"and UNFORTUNATELY, our law makers have NO CLUE what to do with it other than react like they were born with the patriot act in their mouths (or pick your preferred orrifice)."
I guess I'd rather they REACT like that than be that way in the first place and quashing whatever hope of a technological future we might have. Least that way the cats already out of the bag.
While I unfortunately think what you say is likely....all it takes is indie fashion designers to get ahold of this technology. I mean...is there any law thata says you cannot modify your clothing in any way you want? Is there any law saying you cannot use copyrighted material on clothing? I mean, its for personal use...and its an image....if you're nto selling it how would it be illegal?
Honestly....I'm starting to get the same feeling in my stomach as when Black & White was about to come out. So while I may doubt the expectations I have for this game, I still have really high hopes that this game pulls through, because this concept is absolutely FASCINATING to me as I love evolution in general and to put it in game form....capturing gameplay from all the main genres...well, its just awesome. Then you throw in the fact that Wil Wright is behind it and it will be humorous as well and its really amazing.
I honestly don't know which I'm more excited for at this point.....Spore or Wii. Although for Spore I hope they release a demo first to encourage people to buy it......mostly just because I want to get my fucking hands on it already!
Why stop at FedEx? Why not have these CD sniffing dogs patrolling highschools and sniffing lockers.....ripe ground for people to stash the CDs their friends just gave them.
Or why not have them patrol college dorms? I mean...technically the students don't have property rights aside from those the school grants them.
Oh, thats right....because IT IS MORALLY FUCKING WRONG!
I'm REALLY curious if there's any way to tell if your package has been tampered with due to one of these cd-sniffers, and if so is there any legal recourse? I'm assuming since its a corporation the answer is just to take my money elsewhere.
Note to self...."misplace" all company FedEx materials and make them use UPS or DHL.
In response to the MPAA actually doing this? Well...can any of you honestly say that while you might not have expected just this scenario....you're not at all surprised that something like this seriously is happening?
That loud clicking sound is the sound of all the Slashdotters who got their hopes up simultaneously clicking the back button on their browser in disgust.
This could have been great, but instead its just a cheap money-grab using an established brand that is easier to see through than most of Paris Hilton's wardrobe.
Hmmm, thanks for correcting re: UK vs USA. However my thought is...by providing a data rate do they become an ISP? If that is the case, then I'm in favor of network neutrality for them. While AT&T and the like would like to charge websites more for access, TMobile just wants to make sure they can charge you more for existing services that would be undercut by services available for free (or damn near it) on the net.
If they filter this, and they are considered an ISP, would they lose common carrier status?
"Oh an Anonymous Coward. I'm sure T-mobile are quaking in their boots right now.
It's their network, they can apply all the restrictions they like. You don't like it? Go elsewhere."
I however am not an anononymous customer...and while I may not be anybody special to them, my contract just came up and this is story is going to encourage me to take my services elsewhere (not that I needed another reason really...) and if enough people do the same thing, it will send a message.
Bingo. Its OK for this to look like a portable video screen and NOT have a typical sunglasses shape. Unless that shape provides a "background" to increase the contrast of the screen, then it really is just adding weight and getting in the way.
However, and maybe someone can find the link for me....I remember the MIT Wearable guys had developed a laser that was tiny, clipped onto some existing glasses and projected a laser directly onto the retina that showed the screen. The laser was low powered enough whereby it did not cause any damage...I honestly thought thats where the future of wearable monitors was.....anybody have any info on it?
While Steve Jobs was initially reluctant to do a portable video iPod...I think there is absolutely zero doubt that portable MEDIA is the future....its not just music, its not just videos....its everything. Tech is getting good enough with Treos and the like where having a wireless (or even wired) connected to that could let you put your damn arm down for a change and not have to hold a screen up to see what you're doing.
