I can't really speak to BB's online service; they might have similar selection and pricing, but they also have the same disadvantages.
I tried blockbuster for a short time. Their website was ugly and busy compared to Netflix'. But what got me to cancel was the fact a search for Star Trek Voyager showed all seasons except for season 3 or 4 -- can't recall exactly but there was absolutely no way I could find any discs for that season no matter how I tried searching. Either their search engine really sucks, or they forgot to buy a whole season of a tv show. Either way, that was enough. Oh, and they were slow compared to netflix.
Awesome? I would describe them as severely dissapointing. The story itself is a simplistic one -- I went for what I hoped would be awesome effects. What I saw was some animated characters that were well done, and some that were wrong. But what really ruined it for me were those scenes that perfectly mimicked 1950s wizardry, you know, close up on the actor in front of a background that is 100% obviously fake -- like when people don't look at the road when driving and the passing scenerey is obviously just a projection.
Do yourself a favor: watch the previews (the previews ARE awesome) but skip the movie... you just saw the good stuff.
I guess Wine has to be kicked into high gear because how can one actually advocate buying any Sony product? Couple that with a MS aversion and gaming for linux geeks is a difficult issue. I'm not joking here, I'm serious. I like to play games sometimes so I have a PS2 -- I really don't want to support either MS or Sony. They both suck.
Maybe a usable Linux desktop? A hacked XBOX - yeah that ought to have about 100 users.
Completely wrong. Hacking the 360 is important... vital. If it isn't done, then when streaming video or the like starts to take off, content providers will require you to have MS hardware and your only option will be to accept that or give up. Hacking the 360 ensures choice in the marketplace in the future. Here's a quote from an article I ended up at by following some links during my RTFA session:
Why does it matter?
Bear in mind, Microsoft has big plans for the home -- plans that include media center PCs, family entertainment centers, TV set-top boxes, portable media players, mobile phones, and, of course, gaming devices.
Considering that the Xbox 360 represents a powerful new computing platform that will be finding its way into tens of millions of homes, it seems likely that Microsoft will attempt to leverage the device to extend its reach throughout the home, offering a wide range of capabilities and services. http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS3988467635 .html
That's doubletalk for "you must use MS ______ to view this content".
The music companies get about 68 cent, Apple 28,-. the artists 5,-
68+28+5=101
ITMS song cost: 99
I want to know the secret of turning 99 cents into 101 cents -- with iAlchemey like that, and if the conversion rate was quick enough, I could accumulate some extra spending money quite rapidly!
As are M4P files. They're just regular old files that happen to contain music in an ecrypted form.
In fact, data files on a HD are about 1000x easier to backup than a few hundred CDs. I can only imagine the horror of actually trying to backup a pile of cds.
More importantly CDs give you everything that downloads do.
CDs sure do give you more than a'la carte song file purchasing. For example, with a CD you get 11 really crappy songs along with the only one you like, and all for the amazing low price of $15.99. You know, it's 13 years later but I still feel ticked that the "4 Non-Blondes" album I bought in 1993 had one song worth hearing on it. This was at a time when I'd just gotten out of college and was really broke. I wish I could have sampled the album and bought only what I liked. That's what I like about i-Tunes, I can buy the one or two good songs some one-hit wonder wrote, and only spend a buck or two. The cost of a single CD can get me 15 or so of these one-hit-wonder songs. Do that w/ albums and I'm looking at a couple hundred bucks. No way.
More interestingly, if all music could be purchased as single songs, don't you think we'd have fewer albums comprised of one good song and nine or ten fillers? A musician/studio won't make much money unless they actually put out lots of quality songs if all those songs can be purchased singly. Albums encourage sloth and greed.
...for the lawyers.
The consumers ( you remember, the people these laws are supposed to protect ), on the otherhand, will likely see loose change for their troubles.
Well, as soon as I heard about this rootkit a took a peek at WA law on the subject... actual damages or $100,000 whichever is greater. Let me tell you, that kind of statutory phrasing is music to a lawyer's ears! Now I just need a few clients.
Why do people think Bush is (1) stupid; (2) evil; and (3) has all sorts of magical powers?
Well, those who believe #1 and #2 must believe in #3, how else would they explain how Bush won in the last election despite #1 and #2?
The standard for voting is pretty low -- you have to be at least 18, be US citizen, and have a heartbeat. That describes a mountain of idiots.
Re:Slackers, timid kids and smart kids.
on
The Prodigy Puzzle
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
We need to help all children, certainly. But there comes a time when the kids need to help themselves as well. If you're a 16-year old slacker who doesn't bother trying, I see no reason to give you special treatment because you're old enough to know better. Grow up, or you're going to be pumping gas when you're 30.
