A. just what i was thinking, Fast Show. such a refreshing change for/. I wish this *would* catch on.. lots of things from that show get funnier with repeated use... like "this week, i have been mostly eating...".. or "...which was nice". but then, even if we could be funny, 99% of/. wouldn't get it:/. i'll get me coat. haha.
this is interesting.. 200 minutes *is* enough for, i don't know, let's say >98% of movies? can anyone provide details, e.g. what percentage of movies are predicted to use which format? What (disadvantages) it will mean (for producers or consumers) for a movie to continue using MPEG2 rather than WMV9? More space for extras could be the first obvious one..
I love the N64 pad (I have nine (9) of them... don't ask) but I have to point out (after taking pads apart!) the N64 "trigger" is really just a button like every other, but nicely placed like a trigger and hinged:). I'm thinking maybe the PS3 will actually have a trigger-like action? That could be interesting, no? Imagine if it even had a screw to adjust the sensitivy/release points [i forget the technical terms, it's been years since i read a rifle mag) like my air rifle;)
the problem is it's not that black and white. it's er.. a slope that doesn't offer much grip? what if you and your girlfriend enjoy a little strangulation - but not to the point of death? should that be banned? should it just not be shown/talked about? what about a little whipping? you just don't like that? see, in real world situations there are all kinds of real freedom of expression issues here, and that's just a small & not very good example. If you do decide that some things are ok and some aren't, who decides who decides.. and so on.
It also doesn't make any sense. What does starting www.my-favourite-perversion.com have to do with www.business.com? It's like comparing a VAT return to goat porn because they're both printed on paper.
You make a good point about (most people) needing a browser to get a browser, but IMHO you're not 100% right about why people use Winamp or ZoneAlarm (or IE). People use them because they've heard of them (yes, this is partly how well the maker advertises them, BUT it's not so much about what's better). e.g. Foobar2000 is better than Winamp. SPF or Kerio are better than ZoneAlarm. Firefox is better than IE. Yet *none* of the former are popular, because people haven't heard of them. That's not Microsoft's fault, but it is part of the reason why it's important not to let MS bundle all those apps - people don't actually use what's best. If they had to actively make a decision what to use, perhaps the best software would come to the top quicker and more often? I see what you are saying about convenience though. But in this case i think the benefits (better software for more people in the long term) outweigh the drawbacks (slightly steeper learning curve for computer use). I may be wrong.
I'm British and i know what a Wedgie is, but i've never (AFAIK) experienced a Wet Willie - care to enlighten me?:) Also have you heard of the Atomic Wedgie - it's when they manage to get your paints hooked right over your head. Painful - i've heard, and yes, it *is* possible. Plus of course, there's always Posting - three men, two legs (apart), one post.
I use only freeware (mostly open source software) to make dvd backups - i suggest you all head on over to Doom9 and learn how to do the same. I don't make money from my backups either.
Right on the front page (after updates to two similar products are mentioned btw!) they have the following interesting comment:
Last but not least, 321 Studios have lost in court in the first instance. A San Francisco judge granted the MPAA an injunction against 321 Studios, barring them from selling their DVDXCopy products. While
I have not been a fan of 321 ever since they started selling freeware software and a guide as DVD backup solution (note that the DVDXCopy products have actually been developed by 321), this is definitely not a good development. Judge Illston went on record saying that people were free to make copies in other, nondigital ways that would give them access to the same content, even if not in the same, pristine form. Miss Illston, if you have a minute I invite you to come over and I'll show you how your statement is completely false and shows a lack of understanding for what the movie industry is actually doing. I also invite you to have a look at Macrovision's offering in analogue copy protection. Under the DMCA which you're defending, analogue copying is also prohibited because it is illegal to manufacture a device that does not react to the Macrovision signal corruption (that's right.. Macrovision Quality Protection my lower rear end!).
My bold, and that pretty much sums up how i feel about this aswell. I trust the views of Doom9 (he's a person and a site) as someone who knows a lot more about all this than me and has proved right on the money in the past. The sentence after the bold... well, that just pisses me off - i don't know what to say. I can make cr*p quality backups?! Is that a joke? (rhetorical).
has anyone got a list of authors caught by this? The famous (authors) and enthusiastic (reviews) most welcome;)
P.S. This is just for research purposes... something to keep in the back of my mind, for, oh! the rest of my life, when i'm perusing the local bookshop;)
An old adage that governments would be well-served to heed is: You get what you pay for
right next story. (anyone who starts with an outdated & meaningless saying is not going to have anything valuable or new to say. we all have better things to do than entertain this rubbish).
and/., can you stop reporting this, it's basically one huge troll & it only encourages people like him.
btw Mr. Jones, the choice isn't open vs. closed, it's open vs. possibly leaked. yah. nice. please go away.
