All I have to say is this is the sort of thing that happens when you outsource to Mexico. I mean, c'mon folks. They built THE Volkswagen Beetle for 30 years after they took it off the market. Or something like that. Anyhow, I know people who have sent there XBox's in and the same thing happens a year later. Freakin' figures... Microsoft.
Re:Youwant dual mode transportation?
on
By Road and Rail?
·
· Score: 1
I think people are missing the point here. First off, I don't think this system is quite ready for the American freight system just yet. Especially since our rail system (Amtrak is a good example) has been bleeding cash for a while. This is more of something for Europe. Why? Simple economics. They pay more per gallon or liter (depending on which country isn't using the metric system) than we do. If you were to compare dollars and cents, the cost of diesel fuel in say France is $3-4 dollars per gallon compared to the United States, where it averages (at least in the south) around $1.50 per gallon.
If you think about it, this makes sense for implementation in Europe. Their freight system is more reliant on road travel and their passenger transportation is more rail based. (Which if everyone wasn't in such a damn hurry to get somewhere, and their wasn't an airport in every freakin' city with a population over 100,000 we'd still have a decent passenger rail system in this country.)
And if you can combine the two into an uber transportation system, making it possible for people to go by rail where they can't go by road, and vice versa, then you create a huge infastructure in where you can do pretty much anything. The reason why I see Europeans getting excited about this is because they don't have the same type of freight infastructure we do, and since gas is so damn expensive... yada yada yada. Everyone gets the idea.
Imagine what FedEx could do with this though. From the plane terminal, onto the delivery trucks (I think it'd be kick ass to have one...) and since it could be made to have the same technology as this new Bladerunner Dual Mode Transport, you could build small rail systems from the airport to a highway so that the trucks can cut down on delivery time waiting around in airport traffic. I could see that as a practical application.
Being a Radio DJ myself, I can sort of understand where Clear Channel is coming from. But on the other hand, I kind of like the idea behind XM Satellite Radio.
I don't think XM will ever really beat out the FM band, but at the same time, the idea behind having your music station wherever you drive is cool.
3. Time-Warner buys out Turner Broadcasting 3a. Cable Companies figure out how to do broadband internet 3b. Cable Company installers will be by your house between 9am and 5pm on X date to install, they never show 3c. You get pissed at cable company, decide to go with Satellite 3d. Replace Satellite with Cable, repeat step 3b. 3e. You decide that maybe rabbit ears are better. 3f. Cable Company installer finally shows 3 months later, a fatal shooting happens 3g. Satellite Company installer finally shows 3 months after Cable Company installer, another hole in the back yard is dug with a nice shrubbery slightly elavated with a nice path in between is installed beside first hole in which Cable Company installer is buried with a shrubbery on top. The knights who say ni, who live in your back yard and look like pine trees, are happy and let you travel through the back yard without them saying "ni!" to you.
"Cable TV, too: When entrepreneurs first started installing cable in 1948, most refused to pay the networks for the content that they hijacked and delivered to their customers - even though they were basically selling access to otherwise free television broadcasts. Cable companies were thus Napsterizing broadcasters' content, but more egregiously than anything Napster ever did - Napster never charged for the content it enabled others to give away."
I know this a bit offtopic, but does anyone know a good site that could sort of present the whole history of the cable industry. I thought it didn't start up until the 1970's, but maybe I'm wrong. Have been before, will be again.
That wasn't the point of the question. I would think, in China anyhow, that it wouldn't matter what the people wanted since government controls everything anyhow. And since China has the manpower resources, I would think they would just rip Google off and run their own search engine. Or something like that. Probably doesn't matter anyhow since in the next few years they'll probably do that anyhow.
Wonder why China doesn't have a state-run search engine? They have a state-modified version of Linux (referring to RedStar Linux, I think...)
Seriously though, China has the largest population in the world with India at a close second right now. OF course their internet usage is BOOMING. Good luck to all those who design the search engines.