I basically never studied in high school, didn't really have to. I can't recall studying anything. So I went to college and then spent 3 years on and off academic probation. The only thing that kicked me into gear was when my mom died -- I realized I had to do for myself from that point on. I went from 1.99 GPA to a near 4.0 (damn drawing class - got a B). Eventually I went to law school but by then, I had developed the perfect study plan (my girlfriend hated me and I her -- I stayed at the library till 10 every night just because I wanted to get home after she fell asleep -- well, there isn't that much to do in the library but study even after talking with friends, shooting pool, or playing Ramparts -- my grades rocked... then she left and I liked going home).
I don't know what the answer is, but I know that I learned my poor study skills between the 1st and 12th grade. It's something I struggle with to this day. If something is interesting, I'll get obsessively involved. If it's dull -- getting myself to do it is a major ordeal.
I've never seen an analysis of the environmental impact of producing a hybrid vs. producing a non-hybrid, but I'd imagine that, given the higher cost, the production is less environmentally friendly.
Whether you buy into peak oil or not, this is an interesting analysis of the amount of oil that goes into manufacturing a car. Interestingly, on weight basis, computers are far worse than cars.
Cars:
"
1. The construction of an average car consumes the energy
equivalent of approximately 27-54 barrels, which equates
to 1,100-2,200 gallons, of oil. Ultimately, the
construction of a car will consume an amount of fossil
fuels equivalent to twice the car's final weight. http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
Yes, please do kill the kids. You know they'll simply turn into teenagers and then they'll install big thump-thump stereos and drive around making a nuisance of themselves.
Maybe Linux needs to start following the Highlander quote: "There can be only one" and start having all of these competitors duel off, with the good features from each winner taken and evolved into Uber Linux, so that there can just be one version to focus on and get people to understand.
Completely impossible. For example, the ingredients that make a great rescue distro (like Damn Small Linux -- live distro w/ gui and important apps: 50 mb) are not necessarily the ones that make a great desktop system. Besides, why should there be only one distro when people have different preferences? What is wrong with choice? Sure it might be more difficult to chose between steak, crab, ho-hos, or shrimp, but would you rather your choice be "hotdogs"? Period. Be happy with it cause that's all there is...... not me. I'll take the confusing smorgasboard over simple and easy "no choice".
Probably far less than half as annoying as windows. But let me be all snobby and say I've only touched XP briefly, and that while in stores looking at computers and certainly never tried actually doing anything with it. Last windows I used was in 2001 when I quit the job I had then and no longer had to use windows machines (95 or 98 -- can't recall). No question, OSX blows away any windows I ever used.;-)
yep. I do like expose as long as I have no more than 4 windows. Over that and I have to hunt and peck as badly as if I was alt-tabbing. But I do find myself going for the corner sometimes on my linux machines. I have kompose on one, but it activates too slowly and isn't useful like it is in OS X.
That's easy. Imagine a circular target and for simplicity, no wind. If stationary, you need only aim for the center of the target after adjusting for bullet drop (because of gravity, bullets fly in an arc not a straight line -- further away = more drop). If the target is moving directly toward you, it becomes a slight bit harder because you'd have to estimate the target's position when it meets the bullet, i.e., there would be a slight bit less drop, but probably so little considering the speed difference between a cat's speed and a bullet's at 80 yards that it could be safely ignored. However, if the target is moving perpendicular to your line of site, you can't just aim at its center and fire. If you do that, the bullet will most likely pass behind the target -- you must aim for where the target will be when it meets the bullet. This requires leading the target by aiming slightly forward of its motion and swinging the rifle in unison with target's motion. It is much easier to aim while keeping your body still and braced -- it's much harder to aim while actively twisting your body and accounting for both bullet drop and lead time.
We are also just as educated as the USA. In fact, I've seen stats from various sources that show Australians as being on average slightly higher educated than the USA per capita.
I started using a Mac on a regular basis about 2 months ago, and I am still finding it awkward to manage windows compared to the various Linux desktops...
I've been using my powerbook since January so I have 6 or 7 months experience on you. I predict that in about 6 or 7 months, that awkwardness will become downright annoying. Anyway, my experience went like this: 1-2 months: wow -- this SO neat!, 2-5 months -- grrrr, I can't do Y and it's so bothersome that I can't. 5+ months -- can't wait till all the hardware is fully supported so this pretty but anoying OS can bite the dust and I can finally have a completely usuable machine.
I'm not saying that what I said is "fact" -- it's just my opinion obviously that the linux GUI experience is better for me. And don't tell me about giving OSX a fair chance -- I have and I don't like it as much.
Even worse, this is often done in a way that pays no respect to the language being exploited.
Riiiiiiiiight. I'm sure the language is very embarrassed and ashamed to have been exploited in this way. I'm sure slashdot will send the Japanese language (not the people that speak it, but the language itself) an apology.
It also bears noting that people in Japan are very fond of adapting English to their own use as well. Nothing wrong w/ sharing a few words -- we all have plenty to spare. And as for the grandparent's (not the person to whom replied) use of "exploited" -- sheesh -- using a foreign word doesn't enslave anyone or take something of value from them. What a gorram obaka mono! Frickin' pendejo.