My room is decorated with pink drapes and posters of unicorns crouching beneath rainbows. I only wear dresses and frilly skirts, always with white lacy slips underneath. But nothing makes me feel more like a girl than when I'm downloading MP3s for free using Kazaa Lite (which contains no adware or spyware - look for it in Google). I only download the latest music from my favorite top-40 artists, and I only download MP3s (WMP sucks!). Since this music is on the radio all the time anyway, it doesn't seem like I'm hurting anyone by downloading it to my computer. And it makes me feel like such a girl! I'm going to go take a hot bath now.
uhu.. those industry executives (alias in this case 'littlejenny' with 1 post) *are* getting desperate! i couldn't make this s**t up if i tried - though, clearly, they can, and they are! thanks for the heads up. if i ever feel like i need to go mad i know where i can visit. 100% surreal site.
"males of the species were clubbing one another over the head, probably to win females... evidence from dozens of fossils with healed skull fractures: presumably from the hard-heads who got the girls."
Right:D. No change there then.
"They experimented with human cadavers to establish how much force it would take to break bones."
this really isn't such a good idea. you have a better than even chance of ending up with a turkey. i would say read reviews, but searching the net for reviews is a nightmare (rubbish sites swamp google. i am good at searching the 'net and could find very little useful information before i got my exp521, for example). so i guess ask slashdot is not such a bad idea. some of us are very critical of our purchases (if only more people were, we might have better quality products on the market). maybe you're a person without much time, but you posted that reply so..
I bought (was given actually:) a Philips expanium 303 at the end of 2002. It cost 50GBP (that's like um amost 100 dollars at the current exchange) and has been used for hours every day with hardly a skip or song that won't play. high bitrate vbr? no problem. running (as in jogging)? no problem? price? no problem, i think. So it's out of warranty now and i'm hoping it keeps on going. The signal-noise ratio is outstanding btw, this matters to me.
The problem? Philips seem to have replaced all Expania (at least in the UK) with the Exp521. This (or the one i received) is so bad i sent it back - the disc hit the inside of the player when you shake it, the skip protection (advertised as being much longer) doesn't work if you move, half the time the buttons don't respond... i could go on. yuck. So if you can find an older model 2xx or 3xx series Expanium they're great (avoid the earliest 1xx square ones for battery life and not being able to seek in tracks.. like the 521!). It also came with all kinds of accessories, depending which pack your buy. Only the headphones needed upgrading, as per most models.
btw the Philips way of doing things is to have an extra pair of buttons to skip back and forward through folders. So you put one album per folder. It works great. I'm not sure what other makes do yet.
I've now got my eye on the new iRiver IMP-700 (75GBP) which has.. wooh just come into stock on Amazon uk! (and probably just gone out again now;) Because i do fancy that track display that i was going for with the Exp521.
um.. the solution to this is to play with people on your own level, and work your way up. most games have "newbie" servers, or try playing with friends on a LAN first. sorry, but i have no sympathy with you at all, saying "the only way I even have the slightest chance is if I cheat". if this was allowed, where would we draw the line? do you turn the cheat off when you're doing well "oh, but i was having so much fun". no. cheating = wrong. getting better the honest way is also so much more fun. if you really can't seem to get better, then find a better game (a better game for you, hell i have no idea what's a good game atm i haven't played a game in years:/).
The original versions were amoung the highest grossing films of all time," says Slashdot reader real_smiff, who won't be watching these DVDs. "The fans loved the originals, and don't care what's in Lucas' mind any more."
Ok seriously, I don't care very much what happens either way (I think i'm over Star Wars), but it's sad that George Lucas is so arrogant that he thinks he knows best.. once art is released it belongs to everyone's collective consciousness and should be respected as such.
Famous for their uncanny ability to navigate by the Sun, homing pigeons may in fact be taking a lazier option: following the motorways and A-roads conveniently mapped out by human beings. Using satellite tracking devices, scientists found that the birds, like motorists, prefer major roads to more direct routes home. on Saturdays you can see flocks over the M5 . ..
THE secret of the carrier pigeon's uncanny ability to find its home coop has been revealed by British scientists: they do it by following roads.
