That damned phone lasted for three plus years, in my pocket everyday. My kids used it to make period phone calls. Many drops, stepped on, and generally just abuse. Then one day, I dropped it at just the right angle and a side near the hinge. It lasted for two more weeks before I accidentally snapped the lid of the phone off. Even without a working display the phone still worked! I could hear it ring or vibrate, but when I answered it, I had to put it on speaker phone to talk to the person.
Well, the display was obviously dead so anything phone related didn't work, but after three years the thing still "works."
Now the w450 they sent to me as a replacement. That thing sucks. The interface is painful, the screen seems smaller and the buttons just don't seem to work as well.
I have been thinking about a Math MMORPG that is based on educational learning. For instance:
Mage: Level of Mage is based on Mathematic ability of the player. If you can answer a high level Algebra problem then you can cast that 7th level spell. Effectiveness could also be determined by how close the player was to the answer.
Fighter: Thac0 is based on the historical knowledge of the user. "What year was the Battle of Hastings?"
Thief: ThaC0 could be based on something like Art History and thieving abilities based on something like Philosophy.
etc.
I think it would be great if this could be done and hosted by a nonprofit organization to promote learning. The concept would take away the MMORPG process of grinding away at useless button clicks and would encourage learning something other than stupid game mechanics. And finally once someone understood the system, playing would be better for casual gamers.
Bard's Tale: Yes it was rebooted on the XBox a few years ago (sort of), but they killed that game. The game that was in development by a fan group looked like it was going to kick so much butt (Devil's Whiskey), but then EA started sending cease and desist letters so they had to change it. I remember that it was going to be called"The Bard's Legacy."
Yeah, I worked at shitty little web hosting company and they had their own repository server for updates to all of the managed servers. The admin team has at least three security guys who's job it was to QA the repository on pretty much a daily basis. They monitored for security patches and posted them to the repository as soon as possible. And we supported about 4 different OS's at the time. I can't see why you won't have your own repository with a few people who knew deb/rpm package building for your specific repositories. And then it's just a matter of standardization. "Here are the OS we support."
Before your kid leaves for the day, check her bag and make sure it's on and working properly. When she gets home, put the cell phone on the charger.
In the event that you loose your kid, you check the website and Mologogo will tell you where the kid is at. My phone can tell me where any of my friends are, yours should to.
Yeah, I know what you mean, sorta. I have to retake Calc I sometime in the future, but what I got out of the class made me feel like I knew things few other people really understood in the world. I wanted to apply Calculus to other areas of my life. But, I mean; there should be games and fun things that are just as addictive/fun as WoWCrack that actually teaches you something. Image WoWCrack games where you learned Calculus or even Algrebra. Your level was based on the equations you could solve. And rather than grinding on killing trolls or orcs you were grinding on equations..... I wish I was a developer......
What the hell is wrong with this society? We have people holed up in their rooms playing these MMORPG's and they're not learning anything except how to raid and grind. They could be doing learning through grinding just as easily. If only we had people developing these kid of games. Could you imagine a kid/teenager/basement dweller saying, "I'm addicted to Calculus!!!!" Or, "I hate the grind between Partical Physics PHD 1.1 and Partical Physics 1.2." We/they play these games with stupid rewards for something that is completely intangible. At the very best you could say that these games are teaching people who to function in a team environment and how to organize projects. That's really about it. Oh MMORPG why can you be more educational.
I agree with you about the kobayashi maru test, but in a sense I disagree with you. The way that the test was exploited seems almost like a modern exploit. Look at exploits to run code on modern gaming platforms: - The PSP: Uses a tiff exploit. You get it to show a bad picture, it reboots and runs a custom firmware (if I understand that right) - The Wii: Exploits a save game. You save an exploited save game, you play the game, you walk up to a character and the system reboots loading a custom firmware. And Kirk isn't very subtle. At least not in the Star Trek I have watched. He's a tactician, he takes risks, and at times he is very brazen. But subtle? No. Not Kirk.
I think that really do have some marketing geniuses there. If I remember correctly they were the first nonprofit to develop a Firefox addon that took your Amazon purchases and fed them through there nonprofit sponsor links so that you could done money without even thinking about it.
This is another really great marketing venture. It's too bad that Miro kinda sucks and is not geared towards my age demographic.
Capitalism failed because the Capitalists broke it. It's a false dichotomy. Pure capitalism doesn't work because inherently the only motivation is to make money. When you're willing to do anything to make a profit, including buying politicians who make the laws so that you can have monopoly on the business in that area, then you have effectively broken capitalism. I really want to start my own municipal cable/internet/telephone service much like the town of Wilson, North Carolina. But I know that would never happen without a really compelling reason. My local town is owned by TW.
