"Traveler LapPads - 54F of Heat Protection and Cooler CPU Temperatures Our Traveler Series LapPads are designed to keep you and your laptop cool. The Traveler Series LapPads can provide up to 54F of laptop heat protection for you while keeping your CPU cooler."
Yeah, standard OEM PC. Sure. After the encryption, DRM, automatic 'upgrades' by Xbox live. This is Microsoft we're talking about here, this thing will be so crippled it'll be next to useless except for playing games. Get out yer tinfoil hat kids.
The following keeps comming up over and over in discussions about US vs Japanese games.
Sales of GameCube software fell short in North America and Europe last year, and I believe that's due to the popularity of violent games on other consoles. The culture of Japan is much different and less accepting of such titles.
It's a funny juxtoposition but the quick answer is always something about how violent anime is yadda, yadda. I think I finally hit the cultural nail on the head today though when I read this story. It's not the vaunted 'tolerance for violence' that everyone keeps spouting (on both sides). It's simply a cultural preconception. In Japan it's okay for cartoons to be violent but games should be cute. In the US it's okay for games to be violent but cartoons should be cute. Neither country seems (in a general sense) to be able to get over these preconceived concepts.
Okay, 1001 comments about tentacle rape aside I'm actually very interested in the comments here and from the japanese fellow quoted so many times above me. Being a fairly avid Anime fan I can say for sure that there is no lack of tolerance for violence among the Japanese. Sensless or otherwise. So the question I have is, Why did he say what he said?
Is it the aspect of playing as a criminal? As I try and look back at the Japanese movies/anime/games I've played I seem to remember that the largest majority of their story lines do feature clear cut good and evil. There are exceptions to this rule however (Violence Jack comes to mind) so that can't be the sole reason.
It seems to me that the only applicable explanation is a deeply rooted post-war disgust of anything American except dollars. This shouldn't be a new concept to anyone who pays any attention to world politics. Any other theories out there that don't involve simply bringing up hentai as a defense?
As to Rockstar I hope they do great. The reality of it is when the game lands on the shelf it won't have a giant neon sign above it saying "Made in the USA" and when push comes to shove gamers tend to buy good games not games manufactured by political entities they feel empathy towards.
I've been using Mailblocks since they opened publicly. I can't speak for the implementation that Earthlink is planning on utilizing but the Mailblocks system works very well.
First it is important to note that the challenge system at Mailblocks is not something that can be automatically replied to. Much like the signup verifications for many forum systems out there the Mailblocks challenge email is simply a link to a web site. On that web site is a dynamically generated.gif of a number. The image is formatted in such a way so as to make it difficult for screen scrapers to write an algorithm which can decipher the numbers in the image (multiple fonts, different colors, background noise). If ever a spammer figured out how to programatically decipher the image then Mailblocks simply has to rework their image generation system and stay one step ahead of the spammers.
Next you have throw away addresses. Maiblocks calls these trackers. When you create a tracker a number and short ID are appended to the end of your username. This email address is then immune to the challenge response and can either be delivered to a purpose built folder or directly to your inbox. So if you wanted to have an address to get receipts from you simply make a tracker named say [username]+receipts4325@mailblocks.com. Then any email to this address can be delivered to the +receipts folder in your inbox. If you start getting spam at that address you just delete the address and create [username]+receipts5563@mailblocks.com and start giving this out. It can be a little bit of work to maintain your trackers but compared to deleting 20-30+ spam mails from my accounts each day it's well worth it.
When an email is successfully delivered to your main address the originating address is entered into your address book including the reason why this address was validated (completed puzzle, user added). Mailblocks also adds the address of any outgoing mail you write to your address book so that responses can be properly delivered without challenge. Finally, if you are expecting something to appear in your email that doesn't the 'pending' folder holds all email that hasn't been validated for a certain amount of time before deleting. If you really want to you can go back and dig through the email there to find the one you want, validate it, and it will be delivered to your inbox. If something gets validated you don't want simply go to your address book and either delete it or check 'do not deliver mail from this address'. Viola.
Also of interest is the fact that Mailblocks can provide the same security to any other mail account you have. It can check POP3, IMAP, accept forwards, and even screen scrape web mail to bring all of your mail to a central location. When it does it provides the same callenge-response capability through these other accounts.