When the birds are released miles from home they navigate back in remarkably similar fashion to their human owners, choosing the trunk routes recommended in road atlases, a major satellite tracking study has shown.
Homing pigeons will often cruise down a motorway before turning on to city ring roads and exiting at major junctions, even when such a path adds miles to the journey.
Hardly ever do pigeons travel as "the crow flies", preferring instead to take the lazy mental option, even when it involves much greater physical exertion. Just like drivers, they select straight main roads rather than twisting country lanes, choosing economy of thought over fuel efficiency.
The findings, from a team at Oxford University, indicate that homing pigeons do not always navigate by taking bearings on the Sun, as has often been assumed, but rather seek out short cuts that make journeys less taxing.
"It really has knocked our research team sideways to find that pigeons appear to ignore their inbuilt directional instinct and follow the road system," said Tim Guilford, Professor of Zoology, who led the study. "The routes they take are not the most efficient in terms of physical effort, but they are very efficient in terms of mental effort. They settle on a route that's fairly energy-efficient, but it's never the most efficient. Following the road network seems to make the journey that much more relaxing."
In the study, Professor Guilford and his colleague Dora Biro attached miniature global positioning satellite tracking devices, each weighing just 18 grams, to homing pigeons. These were then released up to 20 miles away from their home coops in Oxfordshire.
While the birds initially used the Sun to get their bearings, they rapidly learnt the layout of the road network and used it as a guide to getting home.
Different pigeons developed different favourite routes, but all of them tended to follow linear features on the landscape wherever possible -- roads, railway lines, hedgerows and rivers.
"By matching their routes to detailed maps it is striking to see the pigeons fly straight down the A34 Oxford bypass, and then sharply curve off at the traffic lights before curving off again at the roundabout," Professor Guilford said.
"It was almost comical watching one group of birds that we released near a major A-road. They followed the road to the first junction, where they all turned right and, a couple of junctions on, they all turned left.
"They must be tracking linear features because it's an easy way to keep going in the correct direction. It is like the driver on the motorway, who can relax a bit on the long, straight stretches, then thinks hard at the difficult junction."
The study, which is being prepared for publication, will be featured in the BBC One series Animal Camera, which starts next Thursday.
Homing pigeons normally navigate by an innate solar compass, which allows them to check their bearings by watching the Sun. They also rely on landmarks for familiar routes, however, and the new findings suggest that this is their preferred method.
"This research is exciting because the traditional view of bird navigation is that they use a Sun-based compass at all times," Professor Guilford said. "But we have found that if we drive a pigeon in a van and then release it, the bird will still use
Slashdot Mirror
lol. your sig is curiously appropriate.
(half serious ;)
A. just what i was thinking, Fast Show. such a refreshing change for /. I wish this *would* catch on.. lots of things from that show get funnier with repeated use... like "this week, i have been mostly eating...".. or "...which was nice". but then, even if we could be funny, 99% of /. wouldn't get it :/. i'll get me coat. haha.
mind blowing images should be yet to come..
"After a long 13 year undertaking, and a 3.4 billion kilometer looping voyage across the solar system, it all begins today. Prepare to be amazed."
I am, I am.
this is interesting.. 200 minutes *is* enough for, i don't know, let's say >98% of movies? can anyone provide details, e.g. what percentage of movies are predicted to use which format? What (disadvantages) it will mean (for producers or consumers) for a movie to continue using MPEG2 rather than WMV9? More space for extras could be the first obvious one..
I love the N64 pad (I have nine (9) of them... don't ask) but I have to point out (after taking pads apart!) the N64 "trigger" is really just a button like every other, but nicely placed like a trigger and hinged :). I'm thinking maybe the PS3 will actually have a trigger-like action? That could be interesting, no? Imagine if it even had a screw to adjust the sensitivy/release points [i forget the technical terms, it's been years since i read a rifle mag) like my air rifle ;)
the problem is it's not that black and white. it's er.. a slope that doesn't offer much grip? what if you and your girlfriend enjoy a little strangulation - but not to the point of death? should that be banned? should it just not be shown/talked about? what about a little whipping? you just don't like that? see, in real world situations there are all kinds of real freedom of expression issues here, and that's just a small & not very good example. If you do decide that some things are ok and some aren't, who decides who decides.. and so on.
It also doesn't make any sense. What does starting www.my-favourite-perversion.com have to do with www.business.com? It's like comparing a VAT return to goat porn because they're both printed on paper.
