To all those bashing M$ for doing this, would you still bash them if it was Nintendo instead? Because they've done that with every single console (not GB) system.
And besides, if I didn't have so many machines, what would I have to sell on eBay to support myself when I can't hold a job due to extreme arthritis?
What it means? Well, I have two perspectives. First, there is the perspective that this shows how online music stores are growing rapidly in acceptance, when even universities are ready to sign up.
The second perspective is that Napster 2 doesn't have anywhere near the negotiationing clout of Apple. I wonder how limited the song base is and whether or not the labels get control over what tracks are on Napster 2, because I'm SURE they weren't able to negotiate themselves out of that one. Is this simply labels gaining more control over what people listen to?
One thing many people don't get is that while a digital watch may seem more attractive to a geek, the vast majority of people would go with one that has a more appealing visual style. Also, for some reason, people seem to regard electronics in watches as "cheap". I guess because it means it doesn't need to be crafted with the same level of detail as a hand crafted watch.
Personally, I'm very happy with my Tag Heuer, and its a very stylish watch, but I also once owned a calculator watch, which, while fun to play around with when I was bored...wasn't nearly as functional as it could have been (small keys) and looked hideous.
For some reason, the rule with accessories (not counting iPods and the like) still seems to be that if it has electronics in it, it cheapens the value. This should start to change as technology develops to the point where truly integrated wearable computing is mainstream. Then expect to see all manner of expensive digital jewelry. We'd also probably need celebrities to endorse something like that to help it gain popularity, but still.
I find this fascinating. Especially the data calculator. Does this accurately depict how much the grocery store gets when they sell my information? That's what I'd really like to know. For all those sites that make you sign up, how much are they then able to sell MY information for?
It's also interesting to note that "sex offender" is only worth $13. Personally.....I think someone might value it a little more highly than that......
Vezzini: Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Only slightly less well know is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!
I've fantasized and posted about something like this before. I think it would add a whole new dimension to MMORPGs. Suddenly, everybody and their brother CAN'T just roll up a mage. They actually have learn complex semantic gestures and incantations. Add something like a sensor glove to give more accurate feedback, and suddenly magery is a shitload more scalable in its complexity.
A simple light spell at 1st level could be done by tracing a simple circle above your head for example while saying a couple magic phrases. But that high level Meteor Swarm spell is gonna be a bitch to pull off, ESPECIALLY in the heat of combat. Not only would it take a large series of complex hand gestures which you'll either have to memorize or have a cheat sheet for, but you're also going to have to know the thirty second incantation for it.
This could lead to a game where people are MUCH pickier about what spells they have in their repetoire, and it assures (or at least helps to assure) that the high level magic users actually have a decent amount of skill/memory and didn't just follow Jim Bob's 1-60 Levelling Guide.
Hell, I could even see this system, coupled with that Samurai game I've seen in the arcades where you actually swing a sword hilt to hit enemies, put together in such an interactive way that a whole new level of MMORPG interactivity could be born. Mages could use it, and so could the fighters.
"Secondly, I think ICO represents Japan's open acceptance of emotions in games."
"I would assert that American gameplay, in either its intentional or non-intentional attempt at open-ended gameplay (from GTA to Battlefield 1942), is generally on a steady course of avoiding emotions"
Wow, you just opened up a very interesting can of worms. You see, the Japanese are known for being rather emotionless in their interactions with people. There is a sense of needing to keep your emotions to yourself. Yet their gameplay (and anime!) is ALL about venting those emotions. Americans on the flipside are very emotional people and vent their emotions every chance they get with other people (hence some of the stereotypes about us). Perhaps it is because Americans lack a need to vent this emotion, and the Japanese do because they keep it all pent up inside?
I know you were serious, but I think that it will be a softer side of porn that the Japanese have already developed.
The Dating Sim.
