I agree with you completely. I think there are two possible outcomes from the US adopting something like this. One, it'll replace the need for so many cards. I'm a college student, and right now I have a driver's license, school ID, passport, prescription card, medical insurance card... These are all in addition to debit and credit cards, AAA card, etc. If I could have one card do everything (or almost everything), that would be great. The government already has all this information on me, why not make it easier on my end?
The second possible outcome is that it will, as you said, help me even more. Oh no, the medical workers trying to save my life in an emergency know my medical history! They might actually make the right calls in my treatment! Truly, we'd be living in a police state.
I'm as pro-individual rights as anyone, but seriously, these ID cards won't be used to track people 24/7. The government is not going to assign a team of agents to watch you personally, judging what you do and where you go. Besides, if they really want to do this, they can already; I really don't see how these cards would take us from perfect freedom to police state. Lighten up.
Actually, a lot of my professors mention that you don't need the newest edition of a textbook. Very rarely do they assign problems from the book (at least for my college in the Economics department), which are as you say the biggest difference between editions. Most say you can get any edition, and a lot are moving away from textbooks altogether, especially for non-intro courses.
Come to think of it, I only have one textbook for all my upper-level courses combined, and about half a dozen more popular-style books. These have the benefits of being cheaper (usually $20-40, instead of around $100), they don't have a new edition every year making the used market zero, and they're actually interesting and useful.
I just tried Google's calendar since reading about it here, and it's surprisingly good. Visually it's very similar to iCal (my current calendar of choice), but has the obvious advantage (or disadvantage) of being online, which is a huge help. I'm often switching computers, reformating, even switching OSs (trying Linux now and then) and not having to back up every appointment will be nice. I even started using my school's webmail site, instead of downloading each message to my laptop, for the same reasons: available everywhere, don't have to be backed up.
With the prevalence of these online applications, will computers ever be reduced to simply basic OS and a web browser, with everything else done and stored online?
Exactly. I'm probably below most/.'ers, but I'm no computer moron, and I found Linux extremely painful when I tried it after using WinXP, and even moreso after I was used to OS X. In my opinion, neither OS has a lot to fear from Linux in the near future.
OS X in particular is miles beyond it in so many ways, though even Windows has benefits. Take program installation. In OS X, you download a file, open it, and drag an icon from one folder to the other. In Windows, download a file, open it, and follow an installer (basically click "Next"..."Next"...over and over). In Linux, how many different factors and steps does the user have to consider? I still have problems with it from time to time, good luck converting someone who barely knows anything about computers and thinks IE is the Internet. Seriously, if you think that the average user could "just download a cd, burn it, and install it", you're out of touch with the abilities of the average user.
I agree with you; I think I've only bought 1 CD from a major label in the last few years (the Firefly soundtrack, and technically that was a gift), and instead usually get independent stuff. The problem is, if you keep buying it, you're supporting the RIAA, but if you stop buying stuff, their sales drop, which only "proves" (in their minds) that people are buying less because they're downloading more. So you either support them financially, or strengthen their case (regardless of whether or not you're actually downloading.)
I have heard this point made many times, mostly about the Xbox, which is clearly doing poorly in Japan and has been its entire life. However, I have to wonder, how much of an effect does this really have? I could understand Japanese liking smaller consoles, and they do often have less living space than Americans, but saying that they refuse to get an Xbox simply because it's half a cubic foot larger (or whatever the size difference is) doesn't make sense to me. It's just not reasonable to think that they can't possibly fit an Xbox in their home.
Again, I'm sure they appreciate smaller technology, but I doubt that size really made much difference in their decision, or the decision to get a DS Lite. In both cases, I'm sure other factors are at work (the Xbox has a lot of games in genres that are unpopular in Japan, and is from an American company; the DS Lite is new and looks cool and has a few better features.)
I can see how the cartridge sticking out would annoy people who use the DS for GBA games (I only do this on occasion personally), but I think there are two big reasons Nintendo did this (purely speculation mind you). First, it makes the new DS smaller (albiet not by much, but still, a little can go a long way). Second, Nintendo has wanted to differentiate the DS from the GBA from the start, and in fact they still sell two versions of the Gameboy (Advance and Micro). Basically, I think they're feeling that, if you want GBA games, get one of those. If you want DS games, get the DS, and in a pinch, it can also handle some GBA games, but that's not its main purpose.
Basically, yeah, the cartridge sticking out can be annoying, but playing GBA games is (in my view) more of a bonus for the DS, and not a major draw or feature. I don't think your post is trolling, but I do think that most DS users either don't care about the games sticking out, don't use the DS for GBA games, or are annoyed, but the other features outweigh it.
