I have trouble believing that any game companies are going to pony up development costs and then not release an identical product for normal PCs. At which point, why buy the console?
Seems like they came up with the product by drawing up a list of things it won't do. Well, add another item to that list: it won't sell.
This article is interesting. I didn't know anything about how voting worked in New Zeeland. Actually, I thought they had a king, or is that only for the aboriginies?
Anyway, it would be nice to see a similar article about the voting machines used here. This story has little or no relevance to Americans concerned about privacy, butterfly ballots, and discrimination at the polls. We need to be looking inward, not outward, if we want to fix our own problems. Then we can get to work on helping the rest of the world with their troubles.
It's about time people started to acknowledge this issue. While all fields (medicine, physics, philosophy...) have their own specialized jargons, as technology becomes more and more a part of every normal person's life, techspeak is going to prove a significant impediment to widespread computer literacy.
A big part of the problem is that words in computer lingo often refer to lower level concepts that normal users don't (and shouldn't have to) know about or understand. It should be possible to discuss the size of a file or disk without understanding what bits and bytes are, and to be able to discuss relative speeds of computers without understanding the role of a clock signal in a CPU (or even what "CPU" stands for).
An effort should be made to replace these confusing terms with familiar ones that normal people can easily understand through analogy. For example, why not refer to memory "sizes" using mass units? A gram could be defined as equal to a megabyte, making people much less likely to answer the question "how fast is your computer?" with "20 gigabytes," since they will intuitively understand that "20 kilos" cannot be a measurement of speed. Likewise, processor speed could be measured in miles per hour, bandwidth in kilograms per second, &c..
A side benefit is that this would allow Europeans and Americans to use their traditional units, which are easily converted between.
What exactly is the point of this story? Not all alcoholics beat their wives, but that doesn't mean we should give people cart blanch to get drunk.
It's obvious and scientifically verified that those who play video games are far more likely than their non-gaming piers to avoid social interaction, do poorly in school, resort to violent behavior, and lead unhealthy lifestyles (leading to problems like obesity and depression later in life).
This study shows that there exists a glimmer of hope for chronic gamers, which is good. However, spinning it as if it makes gaming healthy is irresponsible, and indicates a bias on Slashdot's part.
I will probably get flamed for this, but I think this is a positive thing. Or at least, it will have a positive effect. Growing up, I grappled with a gaming addiction. Going to school on three hours of sleep is not good for your education (despite what some articles might have you believe). In a perfect world, parents would be preventing their children from overloading on games. In reality, in these days of dual incomes and extracurricular activities, they aren't always able to, and it's a good thing that the government can step in and lend a hand.
The alternative is medication (which is how I kicked the video game habit before I became the next Columbine), and that will just be more expensive to everyone in the long term. Curfews are cheap and effective. Another good approach might be to put a lower age limit on the use of Windows. So young children would have to use Linux or Mac OS, which don't have games. This has a side benefit of hurting Micro$oft, always a plus.
So basically it's the man pages for gcc, glibc, et al, bound up with a pretty cover and sold for $60. There's no way people are going to pay so much for so little content. Oh wait, they bought Macs.
This looks like a TiBook killer for sure. It's good to see the PC laptop producers keeping up with Apple for a change. Low-res 17" screen, and "'features'"...*drool*
I see that they don't touch on the 64- vs. 32-bit issue. Not surprising, since the 64-bit G5s aren't available yet. I'm curious as to how much of an impact that will make.
Also, as cool as Panther looks, I expect Jaguar to stick around for a while yet. I haven't seen anyone mention this, but I realized the other day that since Jaguar is fully 32-bit, you should be able to take 64-bit hardware and run two full instances of Jaguar on it in parallel. Give each instance its own CPU on a dual G5 system, and you have two fully functional OS X systems running in real time on a single boxen!
I wouldn't even be surprised to see Apple start shipping systems in this configuration. It's great for companies on a budget (and who isn't these days?).
It's too bad to see such a good project come to an end. It's heartening that some of the people involved will be absorbed into the CreativeCommons project, but I think we all prefer to see variety and choice in the Open Source community (Linux and FreeBSD, KDE and GNOME, Ray Stallman and Ed Richards).
