpecOpS is doing... I'm ust wondering where the line is...
As others have mentioned ~600 mill one way or the other won't kill MS, especially given we have 5 years in between now and any possible payment (what's 5 years of interest on 50 bill ?). Hoever from the point of view of MS WMP is just the tip of the iceberg: text editors, browsers, file navigators, messaging apps, backup utilities, remote desktop apps, etc etc. None of these things are in the realm of the OS proper, and yet all are bundled with Windows. Following this precedent all of these are open to litigation and complaints from competitors potentially resulting in (m|b)illions in damages and lawyer fees.
So where will Microsoft/the EU draw the line, and how can one of Microsofts core businesses survive this? Easy: Currently all of these apps and products are bundled 'free' with windows. The litigation is the result of customers not having a choice about the bundles apps. So what is to stop them from simply undercutting all of thier competitors the same as they are today while simultaneously offering a crippleware version of windows along side the main product?
Imagine Windows Longhorn Core(tm) on the shelf right beside Windows Longhorn Deluxe(tm) priced 5 euros higher. In the box on the left you get -just- the OS with a stripped down explorer. In the box to the right, for just a smidgen more, you get a windows install which is the functionally the same as the one you get today, with the bundled apps in all thier glory. Legally the customer has full choice, internally MS need only support a version of explorer which holds itself to the most minimal API use (ie lowest support costs possible), and *presto* thier main OS offering is safe from any further litigation. Meanwhile anyone with half a brain buys the Deluxe version because "why would I want to miss out on 500+ apps and utilities for just $4.99 more?", and we're right back to 'business as usual'.
Illegal monopolies stifle competition (and thus capatalism), and competition is the only sure cure for them. MS should have broken up into seperate OS and software companies to force those divisions to compete, and to restore the 'invisible hand' of the market.
My attraction to the tablet PC was for software design. A few months ago at work I had 4 seperate paper notebooks that I was using on a daily basis, plus one at home, to handle all the design work + todo lists for my various projects. Visio and other modelling tools are fine and all, but I find myself using hours to model things that I've already implemented. For freeform thinking and planning ('Do I want a linked list of Foos, or should I make a Baz object that handles all that for me?'), and comparing several designs, they just don't have the same immediacy that pen and paper do. Combined with the ability to jot down notes at meetings without sitting and typing (clack clack clack) a tablet PC really seemed like the right thing for me.
I've seen a lot of people commenting on the battery life of tablets, but I havn't seen anyone mention Electrovaya yet. They're a Canadian company who specialises in long life batteries for laptops who are selling rebranded tablets. After much research I settled on thier heftiest model (the scribbler SC-2010). With a detachable keyboard stand and -9- hours of battery life it had everything I needed. All the advantages of being a slate, but with a keyboard if you needed it, and a battery that could go all day.
Some things that I've come across in my tablet research that might help: 1) 256 megs is not enough for XP Tablet. You'll need at least 512, so include the upgrade in any prices you come across. 2) MS One Note is a really sweet app. Multiple 'notebooks', several ink colours, and the ability to move around drawings and text. I've got it installed on my work laptop and found it did everything I needed it too (though it should have an 'convert this handwriting to typed text' option...)
Unfortunately for me I'm living in scandanavia right now. The price of the tablet itself is high-yet-doable, but combined with a 24% import tax it was too much. For the same amount of money I'm going to build myself a sick desktop and buy a tablet input device that I haul into work when I need it. Hope that helps some.
Just TRY to find an easy way to refill your gasoline tank using only electricity (or for extra credit, sunlight or wind) and water. With hydrogen, you're off and running......A huge UPS for everything!
And once everything can run on hydrogen, your car, your house, your boat, whatever, then when the next blackout hits you'd be able to use your car as a backup generator in addition to the household one.
Think of all the money we'll save in mental institutions letting these guys we THOUGHT were nuts back out...
I know the parent got modded up as funny, but it's a valid point. Think about how far things have come when ideas that would have landed a person in the nuthouse 5 years ago start being realized by the goverenment.
This strikes me as 'justice for all... except for the poor'. Tracking for services and help: yes. Tracking for law enforcement: no.
If Linux is to survive, it is imperative that its license, the obnoxious GPL, is tested in court.
Just for the sake of curiousity, what are the GPLs' chances in court? To my understanding, if SCOs' claim that because they unknowingly distributed code with thier IP in it that the GPL is invalid succeeds legally, then they would be bound by the normal laws of copyright.