One more thing in regards to the fashion element...looks like it is the popular pretty girls who have already paved the way for glasses as huge as these according to this article. I have to say...Paris Hilton was useful for something! I think teen girls who already wear huge sunglasses and are on their cellphones 24/7 will LOVE these. Especially if they ever miniturize them to the point where it doesn't obstruct your vision.
No offense, but you are not a special unique snowflake. You were far from the only one discussing the fact that this is all an effort to get people to switch, so there was no point in tagging the story with "stolenfromakaimbatman" which I'm going to have to assume was your doing, or bitching and moaning about it in your post.
The ONLY reason this is making the news is because MySpace is so high profile. What about all the other web forums that teenage girls visit? Maybe those should have to follow the same policies.
And the other big question is...does this jackass plan on paying for all those additional employees?
As much as I hate huge evil corporations, what I hate more are politicians who mandate this huge crock of shit and then just make the companies cough up the dough to pay for it...which inevitably ends up costing the end users in some form or another.
That linked article is a truly fascinating read, thanks for posting CTD. I'm curious though...if this company is making so much money...I'm kind of shocked that they haven't created their own MMO yet...I mean, thats basically a license to print money!
The cellphone companies need to realize that people don't want to pay $5 per game. That is an ABSURD price for what amounts to a free Flash game. Top that off with the fact that they expect you to plop down money on the game when all you know about it is the title and a brief uninformative description if you're lucky.
In the information age, people making game purchasing decisions where they are actually expected to pay money (and $5 is not insignificant) expect to have reviews, screenshots, possibly even videos at their fingertips to educate them before they make their purchasing decision.
Of course I'm sure the cell companies are reluctant to supply that otherwise everybody would know what utter crap 99.9% of those games are.
You know, I consider myself in the gameplay over graphics camp any day...but people need to really stop complaining when new graphics technology comes out.
Yes, gameplay is ESSENTIAL, however the Holy Grail of gaming technology has long been considered truely immersive virtual reality, and we can't get there without lifelike graphics.
The people who say that older games were just fine sound like the infamous quote of "256k should be enough for anybody".
I'm not saying graphics let developers off the hook in terms of gameplay, but they give them more possibilities, and in gaming that can only be a good thing.
IANAPP (I am not a particle physicist) so I was wondering if someone could explain in layman's terms why this is useful and what potential applications are for this technology. I mean...it sounds really cool...proton beams have been sci-fi weapons forever, but something tells me this doesn't exactly have immediate weapons applications so I'm just curious what exactly it does.
You are indeed correct regarding poor people having more children, I forgot to take that into account. However in terms of personal survival (rather than survival of the species) I still pose that greed directly affects that especially in terms of quality of life (which affects how long you can live).
I would even make the leap to say that since greed and selfishness go hand in hand, that it directly affects the amount of risk a person is willing to shift to himself from someone else. A very greedy and selfish person for example would not try to stop someone mugging someone else on the street, and thus would lower their probability of coming into physical conflict which could in turn affect their personal survival.
"Lara is indeed a girl that every boy wants to be with, but not in a plutonic way; they want to control her, and have her be the object of their sexual fantasies."
Its funny, when I read the actual article, thats kind of what I was expecting it to say...not this whole "Final Girl" BS. And to illustrate my point I'm going to make a whole bunch of sweeping generalizations.
The first generalization is that a large majority of gamers are geeks who are less than successful at girls. Part of that problem stems from lack of confidence and the inability to actually ATTEMPT to ask a girl out. Its the classic "I'm gonna be single forever because none of the girls will approach me and fall in love with me".
I suffered from that when I was younger, and it caused me to develop a strong attraction to powerful, confident and aggressive women who go after what they want (the fantasy being they go after ME) and don't take no for an answer. If you're a gamer geek who can relate, raise your hand. Wow, thats a lot of hands.
The second generalization is that when gamer geeks are fantasizing about Lara, it may be less due to her ridiculously unrealistic anatomy and more her personality which quite frankly, exudes sexual power and seductiveness. Much like Angolina Jolie herself, she's the girl who guys fantasize would try to seduce him and they would be powerless against it. Possibly try to control it, but ultimately powerless.
