What good do all of these tools do if we cannot protect the mechanisms of voting? Transparency is a good thing, but it only goes so far. I do not understand why so many places are moving to electronic machines after decades of success with other devices. (I am personally a big fan of mechanical lever machines.)
I really fail to see how this is a new advancement. The only real news that I see here is that some of these programs (OoO, Linux) are finally mature enough mature enough to challenge Microsoft. Haven't there always been other providers of desktop applications?
I don't see how this is unique threat to M$ either. From TFA's first sentence (underlining mine): A year after the release of its suite of online integrated media-sharing and social networking applications, Glide Effortless, TransMedia is redoubling its effort to challenge Apple, Microsoft, MySpace, and Google.
I really found this guide to be very useful. The author organizes by several ranking systems and color coding to show why Ceder Rapids airport is better than Washington DC- Dulles... well I guess I wouldn't go that far, but they have free Internet access!
I am encouraged by how many free services there are out there. I am surprised anymore when I pull out my LifeDrive and find free service.
Games like WoW have always fostered a feeling of community. Even back in the Dungeons and Dragons days (which live on for many of us) the games offered a feeling of belonging. The difference is a matter of scale. Wow is so massive that this community is much larger, more multifaceted, and has more sub-communities.
Good luck and Godspeed to the crew on their current mission.
Being an astronaut is an incredibly hard job and I salute the brave men and women who risk their lives (and sanity) in the name of science. There's a reason something NASA related is a recurring theme in PopSci's "Worst Jobs in Science."
"[...] driverless electric cars along a 4-kilometer track." How is this different than EWR's monorail or other systems? I fail to see how this is a true automated cab system.
People fail to realize that Netflix is making money on what some would call an old-fashioned profit model: mail DVDs to people and they mail them back. They may spend millions and millions of dollars in postage (and impacted by postage hikes, but they do not have these limitations. People also do not realize that YouTube is losing loads of money every month. Online video has a place, but it is not in replacing DVDs with DRM.
I read the article about new game stories. I believe that there is a definite need for better storylines in games. It seems that the industry is hellbent on finding that "next big thing" that works and beating it into the ground. A good example is GTA genre of urban games.
From TFA:
Sutherland suggests game writers concentrate on allowing players to make more choices and more important choices. He says writing has always been about choice, whether we take our inspiration from Dostoyevsky or the Surreal Life. We need to be open to inspiration where it comes from, and choice of any kind has conflict inherent in it. This will help connect the game with people.
He also suggested avoiding formulas when approaching game writing. This includes avoiding laundry lists of dramatic requirements. He says formulas from other media especially don't translate directly, and the art form of games is so new experimentation is critical just to find the boundaries of possibilities. It's the only way we'll know what works and what doesn't.
This is what gamers have always wanted. D&D had the ultimate in user selection and gamers loved it. The industry needs to learn that pretty graphics are not the only way to sell games and are, in fact, usually not the most important element.
It seems that Microsoft is at least making a superficial attempt to get things right this time around. A quick Google search shows how many delays there have already been. I doubt that having to wait a little longer will negatively impact anyone. After all, how many companies rush out and buy the latest OS in the month that it is released? I see potential problems for OEMs, but the average company waits for patches and better stability before adoption.
This seems like it may be too little too late. The 360 has not sold in Japan and they are now trying to see if the different version will sell. Even the short article agrees with this:
Microsoft has historically struggled in Japan, and the Xbox 360 has not yet reversed the company's fortunes. Of the five million Xbox 360 consoles sold since the product launched last November, less than 200,000 have been sold in Japan, according to estimates from Enterbrain. Onlookers have wondered why Microsoft did not take the lower-cost Xbox 360 Core System to Japan at launch, but now they'll get to see if it can indeed spur sales.
