This sounds pretty good, and depending on pricing, something I could use. I can, and have cobbled together various backup sever solutions over the years, but who has time for all of that? Having the choice of a hardware bundle or loading my own custom server sounds like a pretty easy path. Aside from pricing, the only other issue of concern to me is how buggy with the first releases be. I wonder if this will easily integrate with an Xbox 360 at some point. It might be just the thing to address the 20GB hard drive limitation right now.
It is interesting to note here that one of the original Playstation's selling points was the relative ease of development for the console. This was especially true compared to Sega's Saturn which with the sudden addition of another CPU, was infamously difficult to code for. Sadly, with each following generation of the Playstation, Sony has gotten further away from an easy to develop for platform and played right into the hands of Microsoft, a software company famous for relatively easy to use development tools. And I've heard that Nintendo's Wii is not too hard to develop for either, especially for those with GameCube experience. Say, isn't Nintendo of America located in Redmond WA too?
Using current technology, hauling waste into space is way too expensive. The cost to orbit are currently thousands of dollars per pound. Putting waste into solar orbit or on a solar collision course would be even more expensive. And, of course, any mishap on the way to orbit would be catastrophic for the environment. Interestingly enough, I think that once we have the technology to make space travel cheap, we'll probably have come up with some better solution to the waste problem than dumping it in space.
This is just the publicity dance. As others have noted already, Cisco has to sue to show it is protecting its trademark. And given the timing of the original announcement of Cisco's iPhone and the fact that Cisco and Apple were already negotiating over the iPhone trademark, clearly both companies knew exactly what was happening. That is, this is no surprise to anyone. Since there is no such thing as bad publicity, doing the dance with Apple is probably no big deal and gets the Cisco name in the papers. There's no doubt they'll settle this to the perceived benefit of both. Though, if I were Cisco, I'd be careful not to get too greedy, Steve Jobs is not the forgiving type.
I sincerely hope that the new governor, Deval Patrick, will not choose to waste the taxpayers' money on legislation which has failed at each and every turn. There are so many more pressing problems and quite honestly, the elections are over, what upside could the governor see in signing such a bill if it were to make it to his desk. Just say no Deval!
Hmph. As long as there's money to be made, games will be made for Vista. I see the limited user account issue as a coding issue more than anything else. Code will have to be written so that the game runs under LUA or... else. Personally, I find it annoying that a game would need to run under an Administrator account in the first place, especially if it's a kids game (had this happen once).
Finally, this is the device I've been looking for! I've been wanting more functionality in my mobile devices, but needing a big freakin keyboard was a real turn off and the feeling of still not being able to synch with everything. The iPhone is essentially like carrying a stylish Mac around in your pocket. This thing is going to sell like crazy, even at $599 and a lot of smartphones and Blackberrys are going to be junked in its wake. Nice job Apple!
The flipside of this is that Earth-like civilizations within 30 light years are surely able to detect us now as well! Of course if they are like us, they don't have any way of getting here anytime soon, so we're safe for now. After all, if they could, they would try to invade and conquer us just like that, if not, then they aren't like us at all!
But isn't the real question, "Will Microsoft respect me in the morning?"
In seriousness, I think most ISVs know the pitfalls of working with Microsoft. At the end of the day, you've still gotta sell your stuff and so far at least, Microsoft platforms have proven to be a good place to sell stuff. I think I like the wooing analogy better than a ticks on the dog alternative!
In the article, it says that the DRM'd CDs were sold primarily outside of the U.S.. I suspect this was because of the headaches and lawsuits they knew would likely plague them in the United States. But now with the globalization fueled by the internet, I can imagine that more and more U.S. consumers were importing these DRM'd CDs perhaps after discovering a foreign artist via their music downloaded from the internet. If that's even partially true, then it would be more proof in support of the notion that "sharing" music over the internet is actually growing the market. Making music easier to get legitimately will be a win for the music industry in the long run, if they can get over their CD and DRM fixations.