I've played one before, and laugh all you want, but it was a damned good experience. Not gameplay wise......the graphics were shit, and the controls weren't much better, but god did I get sucked in. I couldn't choose between a girl in the end because I had an attachment to ALL of them. I'm really shocked that there hasn't been a dating sim made with top of the line graphics. If they had FFX style graphics, it would be a much deeper experience.
"
The rest of the 'typical' slashdot responders have endless energy to whine about how they are being abused by evil corporate powers who work so hard to provide them service."
Well, your response proves that you are a troll, and rather than waste energy responding to everything, I will single out the only important issue here, which I have quoted above. What we are "whining" about is the fact that they are asking us to live by certain guidelines, punish us for not following those guidelines, but refuse to tell us what the guidelines are. Please explain how that is fair?
" Here and there you find a lucky few who have a consumer grade high speed internet pipe that they share with a large number of people who use it as expected; they have occasional burst but 98% of the time their link is standing idle."
Well, I couldn't help myself, I had to respond to this too. If I pay for a service, and it does not expressly constrain me to certain parameters, I am free to use it however the hell I want. I could really care less if they "expect" me to use it one way and I use it another. I have paid for a service, and I am using the service to its full potential. If they want me to not use the service to its full potential, lay out the rules in black and white, and give me a way to follow them (ie. track my bandwidth usage). Otherwise, I really fail to see how they can be upset by people using the bandwidth like this.
Also, I would like to point out that you seem to feel that the only things that are done using this bandwidth is pirating copyrighted works. There are MANY legal uses which consume large amounts of bandwidth. Downloading the latest ISOs.....transferring large astronomy images, downloading unlicensed anime, etc. So try to drop the trollish slant from your post if you expect me to take your argument seriously, because whenever you work that in, it completely shoots your credibility to crap.
I don't think anybody believes it is their god given right to have inexepensive consumer type high speed service. If its not economically feasible for someone to offer it, they shouldn't. Otherwise, they should suck it up when someone uses it to its full potentail and realize that people have "called their bluff" so to speak.
" It is not OK to pretend a word has a different definition so that you can mislead people. "Unlimited" by itself means NO limits imposed. "Unlimited access" can be used to specify the condition you are talking about."
Please point out in any of their advertising where they use the term "unlimited" without a qualifier immediately following it.
If they do that, then its illegal, but AFAIK they only say "unlimited access" or something similar. I mean.....I know I shouldn't underestimate the stupidity of big corporations, but something tells me they had their legal team go over this issue with a fine tooth comb.
Wrong. The bandwidth usage is covered in their ToS. Basically they can kick you for any reason they want, and excessive bandwidth usage is one of those reasons. This ToS supercedes any advertised "unlimited access".
I'm really glad they're coming out with a real time gladiator game instead of the strategy one MS came out with by the name Gladiator. I mean.....the idea of a gladiator game is awesome, the graphics were nice......but that type of fighting is NOT best suited for a strategy style game. This looks like it'll be a blast, hope they can pull it off. I'm also impressed that it has two very different styles of gameplay and two very different angles on the game, bravo.
Anybody else a little annoyed with the story of this kid selling his legal documents on ebay? I mean......if it happened, great, but A. we don't really need to know, and B. this reads like an advertisement. This doesn't really belong on Slashdot.
Orkut is not a scam, people are just using the exclusivity of it to make money. That's like saying that the "model clubs" are scams just because you'd have to tip the bouncer to get in.
Wow, what a troll. Where to begin. First, I appreciate you breaking down the numbers for us. However, this is not a discussion about numbers. Frankly, I could give two shits if the numbers make this a feasible business for Comcast. If the business plan doesn't work, that's their problem.
The reason I call you a troll is because you threw THIS in:
"The typical slashdot responder who coyly dodges specifying that he has a god given right to steal music and video owned (right or wrong) by someone else, and jumps into arguments about false advertising, facist ISPs, and the like."
First, semantics, its not stealing, its copyright infringement, and the two are legally different. Second, there IS no typical Slashdot reader. And when the copyright issue DOES come up, people aren't saying they should be allowed to infringe on others IP, they are criticizing the industry for other problems (price fixing, poor payment of artists, DRM, suing 12 yr olds, etc).