Yes it's old but it's still cool if you didn't know. For those of you who are just interested in seeing the darn thing there is a 'pre-installation' photo available here .
For some other neat Cathedral grotesques look here
Is the music industry really so dumb as to think that hardware and software solutions will really ever work?
Think of it this way, software companies have been trying for years to copy protect their software. They've gone rapidly through overburned CDs, hardware dongles, encrypted CD verification. Sony even masked Playstation discs so that they could leave sections of the CDs blank as a sort of key. None of it has worked yet. What makes record labels think that they're immune?
Of course, don't get me wrong. The more time they spend on pointless hardware and software solutions the more time they divert from their likely more effective political attempts.
Similar tech has been in the works for some time
on
Synthetic Vision
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· Score: 2, Informative
At one point in my career I was working as an HID engineer at Honeywell in their Business Avionics group. While there we were working on a very similar system for autopilot navigation. Basically the system we were developing took realtime positional data from the avionics and used that to render a very primative elevation display from DTED/GPS data onto an 11" flat panel display. If you've ever seen the inside of a cockpit (or a flight sim for that matter) then you've probably seen an ADI (Attitude Direction Indicator) it's that little ball compass thingy with blue on the top half and brown on the bottom. Our original concept was a digital extension of that. We actually flew a few planes using the system and it was way cool. Imagine flying a $30 mil Gulfstream business jet using what amounts to Atari 2600 graphics! Fun.
It seems like what they've done here is take something similar to that system, match it with the positional gunsite system the Longbow uses to aim it's chain gun, and created a conformal HUD display. All in all very cool. I'm sure the next step is to put all this on a Predator and just leave the pilot sitting in the relative comfort of base camp. The military will start recruiting at CPL events.
As a side note, the inspiration for our system came from a true story. It turns out that a vast majority of plane crashes throughout the world come from what avionics people clinically call CFIT. That's Controlled Flight Into Terrain. Basically it means some moron pilot flew the damn thing into a mountain. Well, in the mountains in Chile some regional airline pilot was flying between two peaks when he receives a course correction from ATC. Visibility is low so he's flying almost entirely by instrumentation. Well he makes a correction in his flight computer for what he believes to be his next waypoint. The problem is he accidentally makes the correction for his _previous_ waypoint. So, following his orders, the plan prompltly goes into a hard turn to head on back to the new waypoint which is now behind him. Before he can figure out what was happening *kaboom* the plane becomes a permenant feature of the local terrain.
The pictures aren't great but from the looks of it this thing has absolutely no clasp. I can already see it snapping itself open and setting a direct course for the nearest and deepest puddle.
Why is it that companies seem obsessed with trying to actually create technology that someone thought up years ago and most people have already decided was lame? I already get strange enough looks when I talk on my bluetooth headset. I imagine it would only take about 10 minutes for the padded bus to arive if a yanked my watch of my wrist in a public place and started talking to it.
Slashdot Mirror
Quoting from Laplogic:
/.logic.
"Traveler LapPads - 54F of Heat Protection and Cooler CPU Temperatures
Our Traveler Series LapPads are designed to keep you and your laptop cool. The Traveler Series LapPads can provide up to 54F of laptop heat protection for you while keeping your CPU cooler."
It's not that hard to dispel
Yeah, standard OEM PC. Sure. After the encryption, DRM, automatic 'upgrades' by Xbox live. This is Microsoft we're talking about here, this thing will be so crippled it'll be next to useless except for playing games. Get out yer tinfoil hat kids.
Sales of GameCube software fell short in North America and Europe last year, and I believe that's due to the popularity of violent games on other consoles. The culture of Japan is much different and less accepting of such titles.
It's a funny juxtoposition but the quick answer is always something about how violent anime is yadda, yadda. I think I finally hit the cultural nail on the head today though when I read this story. It's not the vaunted 'tolerance for violence' that everyone keeps spouting (on both sides). It's simply a cultural preconception. In Japan it's okay for cartoons to be violent but games should be cute. In the US it's okay for games to be violent but cartoons should be cute. Neither country seems (in a general sense) to be able to get over these preconceived concepts.
It seems to me that the only applicable explanation is a deeply rooted post-war disgust of anything American except dollars. This shouldn't be a new concept to anyone who pays any attention to world politics. Any other theories out there that don't involve simply bringing up hentai as a defense?
