At small scales, drops appear spherical. But I am not sure that this would scale well. I would imagine that at some point (probably around 1mL) the surface would deviate from spherical enough to cause problems. AFAIK, most things in space need big lenses, so it might not be suitable.
Also, could this type of contraption survive launch? Itallian dressing is oil and water. But if you shake the bottle really hard...
Hey. Wait a second.... They patented Itallian Dressing!!!!!
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of being very small, since you need more depth to create the zooming effect, no?
Yes, it would. Bit it would still be a lot smaller than having a tiny threaded barrel, a tiny motor, tiny gears, etc. So it would need some length, but probably a lot less than the alternatives.
The only thing that worries me is how well something like this would handle shock. If you drop you phone, what if a small drop of oil broke off and was then floating around in the water. Maybe shaking it would get it to merge back again, or maybe not.
Other than that, it's a great invention, no wonder the guy will pursue an aggressive intellectual property strategy, so anyone who wants to build something like this will need a licence from them.
I believe that I remember reading about this concept in the original Star Wars movie novelization (or maybe it was some other book, but I DID read it a long time ago in a city far, far away). So the concept is not new. Making it work is. I have no doubt that the particular materials and methods used are definately covered by patent, but I wonder if somebody came up with a different method of using oil lenses, if they could use the "prior art" of sci-if?
1) How many men and what type of equipment are needed to move this for the next lan party. 2) HL2 and Doom 3 benchmarks. 3) Case nods. Do any come with lights and lighted fans? If the 19" rack is not entirely filled, you could put a REAL AQUARIUM in there (but this makes it harder to move for LAN parties. 4) Most big iron does not have much in the way of quality sound, so you should test this out. 5) Does the 19" rack come with handles for easy portability to/from the lan parties. 6) Heat production. Should the host of the lan party install additional air conditioning capacity? 7) How expandable are the graphics? Some blades do not have room for a full-size graphics card.
How do you get put on such a "tainted" list? Most people just delete spam (including me). To send abuse reports on a zombie would likely take an hour or more a day. The problem is that there are waaaay to many zombies to be able to take out, especially if it involves human interaction.
Thank you for the links. People wanting to re-live the goold-ol-days should download this.
But for all IF noobs out there: do not play these first. This link takes you to the now-free Zork series. They are the "grandparents" of all interactive fiction (with Colossal Cave being the great-grandfather).
The point is that modern IF is generally story-driven. There is an actual plot and generally other characters involved. The Zork series is known as a "dugeon crawl." The location descriptions are quite imaginative, but the focus of the game is on solving puzzles, and NOT telling a story.
This is the reason that this genre was first called "adventure games" but now goes by the name of "interactive fiction."
This does NOT go after the zombies. But spam ALWAYS has a link that you can click on to get to a web site which wants your $$$$. This goes after those sites. So this attack will NOT cause any problems for innocent people (even zombie owners) except for maybe a little extra traffic on an ISP or two.
This also seems impervious to any sort of "Joe job" because anybody selling "penis mightiers" is certianly spamming.
So, the zombie still spews on about penis enlargement, but the order site goes down. No orders, business goes under, spam stops.
OK. I admit that this is the "fairy tale" version of what is supposed to happen. But if I can cause the spammers some headaches at least, then I will.
Keep in mind that half of the fools that would download the screensaver have their PCs acting as zombie relayers, so the screensaver would steal the bandwidth of the rootkits they've installed.
Not true. I bet that the people who download this screensaver: 1) have a clue 2) care about the problem.
The people who are zombied are: 1) clueless 2) don't care, as long as they can view their pr0n.
You certainly have a point. If an ISP gets paid to host a spamvertised web site, they do not care. All of the spam comes either from off-shore servers or zombies. This does not affect the ISP. The Lycos approach is not making this the ISP's problem.
The thing that totally bugs me is that ISPs are not cracking down more on zombies. The terms of service should state that the ISP can read your outgoing mail if you send more than 500 emails a day. They can then shut down your connection if you are sending spam. If all of the zombies were cut off, spam would likely be reduced by 80%.
I downloaded and installed the screensaver a Monday night. I like it. I certainly do not think that this is the perfect solution. But at least is may accomplish something! Every other spam tactic that I have seen to stop the source has amounted to a big fat nothing. Filtering you mail still works, but is a pain.
and how would they get patches any other way in the absence of Steam? By... oh maybe... downloading them? Waiting forever?
By.. oh maybe... deciding just to PLAY the game for right now and download the patch at night? Or maybe delay downloading the patch for a week until they go to a friend's lan party with a fat pipe.