Some people will doubtlessly conclude from OpenContent's demise that the Free Stuff (including non-software here) movement is collapsing in complete disarray. I'm more hopeful. Only by trimming the wheat from the shaft can we crystalize our impact on the world. CreativeCommons will pick up where OpenContent left off, and the way is unimpeded for the eventual dismantling of today's outdated IP laws.
Now is not the time to lose hope. Our vision will keep us strong.
I'm glad to see they're updating the game for the newer generation of video game systems. I'm a little skeptical of the EA Quidditch game. Lots of folks have pointed out that since each game must necessarily end with a 150-point swing, it doesn't make a lot of sense from a sporting point of view. I guess this is to be expected considering that J.K. Rowling, as a single mother, probably wasn't very caught up on sports when she conceived of it. Maybe they'll make the value of grabbing the Snitch a configurable option. 30 points would be about right, IMHO.
Also, it'll be interesting to see how the new book affects the upcoming HP games. There's a new Quidditch move introduced in Order of the Phoenix, and it actually sounds pretty cool. Also, I wonder if they might add some more emphasis on Sirius Black's role in Sorcerer's Stone, considering he dies. Either way, I can't wait to see how the new games measure up to the Harry that we all know and love.
It's good to see IT getting increased recognition as an asset, as opposed to a necessary evil. Hopefully this book will find its way into the hands of a lot of PHBs, and we'll start to see some improvement across the industry.
The old attitudes about IT have done a lot of damage, but with some effort, books like these, and a little mutual understanding, I think we'll reach a point where IT workers will be free to flourish in businesses and achieve their goals (to become real programmers).
I'm glad to see that Lindows failed with flying colors. Before you mod me down, let me explain.
Linux owes much of its success to its position as an elite, powerful operating system, reserved for the best and the brightest of society. This allows us to turn any Micro$oft FUD about "usability" against them. It is our weakness which makes us strong.
For Linux to maintain its place as the champion of server and desktop OSen, we must resist the temptation to dumb it down for ordinary "lusers."
I guess new games for Linux are always welcome, even if it's not free. Anybody have any idea how well Never Winter Knights holds up to Linux classics like Tux Racer? We Linux geeks tend to be pretty loyal, so a game will have to be damned impressive to compete with the established hits.
Google is probably the highest profile business built around Linux technology (link). They are probably already sweating over the potential impact of an undesirable outcome in the SCO case. There won't be a better time for Microsoft to strike.
This adds creedance to the theory that the whole SCO fiasco is being orchestrated by Redmond.
This seems like a relatively harmless application of genetic engineering. The fish aren't radioactive or anything, they just glow pretty colors. However, if there's one thing we should have learned from Jurassic Park, it's that these things have a way of getting beyond control. What if they accidently activate a gene from an electric eel, and create a fish that can kill people? There are many other possibilities.
Not to mention the things that could be created if this technology is used for evil purposes. It would be one thing to be making these things in the US, but do we really trust Taiwan with this stuff?
In any case, we are now playing God, making new mutant species for our amusement. I fear for us.
It's crazy how much time people put into making Windows emulators for GNU/Linux. I mean, if you want to use Windows applications, just install the Windows that came free with your computer. For the cost of Win4Lin or Wine, you can get a whole nother hard drive to dedicate to Windows, and it will be fully compatible.
On a related note, how come there are no Linux emulators for Windows? Is it because Windows has better alternatives to any Linux program, or is there some sort of GPL patent issue?
I was all excited about this at first, but it turns out that it's just a milestone in the search for quark-gluon plasma. I guess I'll have to put up with plain old photon-muon plasma for a couple more years.
While this plan is just good economic common sense (tax the rich to feed the poor), I have to question its applicability in South Africa. These people need medicine, clean drinking water, and a strong police force, not software, be it open source or otherwise.
Even if it passes, the government will probably be overthrown in another four months. A major victory this isn't.
Slashdot Mirror
This is why I don't buy Sony products. My Dell laptop has never electrocuted me.
I have trouble believing that any game companies are going to pony up development costs and then not release an identical product for normal PCs. At which point, why buy the console?
Seems like they came up with the product by drawing up a list of things it won't do. Well, add another item to that list: it won't sell.
This article is interesting. I didn't know anything about how voting worked in New Zeeland. Actually, I thought they had a king, or is that only for the aboriginies?