Haven't we already seen filtering attempts like this with the old Napster? That failed miserably because at the end of the day, there is just too much content to be checked and defeating automated id systems is relatively easy. Now it may be that that has changed, but still the sheer volume of content is likely to slow things down noticeably. And as others have already noted, if the system successfully removes illegally uploaded content, then why are people going to bother with YouTube anymore?
In the end, technology is not going to yield a solution to the copyright violation problem for a service like YouTube. What they really have to do is drive home the need to make deals with the content owners so that the owners get a mutually acceptable cut of the revenues. Both sides need to realize that there is no perfect solution, but they can all still make money on the deal. Alas, this all requires more good sense than has been displayed so far, especially by the media companies.
Overpriced console, selling in small quantities, with relatively few games.... Unless Sony does something quickly, they could have a disaster of 3DO-like proportions. I'd say that if they've managed to solve their manufacturing problems, they need to churn those suckers out and cut the price to at least match the 360.
Even though they've missed the holiday season, for the sake of 3rd parties, they need to get more PS3s into consumer hands asap. Even the large 3rd parties can only sit on unsold PS3 games and the loss they entail, for so long. Also, during the holiday season, many may be willing to spend more for something like a console, but once that period has passed and sanity sets in, the high price of the PS3 is going to prove to be a formidable barrier.
Zune is not going to catch the iPod anytime soon, and Microsoft knows this. Indeed, they probably aren't that concerned right now about the sales as much in how the machine fairs in the wild and what bugs may crop up with the first batch. Once they've got the initial hiccups smoothed out and the initial market reception data is in, if they are serious about grabbing real market share, they should drop the price.
A Zune next to an iPod for the same price, equals iPod for teh win! Drop the Zune price say 15-20%, then people start thinking about it a bit more. They can talk about more features and sharing all they want to, but right now that's not going to move people to Zune. If they can make it as easy to use as the iPod, attractive, and less expensive, then they've got a shot.
Heck, if they want to get really crazy, just bundle 20% Zune discount coupons with every new Windows Vista PC sold.
Not to be a wet blanket, but hasn't China vowed this sort of thing before? Even if the Chinese government were to go all out and start executing pirates en masse, there's still too much profit being made through piracy to believe the practice will just stop. I'm not condoning piracy, but it really does seem that piracy is a reaction to market forces out of whack, ie, wares that are being pirated are priced too high for the market in question.
It always helps me to have some specific problem or interest to which to apply a new technology I'm interested in. So as others have said already, if you're into console emulators, jump into the code of some well developed one and see how it ticks and muck around with it. I also have a few homegrown applications that I tend to port to whatever new language or platform interests me, sort of what people like to do with Minesweeper. The main thing though, is your heart has to be in it. It's a lot more fun that way, and you'll be able to stay fresh.
I know that many here on/. have already dismissed the person filing it as stupid. But I really think this case may help test the question of whether someone's ignorance of how computers and networks work can be held up as an excuse for copyright violations, etc.. At least in the case of automobile driving, all drivers are supposed to have valid licenses which were presumably obtained after training and passing the appropriate tests. But I don't recall any such requirements to operate a computer networked to the internet. I've encountered plenty of smart people in technical and scientific fields who don't really know what they're doing on a computer. So the average Jane, might be excused for not having too much of a clue about what is really happening on the machine. Of course the judge might still throw it all out because she should have read the licenses, but generally our legal system tries not to punish people unless they are competent enough to know what they are doing is wrong. Needless to say, it isn't always successful in this.
Does it really matter whether said "false memories" come from some virtual experience or not? Those memories are a part of the person's global collection of memories and as such probably carry as much weight as any other memories in shaping that person. The emotions attached to memories generated by virtual experiences are just as real as any other emotions. So does it really matter? The line between virtual experiences and physical experiences is blurring at an accelerating pace and soon even "ordinary" people's lives are going be taking place in virtual spaces at least part of the time whether via VR based training programs or some future VR banking services.