False advertising is a crime, period. Whether this is false advertising or not has still to be decided. However, since I work in advertising, my view is that as long as they make it clear that "unlimited" means "unlimited access/time online" and not "unlimited bandwidth", it is legal. Whether they are taking good care of their customers is another issue entirely (hint: they're not).
But your idea is a helpful suggestion. While I don't think it would really work, I commend you on bringing it to the table, in the future however you should leave out the trollish comments.
" The article says that some of the abusers who are getting these warnings/disconnections are moving upwards of 1 terrabyte of data/month. Thats more than "downloading a lot" and it seems to me that if someone is moving that much data they should probably look into something other than basic broadband service. "
The problem is the slippery slope as others have mentioned when this has come up in the past. You see, they skim the top 2% or whatever highest usage users off the top, to cut down on costs. Then, they decide they need to make even more money and decide to skim that top 2% or whatever again off the top. And so on and so forth. The issue isn't how much these people are being booted at, the issue is that Comcast refuses to tell its users what is acceptable and what isn't, and gives them no method of tracking their usage.
" I, for one, am glad that Cox puts limits on how much people download. I don't want my cable connection to turn to shit just because some jackass wants to download 2 DVDs a day!"
You are confusing an ethical issue with a legal one.
I wouldn't want some guy using up my bandwidth either, but what everybody is upset about is that if he WANTS to DL 2 dvds a day, he should be able to, according to what their advertising (well, legally 'unlimited' doesn't mean that, but thats another issue).
"Companies who advertise unlimited access when it really is not are guity of false advertising and fraud."
Correct, unfortunately in this instance it ISN'T false advertising. I should know, I'm in the ad industry. This is merely them using creative wording which as others have explained before means "unlimited time online/access", not "unlimited bandwidth". Now, I agree this is misleading, legally, its ok. Now.....what I would like to see is them make it more clear as to what the unlimited means......but then again I'd also like to see the RIAA offer non-DRMed music at an affordable price.
" Would like to see a similar "moron clensing" of Battlefield 1942.
I think more games need a simple, easy-to-use "teammates vote moron out" feature like SOCOM 2 on PS2. On some online PC shooter games, I've seen such features, but often they require some typed command at the console that most people never learn. "
Ain't that the truth. In the considerable time I've played bf1942, not once have I seen someone been voted out, only kicked/banned by admin. You're right, part of it IS typing the command, it needs a popup button. But the other HUGE issue is a combination of the fact that you need an insane number of votes to kick someone out, and the fact that your vote stays in the system for a very short time before it resets the vote count. You'd think the mod community might be able to do something about this.
"Bradley was on a panel with Microsoft founder Bill Gates and other tech icons. The discussion turned to the keys. 'I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous,' Bradley said. Gates didn't laugh."
This may be OK for a fairly busy store......let people take a quick glance at how they look in something, but people are still going to want to try on the clothes. The reason being that every piece of clothing wears differently, and even the same product can be different because of cutting/stitching deviations.
However, I DO see this being very big with all of the online clothing stores. Get your image scanned in at the physical store (or send in an image) and the software lets you browse their store at home and see what you really look like in it.
Wow, just wait till we get cheap holographic displays!
I also expect this to become popular with the porn industry. Imagine being able to take a girl, take software that is designed to figure out what her body looks like, and then instead of clothing, swap on a "nudity skin". Oh yeah, new wave of pr0n on the horizon!
So can this study be used to setup a system whereby all the spyware companies, and all the grocery stores, and all the big brothers, etc. can purchase my private information legally instead of stealing my copyrighted info on Carnivorizaa? I could make a fortune!
Last time they had a DDoS attack, everybody was saying SCO had done it themselves to make them look like victims. Well, I guess this is just them doing that again, and Darl didn't make that profitable 4th quarter so I guess he needs the money he'll get when he turns himself in.