If they were operating under the normal laws of copyright then they had no right to distribute everything surrounding the offending code in the first place... Is there a danger to the GPL going to court over this and losing that I don't see?
I've often wanted this (normal mouse + trackball combo) for FPS games.
Very often in CounterStrike you come to a position where your crosshair is just -slightly- to the side of someones head, where gross wrist motion will take your aim too far to the other side to hit them. I think the ultimate combo would be a normal mouse with the sensativity cranked way up for moving and quick turning, and a trackball with a lower sensativity used for precise aiming/adjustments.
For everyone complaining about the lack of philosophical depth in the original Matrix, I've only got two words for you: Action and Movie.
There jhave been many high rated comments talking about how 'Descartes did it first' and that The Matrix manages to only scratch the surface. Of course it does! It's a movie. If they were going to cover the "What is real?" ground as deeply and effectively as Descartes, they would have to sit down and read Descartes in the movie. One of the most vital rules of filmaking is 'show, don't tell'. Not only would a deep philisophical discussion feel like the plot hitting a brick wall, but it would only serve to alienate the (general) audience.
This is not to mention that any such detailed analysis would still lack depth (they've only got 2 hours), and wouldn't serve to further the plot -at all-.
Don't gt me wrong, I'm not saying that the Matrix exists on levels untold, or that 'The Brothers W' should be praised throught time for their massive creative insight to have come upon all these ideas. Of course they ripped of Hong Kong action movies, comic books, philosophy, tried and true Sci-Fi cliches. But how many movies DON'T rip off stories that have been around for eons? "That romantic comedy was hilarious and heartwarming, but come on! People have been hooking up in literature for aaaaggeees. How dare they think it's new?!".
I think The Matrix should be evaluated on it's merits. They managed to blend a lot of genres, ideas, and cinematic techniques into something that, while not brain-crushingly new, was a refreshing blend, was interesting, was fun,had some kick ass scenes, and wasn't insulting to our intelligence. How many other Sci-Fi movies have done the same in the last 5 years? You can count them on one hand. How many other big summer action films have ANY philisophical/theological underpining? If you google you can find some rather interesting breakdowns on some of the religious imagry in the movie... again, nothing 'new' or 'PhD level theological', but 'some' is a damned sight better than 'none' which is what 98% of the movies out there have.
While the philosophies, technologies, and everything else may not have been perfect: at least they were consistent, they justified the action in the movie, and they weren't laughably ridiculous. Never once watching the movie did I think "How the hell did that get past the first review of the script?" or "Why are these people making more money than me when they're -that- ignorant?", which is a whole lot more than I can say for most movies (especially Sci-Fi). Give the Matrix a break... at least they're trying.
I mean, once everyone is doing their own digital video, PVR software, archiving their entire music library in MP3 format... you're only up to a couple-hundred GB.
Remember the days when the advent of Cd-ROMs was to be the death of hard drive space worries? Look at us now: 4 or 5 cd game distributions are fairly common. Every time an MP3/OGG article comes up here a handfull of audiophiles coment on how no true audiophile would give in to a lossy format. These are problems today that could be solved by this.
Think about future technology though: How much storage space will 3D holographic projections take? With terrabytes of disc space game textures could be highdef photographs. Models in games could have insane detail and polycounts (assuming that other graphics tech keeps advancing). High detail virtual worlds... A driving game where you can drive to every city in the world... I mean.. when's the last time you heard anyone bitch about having too much space on their hands?
From the article: Biological explanations had normally been rejected in the past, but actually fitted much better with the known facts. "I think there was a biological change -- a genetic mutation of some kind that promoted the fully modern ability to create and innovate."
Methinks that a dictionary could have fitted much gooder in that hands of the editor who readed the story...
And in a story about a language gene... i.r.o.n.y.
I strongly agree with your sentiments that people should be more tolerant and considerant )especially when it comes to religious beliefs.
There is however a large discrepancy between belief in creationism and evolutionary creationism. One belief states that the world and the human race is 10 000 years old (give or take) , and that both were willed into existance by God. The other states that world is several billion years old, and humans evolved from monkeys through mechanisms and in a universe willed into existance by God.