This reminds me of the anime Ghost in the Shell wherein people use sophisticated attack barriers to defend their cyberbrains from unwanted intrusions. It seems that we are approaching the need for personal firewalls much faster than anticipated driven by the desire of world governments to more closely monitor their citizens as well as consumer desire for more personal electronics. I'd say we probably have only a year or two before implantable cell phones/accessories start making an appearance. Soon thereafter the first viruses targeting those systems will show up. So the personal firewall business should be pretty good.
LOL. If only education were the real issue. The jobs in the U.S. were outsourced to India because the labor there is much cheaper. Ironically, if U.S. corporations want to hang on to cheap labor in India, they'll need to do something to help improve the quality of Indian education. Otherwise, the supply of qualified talent will shrink and drive up wages due to soaring demand.
I'm all for nonlethal weapons when the other choice is killing people en masse. But in the current Iraq situation, all I can see in a device that causes pain without killing is a lot of hurt people wanting payback big time. Something like this could be perverted into a horrible torture device. To ever use something like this against a civilian population would be dubious at best. Doesn't the world hate the U.S. enough already?
I've been hoping that eventually it will be possible to run a complete simulation of clinical research protocols long before any research participants are recruited. So this is very good news and a step in the right direction. Simulation cannot replace actual experimentation, but it can give you a very good idea of what to expect based on your theory which in the clinical sphere could have life saving potential.
This is probably one of those, "got caught with our trousers down", moments. Companies that make statements like this have generally been caught off guard. Xbox Live has been enough of a success that not only is Sony developing their own similar service for the PS3, even Nintendo has come to the online downloadable content party with the Wii. As another poster mentioned, Rare's development cycle has simply grown too long to keep up with changes in the market and technology.
Nice review. This just reminds me again that I need to take time out regularly to study not only new technology, new methodologies. Thanks for pointing out what appears to be a good book!
First or second place is a definite possibility from what can be seen so far. But Nintendo knows that profit is far more important than their place in the so called console wars. So they've a good chance of making both consumers and shareholders happy all at the same time. Who'd have thunk that?
Actually, I recall a story a few years back that said that incidents of domestic violence increased immediately following televised NFL football games. But I've never heard of anything similar following Quake Con or the release of new FPS or similar games.
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This sounds pretty good, and depending on pricing, something I could use. I can, and have cobbled together various backup sever solutions over the years, but who has time for all of that? Having the choice of a hardware bundle or loading my own custom server sounds like a pretty easy path. Aside from pricing, the only other issue of concern to me is how buggy with the first releases be. I wonder if this will easily integrate with an Xbox 360 at some point. It might be just the thing to address the 20GB hard drive limitation right now.
It is interesting to note here that one of the original Playstation's selling points was the relative ease of development for the console. This was especially true compared to Sega's Saturn which with the sudden addition of another CPU, was infamously difficult to code for. Sadly, with each following generation of the Playstation, Sony has gotten further away from an easy to develop for platform and played right into the hands of Microsoft, a software company famous for relatively easy to use development tools. And I've heard that Nintendo's Wii is not too hard to develop for either, especially for those with GameCube experience. Say, isn't Nintendo of America located in Redmond WA too?
Using current technology, hauling waste into space is way too expensive. The cost to orbit are currently thousands of dollars per pound. Putting waste into solar orbit or on a solar collision course would be even more expensive. And, of course, any mishap on the way to orbit would be catastrophic for the environment. Interestingly enough, I think that once we have the technology to make space travel cheap, we'll probably have come up with some better solution to the waste problem than dumping it in space.
This is just the publicity dance. As others have noted already, Cisco has to sue to show it is protecting its trademark. And given the timing of the original announcement of Cisco's iPhone and the fact that Cisco and Apple were already negotiating over the iPhone trademark, clearly both companies knew exactly what was happening. That is, this is no surprise to anyone. Since there is no such thing as bad publicity, doing the dance with Apple is probably no big deal and gets the Cisco name in the papers. There's no doubt they'll settle this to the perceived benefit of both. Though, if I were Cisco, I'd be careful not to get too greedy, Steve Jobs is not the forgiving type.
I sincerely hope that the new governor, Deval Patrick, will not choose to waste the taxpayers' money on legislation which has failed at each and every turn. There are so many more pressing problems and quite honestly, the elections are over, what upside could the governor see in signing such a bill if it were to make it to his desk. Just say no Deval!
