As someone who put out a number of Neverwinter Nights mods (for free), the more successful mods are those that came out soon after the game's release. After that, having regular sequels ever few months was key. Anything more than six months or so is too long to keep people's attention.
My guess is they had the data locally in Excel spreadsheets, fiddling with things. Everyone's PC has Internet access these days - it's hard to function without it. Many people have secure information on their hard drives too.
The alternative is thin-clients, which haven't ever taken off, mostly because they tend to be harder to use.
China is a very different environment than the rest of the world, something we often forget. With over a billion people, everything that can be done with manual labor is done with manual labor. Why use a backhoe when you can get ten people to dig a big hole in the ground? Chinese industry doesn't have the same incentives to automate when labor is so cheap. Besides, what would all those people do if they were out of work?
On a related note, there are very few fat people in China. It's not from lack of food, but rather due to everyone being constantly physically active. If their air quality were better, they'd be healthier than most other industrial countries.
Over ten years ago, I started working for a healthcare organization. Initially the pay was low and the jobs were somewhat stressful. Still, it's now become pretty much the dream job. Since we're non-profit, we can actually do things because it's the good and moral thing to do, rather than lining our pockets with money. Since it's healthcare, there's a fair amount of money to be had, purchasing interesting systems and getting to play with cutting edge technology. The atmosphere is great and I get along well with my coworkers.
Bottom line, it's a stable, well-paid, and interesting place to work.
Sorry, had to get that out of the way. It's the coffee talking, really.
More and more I find that I want a bunch of dumb terminals around the house. Maybe my daughter wants to play the Barbie Princess games on the web, my son wants to listen to music, or my wife wants to check e-mail. This sort of device would be great for that sort of simple stuff.
The catch, of course, is that you can buy a normal PC for much less. I picked up a nice little Dell Laptop for $400 the other day. It's wireless, has a display, and can be taken on trips. Plus there's other older computers laying around my house that are equally powerful.
Perhaps the key is to emphasize "low power". Hook it up to a battery and solar panels and deploy it as a remote monitoring device. Put it in a motor home or use it as a carputer. Still, I think you're right to think that until they find the proper niche for this hardware, it's going to be tricky selling them by the truckload.
It's interesting to note that Toontown is doing better than D&D Online. That's a pretty bad sign for Atari, whose finances aren't doing particularly well these days.
Keep in mind that that only includes DVDs. HD-DVD will, of course, be available in the future. You can purchase your entire movie library all over again, just like going from LPs to CDs.
That is indeed the harshest aspect of the whole thing. I remember a year ago chatting with Bioware and getting ready to sign a contract to create some modules. My daughter had recently been born and I was fretting about turning my hobby into a paying gig, so I ended up deciding not to. I feel like I narrowly missed being hit by a bus.
I've heard similar negative things from other module builders. Working with Atari has been a nightmare for many, I think. Initially the modules were supposed to be non-Forgotten Realms, and then later that was switched to only Forgotten Realms. Because of that, the highest ranked module ended up being released for free.
I think Bioware meant well with their Digital Download project and in many ways it has been a success. It subsidized the support for NWN far beyond that of a normal game. As a bonus, many of the coding changes will make it into NWN2, as Bioware and Obsidian share their code. The unfortunate part is that Bioware and Obsidian are simply developers, and Atari and WotC must approve every little thing along the way. Sadly this leads to a situation where the developer means well, but doesn't really control the situation. In some ways I'm hoping this triggers a move away from licensed IPs and we'll see more original IP coming out. I'm guessing the mod teams will follow along to safer pastures.
As I watch Atari struggle financially, I worry about the future of NWN2, which I've invested a lot of time planning for. Yet in a sense I'm secretly happy to see them feel the consequences of their actions over the years.
I wouldn't hold my breath expecting Atari to release the source code. Their behavior in all of this is pretty lousy.
This was all precipitated when they declared they wouldn't pay for any new premium modules for the game, as recounted by DLA. It's unfortunate that all their hard work won't be compensated.