In addition to these questions, I was wondering if it is now legal to copy music in Canada, as you've already paid for the music in a sense, in that you paid the tax on the destination media? Does this tax make it legal to copy music, or can they tax you and arrest you?
The DS is not a Gameboy; they're two seperate products. The DS just happens to be able to play GBA games. It's just "Nintendo DS".
Nitpicking aside, this could be pretty cool, at least in concept. I have to wonder though, how practical this will be. I can't even imagine using the Internet (for any long periods) on a PSP, and its screen is how much bigger? How many sites are going to make DS-specific pages?
On the other hand, the touch screen would work great as a mouse replacement, and an on-screen keyboard is certainly faster than using a control pad to select letters.
Re:Big Brother and the iTunes Company
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iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 1
Yeah, it's pretty obvious that they track customers with these cards. I used to work in a grocery store, and a good number of the employees didn't use these things (even though the employee cards give a slight discount on everything), and a large portion of customers refused to get them for privacy reasons (which they'd always mention quite loudly when I ask "do you have a bonus card?")
Personally, I kind of like this service when it's on "unimportant" things like iTMS (though I don't use it) or Amazon. I don't worry that some evil corporation is going to know that I, a male between the ages of 18 and 25, like Firefly and MarioKart.
With more serious issues, you certainly have a strong reason for keeping your privacy, but when it's just a store recommending you stuff that you're probably going to like anyway, what's the big deal? They're going to show ads for things either way, and they're going to know what you buy either way, if you use a credit card. What's wrong with using the data they already have to show you products that you might actually like, instead of random junk?
Not that I'm happy about the abundance of sequels slated for next-gen consoles (just look at the 360's lineup; how many are new and original?), but it's not that surprising that only already-popular franchises are the most anticipated. So far, I haven't seen any screenshots, videos, articles, etc. for a single Revolution or PS3 game.
Given this, what is there for me to get excited about? Well, if I know there's a game in a series I already like (Zelda: Twilight Princess, though it's current-gen) I have a reasonable expectation of quality in that game. If all I get is a name, maybe a (very) general description, and a company name, why should I be excited?
Again, I'm not saying that we should just get sequels, far from it. I just think that, until some decent information is released on these "lesser-known" games, gamers shouldn't be expected to get excited over them. Given the choice between Zelda, the newest game in a great franchise that I love, which has videos, articles, and screenshots galore, or a game I've never heard of, with a premise that isn't fully explained, which I've never seen even stills of, from a company I don't know, why should I be more excited about the latter?
I don't think this means that Microsoft is forcing other companies to price their games at $59.99. I do remember articles saying that most games in the coming generation would retail for that amount, just as (most) new games now start at $50. It's not really price fixing, but it is more or less the standard, for whatever reason. Some games (especially from independent companies) retail for less. Alien Hominid I bought new, close to release, for I think $30.
Microsoft is simply trying to not increase the price of their games, and letting other companies move to the new "standard" price, if they choose. Not really "cutting gamers a break," and you do still have to buy a certain number of games with the system, but at least they're not (immediatly) increasing the prices for their own games.
I always wondered why they don't use the same system for movies. K=G, E=PG, T=PG-13, M=R, AO=NC-17. This would be a lot easier for parents to understand, as everyone knows what movie ratings mean, and the same basic things (violence, sex, profanity) are being measured for both movies and games. In general, a game that's rated "T" has about the same content as a PG-13 movie, and the other ratings match up relatively well too.
Does a company own the G, PG etc. rating system, and they simply won't license it for games? It seems like the perfect system; it describes the content reasonably well (parents know if their child is ready for a PG-13 movie, if they're parenting at all [and if they're not, no rating system will help anyway],) and everyone already understands it. Seriously, why isn't this already in place?
people would rather invest in a virtual dog than accept the responsibility of owning an actual pet.
I've been to shelters and volunteered with the SPCA, and I can honestly say that most people should not have an actual, living pet. Not that they don't want them (although that's very common; so many pets are bought on a whim, then discarded when they're no longer puppies, or the owners realize how much work they are) but a lot of people are negligent, unable to care for a pet, or just cruel. Sadly, these aren't the people who will be buying this game instead of getting a real pet.
I agree that it would be a great move for Sony to release themselves, or at least approve of, a lot of these user-created games and programs. But how do you expect them to give their approval to software that directly violates their competitor's copyrights? They can't exactly give their customers permission to pirate Nintendo's games.
Also, anyone else find it amusing that (at least some) people are buying PSPs to run Nintendo games? And this at a time when Nintendo are teh DOOMED!!1!!11
I don't like that MS is doing this, as it obviously reduces the variety of hardware on the market, but I honestly don't think it's a bad decision from a business perspective.