With Jimmy Buffet playing in the background too? I just wanna know where my flying cars are? The one that can fold up into a small briefcase like on The Jetsons and weighs like half an ounce.
However, I would rather keep the regular coctail waitress. They're more insightful, funny and better looking than the robots. Polished Steel doesn't really do it for me on looks.
Must be the galactic ultra-cricket. Those White Robots from Krikkit have a way of just stealing games from people. Geez, and using another Rover for a ball? They need to quit hitting it over the fence.
Kev
Whatcha do for fuelless flight is this: 1) Push the craft off a cliff. Has to be a cliff. 2) Aim for the ground 3) Get distracted, then you begin to fly.
Thank you. Ewwww... I just realized something: Windows XP Embedded. BTW: I know this is OT, but we've come across some virus problems here at my dorm/Auburn, AL area that seem to delete the TCP/IP protocol. Anyone know anything about that. Seems to affect Windows XP Home and Win 98. Anyhow, I dunno, just thought I would mention it.
Kev
With all the commenting of vaporware, censorship, and after reading the article, here's what bothers me.
1) This sounds like Fraud. Really, really, really bad fraud. I don't think I would buy this game console for that reason. But, I have other reasons to.
2) Because the "Phantom" console uses a custom version of the Windows XPe kernel (the hell is XPe by the way... I've never heard of it.) Even though Microsoft has let this sort of thing happen before, I don't think they'd let it go on to for too long. Especially with X-Box 2, etc. I'd think that Microsoft and Sony would do something like the streaming game content themselves, along with adding other stuff that could be useful.
3) These people have no idea about console design apprarently. Aren't the rules of console design supposed to be "standardization" of product, so that EVERY game you design can work on EVERY console you PRODUCE! What's with this "configure your own system" crap? What if a new game comes out that you can only play on the highest end configuration and you have the bottom of the barrel. Yeah, that's not good.
I just don't trust this period. It's definitely not a "fair cop guv."
you can't beat in Knights of the Old Republic being so "light" sided that you glow in the dark. You're a demi-god at that point, or you've just stepped into a nuclear reactor for a few seconds. Reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer goes into space and the Carbon Rod gets all the credit for everything.
Anyhow, just to respond, I think the best game I've played this year was Medieval: Total War. I loved it! They just need to do a more modern war with more guns. (I know, it defeats the purpose. But hey, I would love to play the Prussian Army during the late 19th Century going up against the French with Needle Guns! That would be fun.)
The only thing I don't like is that I don't retain ownership of the satelite during the whole thing. If I'm dropping $9.5 Million, then shouldn't I at least get to slap a sticker on there that says "Property of Ultimatealchemy Productions... Powered by Linux"? It would make sense to me.
Another thing: What's with the whole "time share" program. This isn't a damn condo! IT'S A SATELITE! I'm not going to just, you know, drop 9.5 million bucks on something then have SpaceDev assholes tell me that I "should lease it out" or better yet, have them control the "lease program", so I don't have any control over the "revenue" that comes my way from people "buying satelite time". Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Let's let SpaceDev sell commercial satelite time that I'm supposed to own to some jerkoff terrorist. Real nice there boys.
I will say one thing. It would be nice to have one of those puppies. You could have a globe and design a little system that shows it's relative position to earth at the moment... or something like that. It would be fun. Oh, and lets not forget, like many people have mentioned, the obvious John Ashcroft snooping issues. I say let's find out if he has a mistress or not! Or, you know, we could always give Monica a call. National Scandals, here we come!
After looking over the site as well, I find some other problems with the software you might want to look into thinking about.
1) Everything nowadays is skinnable. It would help if you set up some sort of template system in which you can skin the pages easily. Web designers can go hack your code, but regular real estate people are going to have a hard time making things look the way they want to without having to hire peoples. Just a thought.