It has been known for over 100 years (Roy and Sherrington 1890) that changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation in the brain (collectively known as hemodynamics) are closely linked to neural activity. When nerve cells are active they consume oxygen carried by hemoglobin in red blood cells from local capillaries. The local response to this oxygen utilisation is an increase in blood flow to regions of increased neural activity, occurring after a delay of approximately 1-5 seconds.
Add in some computing time to process the image and you've got your latency right there.
After studying biology for a number of years, I've come to the conclusion that life and death are human-created concepts, sort of like "freedom" or "justice". There's no obvious scientific definition as to what makes this blob of matter alive and this other blob dead.
I'm also a believer that "self" and "other" are equally invalid scientific concepts. Where do "I" end and "you" start if the things you're reading now are actively changing connections in your brain.
What that means is that we should treat life and death as an ethics problem. Science can help identify the how, but it's up to people to decide what should be done.
It looks like they'll be implementing an "always on" filter. From their filing:
Mandatory Filtering of Indecent and Obscene Material. M2Z commits to mandatory filtering of indecent and obscene material for the National Broadband Radio Service. This will be accomplished through a compulsory setting on the service that will utilize state of the art filters, taking every reasonable and available step to block access to sites purveying pornographic, obscene or indecent material. Like the free service itself, M2Z's content filtering will be "always on." Moreover, National Broadband Radio Service customers will be unable to alter the filters as they constitute an essential element of that service.
To accomplish these critical filtering functions, M2Z plans to route National Broadband Radio Service traffic through a set of servers that can examine the traffic flows for improper activity and restrict access
as required. Thus, the nation's children -- and their parents -- will have free access to broadband that is not only very affordable but also family-friendly and free from pornographic and other indecent material.
What's fascinating to me is that much of the science behind fusion is now well understood. Instead, people are focused on improvements in efficiencies and such.
With luck, people will get to the point where they can build relatively cheap fusion reactors instead of having to rely on something big and unwieldy . . . like the sun.
From what I understand, SIDS is caused when the brain doesn't properly send the "I'm not getting enough oxygen" message or the baby's unable to do anything about the message being sent. For example, sleeping on the front with fluffy blankets can make it hard for them to move around, even if they get the appropriate signal. In other cases, it may be that the signal itself may not get sent, as that part of the brain isn't developed enough. Things like pacifiers seem to help, perhaps because it maintains a level of awakeness or simply keeps their mouth open.
It may be that the search for a root genetic cause may be futile. The good news is that simple physical precautions such as sleeping on the back and pacifiers seem to cut down on SIDS dramatically.
Even if genetics play a role, it may be different than people think. It's important to realize that evolution often shoots for the "good enough" solution and that we carry around the baggage of billions of years of effort. Perhaps the babies that survived best historically were those who spent their limited growth "energy" on developing skeletal and muscle tissue. The part of the brain that signals low oxygen wasn't very useful during the first few months, as children typically slept in the arms of an adult. Speculation, of course, but it hopefully shows the ways that evolutionary pressures can lead to odd results.
I keep hoping that the California software industry starts outpacing the entertainment industry. That way the politicians there will start introducing legislation backed by folks like Google and not folks like the RIAA.
Of course, a few billion dollars is chump change to the entertainment industry. There's a long way to go.
I think the real question is what risks computers are facing these days. The Titanic had multiple compartments (up to a point), but the ice berg tore along the side, ripping off rivets and letting water pour in multiple compartments at once.
How is kernel compartmentalization going to protect against users installing spyware and doing things they're already authorized to do?
I'm actually reading Guardian by Haldeman now. It's very different than his other pieces, reading more like historic fiction for the bulk of the story. It's okay, though I'd recommend folks start with things like Forever War and the Worlds series.
I find his writing style very accessible and his themes compelling. A fine author indeed.
I've read similar things, where the cosmological constant changes over time, first expanding and then contracting the universe. In some ways it's more satisfying than having the universe as a one-shot deal that ends in cold nothingness.