It would a huge loophole if a person could distribute a song by lip-synced video. I can't imagine that the RIAA would let that kind of loophole exist for more than a nanosecond.
Slashdot Mirror
I Soviet America, the phone listens to you.
The Narnia Cops are out force -- clean your fangs boys cause you gotta troll everyone who steps out of the party line.
Do yourself a favor: watch the previews (the previews ARE awesome) but skip the movie
I guess Wine has to be kicked into high gear because how can one actually advocate buying any Sony product? Couple that with a MS aversion and gaming for linux geeks is a difficult issue. I'm not joking here, I'm serious. I like to play games sometimes so I have a PS2 -- I really don't want to support either MS or Sony. They both suck.
That's doubletalk for "you must use MS ______ to view this content".
ITMS song cost: 99
I want to know the secret of turning 99 cents into 101 cents -- with iAlchemey like that, and if the conversion rate was quick enough, I could accumulate some extra spending money quite rapidly!
More interestingly, if all music could be purchased as single songs, don't you think we'd have fewer albums comprised of one good song and nine or ten fillers? A musician/studio won't make much money unless they actually put out lots of quality songs if all those songs can be purchased singly. Albums encourage sloth and greed.
Well, as soon as I heard about this rootkit a took a peek at WA law on the subject
Cars:
" 1. The construction of an average car consumes the energy equivalent of approximately 27-54 barrels, which equates to 1,100-2,200 gallons, of oil. Ultimately, the construction of a car will consume an amount of fossil fuels equivalent to twice the car's final weight.
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
Here's the bit more about cars:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Research.html
Computer manufacturing requires 10x the weight of the computer in fossil fuels:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=1000
Yes, please do kill the kids. You know they'll simply turn into teenagers and then they'll install big thump-thump stereos and drive around making a nuisance of themselves.
Actually, very smart people (such as myself), are voluntarily sterilized.
That would make one hell of a widescreen format (at least if you rotate 90 deg).
Completely impossible. For example, the ingredients that make a great rescue distro (like Damn Small Linux -- live distro w/ gui and important apps: 50 mb) are not necessarily the ones that make a great desktop system. Besides, why should there be only one distro when people have different preferences? What is wrong with choice? Sure it might be more difficult to chose between steak, crab, ho-hos, or shrimp, but would you rather your choice be "hotdogs"? Period. Be happy with it cause that's all there is.
Probably far less than half as annoying as windows. But let me be all snobby and say I've only touched XP briefly, and that while in stores looking at computers and certainly never tried actually doing anything with it. Last windows I used was in 2001 when I quit the job I had then and no longer had to use windows machines (95 or 98 -- can't recall). No question, OSX blows away any windows I ever used. ;-)
yep. I do like expose as long as I have no more than 4 windows. Over that and I have to hunt and peck as badly as if I was alt-tabbing. But I do find myself going for the corner sometimes on my linux machines. I have kompose on one, but it activates too slowly and isn't useful like it is in OS X.
That's easy. Imagine a circular target and for simplicity, no wind. If stationary, you need only aim for the center of the target after adjusting for bullet drop (because of gravity, bullets fly in an arc not a straight line -- further away = more drop). If the target is moving directly toward you, it becomes a slight bit harder because you'd have to estimate the target's position when it meets the bullet, i.e., there would be a slight bit less drop, but probably so little considering the speed difference between a cat's speed and a bullet's at 80 yards that it could be safely ignored. However, if the target is moving perpendicular to your line of site, you can't just aim at its center and fire. If you do that, the bullet will most likely pass behind the target -- you must aim for where the target will be when it meets the bullet. This requires leading the target by aiming slightly forward of its motion and swinging the rifle in unison with target's motion. It is much easier to aim while keeping your body still and braced -- it's much harder to aim while actively twisting your body and accounting for both bullet drop and lead time.
Well that ain't no big feet!
I've been using my powerbook since January so I have 6 or 7 months experience on you. I predict that in about 6 or 7 months, that awkwardness will become downright annoying. Anyway, my experience went like this: 1-2 months: wow -- this SO neat!, 2-5 months -- grrrr, I can't do Y and it's so bothersome that I can't. 5+ months -- can't wait till all the hardware is fully supported so this pretty but anoying OS can bite the dust and I can finally have a completely usuable machine.
I'm not saying that what I said is "fact" -- it's just my opinion obviously that the linux GUI experience is better for me. And don't tell me about giving OSX a fair chance -- I have and I don't like it as much.
It also bears noting that people in Japan are very fond of adapting English to their own use as well. Nothing wrong w/ sharing a few words -- we all have plenty to spare. And as for the grandparent's (not the person to whom replied) use of "exploited" -- sheesh -- using a foreign word doesn't enslave anyone or take something of value from them. What a gorram obaka mono! Frickin' pendejo.
It would a huge loophole if a person could distribute a song by lip-synced video. I can't imagine that the RIAA would let that kind of loophole exist for more than a nanosecond.