Last I read, Moonlight support for those specific features aren't available until Q3 this year. That said, you might try the Moonlight that let everybody stream the presidents inauguration address. I doubt it will work, but it's worth a try. http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight/
Install a version of Windows XP. If you don't have one find a torrent... cough cough blackxp cough.
Watch March Madness on Windows on Linux.
For the record, I don't watch sports, so I don't know that it work. That said, I have watched Netflix (uses Silverlight) on a licensed Windows in Virtualbox on Ubuntu.
First off. Windows 2000? That you keep up to date? I haven't seen Windows 2000 updates since.... 2005. Security? WTF? For the love of dog, use something like VirtualBox or VMWare. Now!
Second, as a techie who has returned to college I deal with this a lot. Firefox has been hit or miss. Sometimes, I have HAD TO use IE. It's a bitch, cause I use Ubuntu. Nothing sucks more then having to keep a dual boot system (I used previously) or a VM around just for that one class that requires that you submit files via IE. That said, I have had professors are usually very understanding of using browsers other than IE. For instance my Macroeconomics professor posted my short go by for playing his videos which seemed to only play in IE. I don't know why but they only played in IE, and I forced them to play with Firefox, Greasemonkey and FlashFix. Other than that, I have seen problems with Blackboard and Etudes. It's usually hit or miss. Depends on the professor. My best luck has been with Moodle. I haven't had one class that has been problematic on Moodle.
I would guess and say that it plays a video as you start the game. The intro screen shows something that looks like the name "Aspyr" in a flame and it says, "Aspyr." Then the intro plays that shows the Sims doing different actions (related to expansion packs.) My guess is that they are all part of a Quicktime video.
1) I agree with Stewie241. The Sims 2 was not updated, the Quicktime update broke something that was previous working.
2) That said, Aspyr sucks. They have many problems that we have never been able to resolve. Sims has a problem where the graphics kinda freak out and only shows the wire frames. Aspyr blames this on the differences in Apple drivers (ATI/Nvidia). And the expansion packs have frequently been the cause of teeth knashing (yeah I'm looking at you Bon Voyage.)
So Apple or Aspyr? I blame both. Apple isn't as great as it once was, and Aspyr just sucks.
My wife's Mac just recently broke her only game (Sims 2) because of an Apple update. She updated Quicktime (we think) and that completely broke Aspyr's version of the Sims 2.
http://support.aspyr.com/
"We are aware of the issues arising with the latest QuickTime update in 10.4.11 and are working with Apple to get it resolved. Please bear with us as we work with Apple to find the source of and fix for this problem."
Yeah, nice work there Apple. What's next?
Set up a Newsgroup server and start a side business sending out DVD disks of specific files on the NTP servers.
For instance:
I want Hot.Amateur.part01.rar - Hot.Amateur.part200.rar
You have them hosted on a server. I pay $$$ for the disk through a website. You have a script that auto burns the files onto dvd (in rar format) it poops it out at the end of the day.
You send the disk to me in a sealed envelope and there you are. You can get the envelopes from UPS, generate labels on a desktop machine and there you are.
Or even better, a raw mirror on disk. You send out a drive full of alt.binaries.whatever for $100 a piece (assuming you use hotswappable $60 drives).
Another idea would be cluster services. I'm sure somebody would pay good money for ssh access to that much raw processing power to decrypt passwords or something. That's practically a super server farm waiting to happen.
And isn't there another story out there that says that Firefox is faster on Linux than on Microsoft?
So what they are saying is,that Firefox is faster in Wine than it is on native Linux. which is still faster than Firefox on Windows.
I downloaded and installed it, and it worked perfectly as far as I can tell.
But I can't find a link that says: "This content is SilverLight!!!" And then the video..
So I see content playing. Content that I found searching for silverlight and video. But nothing that is obvious.
If it does work as advertised, then heck (never thought I'd say it), Good on you Microsoft!
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, webex, gotomeeting, gotowebinar and teamviewer. All have become important parts of business that I use.
That damned phone lasted for three plus years, in my pocket everyday. My kids used it to make period phone calls. Many drops, stepped on, and generally just abuse. Then one day, I dropped it at just the right angle and a side near the hinge. It lasted for two more weeks before I accidentally snapped the lid of the phone off. Even without a working display the phone still worked! I could hear it ring or vibrate, but when I answered it, I had to put it on speaker phone to talk to the person.
Well, the display was obviously dead so anything phone related didn't work, but after three years the thing still "works."
Now the w450 they sent to me as a replacement. That thing sucks. The interface is painful, the screen seems smaller and the buttons just don't seem to work as well.
