Really enjoying this book. Wish there was a Kindle edition.
I also wish the author had done the meta work of making the book feel a bit like a quest, since that's what he advocates for games. (It does have exercises and appendices, which makes the book a somewhat more active experience.)
And speaking of Kindle, when is that platform going to act like the computer that it is, so that real quest books can come about?
I just want to know the super-great keyboard design that QWERTY supplanted. Could we bring it back now that we don't have mechanical levers in alphabetical order? (what a monumentally stupid reason for designing such a buttfck layout as qwerty)
When was the last time Java made a meaningful advance on the UI front?
I guess I'm still jaded from the 3 years I spent in the Java applet paradigm, trying to bring a vision of mine to the web, only to find I was working in the "last gasp" of client-side Java - an era marked by the release of Swing and then... nothing.
It doesn't need to be a ring... you only need to affect half the globe, right? (why shade the shaded side?)
It just needs to be a large opaque thing, to stay in stationary orbit. They talk about using orbital mirrors to warm planets like Mars - which can be of any size, its light targeted anywhere. The reverse would work for Earth.
It really is an idea worth seriously trying. The operative word being: serious.
A big gain or loss, depending on M$, would be inclusion or exclusion of E4X (XML types in ECMA/JavaScript). It'd be no major effort or risk for them to include it, but a potentially serious fracturing of browser scripting languages if they don't.
You're 100% right on the crappy factory HDs. Mine started to go bad after just a year, so I had to have it swapped out.
I'm pretty sure that the HD is just a standard 2.5" - I can investigate further if you need me to.
I bought the 30-giger on EBay back in '00, but FedEx'd my C1XS to the Seller, as the auction included transfer service (in retrospect, I can't believe I had the guts to do that, but it worked out fine:) The guy's email address is da_icq_man@hotmail.com - I talked to him by phone, he's for real, and he did a top notch job. And he can probably just hook you up with a HD, if that's all you need.
None of the sub-notebooks introduced since Sony released the C1 series has given us a reason to upgrade. My C1XS (PII 400Mhz, 128Mb RAM, 30gig HD) is 5 years old and is still thinner and smaller (9.81"x5.99"x1.14", 2.21lb) than its later lookalikes.
Only one model is even up for consideration, in my mind (no, not even the Sony U50/70 - you -gotta- have a real keyboard attached). The Flybook is gonna have _everything_, including GPRS, and it's a tablet, too. Exactly what I've been waiting for. Would the rest of you Far East-whipped toy companies wake up and get us computers like these?
I bought the 6820 about four months ago, and love it more than any other electronic gadget I own, even over my Sharp Zaurus.
What stands out is how natural the keyboard is. The device is weighted perfectly. You can also type quite fast, as the two halves of the keyboard are roughly a hand-length apart. Handtop makers and PDA designers should take particular notice in how much more natural this design is than a thumb keyboard exposed on the bottom of a device. This really is the future, I believe in the design that strongly.
An especially handy feature is that as soon as you start typing, the phone goes into "Note" mode - just type the first letter of a sentence, and you're inputting into a notepad-like application. No frills, but you can save and edit easily, then email or SMS the text.
There's also a cool keyboard-light button at the top left, to illuminate the whole device for typing in low light. I can't tell you how stylish the thing looks with light streaming out from each key on the pad.
There's also a customizable "GoTo" button on the phone face, so you can instantly utilize the voice recorder, alarm clock, timer, calculator, your inbox, and the other dozen+ applications.
The camera is about one-half or even one-third megapixel, I'd say - still looks fine (tho small) when emailed. There's a built in mini-Outlook, with audio reminders and all, which is now 100% usable thanks to the keyboard. Literally, there's no need for a PDA if calendar, contacts, and notes are your primary apps.
It's one of the rare devices that earns a 5 out of 5 rating. No astroturfing here, this thing has earned my love.
Would Wiki not be considered a type of collaborative weblog?
It happens a lot (too often) that Wiki is forgotten... in so many discussions on internet technology... when it's probably as r/evolutionary as email and chat. Maybe not, tho, maybe blogs are better, and maybe wikis are flawed in a way that they deserve to be ignored... not sure...
Let me summarize - not hard to do, that review could have been written on two squares of tp (and probably should have been) - He doesn't like:
1) The file explorer
2) The mouse/key combinations
3) The color schemes
That's all. Next article please.