To anyone else wondering what the core system means, I bring news from TFA. It is just a system with fewer features and a lower price. Honestly if I want fewer features with a corresponding price, I would just buy an XBox:
The offering effectively brings the Xbox 360 Core system to Japan. The (sometimes scorned) Core System has only been available in North America and Europe until now. The Core System is most notable for what it lacks, namely the 20GB HD and wireless controller found in the premium system (and a few other accessories).
In my own experience, Facebook has had the best response times of any major website. All of their features just plain work. The record time for a Microsoft patch is three days. Facebook implemented this change in less than a week, which is pretty fast. Facebook has also never spread adware through its homespage like MySpace did.
While I did not like the Facebook feed, I was always confident that they would intriduce some privacy measures. That is just the level of trust that they have established.
A quick Google search shows that there is definitely interest in such a system. By utilizing a redily available asset, they are making it cheap and easy for both patient and developer.
In the United States more than 700,000 people suffer a stroke* each year, and approximately two-thirds of these individuals survive and require rehabilitation. The goals of rehabilitation are to help survivors become as independent as possible and to attain the best possible quality of life. Even though rehabilitation does not "cure" stroke in that it does not reverse brain damage, rehabilitation can substantially help people achieve the best possible long-term outcome.
What is post-stroke rehabilitation?
Rehabilitation helps stroke survivors relearn skills that are lost when part of the brain is damaged. For example, these skills can include coordinating leg movements in order to walk or carrying out the steps involved in any complex activity. Rehabilitation also teaches survivors new ways of performing tasks to circumvent or compensate for any residual disabilities. Patients may need to learn how to bathe and dress using only one hand, or how to communicate effectively when their ability to use language has been compromised. There is a strong consensus among rehabilitation experts that the most important element in any rehabilitation program is carefully directed, well-focused, repetitive practice - the same kind of practice used by all people when they learn a new skill, such as playing the piano or pitching a baseball.
I agree with you. There are plenty of trojens out there other than condoms; why would this one be a corporate conspiracy? A quick Google search shows that this is nothing new. I think that companies learned their lesson from Sony's rootkit fiasco.
In the status quo it is way too easy to patent things that are not real innovation and hold on to that patent forever. Although patents are needed to protect innovation, there is no doubt that they are being abused. When there are companies whose only holdings are IP, something needs to change.
There are many ideas out there about how to fix the patent system, this being one of the more interesting ones. I usually disagree with the EFF but in this case I support them.
These numbers help put things into better perspective. Sure Australia has more money to spend, but this is far bigger than an IT issue. Soem countries provide more general services to their residents and they will naturally spend more on public IT.
From TFA:
New Zealand clearly stands out as one of the most progressive countries in the Asia Pacific region, especially when juxtaposed with India. That said, there are two main reasons why a chasm exists between the two in terms of per capita IT spending. First, when compared to the majority of countries in the AP region, the New Zealand government plays a much more significant role in the life of its citizens in terms of healthcare, education and legislation, with trickles down to a larger pool of funds per capita for IT investment. Second, the population of NZ is vastly smaller than that of India's. As such, in a large country like India the investments are spread across a larger pool of people, which of course leads to lower public sector spending per capita.
Although this seems like a really bad thing, I have to ask: how many of us have a game for 10 hours straight? My first marathon session occured with the Command and Conquer series, Red Alert to be specific. I think that there are lots of games that require many hours to beat.
In general this game seems to be more of the same. Slow news day.
I agree with you in part. Poker is a game of odds with lots of unknowns. It is quite easy to calculate the odds based on what limited information you have which is what the poker TV shows do to simplify things for viewers. But like you said, your buddies use more advanced practices against known players. I would love to see some advanced biometric lie detector used as part of the AI platform to determine the probability of a bluff and factor that into its thinking.
Although the goal was different, this is in the spirit of the creation of the Internet. DARPAnet was designed to scatter information to maintain communications. to use a different example it reminds me of RAID.