No one is going to change their mind on this issue because of a post on Slashdot, and I'm not trying to argue one side over the other. Just pointing out that this *is* a tech oriented community, so people are more likely to emphasize the emperical and quantifiable. While the debate on evolutionary creationism has factors which land strongly in the unknowable (ie is there a God?), creationism has some fairly strong evidence to the contrary (dinosaurs).
Regardless, I don't think it's worth getting *angry* about either way... personally that's always been one of my biggest problems with fundamantalists: if they know in their heart of hearts that they're right, why do they get *so* worked up if someone starts asking questions? I mean.. I think I'd have a hard time getting someone red in the face by refusing to believe in gravity...
When I first saw this (here on slashdot actually) after my initial "well that's pretty cool" reaction something immediately popped into my mind:
If the technology senses finger location then the layout of the keyboard should be irrelevant, leaving the door open for the keyboard layout to be rearranged virtually. While this wouldn't be so practical for work (except for maybe switching keyboard nationality at the press of a button), how badass would that be for gaming?
Load up UT 2005 and your keyboard layout changes to put a ton of extra keys around your direction arrows. Instead of trying to remember that Ctrl+P+2 balances your shields in Tie Fighter, you have a large "balance shields" key wherever you want it. RTS games always have somewhat unintuitive keyboard setups because they have so many keys... well imagine a soft/bouncy surface onto which a different specialized, user mappable, user configurable keyboard was projected for EACH app/game. I don't know if we'll see this right away... but I sure as hell want too.
The top 40 lists try really hard to look like they're guided by sales, but if you look hard enough you find a lot of examples of songs being prematurely removed. They also have songs slowly rise in popularity. If they're going on total sales: great, that would explain why things that are out longer get higher. However that would mean that huge selling albums from 5 years back would still be at the top. If they're going by weekly sales: great, the hot shot of the week gets his day in the spotlight. However this would mean that is Britney sold not so much in week 8 she'd drop of all the lists, only to come back a week later. This doesn't happen. the record companies control all but a few of these lists. They're used to promote proscribed artists. People are more likely to buy what they've heard over and over again. For the companies distrobution control = $$
"these images are sharper than even current space-based solar observatories can produce. "
By using new technology earth based observatories have made an advance over *current* space based observatories. Doesn't it follow that by using the same advances space based observatories will exceed earth based ones once they can be implemented? Also, they're be no need for correcting for the atmosphere...
I agree with your main points, that animation should be taken more seriously as a method of story telling where the director has almost complete freedom to tell whatever story they want, and that plot lines should be longer than 30 minutes... one thing though:
"...and companies such are Red Hat are catering to their notion that Taiwan is a "Renegade Province" and somehow belongs to China, when the opposite is true."
So in reality China is just a "Renegade Province" which belongs to Taiwan? *grin*
The '57 [or 54 or 64 depending on who you ask...] words for snow' thing' is a bit false. The inuit language combines adjectives and nouns into one word. ie. "wet snow" becomes "wetsnow". When whitey was first learning the language the different 'words' used for the different kinds of snow were counted as seperate, and thus the urban legend began. Saying that the inuit have 57 words for snow is about as fair as saying that the scandanavian tongues have 100 words for 'ham'.
What about a fixed rate/percentage for other companies or organizations who use patented pharmaceutical methods/drugs. I mean... you can ship all the AIDs drugs you want to Africa, but you hand over xx% of the profits that you made to the people who hold the patents.
The company gets repaid for their investment, and people can stop dying because of patent issues...
Assuming thier.NET interoperability is on by default (and again assuming there'll be the option to turn it off), doesn't that mean that any security problems that affect one system will affect the other... making the Liberty Alliances system twice as insecure?
IANAExpert on this but I think the idea is that as load increases, so do the number of users. These users have wireless hardware, and a couple of them are also creating 'hotspots' that everyone else shares off of. If load increases to the point that peoples service shits up, they'll be more inclined to pop down $200 to start broadcasting more 'bandwidth' to thier area. The maintenace of it should be pretty 'plug n play' for people to want to use it... just like a cellphone. On = Connected
The big difference is that no one is out there selling copies of 'Troopers'. The Phantom Editor doesn't have a video store in Utah saying "Better Star Wars Here, only $5". It would be consumer-centric if the movie companies started (gasp) using the power of DVD players to show multiple versions of the same movie. Certain chapters that would play only if you chose the 'unrated' or 'R' rated versions. Edited by the editor of the film (and/or the director and/or the studio) in a way which the *owners* (and hopefully creators...) of the material approved.