I'm willing to bet that not a single consumer has ever made a console purchase based on what 3rd party controllers and memory cards are available for that console. No one is thinking "Xbox has all the games I want to play, but that crappy unknown company that I love doesn't make a cheap, unreliable Xbox controller, which could save me $10...I'm switching to PlayStation!"
All that can possibly come of this from Microsoft's perspective is that they make more money selling their hardware, they make more money selling licenses to other companies, and they (hopefully) keep the quality of Xbox-compatible hardware up.
I think that a lot of these comments are based on the first picture of the chart that Slate shows, with the picture of the galaxy and elements in little circles. If you go one slide further, they have a chart that is similar in layout to this swirl, but has (round) boxes, with room for more info, just like standard periodic tables. I'm sure there are still some problems (someone mentioned electronegativity), but at least it's not entirely just a pretty picture.
This got me thinking, would a Nintendo DS-style laptop work well? Top screen would be normal, bottom could be a touch screen. You could make literally any keyboard layout (not just QWERTY or DVORAK, but different placements, like those split keyboards, if that's your thing.) The user could also have a touchpad as large/small as they wanted, with as many mouse buttons, scrolls, volume virtual-dials, etc.
The only drawback that I can think of is the lack of tactile response, but I think this would be outweighed by the other potential benefits.
the Pi-World-Ranking-List has the rules for participation and breaks down the ranking by world, continent, and country
I'm just proud that, once again, an earthling holds the #1 spot. Good thing they let your search by world. Also, the martians are really slacking.
I want to see a commercial for M$ products, along the lines of that one that "truth" has where thousands of people pretend to drop dead, representing the number of people that die from lung cancer each day. "Every day, thousands of people nation wide start using Microsoft products. Is it worth the risk? Truth."
About the moon leaving earth's orbit, check out What if the Moon Didn't Exist by Neil F Comins. Some of his ideas are shakey at best, but the overall direction of the book is really interesting.
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The second possible outcome is that it will, as you said, help me even more. Oh no, the medical workers trying to save my life in an emergency know my medical history! They might actually make the right calls in my treatment! Truly, we'd be living in a police state.
I'm as pro-individual rights as anyone, but seriously, these ID cards won't be used to track people 24/7. The government is not going to assign a team of agents to watch you personally, judging what you do and where you go. Besides, if they really want to do this, they can already; I really don't see how these cards would take us from perfect freedom to police state. Lighten up.
Come to think of it, I only have one textbook for all my upper-level courses combined, and about half a dozen more popular-style books. These have the benefits of being cheaper (usually $20-40, instead of around $100), they don't have a new edition every year making the used market zero, and they're actually interesting and useful.
With the prevalence of these online applications, will computers ever be reduced to simply basic OS and a web browser, with everything else done and stored online?
Just drag the little blue "e" on your desktop to a floppy drive. Then you have the Internet wherever you go, and it only takes a few K!
OS X in particular is miles beyond it in so many ways, though even Windows has benefits. Take program installation. In OS X, you download a file, open it, and drag an icon from one folder to the other. In Windows, download a file, open it, and follow an installer (basically click "Next"..."Next"...over and over). In Linux, how many different factors and steps does the user have to consider? I still have problems with it from time to time, good luck converting someone who barely knows anything about computers and thinks IE is the Internet. Seriously, if you think that the average user could "just download a cd, burn it, and install it", you're out of touch with the abilities of the average user.
I agree with you; I think I've only bought 1 CD from a major label in the last few years (the Firefly soundtrack, and technically that was a gift), and instead usually get independent stuff. The problem is, if you keep buying it, you're supporting the RIAA, but if you stop buying stuff, their sales drop, which only "proves" (in their minds) that people are buying less because they're downloading more. So you either support them financially, or strengthen their case (regardless of whether or not you're actually downloading.)
Again, I'm sure they appreciate smaller technology, but I doubt that size really made much difference in their decision, or the decision to get a DS Lite. In both cases, I'm sure other factors are at work (the Xbox has a lot of games in genres that are unpopular in Japan, and is from an American company; the DS Lite is new and looks cool and has a few better features.)
Basically, yeah, the cartridge sticking out can be annoying, but playing GBA games is (in my view) more of a bonus for the DS, and not a major draw or feature. I don't think your post is trolling, but I do think that most DS users either don't care about the games sticking out, don't use the DS for GBA games, or are annoyed, but the other features outweigh it.
In addition to these questions, I was wondering if it is now legal to copy music in Canada, as you've already paid for the music in a sense, in that you paid the tax on the destination media? Does this tax make it legal to copy music, or can they tax you and arrest you?
Nitpicking aside, this could be pretty cool, at least in concept. I have to wonder though, how practical this will be. I can't even imagine using the Internet (for any long periods) on a PSP, and its screen is how much bigger? How many sites are going to make DS-specific pages?