If 20,000 people trying to use a pirated copy of the game isn't an indication that anti-piracy measures are needed, I don't know what is. The fact that Steam is actually pretty effective seems to be the main reason people are up in arms about it.
The problem is that their current system is a BFG-9000. Sure, it takes out some pirates. But some legitimate users get hurt in the process. People on dial-up lines have to wait forever to get patches -- and they have no choice. People who might want to play portable (gaming laptop) have to follow some convoluted process which seems more complicated than brain surgery -- just to get their game to play without a net connection.
The perfect weapon will kill your enemies, and not touch your friends. But if your weapon kills as many of your friends as your enemies, then it is time to either aim better or get a more precise weapon.
This is why I don't buy movies anymore. They always release something 'bigger and better' than the one before just to make bigger bucks... Pretty pathetic I think!
I feel the same way about science. I thought that Newton was great, and then this Einstein guy came along. Out goes Newton. Then, this whole "quantum" thing came along. Now everybody is talking about "strings" but even if you use dental floss, those strings are still not small enough to make up all matter. For that matter, even thread is too big. If a string is made of atoms, and atoms are made of strings, where does it stop. I have gone back to Newton as the ultimate authority, and I am sticking with Newton until the final theory of everything comes out.
OK. The above post is meant to be humorous. But there is a point. If you like a movie, then buy it. If you suspect that a better version MIGHT come along, then wait. Most movies are only released once. It seems like only the mega-blockbusters come out in more than one version (Terminator, Star Wars, LOTR, etc.) Have you seen an extended director's cut of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. So buy movies, and have fun!
Never mind. Apparently the DS has an ARM processor. Rather a full-featured processor too. I doubt that most games will the memory manager though, but it seems to be there.
I am not so sure about this... Running Linux (or ANY modern OS) means that you need a memory manager built into the CPU. This is the magic little device which allows such things as virtual memory and keeping one program from trashing the kernel and every other process around. It also allows for the entire security system, as the kernel can access memory that user programs cannot.
I certainly do not know much about the processor in the DS, but I do know that the processor in a game system like the DS does not need a memory manager, since the only code that is execucted comes from a one vendor, and there is no secondary storage (hard drive). A memory manager would not help games and would only increase the price of the hardware.
I am certain that SOMEBODY could put Linux on a system without a memory manager (in fact, I think that it may have been done), but the results would likely not be worth it, as you would have to strip so much stuff out, you would loose all of the things that make Linux Linux.
Well, I think that the original question answered this one pretty well.
MP3 is the universal format, but newer codecs can do more with less bits. As a result, using another codec, you can have more songs for the same quality, or more quality for the same number of songs. The problem is that there is no such thing as a universal next-generation codec. Apple has their own (DRM galore), Microsoft has their own (mega-DRM galore), and OSS people have their own. And no device that I know of supports all of them (and if it did, I couln't afford it).
So, the approach of the original post seems valid. Grab everything as FLAC, and convert to other formats as needed. Less than $100 (after rebates) at your local computer superstore will get you enough space to hold over 500 CDs worth of music in FLAC.
on how quickly Operating Systems like Linux and Microsoft can adapt to this new processor.
Funny. Windows adapt to a new processor! ROTFLMAO.
Linux could adapt VERY quickly to any new processor, as long as the number of "cell" is kept reasonable. However, is you are talking of a massively parallel system with dozens of processors sharing the same memory space, I do not know how well it will work.
I would not hold my breath for a Windows version. The Athlon 64s have only been out for over a year now, and Windows is not even going to support this evolutionary step for a several more months. They have a glacial speed when it comes to upgrading processor support. And Microsoft has been 100% x86 architecure (with few exceptions) for their entire history. They made CE (and PocketPC) which runs on PDA processors, and they make NT for the Alpha. Did they ever make Windows for the Itanic?
***
Now, on to a separate question. I read the EE Times article, and I cannot tell any conceptual difference between this "cell" architecure and the new multi-core processors from AMD and Intel (when they arrive). Can anybody clue me in? There was some mention of how software can handle things, but is there any reason that this could not be done in x86? I am afraid that, from a hardware standpoint, I still don't get what the big deal is.
OK. I admit it. I am a hardware geek. Hardware is the light side, and software is the dark side. That's my standpoint. Get used to it. I design digital hardware for a living. It could very well be completely revolutionary software going on here (but I doubt it).
I am not so sure. I think that it is actually two separate stand-along games. From the article: "And you can even keep one for yourself!" and "Each requires 4 AA batteries, not included."
Slashdot Mirror
At small scales, drops appear spherical. But I am not sure that this would scale well. I would imagine that at some point (probably around 1mL) the surface would deviate from spherical enough to cause problems. AFAIK, most things in space need big lenses, so it might not be suitable.