Encouraging the ABILITY for *me* to edit *my* movies? Yes, we should be doing that
Encouraging me to edit someone elses movie and then sell it? No.
Slashdot Mirror
The manual used to be my secret weapon. I didn't get a gaming console until I was old enough to afford it with my own money, which meant I was always playing at friends houses. Whenever I would rent a game with my friends whoever owned the console would play first. This left me with sitting around reading the manual, so by the time it was my turn to play I was ahead of the game (so to speak).
Occasionally this meant my play session degenerated into cries of "Hey! How did you do that?", but it was always a nice feeling to be the first one to pull off the 'super move' in the game.
Because once the release group gets their hands on two copies, they can just run a diff on the movies and kill any water marking.
Also, who's to say that the guy who is inserting the serial numbers in the movie prints might isn't the same guy who is doing the pirating?
.
After that all they have to do is wait for a .torrent link to 'fall through the cracks', and the service is open for a lawsuit, n'est pas ?
I'm sure their lawyers wouldn't object to arguing how prompt 'promtly' means at $200+ an hour... do Bram's lawyers feel the same way ?
Maybe someone better versed in copyright law than my IANAL self could clear something up for me...
The GPL is based on copyright law, extending the rights of a distribution to those who receive the code, assuming they follow the conditions of the GPL. However, if I go out and buy a Tom Clancy novel, change the names of the main characters and rewrite some portions of it, I can still be sued for creating a derivative work... at what point does their use of open source code bases to 'boot strap' their own app, and rewriting those portions of code afterwards constitute a derivative work? At what point does further code written after seeing the other implimentations become something covered under a new copyright, and not a derivative work?
I've been in this situation several times as a developer. Last year I did a 99%-complete rewrite of a GPL app, and went with the idea that because the code I wrote was so heavily influenced by the original, that mine would have to be GPL'ed as well. In my case the new app was based on an LGPL library that forced the two apps to be very similar in structure, and I was working from a copy of the old apps code in order to grok the library. It seems that in the spirit of the GPL and copyright law (not to mention morally...), that keeping it GPL'ed is the right thing to do... but can companies (legally) write a cheap clone of a GPL'ed product, with full access to the source code, and then claim full copyright ?
P.S. I'm not saying that this is what SpecOpS is doing... I'm ust wondering where the line is...
So where will Microsoft/the EU draw the line, and how can one of Microsofts core businesses survive this? Easy: Currently all of these apps and products are bundled 'free' with windows. The litigation is the result of customers not having a choice about the bundles apps. So what is to stop them from simply undercutting all of thier competitors the same as they are today while simultaneously offering a crippleware version of windows along side the main product?
Imagine Windows Longhorn Core(tm) on the shelf right beside Windows Longhorn Deluxe(tm) priced 5 euros higher. In the box on the left you get -just- the OS with a stripped down explorer. In the box to the right, for just a smidgen more, you get a windows install which is the functionally the same as the one you get today, with the bundled apps in all thier glory. Legally the customer has full choice, internally MS need only support a version of explorer which holds itself to the most minimal API use (ie lowest support costs possible), and *presto* thier main OS offering is safe from any further litigation. Meanwhile anyone with half a brain buys the Deluxe version because "why would I want to miss out on 500+ apps and utilities for just $4.99 more?", and we're right back to 'business as usual'.
Illegal monopolies stifle competition (and thus capatalism), and competition is the only sure cure for them. MS should have broken up into seperate OS and software companies to force those divisions to compete, and to restore the 'invisible hand' of the market.
I've seen a lot of people commenting on the battery life of tablets, but I havn't seen anyone mention Electrovaya yet. They're a Canadian company who specialises in long life batteries for laptops who are selling rebranded tablets. After much research I settled on thier heftiest model (the scribbler SC-2010). With a detachable keyboard stand and -9- hours of battery life it had everything I needed. All the advantages of being a slate, but with a keyboard if you needed it, and a battery that could go all day.
Some things that I've come across in my tablet research that might help: 1) 256 megs is not enough for XP Tablet. You'll need at least 512, so include the upgrade in any prices you come across. 2) MS One Note is a really sweet app. Multiple 'notebooks', several ink colours, and the ability to move around drawings and text. I've got it installed on my work laptop and found it did everything I needed it too (though it should have an 'convert this handwriting to typed text' option...)