I have been thinking about a Math MMORPG that is based on educational learning. For instance:
Mage: Level of Mage is based on Mathematic ability of the player. If you can answer a high level Algebra problem then you can cast that 7th level spell. Effectiveness could also be determined by how close the player was to the answer.
Fighter: Thac0 is based on the historical knowledge of the user. "What year was the Battle of Hastings?"
Thief: ThaC0 could be based on something like Art History and thieving abilities based on something like Philosophy.
etc.
I think it would be great if this could be done and hosted by a nonprofit organization to promote learning. The concept would take away the MMORPG process of grinding away at useless button clicks and would encourage learning something other than stupid game mechanics. And finally once someone understood the system, playing would be better for casual gamers.
Bard's Tale: Yes it was rebooted on the XBox a few years ago (sort of), but they killed that game. The game that was in development by a fan group looked like it was going to kick so much butt (Devil's Whiskey), but then EA started sending cease and desist letters so they had to change it. I remember that it was going to be called"The Bard's Legacy."
I have to grab a copy of Devil's Whiskey.
Yeah, I worked at shitty little web hosting company and they had their own repository server for updates to all of the managed servers. The admin team has at least three security guys who's job it was to QA the repository on pretty much a daily basis. They monitored for security patches and posted them to the repository as soon as possible. And we supported about 4 different OS's at the time.
I can't see why you won't have your own repository with a few people who knew deb/rpm package building for your specific repositories. And then it's just a matter of standardization. "Here are the OS we support."
Make magazine had this covered back a while ago:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2005/10/diy_gps_tracking.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2005/10/diy_gps_tracking_with_mologogo.html
Mologogo with a cheap $60 cell phone.
Before your kid leaves for the day, check her bag and make sure it's on and working properly.
When she gets home, put the cell phone on the charger.
In the event that you loose your kid, you check the website and Mologogo will tell you where the kid is at.
My phone can tell me where any of my friends are, yours should to.
Easy peasy.
Hmmm, interesting. A little earing that makes a very light tone when you are facing North.
Yeah, I know what you mean, sorta. I have to retake Calc I sometime in the future, but what I got out of the class made me feel like I knew things few other people really understood in the world. I wanted to apply Calculus to other areas of my life.
But, I mean; there should be games and fun things that are just as addictive/fun as WoWCrack that actually teaches you something. Image WoWCrack games where you learned Calculus or even Algrebra. Your level was based on the equations you could solve. And rather than grinding on killing trolls or orcs you were grinding on equations.....
I wish I was a developer......
What the hell is wrong with this society? We have people holed up in their rooms playing these MMORPG's and they're not learning anything except how to raid and grind. They could be doing learning through grinding just as easily. If only we had people developing these kid of games. Could you imagine a kid/teenager/basement dweller saying, "I'm addicted to Calculus!!!!" Or, "I hate the grind between Partical Physics PHD 1.1 and Partical Physics 1.2."
We/they play these games with stupid rewards for something that is completely intangible. At the very best you could say that these games are teaching people who to function in a team environment and how to organize projects. That's really about it.
Oh MMORPG why can you be more educational.
I agree with you about the kobayashi maru test, but in a sense I disagree with you.
The way that the test was exploited seems almost like a modern exploit. Look at exploits to run code on modern gaming platforms:
- The PSP: Uses a tiff exploit. You get it to show a bad picture, it reboots and runs a custom firmware (if I understand that right)
- The Wii: Exploits a save game. You save an exploited save game, you play the game, you walk up to a character and the system reboots loading a custom firmware.
And Kirk isn't very subtle. At least not in the Star Trek I have watched. He's a tactician, he takes risks, and at times he is very brazen. But subtle? No. Not Kirk.
I agree with the idea of smaller. What about a necklace or a choker.
I think that really do have some marketing geniuses there. If I remember correctly they were the first nonprofit to develop a Firefox addon that took your Amazon purchases and fed them through there nonprofit sponsor links so that you could done money without even thinking about it.
This is another really great marketing venture. It's too bad that Miro kinda sucks and is not geared towards my age demographic.
Capitalism failed because the Capitalists broke it. It's a false dichotomy. Pure capitalism doesn't work because inherently the only motivation is to make money. When you're willing to do anything to make a profit, including buying politicians who make the laws so that you can have monopoly on the business in that area, then you have effectively broken capitalism.
I really want to start my own municipal cable/internet/telephone service much like the town of Wilson, North Carolina. But I know that would never happen without a really compelling reason. My local town is owned by TW.
Last I read, Moonlight support for those specific features aren't available until Q3 this year.