Hmph. As long as there's money to be made, games will be made for Vista. I see the limited user account issue as a coding issue more than anything else. Code will have to be written so that the game runs under LUA or ... else. Personally, I find it annoying that a game would need to run under an Administrator account in the first place, especially if it's a kids game (had this happen once).
Finally, this is the device I've been looking for! I've been wanting more functionality in my mobile devices, but needing a big freakin keyboard was a real turn off and the feeling of still not being able to synch with everything. The iPhone is essentially like carrying a stylish Mac around in your pocket. This thing is going to sell like crazy, even at $599 and a lot of smartphones and Blackberrys are going to be junked in its wake. Nice job Apple!
The flipside of this is that Earth-like civilizations within 30 light years are surely able to detect us now as well! Of course if they are like us, they don't have any way of getting here anytime soon, so we're safe for now. After all, if they could, they would try to invade and conquer us just like that, if not, then they aren't like us at all!
But isn't the real question, "Will Microsoft respect me in the morning?"
In seriousness, I think most ISVs know the pitfalls of working with Microsoft. At the end of the day, you've still gotta sell your stuff and so far at least, Microsoft platforms have proven to be a good place to sell stuff. I think I like the wooing analogy better than a ticks on the dog alternative!
In the article, it says that the DRM'd CDs were sold primarily outside of the U.S.. I suspect this was because of the headaches and lawsuits they knew would likely plague them in the United States. But now with the globalization fueled by the internet, I can imagine that more and more U.S. consumers were importing these DRM'd CDs perhaps after discovering a foreign artist via their music downloaded from the internet. If that's even partially true, then it would be more proof in support of the notion that "sharing" music over the internet is actually growing the market. Making music easier to get legitimately will be a win for the music industry in the long run, if they can get over their CD and DRM fixations.
Haven't we already seen filtering attempts like this with the old Napster? That failed miserably because at the end of the day, there is just too much content to be checked and defeating automated id systems is relatively easy. Now it may be that that has changed, but still the sheer volume of content is likely to slow things down noticeably. And as others have already noted, if the system successfully removes illegally uploaded content, then why are people going to bother with YouTube anymore?
In the end, technology is not going to yield a solution to the copyright violation problem for a service like YouTube. What they really have to do is drive home the need to make deals with the content owners so that the owners get a mutually acceptable cut of the revenues. Both sides need to realize that there is no perfect solution, but they can all still make money on the deal. Alas, this all requires more good sense than has been displayed so far, especially by the media companies.
Overpriced console, selling in small quantities, with relatively few games.... Unless Sony does something quickly, they could have a disaster of 3DO-like proportions. I'd say that if they've managed to solve their manufacturing problems, they need to churn those suckers out and cut the price to at least match the 360.
Even though they've missed the holiday season, for the sake of 3rd parties, they need to get more PS3s into consumer hands asap. Even the large 3rd parties can only sit on unsold PS3 games and the loss they entail, for so long. Also, during the holiday season, many may be willing to spend more for something like a console, but once that period has passed and sanity sets in, the high price of the PS3 is going to prove to be a formidable barrier.
Zune is not going to catch the iPod anytime soon, and Microsoft knows this. Indeed, they probably aren't that concerned right now about the sales as much in how the machine fairs in the wild and what bugs may crop up with the first batch. Once they've got the initial hiccups smoothed out and the initial market reception data is in, if they are serious about grabbing real market share, they should drop the price.
A Zune next to an iPod for the same price, equals iPod for teh win! Drop the Zune price say 15-20%, then people start thinking about it a bit more. They can talk about more features and sharing all they want to, but right now that's not going to move people to Zune. If they can make it as easy to use as the iPod, attractive, and less expensive, then they've got a shot.
Heck, if they want to get really crazy, just bundle 20% Zune discount coupons with every new Windows Vista PC sold.