It did trigger the beginnings of an idea for a science fiction novel. What if the current state of the universe was the result of tinkering from the previous big bang cycle? If you end up with constants that make life more difficult, blame those that came before. Sort of like global warming on a multi-universal scale.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't wait for the Band Camp references to begin.
As someone who put out a number of Neverwinter Nights mods (for free), the more successful mods are those that came out soon after the game's release. After that, having regular sequels ever few months was key. Anything more than six months or so is too long to keep people's attention.
It sounds like they're going to be moving to the war on piracy. I expect we'll be carpet bombing Stockholm before the elections.
My guess is they had the data locally in Excel spreadsheets, fiddling with things. Everyone's PC has Internet access these days - it's hard to function without it. Many people have secure information on their hard drives too.
The alternative is thin-clients, which haven't ever taken off, mostly because they tend to be harder to use.
I don't consider any site that has over 50% of the page content taken by ads as an authority in the matter. Especially dancing cursors. Yuck.
China is a very different environment than the rest of the world, something we often forget. With over a billion people, everything that can be done with manual labor is done with manual labor. Why use a backhoe when you can get ten people to dig a big hole in the ground? Chinese industry doesn't have the same incentives to automate when labor is so cheap. Besides, what would all those people do if they were out of work?
On a related note, there are very few fat people in China. It's not from lack of food, but rather due to everyone being constantly physically active. If their air quality were better, they'd be healthier than most other industrial countries.
Over ten years ago, I started working for a healthcare organization. Initially the pay was low and the jobs were somewhat stressful. Still, it's now become pretty much the dream job. Since we're non-profit, we can actually do things because it's the good and moral thing to do, rather than lining our pockets with money. Since it's healthcare, there's a fair amount of money to be had, purchasing interesting systems and getting to play with cutting edge technology. The atmosphere is great and I get along well with my coworkers.
Bottom line, it's a stable, well-paid, and interesting place to work.
I wouldn't mind choosing a demo to download, but I wouldn't want it pushed to me automatically. Bandwidth isn't free, you know.
Sorry, had to get that out of the way. It's the coffee talking, really.
More and more I find that I want a bunch of dumb terminals around the house. Maybe my daughter wants to play the Barbie Princess games on the web, my son wants to listen to music, or my wife wants to check e-mail. This sort of device would be great for that sort of simple stuff.
The catch, of course, is that you can buy a normal PC for much less. I picked up a nice little Dell Laptop for $400 the other day. It's wireless, has a display, and can be taken on trips. Plus there's other older computers laying around my house that are equally powerful.
Perhaps the key is to emphasize "low power". Hook it up to a battery and solar panels and deploy it as a remote monitoring device. Put it in a motor home or use it as a carputer. Still, I think you're right to think that until they find the proper niche for this hardware, it's going to be tricky selling them by the truckload.
It's interesting to note that Toontown is doing better than D&D Online. That's a pretty bad sign for Atari, whose finances aren't doing particularly well these days.
Keep in mind that that only includes DVDs. HD-DVD will, of course, be available in the future. You can purchase your entire movie library all over again, just like going from LPs to CDs.
That is indeed the harshest aspect of the whole thing. I remember a year ago chatting with Bioware and getting ready to sign a contract to create some modules. My daughter had recently been born and I was fretting about turning my hobby into a paying gig, so I ended up deciding not to. I feel like I narrowly missed being hit by a bus.
I've heard similar negative things from other module builders. Working with Atari has been a nightmare for many, I think. Initially the modules were supposed to be non-Forgotten Realms, and then later that was switched to only Forgotten Realms. Because of that, the highest ranked module ended up being released for free.
I think Bioware meant well with their Digital Download project and in many ways it has been a success. It subsidized the support for NWN far beyond that of a normal game. As a bonus, many of the coding changes will make it into NWN2, as Bioware and Obsidian share their code. The unfortunate part is that Bioware and Obsidian are simply developers, and Atari and WotC must approve every little thing along the way. Sadly this leads to a situation where the developer means well, but doesn't really control the situation. In some ways I'm hoping this triggers a move away from licensed IPs and we'll see more original IP coming out. I'm guessing the mod teams will follow along to safer pastures.