And what's with calling Windows 95 the "abomination of operating systems"... hasn't he ever used Windows 3.1? I practically cried I was so happy to upgrade to 95.
Unmentioned in the article, Alpha Centauri (publisher Firaxis, of Civilization fame) is maybe the most overtly political 'game' I've played (outside President Forever).
AC is a competition between faction leaders, each with an outright political philosophy, to control the evolution of a newly-colonized planet. You choose from one of the 7 game factions: Greens, Communists, Scientists, Capitalists, Warrior-Clan, Fundamentalists, and One-Worlders (and 7 more in the Alien Crossfire plug-in... complete list here).
Having played each faction several times (hence, playing against each faction several dozen times), I can tell you that AC is the quintessential example of what the article is pointing to.
Expecially since the Capitalist and Communist factions were always the least outwardly hostile and aggressive, in terms of conflicts over disputed resources, whereas Greens and One-Worlders (which are mocking clones of the UN) were the most violent, unbelievably. Knowing the world the way it is, I could write this off as just an imbalanced simulation (and no less entertaining).
But thinking it through, what is the author of the article actually worried about? Who is going to use a game as a model of the real world when the real world contradicts the game... at least in terms of politics. It doesn't take long before a strident youth is told "the world just don't work that way, kid". I think we've all experienced that, at one time or another.
I read the whole thing. And I'm trusting that there's a reason that -they themselves- numbered it v0.1. When they decide to bump it to v0.2, yes indeed I will be more willing to play.
Slashdot Mirror
Really enjoying this book. Wish there was a Kindle edition.
I also wish the author had done the meta work of making the book feel a bit like a quest, since that's what he advocates for games. (It does have exercises and appendices, which makes the book a somewhat more active experience.)
And speaking of Kindle, when is that platform going to act like the computer that it is, so that real quest books can come about?
I just want to know the super-great keyboard design that QWERTY supplanted. Could we bring it back now that we don't have mechanical levers in alphabetical order? (what a monumentally stupid reason for designing such a buttfck layout as qwerty)
When was the last time Java made a meaningful advance on the UI front?
I guess I'm still jaded from the 3 years I spent in the Java applet paradigm, trying to bring a vision of mine to the web, only to find I was working in the "last gasp" of client-side Java - an era marked by the release of Swing and then... nothing.
"Rome wasn't sacked in a day."
That would be a great title for someone's forthcoming presidential autobiography (whoever writes it).
Will there be any forthcoming updates to the (in many minds: ultimate) sci-fi strategy franchise, Alpha Centauri?
Wow, I didn't know SCO had a quantum research program in their Linux division.
(and with turnover + slashdot attention span, this just went over the head of 60% of readers, sorry)
It doesn't need to be a ring... you only need to affect half the globe, right? (why shade the shaded side?)
It just needs to be a large opaque thing, to stay in stationary orbit. They talk about using orbital mirrors to warm planets like Mars - which can be of any size, its light targeted anywhere. The reverse would work for Earth.
It really is an idea worth seriously trying. The operative word being: serious.
Free when you physically jack in to the network, pay when you roam wirelessly. Sounds about fair.
A big gain or loss, depending on M$, would be inclusion or exclusion of E4X (XML types in ECMA/JavaScript). It'd be no major effort or risk for them to include it, but a potentially serious fracturing of browser scripting languages if they don't.
Ok, Slashdot Hubris Avengers, let's get that DIY ad from the co-author knocked down.
Very kind of you, thanks :) I got my g@gmail address early, tho, so I'm good. But cheers to you friend :)
Well, no Outlook Express, no reason to use Hotmail over Gmail. Thanks M$ for the impetus I needed.
And too bad your engineers just couldn't figure that spam problem out.
You're 100% right on the crappy factory HDs. Mine started to go bad after just a year, so I had to have it swapped out.
:) The guy's email address is da_icq_man@hotmail.com - I talked to him by phone, he's for real, and he did a top notch job. And he can probably just hook you up with a HD, if that's all you need.
I'm pretty sure that the HD is just a standard 2.5" - I can investigate further if you need me to.
I bought the 30-giger on EBay back in '00, but FedEx'd my C1XS to the Seller, as the auction included transfer service (in retrospect, I can't believe I had the guts to do that, but it worked out fine
Cheers,
c.m.g
www.galtenberg.net
None of the sub-notebooks introduced since Sony released the C1 series has given us a reason to upgrade. My C1XS (PII 400Mhz, 128Mb RAM, 30gig HD) is 5 years old and is still thinner and smaller (9.81"x5.99"x1.14", 2.21lb) than its later lookalikes.