Anyway, it would be nice to see a similar article about the voting machines used here. This story has little or no relevance to Americans concerned about privacy, butterfly ballots, and discrimination at the polls. We need to be looking inward, not outward, if we want to fix our own problems. Then we can get to work on helping the rest of the world with their troubles.
Still, best of luck to our friends down under!
It's about time people started to acknowledge this issue. While all fields (medicine, physics, philosophy...) have their own specialized jargons, as technology becomes more and more a part of every normal person's life, techspeak is going to prove a significant impediment to widespread computer literacy.
A big part of the problem is that words in computer lingo often refer to lower level concepts that normal users don't (and shouldn't have to) know about or understand. It should be possible to discuss the size of a file or disk without understanding what bits and bytes are, and to be able to discuss relative speeds of computers without understanding the role of a clock signal in a CPU (or even what "CPU" stands for).
An effort should be made to replace these confusing terms with familiar ones that normal people can easily understand through analogy. For example, why not refer to memory "sizes" using mass units? A gram could be defined as equal to a megabyte, making people much less likely to answer the question "how fast is your computer?" with "20 gigabytes," since they will intuitively understand that "20 kilos" cannot be a measurement of speed. Likewise, processor speed could be measured in miles per hour, bandwidth in kilograms per second, &c..
A side benefit is that this would allow Europeans and Americans to use their traditional units, which are easily converted between.
What exactly is the point of this story? Not all alcoholics beat their wives, but that doesn't mean we should give people cart blanch to get drunk.
It's obvious and scientifically verified that those who play video games are far more likely than their non-gaming piers to avoid social interaction, do poorly in school, resort to violent behavior, and lead unhealthy lifestyles (leading to problems like obesity and depression later in life).
This study shows that there exists a glimmer of hope for chronic gamers, which is good. However, spinning it as if it makes gaming healthy is irresponsible, and indicates a bias on Slashdot's part.
I will probably get flamed for this, but I think this is a positive thing. Or at least, it will have a positive effect. Growing up, I grappled with a gaming addiction. Going to school on three hours of sleep is not good for your education (despite what some articles might have you believe). In a perfect world, parents would be preventing their children from overloading on games. In reality, in these days of dual incomes and extracurricular activities, they aren't always able to, and it's a good thing that the government can step in and lend a hand.
The alternative is medication (which is how I kicked the video game habit before I became the next Columbine), and that will just be more expensive to everyone in the long term. Curfews are cheap and effective. Another good approach might be to put a lower age limit on the use of Windows. So young children would have to use Linux or Mac OS, which don't have games. This has a side benefit of hurting Micro$oft, always a plus.
So basically it's the man pages for gcc, glibc, et al, bound up with a pretty cover and sold for $60. There's no way people are going to pay so much for so little content. Oh wait, they bought Macs.
This looks like a TiBook killer for sure. It's good to see the PC laptop producers keeping up with Apple for a change. Low-res 17" screen, and "'features'"...*drool*
Anyone know if it runs Linux?
Looks like they left out the best practice of all:
Don't use Java.
I see that they don't touch on the 64- vs. 32-bit issue. Not surprising, since the 64-bit G5s aren't available yet. I'm curious as to how much of an impact that will make.
Also, as cool as Panther looks, I expect Jaguar to stick around for a while yet. I haven't seen anyone mention this, but I realized the other day that since Jaguar is fully 32-bit, you should be able to take 64-bit hardware and run two full instances of Jaguar on it in parallel. Give each instance its own CPU on a dual G5 system, and you have two fully functional OS X systems running in real time on a single boxen!
I wouldn't even be surprised to see Apple start shipping systems in this configuration. It's great for companies on a budget (and who isn't these days?).
It's too bad to see such a good project come to an end. It's heartening that some of the people involved will be absorbed into the CreativeCommons project, but I think we all prefer to see variety and choice in the Open Source community (Linux and FreeBSD, KDE and GNOME, Ray Stallman and Ed Richards).
Some people will doubtlessly conclude from OpenContent's demise that the Free Stuff (including non-software here) movement is collapsing in complete disarray. I'm more hopeful. Only by trimming the wheat from the shaft can we crystalize our impact on the world. CreativeCommons will pick up where OpenContent left off, and the way is unimpeded for the eventual dismantling of today's outdated IP laws.