With all of this encryption technology, people still need to remember basic security tips. Use good passwords ("password" could be cracked very quickly even with 128 bit AES), maintain physical security (hardware keyloggers can find out about the manifesto you're writing before you even save the file) and use common sense.
Before you all ask, yes it does run Linux. The company was actually at Linuxworld.
I disagree with your disagreement. Although you are correct in asserting that some things receive mostly positive press, us geeks always find something to deride. Let's look at/. articles about the systems you proclaimed as having virtually all positive press.
In other words, the innovation is being praised, but expensive boxes that don't appear to have any substantial innovation are not.
I don't think it's a matter of nerds will complain about anything. It's more a matter that nerds have little to praise at the moment. But generally, yes, there are still things being found to be "praiseworthy".
For any innovation there will be geeks who praise it and insult it. I will be insulted if I praise Linux or Microsoft,/. or Digg. Granted there are things that are constant sources of criticism (/. mod system, RIAA, SCO, RIAA, BSA, RIAA, RIAA, etc.) but they are the exception rather than the rule.
This concludes the most time and research intesive post I have ever written. If I weren't at work right now I would feel like I had wasted my time.
I use a Palm LifeDrive and enjoy its built in wifi. The Treo could benefit from this, but overall they need to remember to make a product that works. Sure the Treo could pack every possible gadget possible into its case, but users are not really looking for that. WiFi is very very popular and I believe it should be integrated, but TFA has the wrong attitude. They should focus on making the device as useable as they can. The Treo is a PDA and a cell phone, not an amazing spactacular all-in-one uber device that can change the baby while transferring your call from cellular to Skype. The reason that my friends use the Treo is because it easily works.
I don't know if they are any closer to anything than they were a long time ago. Google referred to Writely as being in beta back in March. I have used it since before Google bought it and the overall experience has constantly improved. I fail to see how today heralds anything new at all. Many people have commented about it here.
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What good do all of these tools do if we cannot protect the mechanisms of voting? Transparency is a good thing, but it only goes so far. I do not understand why so many places are moving to electronic machines after decades of success with other devices. (I am personally a big fan of mechanical lever machines.)
I don't see how this is unique threat to M$ either. From TFA's first sentence (underlining mine): A year after the release of its suite of online integrated media-sharing and social networking applications, Glide Effortless, TransMedia is redoubling its effort to challenge Apple, Microsoft, MySpace, and Google.
I am encouraged by how many free services there are out there. I am surprised anymore when I pull out my LifeDrive and find free service.
Games like WoW have always fostered a feeling of community. Even back in the Dungeons and Dragons days (which live on for many of us) the games offered a feeling of belonging. The difference is a matter of scale. Wow is so massive that this community is much larger, more multifaceted, and has more sub-communities.
Being an astronaut is an incredibly hard job and I salute the brave men and women who risk their lives (and sanity) in the name of science. There's a reason something NASA related is a recurring theme in PopSci's "Worst Jobs in Science."
"[...] driverless electric cars along a 4-kilometer track."
How is this different than EWR's monorail or other systems? I fail to see how this is a true automated cab system.
People fail to realize that Netflix is making money on what some would call an old-fashioned profit model: mail DVDs to people and they mail them back. They may spend millions and millions of dollars in postage (and impacted by postage hikes, but they do not have these limitations. People also do not realize that YouTube is losing loads of money every month. Online video has a place, but it is not in replacing DVDs with DRM.
This is what gamers have always wanted. D&D had the ultimate in user selection and gamers loved it. The industry needs to learn that pretty graphics are not the only way to sell games and are, in fact, usually not the most important element.From TFA:
It seems that Microsoft is at least making a superficial attempt to get things right this time around. A quick Google search shows how many delays there have already been. I doubt that having to wait a little longer will negatively impact anyone. After all, how many companies rush out and buy the latest OS in the month that it is released? I see potential problems for OEMs, but the average company waits for patches and better stability before adoption.