You make a good point about (most people) needing a browser to get a browser, but IMHO you're not 100% right about why people use Winamp or ZoneAlarm (or IE). People use them because they've heard of them (yes, this is partly how well the maker advertises them, BUT it's not so much about what's better). e.g. Foobar2000 is better than Winamp. SPF or Kerio are better than ZoneAlarm. Firefox is better than IE. Yet *none* of the former are popular, because people haven't heard of them. That's not Microsoft's fault, but it is part of the reason why it's important not to let MS bundle all those apps - people don't actually use what's best. If they had to actively make a decision what to use, perhaps the best software would come to the top quicker and more often? I see what you are saying about convenience though. But in this case i think the benefits (better software for more people in the long term) outweigh the drawbacks (slightly steeper learning curve for computer use). I may be wrong.
it's British for underwear. I just can't type this morning :/ that ruined that joke eh.
I'm British and i know what a Wedgie is, but i've never (AFAIK) experienced a Wet Willie - care to enlighten me? :) Also have you heard of the Atomic Wedgie - it's when they manage to get your paints hooked right over your head. Painful - i've heard, and yes, it *is* possible. Plus of course, there's always Posting - three men, two legs (apart), one post.
Right on the front page (after updates to two similar products are mentioned btw!) they have the following interesting comment:
My bold, and that pretty much sums up how i feel about this aswell. I trust the views of Doom9 (he's a person and a site) as someone who knows a lot more about all this than me and has proved right on the money in the past. The sentence after the bold... well, that just pisses me off - i don't know what to say. I can make cr*p quality backups?! Is that a joke? (rhetorical).slashdot, like amazon, doesn't need to record your IP if you're logged in.
P.S. This is just for research purposes... something to keep in the back of my mind, for, oh! the rest of my life, when i'm perusing the local bookshop ;)
2nd, i'm not sure how strong your case is. you say "...multiplayer feature was touted all over the internet", but was it touted all over the box?
and /., can you stop reporting this, it's basically one huge troll & it only encourages people like him.
btw Mr. Jones, the choice isn't open vs. closed, it's open vs. possibly leaked. yah. nice. please go away.
Right :D. No change there then.
"They experimented with human cadavers to establish how much force it would take to break bones."
This research sounds like fun. Sick, but fun.
this really isn't such a good idea. you have a better than even chance of ending up with a turkey. i would say read reviews, but searching the net for reviews is a nightmare (rubbish sites swamp google. i am good at searching the 'net and could find very little useful information before i got my exp521, for example). so i guess ask slashdot is not such a bad idea. some of us are very critical of our purchases (if only more people were, we might have better quality products on the market). maybe you're a person without much time, but you posted that reply so..
but CD players old tech? not when they decode all kinds of new formats :)
The problem? Philips seem to have replaced all Expania (at least in the UK) with the Exp521. This (or the one i received) is so bad i sent it back - the disc hit the inside of the player when you shake it, the skip protection (advertised as being much longer) doesn't work if you move, half the time the buttons don't respond... i could go on. yuck. So if you can find an older model 2xx or 3xx series Expanium they're great (avoid the earliest 1xx square ones for battery life and not being able to seek in tracks.. like the 521!). It also came with all kinds of accessories, depending which pack your buy. Only the headphones needed upgrading, as per most models.
btw the Philips way of doing things is to have an extra pair of buttons to skip back and forward through folders. So you put one album per folder. It works great. I'm not sure what other makes do yet.
I've now got my eye on the new iRiver IMP-700 (75GBP) which has.. wooh just come into stock on Amazon uk! (and probably just gone out again now ;) Because i do fancy that track display that i was going for with the Exp521.
Anyway that's just my 2p.
um.. the solution to this is to play with people on your own level, and work your way up. most games have "newbie" servers, or try playing with friends on a LAN first. sorry, but i have no sympathy with you at all, saying "the only way I even have the slightest chance is if I cheat". if this was allowed, where would we draw the line? do you turn the cheat off when you're doing well "oh, but i was having so much fun". no. cheating = wrong. getting better the honest way is also so much more fun. if you really can't seem to get better, then find a better game (a better game for you, hell i have no idea what's a good game atm i haven't played a game in years :/).
The original versions were amoung the highest grossing films of all time," says Slashdot reader real_smiff, who won't be watching these DVDs. "The fans loved the originals, and don't care what's in Lucas' mind any more."
Ok seriously, I don't care very much what happens either way (I think i'm over Star Wars), but it's sad that George Lucas is so arrogant that he thinks he knows best.. once art is released it belongs to everyone's collective consciousness and should be respected as such.