Unfortunately for me I'm living in scandanavia right now. The price of the tablet itself is high-yet-doable, but combined with a 24% import tax it was too much. For the same amount of money I'm going to build myself a sick desktop and buy a tablet input device that I haul into work when I need it. Hope that helps some.
And once everything can run on hydrogen, your car, your house, your boat, whatever, then when the next blackout hits you'd be able to use your car as a backup generator in addition to the household one.
I know the parent got modded up as funny, but it's a valid point. Think about how far things have come when ideas that would have landed a person in the nuthouse 5 years ago start being realized by the goverenment.
This strikes me as 'justice for all... except for the poor'. Tracking for services and help: yes. Tracking for law enforcement: no.
Just for the sake of curiousity, what are the GPLs' chances in court? To my understanding, if SCOs' claim that because they unknowingly distributed code with thier IP in it that the GPL is invalid succeeds legally, then they would be bound by the normal laws of copyright.
If they were operating under the normal laws of copyright then they had no right to distribute everything surrounding the offending code in the first place... Is there a danger to the GPL going to court over this and losing that I don't see?
Very often in CounterStrike you come to a position where your crosshair is just -slightly- to the side of someones head, where gross wrist motion will take your aim too far to the other side to hit them. I think the ultimate combo would be a normal mouse with the sensativity cranked way up for moving and quick turning, and a trackball with a lower sensativity used for precise aiming/adjustments.
There jhave been many high rated comments talking about how 'Descartes did it first' and that The Matrix manages to only scratch the surface. Of course it does! It's a movie. If they were going to cover the "What is real?" ground as deeply and effectively as Descartes, they would have to sit down and read Descartes in the movie. One of the most vital rules of filmaking is 'show, don't tell'. Not only would a deep philisophical discussion feel like the plot hitting a brick wall, but it would only serve to alienate the (general) audience.
This is not to mention that any such detailed analysis would still lack depth (they've only got 2 hours), and wouldn't serve to further the plot -at all-.
Don't gt me wrong, I'm not saying that the Matrix exists on levels untold, or that 'The Brothers W' should be praised throught time for their massive creative insight to have come upon all these ideas. Of course they ripped of Hong Kong action movies, comic books, philosophy, tried and true Sci-Fi cliches. But how many movies DON'T rip off stories that have been around for eons? "That romantic comedy was hilarious and heartwarming, but come on! People have been hooking up in literature for aaaaggeees. How dare they think it's new?!". I think The Matrix should be evaluated on it's merits. They managed to blend a lot of genres, ideas, and cinematic techniques into something that, while not brain-crushingly new, was a refreshing blend, was interesting, was fun,had some kick ass scenes, and wasn't insulting to our intelligence. How many other Sci-Fi movies have done the same in the last 5 years? You can count them on one hand. How many other big summer action films have ANY philisophical/theological underpining? If you google you can find some rather interesting breakdowns on some of the religious imagry in the movie... again, nothing 'new' or 'PhD level theological', but 'some' is a damned sight better than 'none' which is what 98% of the movies out there have.
While the philosophies, technologies, and everything else may not have been perfect: at least they were consistent, they justified the action in the movie, and they weren't laughably ridiculous. Never once watching the movie did I think "How the hell did that get past the first review of the script?" or "Why are these people making more money than me when they're -that- ignorant?", which is a whole lot more than I can say for most movies (especially Sci-Fi). Give the Matrix a break... at least they're trying.
Remember the days when the advent of Cd-ROMs was to be the death of hard drive space worries? Look at us now: 4 or 5 cd game distributions are fairly common. Every time an MP3/OGG article comes up here a handfull of audiophiles coment on how no true audiophile would give in to a lossy format. These are problems today that could be solved by this.
Think about future technology though: How much storage space will 3D holographic projections take? With terrabytes of disc space game textures could be highdef photographs. Models in games could have insane detail and polycounts (assuming that other graphics tech keeps advancing). High detail virtual worlds... A driving game where you can drive to every city in the world... I mean.. when's the last time you heard anyone bitch about having too much space on their hands?
Methinks that a dictionary could have fitted much gooder in that hands of the editor who readed the story...
And in a story about a language gene... i.r.o.n.y.