That said, you might try the Moonlight that let everybody stream the presidents inauguration address. I doubt it will work, but it's worth a try.
http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight/
Download VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Install a version of Windows XP. If you don't have one find a torrent... cough cough blackxp cough.
Watch March Madness on Windows on Linux.
For the record, I don't watch sports, so I don't know that it work. That said, I have watched Netflix (uses Silverlight) on a licensed Windows in Virtualbox on Ubuntu.
First off. Windows 2000? That you keep up to date? I haven't seen Windows 2000 updates since.... 2005. Security? WTF?
For the love of dog, use something like VirtualBox or VMWare. Now!
Second, as a techie who has returned to college I deal with this a lot. Firefox has been hit or miss. Sometimes, I have HAD TO use IE. It's a bitch, cause I use Ubuntu. Nothing sucks more then having to keep a dual boot system (I used previously) or a VM around just for that one class that requires that you submit files via IE.
That said, I have had professors are usually very understanding of using browsers other than IE. For instance my Macroeconomics professor posted my short go by for playing his videos which seemed to only play in IE. I don't know why but they only played in IE, and I forced them to play with Firefox, Greasemonkey and FlashFix.
Other than that, I have seen problems with Blackboard and Etudes. It's usually hit or miss. Depends on the professor. My best luck has been with Moodle. I haven't had one class that has been problematic on Moodle.
I would guess and say that it plays a video as you start the game. The intro screen shows something that looks like the name "Aspyr" in a flame and it says, "Aspyr." Then the intro plays that shows the Sims doing different actions (related to expansion packs.)
My guess is that they are all part of a Quicktime video.
I'm of two opinions here:
1) I agree with Stewie241. The Sims 2 was not updated, the Quicktime update broke something that was previous working.
2) That said, Aspyr sucks. They have many problems that we have never been able to resolve. Sims has a problem where the graphics kinda freak out and only shows the wire frames. Aspyr blames this on the differences in Apple drivers (ATI/Nvidia). And the expansion packs have frequently been the cause of teeth knashing (yeah I'm looking at you Bon Voyage.)
So Apple or Aspyr? I blame both. Apple isn't as great as it once was, and Aspyr just sucks.
My wife's Mac just recently broke her only game (Sims 2) because of an Apple update. She updated Quicktime (we think) and that completely broke Aspyr's version of the Sims 2. http://support.aspyr.com/ "We are aware of the issues arising with the latest QuickTime update in 10.4.11 and are working with Apple to get it resolved. Please bear with us as we work with Apple to find the source of and fix for this problem." Yeah, nice work there Apple. What's next?
Step 1: Mirror NNTP server
Step 2: Create web page that offers service
Step 3: Create scripts that send out discs
Step 4: Profit!!!!
Set up a Newsgroup server and start a side business sending out DVD disks of specific files on the NTP servers. For instance: I want Hot.Amateur.part01.rar - Hot.Amateur.part200.rar You have them hosted on a server. I pay $$$ for the disk through a website. You have a script that auto burns the files onto dvd (in rar format) it poops it out at the end of the day. You send the disk to me in a sealed envelope and there you are. You can get the envelopes from UPS, generate labels on a desktop machine and there you are. Or even better, a raw mirror on disk. You send out a drive full of alt.binaries.whatever for $100 a piece (assuming you use hotswappable $60 drives). Another idea would be cluster services. I'm sure somebody would pay good money for ssh access to that much raw processing power to decrypt passwords or something. That's practically a super server farm waiting to happen.
And isn't there another story out there that says that Firefox is faster on Linux than on Microsoft? So what they are saying is,that Firefox is faster in Wine than it is on native Linux. which is still faster than Firefox on Windows.
I downloaded and installed it, and it worked perfectly as far as I can tell. But I can't find a link that says: "This content is SilverLight!!!" And then the video.. So I see content playing. Content that I found searching for silverlight and video. But nothing that is obvious. If it does work as advertised, then heck (never thought I'd say it), Good on you Microsoft!
Many of the open source Linux games also have pretty good Windows ports:
Take a look for "Linux Game" sites and follow the links to the homepage of the games. Most times the Windows ports will be included. Here's a few good examples:
At getdeb.net you can get Super Methane Brothers. If you go to the homepage of Super Methane Brothers you find a Windows Exe.
You can take a look at LinuxGames, playubuntu.com and probably find more via Google.
Games that I would recommend specifically:
Tux Math Command
gridwars 2
OpenAlchemist
Hedgewars
Game Maker
Frets on Fire
Secret Maryo Chronicles
p_r_o_t_c_r_o_n_@yahoo.com Obviously remove the underscores. Hey thanks. I'm very interested in it.