Slashdot Mirror
And besides, if I didn't have so many machines, what would I have to sell on eBay to support myself when I can't hold a job due to extreme arthritis?
The second perspective is that Napster 2 doesn't have anywhere near the negotiationing clout of Apple. I wonder how limited the song base is and whether or not the labels get control over what tracks are on Napster 2, because I'm SURE they weren't able to negotiate themselves out of that one. Is this simply labels gaining more control over what people listen to?
FIND OUT IF YOUR SPOUSE IS CHEATING ON YOU!!!! HIDDEN CAMERflk;ajvcoinvapoivwi
Personally, I'm very happy with my Tag Heuer, and its a very stylish watch, but I also once owned a calculator watch, which, while fun to play around with when I was bored...wasn't nearly as functional as it could have been (small keys) and looked hideous.
For some reason, the rule with accessories (not counting iPods and the like) still seems to be that if it has electronics in it, it cheapens the value. This should start to change as technology develops to the point where truly integrated wearable computing is mainstream. Then expect to see all manner of expensive digital jewelry. We'd also probably need celebrities to endorse something like that to help it gain popularity, but still.
It's also interesting to note that "sex offender" is only worth $13. Personally.....I think someone might value it a little more highly than that......
blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in
Asia. Only slightly less well know is this: Never go in against a
Sicilian when death is on the line!
A simple light spell at 1st level could be done by tracing a simple circle above your head for example while saying a couple magic phrases. But that high level Meteor Swarm spell is gonna be a bitch to pull off, ESPECIALLY in the heat of combat. Not only would it take a large series of complex hand gestures which you'll either have to memorize or have a cheat sheet for, but you're also going to have to know the thirty second incantation for it.
This could lead to a game where people are MUCH pickier about what spells they have in their repetoire, and it assures (or at least helps to assure) that the high level magic users actually have a decent amount of skill/memory and didn't just follow Jim Bob's 1-60 Levelling Guide.
Hell, I could even see this system, coupled with that Samurai game I've seen in the arcades where you actually swing a sword hilt to hit enemies, put together in such an interactive way that a whole new level of MMORPG interactivity could be born. Mages could use it, and so could the fighters.
"I would assert that American gameplay, in either its intentional or non-intentional attempt at open-ended gameplay (from GTA to Battlefield 1942), is generally on a steady course of avoiding emotions"
Wow, you just opened up a very interesting can of worms. You see, the Japanese are known for being rather emotionless in their interactions with people. There is a sense of needing to keep your emotions to yourself. Yet their gameplay (and anime!) is ALL about venting those emotions. Americans on the flipside are very emotional people and vent their emotions every chance they get with other people (hence some of the stereotypes about us). Perhaps it is because Americans lack a need to vent this emotion, and the Japanese do because they keep it all pent up inside?
The Dating Sim.
I've played one before, and laugh all you want, but it was a damned good experience. Not gameplay wise......the graphics were shit, and the controls weren't much better, but god did I get sucked in. I couldn't choose between a girl in the end because I had an attachment to ALL of them. I'm really shocked that there hasn't been a dating sim made with top of the line graphics. If they had FFX style graphics, it would be a much deeper experience.
Well, your response proves that you are a troll, and rather than waste energy responding to everything, I will single out the only important issue here, which I have quoted above. What we are "whining" about is the fact that they are asking us to live by certain guidelines, punish us for not following those guidelines, but refuse to tell us what the guidelines are. Please explain how that is fair?
" Here and there you find a lucky few who have a consumer grade high speed internet pipe that they share with a large number of people who use it as expected; they have occasional burst but 98% of the time their link is standing idle."
Well, I couldn't help myself, I had to respond to this too. If I pay for a service, and it does not expressly constrain me to certain parameters, I am free to use it however the hell I want. I could really care less if they "expect" me to use it one way and I use it another. I have paid for a service, and I am using the service to its full potential. If they want me to not use the service to its full potential, lay out the rules in black and white, and give me a way to follow them (ie. track my bandwidth usage). Otherwise, I really fail to see how they can be upset by people using the bandwidth like this.