Only one model is even up for consideration, in my mind (no, not even the Sony U50/70 - you -gotta- have a real keyboard attached). The Flybook is gonna have _everything_, including GPRS, and it's a tablet, too. Exactly what I've been waiting for. Would the rest of you Far East-whipped toy companies wake up and get us computers like these?
I tried like 10 different ways to add Note to the GoTo menu ;) Then I got an inspiration :)
Kinda agree on the other points (could be improved, I guess), but also I'm not unhappy with those aspects.
I bought the 6820 about four months ago, and love it more than any other electronic gadget I own, even over my Sharp Zaurus.
What stands out is how natural the keyboard is. The device is weighted perfectly. You can also type quite fast, as the two halves of the keyboard are roughly a hand-length apart. Handtop makers and PDA designers should take particular notice in how much more natural this design is than a thumb keyboard exposed on the bottom of a device. This really is the future, I believe in the design that strongly.
An especially handy feature is that as soon as you start typing, the phone goes into "Note" mode - just type the first letter of a sentence, and you're inputting into a notepad-like application. No frills, but you can save and edit easily, then email or SMS the text.
There's also a cool keyboard-light button at the top left, to illuminate the whole device for typing in low light. I can't tell you how stylish the thing looks with light streaming out from each key on the pad.
There's also a customizable "GoTo" button on the phone face, so you can instantly utilize the voice recorder, alarm clock, timer, calculator, your inbox, and the other dozen+ applications.
The camera is about one-half or even one-third megapixel, I'd say - still looks fine (tho small) when emailed. There's a built in mini-Outlook, with audio reminders and all, which is now 100% usable thanks to the keyboard. Literally, there's no need for a PDA if calendar, contacts, and notes are your primary apps.
It's one of the rare devices that earns a 5 out of 5 rating. No astroturfing here, this thing has earned my love.
Would Wiki not be considered a type of collaborative weblog?
It happens a lot (too often) that Wiki is forgotten... in so many discussions on internet technology... when it's probably as r/evolutionary as email and chat. Maybe not, tho, maybe blogs are better, and maybe wikis are flawed in a way that they deserve to be ignored... not sure...
If this review makes the front page, I'm cancelling my (free) subscription to ComputerWorld :)
Let me summarize - not hard to do, that review could have been written on two squares of tp (and probably should have been) - He doesn't like:
1) The file explorer
2) The mouse/key combinations
3) The color schemes
That's all. Next article please.
And what's with calling Windows 95 the "abomination of operating systems"... hasn't he ever used Windows 3.1? I practically cried I was so happy to upgrade to 95.
Unmentioned in the article, Alpha Centauri (publisher Firaxis, of Civilization fame) is maybe the most overtly political 'game' I've played (outside President Forever).
AC is a competition between faction leaders, each with an outright political philosophy, to control the evolution of a newly-colonized planet. You choose from one of the 7 game factions: Greens, Communists, Scientists, Capitalists, Warrior-Clan, Fundamentalists, and One-Worlders (and 7 more in the Alien Crossfire plug-in... complete list here).
Having played each faction several times (hence, playing against each faction several dozen times), I can tell you that AC is the quintessential example of what the article is pointing to.
Expecially since the Capitalist and Communist factions were always the least outwardly hostile and aggressive, in terms of conflicts over disputed resources, whereas Greens and One-Worlders (which are mocking clones of the UN) were the most violent, unbelievably. Knowing the world the way it is, I could write this off as just an imbalanced simulation (and no less entertaining).
But thinking it through, what is the author of the article actually worried about? Who is going to use a game as a model of the real world when the real world contradicts the game... at least in terms of politics. It doesn't take long before a strident youth is told "the world just don't work that way, kid". I think we've all experienced that, at one time or another.
By the way, fuck you for assuming what you couldn't possibly know. Little smart ass priss.
I read the whole thing. And I'm trusting that there's a reason that -they themselves- numbered it v0.1. When they decide to bump it to v0.2, yes indeed I will be more willing to play.
How about they get the emulator past v0.1 before I start mucking with my hardware.
Sorry for my obscurity. I'm just guessing that when people hear the word 'Niagara', they'll spell it like the other product they see on TV :) N-iagra.
Sun might want to sprinkle "Niagra" in its meta tags then.