Also, could this type of contraption survive launch? Itallian dressing is oil and water. But if you shake the bottle really hard...
Hey. Wait a second.... They patented Itallian Dressing!!!!!
Yes, it would. Bit it would still be a lot smaller than having a tiny threaded barrel, a tiny motor, tiny gears, etc. So it would need some length, but probably a lot less than the alternatives.
The only thing that worries me is how well something like this would handle shock. If you drop you phone, what if a small drop of oil broke off and was then floating around in the water. Maybe shaking it would get it to merge back again, or maybe not.
I believe that I remember reading about this concept in the original Star Wars movie novelization (or maybe it was some other book, but I DID read it a long time ago in a city far, far away). So the concept is not new. Making it work is. I have no doubt that the particular materials and methods used are definately covered by patent, but I wonder if somebody came up with a different method of using oil lenses, if they could use the "prior art" of sci-if?
And also don't forget such things as:
1) How many men and what type of equipment are needed to move this for the next lan party.
2) HL2 and Doom 3 benchmarks.
3) Case nods. Do any come with lights and lighted fans? If the 19" rack is not entirely filled, you could put a REAL AQUARIUM in there (but this makes it harder to move for LAN parties.
4) Most big iron does not have much in the way of quality sound, so you should test this out.
5) Does the 19" rack come with handles for easy portability to/from the lan parties.
6) Heat production. Should the host of the lan party install additional air conditioning capacity?
7) How expandable are the graphics? Some blades do not have room for a full-size graphics card.
And, let me guess, every single station is owned by Clear Channel.
All your radio are belong to us.
How do you get put on such a "tainted" list? Most people just delete spam (including me). To send abuse reports on a zombie would likely take an hour or more a day. The problem is that there are waaaay to many zombies to be able to take out, especially if it involves human interaction.
Oh yeah???
Well, in the movie "the Crying Game," she's a MAN!
And in "The Sixth Sense," he's ALREADY DEAD!
Sheesh!
In Soviet Russia:
1) Profit!
2) ???
3) All your Korean old people belong to us!
Wow. Four memes in one post. Is there one that I forgot?
Thank you for the links. People wanting to re-live the goold-ol-days should download this.
But for all IF noobs out there: do not play these first. This link takes you to the now-free Zork series. They are the "grandparents" of all interactive fiction (with Colossal Cave being the great-grandfather).
The point is that modern IF is generally story-driven. There is an actual plot and generally other characters involved. The Zork series is known as a "dugeon crawl." The location descriptions are quite imaginative, but the focus of the game is on solving puzzles, and NOT telling a story.
This is the reason that this genre was first called "adventure games" but now goes by the name of "interactive fiction."
RTFA.
This does NOT go after the zombies. But spam ALWAYS has a link that you can click on to get to a web site which wants your $$$$. This goes after those sites. So this attack will NOT cause any problems for innocent people (even zombie owners) except for maybe a little extra traffic on an ISP or two.
This also seems impervious to any sort of "Joe job" because anybody selling "penis mightiers" is certianly spamming.
So, the zombie still spews on about penis enlargement, but the order site goes down. No orders, business goes under, spam stops.
OK. I admit that this is the "fairy tale" version of what is supposed to happen. But if I can cause the spammers some headaches at least, then I will.
Hahahaha.
I bet that my ISP would thank me for running this screensaver. Spam probably costs them a lot of bandwidth.
Not true. I bet that the people who download this screensaver:
1) have a clue
2) care about the problem.
The people who are zombied are:
1) clueless
2) don't care, as long as they can view their pr0n.
You certainly have a point. If an ISP gets paid to host a spamvertised web site, they do not care. All of the spam comes either from off-shore servers or zombies. This does not affect the ISP. The Lycos approach is not making this the ISP's problem.
The thing that totally bugs me is that ISPs are not cracking down more on zombies. The terms of service should state that the ISP can read your outgoing mail if you send more than 500 emails a day. They can then shut down your connection if you are sending spam. If all of the zombies were cut off, spam would likely be reduced by 80%.
I downloaded and installed the screensaver a Monday night. I like it. I certainly do not think that this is the perfect solution. But at least is may accomplish something! Every other spam tactic that I have seen to stop the source has amounted to a big fat nothing. Filtering you mail still works, but is a pain.
By
Duh!
The problem is that their current system is a BFG-9000. Sure, it takes out some pirates. But some legitimate users get hurt in the process. People on dial-up lines have to wait forever to get patches -- and they have no choice. People who might want to play portable (gaming laptop) have to follow some convoluted process which seems more complicated than brain surgery -- just to get their game to play without a net connection.