I could be completely off on all of this, just thought I'd toss out another perspective.
I'm curious since you seem quite knowledgeable on this subject....The Japanese seem to have a somewhat polar opposite archetype and I'm wondering what it might be called. It is basically the unlikely hero who doesn't seem to have a chance in the world of pulling it off, bumbles everything, and then somehow becomes the uber-powerful hero at the end. What exactly would you classify that as? Also, do you have any thoughts as to the underlying cultural reasons why there is such a huge difference between that primary archetype for Japan and the American Adam archetype in America?
"Greed (trying to acquire more resources than you could reasonably need) may have been a survival trait before we became so social. Now, it's anti-survival"
Um...are you sure you're clear on the definition of survival trait? Greed, in its most base sense today implies hoarding money and doing whatever you can to get more of it. This can potentially have a very large impact on how attractive that person is to members of the opposite sex (particularly a rich guy with women) and thus has a direct affect on his chances of successfully reproducing.
And that's just reproduction...having a lot of money due to greed enables you to afford more expensive medical treatments that may prolong your life...it allows you to afford better food and a safer neighborhood and a whole slew of other things.
I honestly cannot figure out for the life of me how greed is NOT a crucial survival trait.
"but what you're looking at is the fundamental flaw in all current MMORPGs... they leverage a small amount of content with a gigantic dollop of tedium to keep people online as long as possible, paying their monthly fees and ruining their expensive college educations."
Funny how one person's flaw is another industry's business model.
I mean, I completely agree with everything you've said, but don't expect things to change until their revenue stream is A. no longer directly influenced by the number of hours people need to put into the game to advance or B. they see a bigger increase in revenue from cutting down on grind and making the game more fun.
Neither of which are likely to happen any time soon unfortunately.
You seem to be missing the point. The point is not how often you use cash...the point is that for the most part it is an anonymous payment system. A direct transfer is not.
Slashdot Mirror
I guess I'd rather they REACT like that than be that way in the first place and quashing whatever hope of a technological future we might have. Least that way the cats already out of the bag.
I honestly don't know which I'm more excited for at this point.....Spore or Wii. Although for Spore I hope they release a demo first to encourage people to buy it......mostly just because I want to get my fucking hands on it already!
Or why not have them patrol college dorms? I mean...technically the students don't have property rights aside from those the school grants them.
Oh, thats right....because IT IS MORALLY FUCKING WRONG!
I'm REALLY curious if there's any way to tell if your package has been tampered with due to one of these cd-sniffers, and if so is there any legal recourse? I'm assuming since its a corporation the answer is just to take my money elsewhere.
Note to self...."misplace" all company FedEx materials and make them use UPS or DHL.
In response to the MPAA actually doing this? Well...can any of you honestly say that while you might not have expected just this scenario....you're not at all surprised that something like this seriously is happening?
This could have been great, but instead its just a cheap money-grab using an established brand that is easier to see through than most of Paris Hilton's wardrobe.
FFS...
If they filter this, and they are considered an ISP, would they lose common carrier status?
I however am not an anononymous customer...and while I may not be anybody special to them, my contract just came up and this is story is going to encourage me to take my services elsewhere (not that I needed another reason really...) and if enough people do the same thing, it will send a message.
However, and maybe someone can find the link for me....I remember the MIT Wearable guys had developed a laser that was tiny, clipped onto some existing glasses and projected a laser directly onto the retina that showed the screen. The laser was low powered enough whereby it did not cause any damage...I honestly thought thats where the future of wearable monitors was.....anybody have any info on it?
While Steve Jobs was initially reluctant to do a portable video iPod...I think there is absolutely zero doubt that portable MEDIA is the future....its not just music, its not just videos....its everything. Tech is getting good enough with Treos and the like where having a wireless (or even wired) connected to that could let you put your damn arm down for a change and not have to hold a screen up to see what you're doing.