As to Rockstar I hope they do great. The reality of it is when the game lands on the shelf it won't have a giant neon sign above it saying "Made in the USA" and when push comes to shove gamers tend to buy good games not games manufactured by political entities they feel empathy towards.
First it is important to note that the challenge system at Mailblocks is not something that can be automatically replied to. Much like the signup verifications for many forum systems out there the Mailblocks challenge email is simply a link to a web site. On that web site is a dynamically generated .gif of a number. The image is formatted in such a way so as to make it difficult for screen scrapers to write an algorithm which can decipher the numbers in the image (multiple fonts, different colors, background noise). If ever a spammer figured out how to programatically decipher the image then Mailblocks simply has to rework their image generation system and stay one step ahead of the spammers.
Next you have throw away addresses. Maiblocks calls these trackers. When you create a tracker a number and short ID are appended to the end of your username. This email address is then immune to the challenge response and can either be delivered to a purpose built folder or directly to your inbox. So if you wanted to have an address to get receipts from you simply make a tracker named say [username]+receipts4325@mailblocks.com. Then any email to this address can be delivered to the +receipts folder in your inbox. If you start getting spam at that address you just delete the address and create [username]+receipts5563@mailblocks.com and start giving this out. It can be a little bit of work to maintain your trackers but compared to deleting 20-30+ spam mails from my accounts each day it's well worth it.
When an email is successfully delivered to your main address the originating address is entered into your address book including the reason why this address was validated (completed puzzle, user added). Mailblocks also adds the address of any outgoing mail you write to your address book so that responses can be properly delivered without challenge. Finally, if you are expecting something to appear in your email that doesn't the 'pending' folder holds all email that hasn't been validated for a certain amount of time before deleting. If you really want to you can go back and dig through the email there to find the one you want, validate it, and it will be delivered to your inbox. If something gets validated you don't want simply go to your address book and either delete it or check 'do not deliver mail from this address'. Viola. Also of interest is the fact that Mailblocks can provide the same security to any other mail account you have. It can check POP3, IMAP, accept forwards, and even screen scrape web mail to bring all of your mail to a central location. When it does it provides the same callenge-response capability through these other accounts.
Yes it's old but it's still cool if you didn't know. For those of you who are just interested in seeing the darn thing there is a 'pre-installation' photo available here . For some other neat Cathedral grotesques look here
Is the music industry really so dumb as to think that hardware and software solutions will really ever work?
Think of it this way, software companies have been trying for years to copy protect their software. They've gone rapidly through overburned CDs, hardware dongles, encrypted CD verification. Sony even masked Playstation discs so that they could leave sections of the CDs blank as a sort of key. None of it has worked yet. What makes record labels think that they're immune?
Of course, don't get me wrong. The more time they spend on pointless hardware and software solutions the more time they divert from their likely more effective political attempts.
It seems like what they've done here is take something similar to that system, match it with the positional gunsite system the Longbow uses to aim it's chain gun, and created a conformal HUD display. All in all very cool. I'm sure the next step is to put all this on a Predator and just leave the pilot sitting in the relative comfort of base camp. The military will start recruiting at CPL events.
As a side note, the inspiration for our system came from a true story. It turns out that a vast majority of plane crashes throughout the world come from what avionics people clinically call CFIT. That's Controlled Flight Into Terrain. Basically it means some moron pilot flew the damn thing into a mountain. Well, in the mountains in Chile some regional airline pilot was flying between two peaks when he receives a course correction from ATC. Visibility is low so he's flying almost entirely by instrumentation. Well he makes a correction in his flight computer for what he believes to be his next waypoint. The problem is he accidentally makes the correction for his _previous_ waypoint. So, following his orders, the plan prompltly goes into a hard turn to head on back to the new waypoint which is now behind him. Before he can figure out what was happening *kaboom* the plane becomes a permenant feature of the local terrain.
Why is it that companies seem obsessed with trying to actually create technology that someone thought up years ago and most people have already decided was lame? I already get strange enough looks when I talk on my bluetooth headset. I imagine it would only take about 10 minutes for the padded bus to arive if a yanked my watch of my wrist in a public place and started talking to it.