On the other hand, the touch screen would work great as a mouse replacement, and an on-screen keyboard is certainly faster than using a control pad to select letters.
Personally, I kind of like this service when it's on "unimportant" things like iTMS (though I don't use it) or Amazon. I don't worry that some evil corporation is going to know that I, a male between the ages of 18 and 25, like Firefly and MarioKart.
With more serious issues, you certainly have a strong reason for keeping your privacy, but when it's just a store recommending you stuff that you're probably going to like anyway, what's the big deal? They're going to show ads for things either way, and they're going to know what you buy either way, if you use a credit card. What's wrong with using the data they already have to show you products that you might actually like, instead of random junk?
Given this, what is there for me to get excited about? Well, if I know there's a game in a series I already like (Zelda: Twilight Princess, though it's current-gen) I have a reasonable expectation of quality in that game. If all I get is a name, maybe a (very) general description, and a company name, why should I be excited?
Again, I'm not saying that we should just get sequels, far from it. I just think that, until some decent information is released on these "lesser-known" games, gamers shouldn't be expected to get excited over them. Given the choice between Zelda, the newest game in a great franchise that I love, which has videos, articles, and screenshots galore, or a game I've never heard of, with a premise that isn't fully explained, which I've never seen even stills of, from a company I don't know, why should I be more excited about the latter?
That's not so impressive; how many people here have ever eaten a hot dog? There's gotta be at least that many animals in every bite.
Also, no turkey?
Microsoft is simply trying to not increase the price of their games, and letting other companies move to the new "standard" price, if they choose. Not really "cutting gamers a break," and you do still have to buy a certain number of games with the system, but at least they're not (immediatly) increasing the prices for their own games.
Does a company own the G, PG etc. rating system, and they simply won't license it for games? It seems like the perfect system; it describes the content reasonably well (parents know if their child is ready for a PG-13 movie, if they're parenting at all [and if they're not, no rating system will help anyway],) and everyone already understands it. Seriously, why isn't this already in place?
I've been to shelters and volunteered with the SPCA, and I can honestly say that most people should not have an actual, living pet. Not that they don't want them (although that's very common; so many pets are bought on a whim, then discarded when they're no longer puppies, or the owners realize how much work they are) but a lot of people are negligent, unable to care for a pet, or just cruel. Sadly, these aren't the people who will be buying this game instead of getting a real pet.
I agree that it would be a great move for Sony to release themselves, or at least approve of, a lot of these user-created games and programs. But how do you expect them to give their approval to software that directly violates their competitor's copyrights? They can't exactly give their customers permission to pirate Nintendo's games. Also, anyone else find it amusing that (at least some) people are buying PSPs to run Nintendo games? And this at a time when Nintendo are teh DOOMED!!1!!11
I'm willing to bet that not a single consumer has ever made a console purchase based on what 3rd party controllers and memory cards are available for that console. No one is thinking "Xbox has all the games I want to play, but that crappy unknown company that I love doesn't make a cheap, unreliable Xbox controller, which could save me $10...I'm switching to PlayStation!"
All that can possibly come of this from Microsoft's perspective is that they make more money selling their hardware, they make more money selling licenses to other companies, and they (hopefully) keep the quality of Xbox-compatible hardware up.
I think that a lot of these comments are based on the first picture of the chart that Slate shows, with the picture of the galaxy and elements in little circles. If you go one slide further, they have a chart that is similar in layout to this swirl, but has (round) boxes, with room for more info, just like standard periodic tables. I'm sure there are still some problems (someone mentioned electronegativity), but at least it's not entirely just a pretty picture.
This got me thinking, would a Nintendo DS-style laptop work well? Top screen would be normal, bottom could be a touch screen. You could make literally any keyboard layout (not just QWERTY or DVORAK, but different placements, like those split keyboards, if that's your thing.) The user could also have a touchpad as large/small as they wanted, with as many mouse buttons, scrolls, volume virtual-dials, etc. The only drawback that I can think of is the lack of tactile response, but I think this would be outweighed by the other potential benefits.
the Pi-World-Ranking-List has the rules for participation and breaks down the ranking by world, continent, and country I'm just proud that, once again, an earthling holds the #1 spot. Good thing they let your search by world. Also, the martians are really slacking.
I want to see a commercial for M$ products, along the lines of that one that "truth" has where thousands of people pretend to drop dead, representing the number of people that die from lung cancer each day. "Every day, thousands of people nation wide start using Microsoft products. Is it worth the risk? Truth."
About the moon leaving earth's orbit, check out What if the Moon Didn't Exist by Neil F Comins. Some of his ideas are shakey at best, but the overall direction of the book is really interesting.