As I watch Atari struggle financially, I worry about the future of NWN2, which I've invested a lot of time planning for. Yet in a sense I'm secretly happy to see them feel the consequences of their actions over the years.
I wouldn't hold my breath expecting Atari to release the source code. Their behavior in all of this is pretty lousy.
This was all precipitated when they declared they wouldn't pay for any new premium modules for the game, as recounted by DLA. It's unfortunate that all their hard work won't be compensated.
Try Firefox with NoScript. It makes surfing the web a clean, relatively ad-free experience, and minty fresh too.
After studying biology for a number of years, I've come to the conclusion that life and death are human-created concepts, sort of like "freedom" or "justice". There's no obvious scientific definition as to what makes this blob of matter alive and this other blob dead.
I'm also a believer that "self" and "other" are equally invalid scientific concepts. Where do "I" end and "you" start if the things you're reading now are actively changing connections in your brain.
What that means is that we should treat life and death as an ethics problem. Science can help identify the how, but it's up to people to decide what should be done.
What's fascinating to me is that much of the science behind fusion is now well understood. Instead, people are focused on improvements in efficiencies and such.
With luck, people will get to the point where they can build relatively cheap fusion reactors instead of having to rely on something big and unwieldy . . . like the sun.
From what I understand, SIDS is caused when the brain doesn't properly send the "I'm not getting enough oxygen" message or the baby's unable to do anything about the message being sent. For example, sleeping on the front with fluffy blankets can make it hard for them to move around, even if they get the appropriate signal. In other cases, it may be that the signal itself may not get sent, as that part of the brain isn't developed enough. Things like pacifiers seem to help, perhaps because it maintains a level of awakeness or simply keeps their mouth open.
It may be that the search for a root genetic cause may be futile. The good news is that simple physical precautions such as sleeping on the back and pacifiers seem to cut down on SIDS dramatically.
Even if genetics play a role, it may be different than people think. It's important to realize that evolution often shoots for the "good enough" solution and that we carry around the baggage of billions of years of effort. Perhaps the babies that survived best historically were those who spent their limited growth "energy" on developing skeletal and muscle tissue. The part of the brain that signals low oxygen wasn't very useful during the first few months, as children typically slept in the arms of an adult. Speculation, of course, but it hopefully shows the ways that evolutionary pressures can lead to odd results.
Instead of doing things on the 10-9 scale, the'll switch to 10-8 or 10-10.
I can imagine the FDA breaking out their electron microscopes, deciding if a molecule falls within their scope of focus.
I keep hoping that the California software industry starts outpacing the entertainment industry. That way the politicians there will start introducing legislation backed by folks like Google and not folks like the RIAA.
Of course, a few billion dollars is chump change to the entertainment industry. There's a long way to go.
Mixing metaphors, like oil and water, computer systems and ships, or Windows and Linux, should only be done by the fool-hearty.
I think the real question is what risks computers are facing these days. The Titanic had multiple compartments (up to a point), but the ice berg tore along the side, ripping off rivets and letting water pour in multiple compartments at once.
How is kernel compartmentalization going to protect against users installing spyware and doing things they're already authorized to do?
I'm actually reading Guardian by Haldeman now. It's very different than his other pieces, reading more like historic fiction for the bulk of the story. It's okay, though I'd recommend folks start with things like Forever War and the Worlds series.
I find his writing style very accessible and his themes compelling. A fine author indeed.
I've read similar things, where the cosmological constant changes over time, first expanding and then contracting the universe. In some ways it's more satisfying than having the universe as a one-shot deal that ends in cold nothingness.
It did trigger the beginnings of an idea for a science fiction novel. What if the current state of the universe was the result of tinkering from the previous big bang cycle? If you end up with constants that make life more difficult, blame those that came before. Sort of like global warming on a multi-universal scale.