There is however a large discrepancy between belief in creationism and evolutionary creationism. One belief states that the world and the human race is 10 000 years old (give or take) , and that both were willed into existance by God. The other states that world is several billion years old, and humans evolved from monkeys through mechanisms and in a universe willed into existance by God.
No one is going to change their mind on this issue because of a post on Slashdot, and I'm not trying to argue one side over the other. Just pointing out that this *is* a tech oriented community, so people are more likely to emphasize the emperical and quantifiable. While the debate on evolutionary creationism has factors which land strongly in the unknowable (ie is there a God?), creationism has some fairly strong evidence to the contrary (dinosaurs).
Regardless, I don't think it's worth getting *angry* about either way... personally that's always been one of my biggest problems with fundamantalists: if they know in their heart of hearts that they're right, why do they get *so* worked up if someone starts asking questions? I mean.. I think I'd have a hard time getting someone red in the face by refusing to believe in gravity...
If the technology senses finger location then the layout of the keyboard should be irrelevant, leaving the door open for the keyboard layout to be rearranged virtually. While this wouldn't be so practical for work (except for maybe switching keyboard nationality at the press of a button), how badass would that be for gaming?
Load up UT 2005 and your keyboard layout changes to put a ton of extra keys around your direction arrows. Instead of trying to remember that Ctrl+P+2 balances your shields in Tie Fighter, you have a large "balance shields" key wherever you want it. RTS games always have somewhat unintuitive keyboard setups because they have so many keys... well imagine a soft/bouncy surface onto which a different specialized, user mappable, user configurable keyboard was projected for EACH app/game. I don't know if we'll see this right away... but I sure as hell want too.
The top 40 lists try really hard to look like they're guided by sales, but if you look hard enough you find a lot of examples of songs being prematurely removed. They also have songs slowly rise in popularity. If they're going on total sales: great, that would explain why things that are out longer get higher. However that would mean that huge selling albums from 5 years back would still be at the top. If they're going by weekly sales: great, the hot shot of the week gets his day in the spotlight. However this would mean that is Britney sold not so much in week 8 she'd drop of all the lists, only to come back a week later. This doesn't happen. the record companies control all but a few of these lists. They're used to promote proscribed artists. People are more likely to buy what they've heard over and over again. For the companies distrobution control = $$
By using new technology earth based observatories have made an advance over *current* space based observatories. Doesn't it follow that by using the same advances space based observatories will exceed earth based ones once they can be implemented? Also, they're be no need for correcting for the atmosphere ...
Heavy Metal: Good
Heavy Metal 2000: Baaaad
So in reality China is just a "Renegade Province" which belongs to Taiwan? *grin*
Seriously though, bring back the flag!
The '57 [or 54 or 64 depending on who you ask...] words for snow' thing' is a bit false. The inuit language combines adjectives and nouns into one word. ie. "wet snow" becomes "wetsnow". When whitey was first learning the language the different 'words' used for the different kinds of snow were counted as seperate, and thus the urban legend began. Saying that the inuit have 57 words for snow is about as fair as saying that the scandanavian tongues have 100 words for 'ham'.
As opposed to all the consumer goods made to make Sony pay up?
The company gets repaid for their investment, and people can stop dying because of patent issues ...
Maybe I'm missing something though...
Assuming thier .NET interoperability is on by default (and again assuming there'll be the option to turn it off), doesn't that mean that any security problems that affect one system will affect the other... making the Liberty Alliances system twice as insecure?
IANAExpert on this but I think the idea is that as load increases, so do the number of users. These users have wireless hardware, and a couple of them are also creating 'hotspots' that everyone else shares off of. If load increases to the point that peoples service shits up, they'll be more inclined to pop down $200 to start broadcasting more 'bandwidth' to thier area. The maintenace of it should be pretty 'plug n play' for people to want to use it... just like a cellphone. On = Connected
The big difference is that no one is out there selling copies of 'Troopers'. The Phantom Editor doesn't have a video store in Utah saying "Better Star Wars Here, only $5". It would be consumer-centric if the movie companies started (gasp) using the power of DVD players to show multiple versions of the same movie. Certain chapters that would play only if you chose the 'unrated' or 'R' rated versions. Edited by the editor of the film (and/or the director and/or the studio) in a way which the *owners* (and hopefully creators...) of the material approved. Encouraging the ABILITY for *me* to edit *my* movies? Yes, we should be doing that Encouraging me to edit someone elses movie and then sell it? No.