Now is not the time to lose hope. Our vision will keep us strong.
Just when I get used to people walking down the street apparently talking to themselves. Now I'm going to be dodging fists when they dial.
I'm glad to see they're updating the game for the newer generation of video game systems. I'm a little skeptical of the EA Quidditch game. Lots of folks have pointed out that since each game must necessarily end with a 150-point swing, it doesn't make a lot of sense from a sporting point of view. I guess this is to be expected considering that J.K. Rowling, as a single mother, probably wasn't very caught up on sports when she conceived of it. Maybe they'll make the value of grabbing the Snitch a configurable option. 30 points would be about right, IMHO.
Also, it'll be interesting to see how the new book affects the upcoming HP games. There's a new Quidditch move introduced in Order of the Phoenix, and it actually sounds pretty cool. Also, I wonder if they might add some more emphasis on Sirius Black's role in Sorcerer's Stone, considering he dies. Either way, I can't wait to see how the new games measure up to the Harry that we all know and love.
It's good to see IT getting increased recognition as an asset, as opposed to a necessary evil. Hopefully this book will find its way into the hands of a lot of PHBs, and we'll start to see some improvement across the industry.
The old attitudes about IT have done a lot of damage, but with some effort, books like these, and a little mutual understanding, I think we'll reach a point where IT workers will be free to flourish in businesses and achieve their goals (to become real programmers).
I'm glad to see that Lindows failed with flying colors. Before you mod me down, let me explain.
Linux owes much of its success to its position as an elite, powerful operating system, reserved for the best and the brightest of society. This allows us to turn any Micro$oft FUD about "usability" against them. It is our weakness which makes us strong.
For Linux to maintain its place as the champion of server and desktop OSen, we must resist the temptation to dumb it down for ordinary "lusers."
Hm, "fancy" and "GNUStep" in the same sentence. I mean, WindowMaker's fine and all, but it's sort of minimal, innit?
I can't believe this was introduced by a guy named "Lamar."
I guess new games for Linux are always welcome, even if it's not free. Anybody have any idea how well Never Winter Knights holds up to Linux classics like Tux Racer? We Linux geeks tend to be pretty loyal, so a game will have to be damned impressive to compete with the established hits.
Is that really worth the possibility that the fish will escape and reek havoc in the ecosystem?
As Mark Twain said, fish and houseguests reek havoc after three days.
Google is probably the highest profile business built around Linux technology (link). They are probably already sweating over the potential impact of an undesirable outcome in the SCO case. There won't be a better time for Microsoft to strike.
This adds creedance to the theory that the whole SCO fiasco is being orchestrated by Redmond.
This seems like a relatively harmless application of genetic engineering. The fish aren't radioactive or anything, they just glow pretty colors. However, if there's one thing we should have learned from Jurassic Park, it's that these things have a way of getting beyond control. What if they accidently activate a gene from an electric eel, and create a fish that can kill people? There are many other possibilities.
Not to mention the things that could be created if this technology is used for evil purposes. It would be one thing to be making these things in the US, but do we really trust Taiwan with this stuff?
In any case, we are now playing God, making new mutant species for our amusement. I fear for us.
It's crazy how much time people put into making Windows emulators for GNU/Linux. I mean, if you want to use Windows applications, just install the Windows that came free with your computer. For the cost of Win4Lin or Wine, you can get a whole nother hard drive to dedicate to Windows, and it will be fully compatible.
On a related note, how come there are no Linux emulators for Windows? Is it because Windows has better alternatives to any Linux program, or is there some sort of GPL patent issue?
I was all excited about this at first, but it turns out that it's just a milestone in the search for quark-gluon plasma. I guess I'll have to put up with plain old photon-muon plasma for a couple more years.
While this plan is just good economic common sense (tax the rich to feed the poor), I have to question its applicability in South Africa. These people need medicine, clean drinking water, and a strong police force, not software, be it open source or otherwise.
Even if it passes, the government will probably be overthrown in another four months. A major victory this isn't.
Okay, so I guess I see what BitTorrent is. It seems to make sense. Now, what is "OS X", and can I get it for WinME? Thx.