One more thing in regards to the fashion element...looks like it is the popular pretty girls who have already paved the way for glasses as huge as these according to this article. I have to say...Paris Hilton was useful for something! I think teen girls who already wear huge sunglasses and are on their cellphones 24/7 will LOVE these. Especially if they ever miniturize them to the point where it doesn't obstruct your vision.
Honestly, grow up and get over yourself.
And the other big question is...does this jackass plan on paying for all those additional employees?
As much as I hate huge evil corporations, what I hate more are politicians who mandate this huge crock of shit and then just make the companies cough up the dough to pay for it...which inevitably ends up costing the end users in some form or another.
Sign #1 - The Slashdot tags for his stories read: "dvorak, moron, troll, microsoft, idiot".
Honestly...why do the editors keep posting his garbage? Humor value?
In the information age, people making game purchasing decisions where they are actually expected to pay money (and $5 is not insignificant) expect to have reviews, screenshots, possibly even videos at their fingertips to educate them before they make their purchasing decision.
Of course I'm sure the cell companies are reluctant to supply that otherwise everybody would know what utter crap 99.9% of those games are.
Yes, gameplay is ESSENTIAL, however the Holy Grail of gaming technology has long been considered truely immersive virtual reality, and we can't get there without lifelike graphics.
The people who say that older games were just fine sound like the infamous quote of "256k should be enough for anybody".
I'm not saying graphics let developers off the hook in terms of gameplay, but they give them more possibilities, and in gaming that can only be a good thing.
I would even make the leap to say that since greed and selfishness go hand in hand, that it directly affects the amount of risk a person is willing to shift to himself from someone else. A very greedy and selfish person for example would not try to stop someone mugging someone else on the street, and thus would lower their probability of coming into physical conflict which could in turn affect their personal survival.
Its funny, when I read the actual article, thats kind of what I was expecting it to say...not this whole "Final Girl" BS. And to illustrate my point I'm going to make a whole bunch of sweeping generalizations.
The first generalization is that a large majority of gamers are geeks who are less than successful at girls. Part of that problem stems from lack of confidence and the inability to actually ATTEMPT to ask a girl out. Its the classic "I'm gonna be single forever because none of the girls will approach me and fall in love with me".
I suffered from that when I was younger, and it caused me to develop a strong attraction to powerful, confident and aggressive women who go after what they want (the fantasy being they go after ME) and don't take no for an answer. If you're a gamer geek who can relate, raise your hand. Wow, thats a lot of hands.
The second generalization is that when gamer geeks are fantasizing about Lara, it may be less due to her ridiculously unrealistic anatomy and more her personality which quite frankly, exudes sexual power and seductiveness. Much like Angolina Jolie herself, she's the girl who guys fantasize would try to seduce him and they would be powerless against it. Possibly try to control it, but ultimately powerless.
I could be completely off on all of this, just thought I'd toss out another perspective.
Um...are you sure you're clear on the definition of survival trait? Greed, in its most base sense today implies hoarding money and doing whatever you can to get more of it. This can potentially have a very large impact on how attractive that person is to members of the opposite sex (particularly a rich guy with women) and thus has a direct affect on his chances of successfully reproducing.
And that's just reproduction...having a lot of money due to greed enables you to afford more expensive medical treatments that may prolong your life...it allows you to afford better food and a safer neighborhood and a whole slew of other things.
I honestly cannot figure out for the life of me how greed is NOT a crucial survival trait.
Funny how one person's flaw is another industry's business model.
I mean, I completely agree with everything you've said, but don't expect things to change until their revenue stream is A. no longer directly influenced by the number of hours people need to put into the game to advance or B. they see a bigger increase in revenue from cutting down on grind and making the game more fun.
Neither of which are likely to happen any time soon unfortunately.
Sounds like a Hunter quest....