Not to be a wet blanket, but hasn't China vowed this sort of thing before? Even if the Chinese government were to go all out and start executing pirates en masse, there's still too much profit being made through piracy to believe the practice will just stop. I'm not condoning piracy, but it really does seem that piracy is a reaction to market forces out of whack, ie, wares that are being pirated are priced too high for the market in question.
It always helps me to have some specific problem or interest to which to apply a new technology I'm interested in. So as others have said already, if you're into console emulators, jump into the code of some well developed one and see how it ticks and muck around with it. I also have a few homegrown applications that I tend to port to whatever new language or platform interests me, sort of what people like to do with Minesweeper. The main thing though, is your heart has to be in it. It's a lot more fun that way, and you'll be able to stay fresh.
I know that many here on /. have already dismissed the person filing it as stupid. But I really think this case may help test the question of whether someone's ignorance of how computers and networks work can be held up as an excuse for copyright violations, etc.. At least in the case of automobile driving, all drivers are supposed to have valid licenses which were presumably obtained after training and passing the appropriate tests. But I don't recall any such requirements to operate a computer networked to the internet. I've encountered plenty of smart people in technical and scientific fields who don't really know what they're doing on a computer. So the average Jane, might be excused for not having too much of a clue about what is really happening on the machine. Of course the judge might still throw it all out because she should have read the licenses, but generally our legal system tries not to punish people unless they are competent enough to know what they are doing is wrong. Needless to say, it isn't always successful in this.
Does it really matter whether said "false memories" come from some virtual experience or not? Those memories are a part of the person's global collection of memories and as such probably carry as much weight as any other memories in shaping that person. The emotions attached to memories generated by virtual experiences are just as real as any other emotions. So does it really matter? The line between virtual experiences and physical experiences is blurring at an accelerating pace and soon even "ordinary" people's lives are going be taking place in virtual spaces at least part of the time whether via VR based training programs or some future VR banking services.
This reminds me of the anime Ghost in the Shell wherein people use sophisticated attack barriers to defend their cyberbrains from unwanted intrusions. It seems that we are approaching the need for personal firewalls much faster than anticipated driven by the desire of world governments to more closely monitor their citizens as well as consumer desire for more personal electronics. I'd say we probably have only a year or two before implantable cell phones/accessories start making an appearance. Soon thereafter the first viruses targeting those systems will show up. So the personal firewall business should be pretty good.
LOL. If only education were the real issue. The jobs in the U.S. were outsourced to India because the labor there is much cheaper. Ironically, if U.S. corporations want to hang on to cheap labor in India, they'll need to do something to help improve the quality of Indian education. Otherwise, the supply of qualified talent will shrink and drive up wages due to soaring demand.
I'm all for nonlethal weapons when the other choice is killing people en masse. But in the current Iraq situation, all I can see in a device that causes pain without killing is a lot of hurt people wanting payback big time. Something like this could be perverted into a horrible torture device. To ever use something like this against a civilian population would be dubious at best. Doesn't the world hate the U.S. enough already?
I've been hoping that eventually it will be possible to run a complete simulation of clinical research protocols long before any research participants are recruited. So this is very good news and a step in the right direction. Simulation cannot replace actual experimentation, but it can give you a very good idea of what to expect based on your theory which in the clinical sphere could have life saving potential.
This is probably one of those, "got caught with our trousers down", moments. Companies that make statements like this have generally been caught off guard. Xbox Live has been enough of a success that not only is Sony developing their own similar service for the PS3, even Nintendo has come to the online downloadable content party with the Wii. As another poster mentioned, Rare's development cycle has simply grown too long to keep up with changes in the market and technology.
Nice review. This just reminds me again that I need to take time out regularly to study not only new technology, new methodologies. Thanks for pointing out what appears to be a good book!
First or second place is a definite possibility from what can be seen so far. But Nintendo knows that profit is far more important than their place in the so called console wars. So they've a good chance of making both consumers and shareholders happy all at the same time. Who'd have thunk that?
Actually, I recall a story a few years back that said that incidents of domestic violence increased immediately following televised NFL football games. But I've never heard of anything similar following Quake Con or the release of new FPS or similar games.