Also, I would like to point out that you seem to feel that the only things that are done using this bandwidth is pirating copyrighted works. There are MANY legal uses which consume large amounts of bandwidth. Downloading the latest ISOs.....transferring large astronomy images, downloading unlicensed anime, etc. So try to drop the trollish slant from your post if you expect me to take your argument seriously, because whenever you work that in, it completely shoots your credibility to crap.
I don't think anybody believes it is their god given right to have inexepensive consumer type high speed service. If its not economically feasible for someone to offer it, they shouldn't. Otherwise, they should suck it up when someone uses it to its full potentail and realize that people have "called their bluff" so to speak.
Please point out in any of their advertising where they use the term "unlimited" without a qualifier immediately following it.
If they do that, then its illegal, but AFAIK they only say "unlimited access" or something similar. I mean.....I know I shouldn't underestimate the stupidity of big corporations, but something tells me they had their legal team go over this issue with a fine tooth comb.
The reason I call you a troll is because you threw THIS in:
"The typical slashdot responder who coyly dodges specifying that he has a god given right to steal music and video owned (right or wrong) by someone else, and jumps into arguments about false advertising, facist ISPs, and the like."
First, semantics, its not stealing, its copyright infringement, and the two are legally different. Second, there IS no typical Slashdot reader. And when the copyright issue DOES come up, people aren't saying they should be allowed to infringe on others IP, they are criticizing the industry for other problems (price fixing, poor payment of artists, DRM, suing 12 yr olds, etc).
False advertising is a crime, period. Whether this is false advertising or not has still to be decided. However, since I work in advertising, my view is that as long as they make it clear that "unlimited" means "unlimited access/time online" and not "unlimited bandwidth", it is legal. Whether they are taking good care of their customers is another issue entirely (hint: they're not).
But your idea is a helpful suggestion. While I don't think it would really work, I commend you on bringing it to the table, in the future however you should leave out the trollish comments.
The problem is the slippery slope as others have mentioned when this has come up in the past. You see, they skim the top 2% or whatever highest usage users off the top, to cut down on costs. Then, they decide they need to make even more money and decide to skim that top 2% or whatever again off the top. And so on and so forth. The issue isn't how much these people are being booted at, the issue is that Comcast refuses to tell its users what is acceptable and what isn't, and gives them no method of tracking their usage.
You are confusing an ethical issue with a legal one.
I wouldn't want some guy using up my bandwidth either, but what everybody is upset about is that if he WANTS to DL 2 dvds a day, he should be able to, according to what their advertising (well, legally 'unlimited' doesn't mean that, but thats another issue).
Correct, unfortunately in this instance it ISN'T false advertising. I should know, I'm in the ad industry. This is merely them using creative wording which as others have explained before means "unlimited time online/access", not "unlimited bandwidth". Now, I agree this is misleading, legally, its ok. Now.....what I would like to see is them make it more clear as to what the unlimited means......but then again I'd also like to see the RIAA offer non-DRMed music at an affordable price.
Ain't that the truth. In the considerable time I've played bf1942, not once have I seen someone been voted out, only kicked/banned by admin. You're right, part of it IS typing the command, it needs a popup button. But the other HUGE issue is a combination of the fact that you need an insane number of votes to kick someone out, and the fact that your vote stays in the system for a very short time before it resets the vote count. You'd think the mod community might be able to do something about this.
And thus sums up the state of computing today.
However, I DO see this being very big with all of the online clothing stores. Get your image scanned in at the physical store (or send in an image) and the software lets you browse their store at home and see what you really look like in it.
Wow, just wait till we get cheap holographic displays!
I also expect this to become popular with the porn industry. Imagine being able to take a girl, take software that is designed to figure out what her body looks like, and then instead of clothing, swap on a "nudity skin". Oh yeah, new wave of pr0n on the horizon!
*Patent Pending on Business Process.