The perfect weapon will kill your enemies, and not touch your friends. But if your weapon kills as many of your friends as your enemies, then it is time to either aim better or get a more precise weapon.
I feel the same way about science. I thought that Newton was great, and then this Einstein guy came along. Out goes Newton. Then, this whole "quantum" thing came along. Now everybody is talking about "strings" but even if you use dental floss, those strings are still not small enough to make up all matter. For that matter, even thread is too big. If a string is made of atoms, and atoms are made of strings, where does it stop. I have gone back to Newton as the ultimate authority, and I am sticking with Newton until the final theory of everything comes out.
OK. The above post is meant to be humorous. But there is a point. If you like a movie, then buy it. If you suspect that a better version MIGHT come along, then wait. Most movies are only released once. It seems like only the mega-blockbusters come out in more than one version (Terminator, Star Wars, LOTR, etc.) Have you seen an extended director's cut of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. So buy movies, and have fun!
Thanks to those who replied. Maybe if I beg and plead, Santa will have mercy on me.
But I must admit being somewhat shocked at the price difference between Amazon and Circuit City.
On a totaly unrelated note, has there been any rumors on when a complete "box set" containing the director's cut of all three films will be released?
I was kind of hoping that it would be out in time for Christmas, but it is not looking too likely.
All women are amused by shiny objects. Of course, those objects must be made from an gold and a specific allotrope of carbon.
Never mind. Apparently the DS has an ARM processor. Rather a full-featured processor too. I doubt that most games will the memory manager though, but it seems to be there.
I am not so sure about this...
Running Linux (or ANY modern OS) means that you need a memory manager built into the CPU. This is the magic little device which allows such things as virtual memory and keeping one program from trashing the kernel and every other process around. It also allows for the entire security system, as the kernel can access memory that user programs cannot.
I certainly do not know much about the processor in the DS, but I do know that the processor in a game system like the DS does not need a memory manager, since the only code that is execucted comes from a one vendor, and there is no secondary storage (hard drive). A memory manager would not help games and would only increase the price of the hardware.
I am certain that SOMEBODY could put Linux on a system without a memory manager (in fact, I think that it may have been done), but the results would likely not be worth it, as you would have to strip so much stuff out, you would loose all of the things that make Linux Linux.
Well, I think that the original question answered this one pretty well.
MP3 is the universal format, but newer codecs can do more with less bits. As a result, using another codec, you can have more songs for the same quality, or more quality for the same number of songs. The problem is that there is no such thing as a universal next-generation codec. Apple has their own (DRM galore), Microsoft has their own (mega-DRM galore), and OSS people have their own. And no device that I know of supports all of them (and if it did, I couln't afford it).
So, the approach of the original post seems valid. Grab everything as FLAC, and convert to other formats as needed. Less than $100 (after rebates) at your local computer superstore will get you enough space to hold over 500 CDs worth of music in FLAC.
Funny. Windows adapt to a new processor! ROTFLMAO.
Linux could adapt VERY quickly to any new processor, as long as the number of "cell" is kept reasonable. However, is you are talking of a massively parallel system with dozens of processors sharing the same memory space, I do not know how well it will work.
I would not hold my breath for a Windows version. The Athlon 64s have only been out for over a year now, and Windows is not even going to support this evolutionary step for a several more months. They have a glacial speed when it comes to upgrading processor support. And Microsoft has been 100% x86 architecure (with few exceptions) for their entire history. They made CE (and PocketPC) which runs on PDA processors, and they make NT for the Alpha. Did they ever make Windows for the Itanic?
***
Now, on to a separate question. I read the EE Times article, and I cannot tell any conceptual difference between this "cell" architecure and the new multi-core processors from AMD and Intel (when they arrive). Can anybody clue me in? There was some mention of how software can handle things, but is there any reason that this could not be done in x86? I am afraid that, from a hardware standpoint, I still don't get what the big deal is.
OK. I admit it. I am a hardware geek. Hardware is the light side, and software is the dark side. That's my standpoint. Get used to it. I design digital hardware for a living. It could very well be completely revolutionary software going on here (but I doubt it).
I am not so sure. I think that it is actually two separate stand-along games. From the article: "And you can even keep one for yourself!" and "Each requires 4 AA batteries, not included."
The opening drums are little off, but yup, that's it.
M.U.L.E. was one of the coolest games ever, and with one of the best tunes in all of video game history!
But somehow the MIDI does not do it justice. It is much better on the original SID chip in the old C=64.
Are you kidding??? Paradroid alone is worth the price of admission. And Impossible Mission was pretty neat too!
It just a bummer that it does not come with "Phantom Karate Devils." Just kidding! It would also be neat to see "Potty Pigeon" again.