To anyone else wondering what the core system means, I bring news from TFA. It is just a system with fewer features and a lower price. Honestly if I want fewer features with a corresponding price, I would just buy an XBox:
While I did not like the Facebook feed, I was always confident that they would intriduce some privacy measures. That is just the level of trust that they have established.
In case you are wondering what exactly the big deal is about stroke rehab, here is a snippit of a government factsheet:
I agree with you. There are plenty of trojens out there other than condoms; why would this one be a corporate conspiracy? A quick Google search shows that this is nothing new. I think that companies learned their lesson from Sony's rootkit fiasco.
But there are plenty of games worth playing for their uniqueness. The problem is that after you play them a few times they are no longer unique.
In other news, the reviewer wrote the best definition of the AJAX technology:
There are many ideas out there about how to fix the patent system, this being one of the more interesting ones. I usually disagree with the EFF but in this case I support them.
Wait, so Microsoft is cutting back on feature bloat in the name of security? (Clicks heels chanting "there's no place like home.")
From TFA:
In general this game seems to be more of the same. Slow news day.
You're thinking of Steganography. Somewhere in here is the story you mentioned.
I agree with you in part. Poker is a game of odds with lots of unknowns. It is quite easy to calculate the odds based on what limited information you have which is what the poker TV shows do to simplify things for viewers. But like you said, your buddies use more advanced practices against known players. I would love to see some advanced biometric lie detector used as part of the AI platform to determine the probability of a bluff and factor that into its thinking.
With all of this encryption technology, people still need to remember basic security tips. Use good passwords ("password" could be cracked very quickly even with 128 bit AES), maintain physical security (hardware keyloggers can find out about the manifesto you're writing before you even save the file) and use common sense.
Before you all ask, yes it does run Linux. The company was actually at Linuxworld.
The PSP isn't being marketed enough and that pisses off EA. I know this is outdated, but it still counts as criticism: first weekend sales were slow. Back in December, no one cared about the PSP. More recently, people do not seem to know what to do with the PSP.
Wii is a stupid and weird name that is just a marketing gimmick and really is stupid in case you missed the first article. Developers aren't 'getting' the Wii.
On the flipside of your reasoning, let's take a look at the systems that you highlight as receiving bad press:
The XBox360 will have the most market share past the presidential election. The XBox360 is being sold for much less money than it costs to make it so I don't see how you can complain about the price. The XBox360 is also mostly backwards-compatible. The 360 has also redefined the market and what it means to be a console.
The PS3 will dominate market share through the midterm elections after the presidential election (I'm a poli-sci major, I think in terms of U.S. elections). The PS3 is region free for gaming. The PS3 might max out the FPS available on even nice TVs and has amazing NVIDIA graphics and is going to be upgradable. The PS3 is backwards compatible for games and memory cards.
For any innovation there will be geeks who praise it and insult it. I will be insulted if I praise Linux or Microsoft, /. or Digg. Granted there are things that are constant sources of criticism (/. mod system, RIAA, SCO, RIAA, BSA, RIAA, RIAA, etc.) but they are the exception rather than the rule.
This concludes the most time and research intesive post I have ever written. If I weren't at work right now I would feel like I had wasted my time.
I use a Palm LifeDrive and enjoy its built in wifi. The Treo could benefit from this, but overall they need to remember to make a product that works. Sure the Treo could pack every possible gadget possible into its case, but users are not really looking for that. WiFi is very very popular and I believe it should be integrated, but TFA has the wrong attitude. They should focus on making the device as useable as they can. The Treo is a PDA and a cell phone, not an amazing spactacular all-in-one uber device that can change the baby while transferring your call from cellular to Skype. The reason that my friends use the Treo is because it easily works.
I don't know if they are any closer to anything than they were a long time ago. Google referred to Writely as being in beta back in March. I have used it since before Google bought it and the overall experience has constantly improved. I fail to see how today heralds anything new at all. Many people have commented about it here.