2) Think about people being able to port over to use it as a module for some other system. While the system by itself is fine, people are going to want to integrate it into their systems as well. Good CMS systems to think about would be slash (of course slash), phpWebSite (what I use on my page, it's done by the guys over @ Appalachian State University computer science departmet; linkto: http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu ) and PHPNuke. Those seem to be some, anyhow.
3) Work on your documentation on the site.
4) Get some color on the site. It looks plain, and boring. Make people want to download and use your system.
It runs linux, has a bootloader, and supported hardware to do so. They've clustered with it. All the consoles are made cheap and dirty in either Taiwan or Mexico. 'Nuff said.
No see though, the real terrorists don't like all the attention that Microsoft gets. Billy G and the Redmond three are about as popular as white on rice.
What is it with people and the XBOX anyhow? I could buy a PS2 and still get just about the same performance running Linux. Heck, I'm suprised people HAVEN'T gotten a Linux bootloader running yet with all the crap they do to xboxes nowadays. And to tell you the truth, the xbox really isn't that impressive. I boycott it on the grounds it is built by Microsoft. That should be reason enough. The only time I am ever going to buy a console again is if a) it has usefulness and includes a multi-tasking *NIX based OS with a decent interface and a keyboard and mouse (so basically a computer I use on the TV, but without the crappy resolutiuon) and/or 2) if Apple ever enters the market, which of course they will get creamed, and brings with it the style and passion they bring to everything. I could see 2GHz dual G5's in the next console, couldn't everyone else? (A revival of the cube. That would steal the thunder of the gamecube. Which btw- why hasn't anyone done anything to it of high notice on Slashdot. Unless I was off vacationing somewhere, I don't think I have seen any stories...)
No, no, no. I know who Helios is. I was just commenting on the fact that if they were going to name it something like Firebird, Phoenix would be a lot better name, and I don't think that the boys over at GM would like it too much.
Slashdot Mirror
All I have to say is this is the sort of thing that happens when you outsource to Mexico. I mean, c'mon folks. They built THE Volkswagen Beetle for 30 years after they took it off the market. Or something like that. Anyhow, I know people who have sent there XBox's in and the same thing happens a year later. Freakin' figures... Microsoft.
I think people are missing the point here. First off, I don't think this system is quite ready for the American freight system just yet. Especially since our rail system (Amtrak is a good example) has been bleeding cash for a while. This is more of something for Europe. Why? Simple economics. They pay more per gallon or liter (depending on which country isn't using the metric system) than we do. If you were to compare dollars and cents, the cost of diesel fuel in say France is $3-4 dollars per gallon compared to the United States, where it averages (at least in the south) around $1.50 per gallon.
If you think about it, this makes sense for implementation in Europe. Their freight system is more reliant on road travel and their passenger transportation is more rail based. (Which if everyone wasn't in such a damn hurry to get somewhere, and their wasn't an airport in every freakin' city with a population over 100,000 we'd still have a decent passenger rail system in this country.)
And if you can combine the two into an uber transportation system, making it possible for people to go by rail where they can't go by road, and vice versa, then you create a huge infastructure in where you can do pretty much anything. The reason why I see Europeans getting excited about this is because they don't have the same type of freight infastructure we do, and since gas is so damn expensive... yada yada yada. Everyone gets the idea.
Imagine what FedEx could do with this though. From the plane terminal, onto the delivery trucks (I think it'd be kick ass to have one...) and since it could be made to have the same technology as this new Bladerunner Dual Mode Transport, you could build small rail systems from the airport to a highway so that the trucks can cut down on delivery time waiting around in airport traffic. I could see that as a practical application.
Remember the Animaniacs Country Song?
Raids were carried out in the UK, the U.S., Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore and Sweden.
Add intelligence/investigative services of each country, we have a new song!
Ughhh... I need sleep.
Did the famous rapper become a robot and start delivering beer?
Being a Radio DJ myself, I can sort of understand where Clear Channel is coming from. But on the other hand, I kind of like the idea behind XM Satellite Radio.
I don't think XM will ever really beat out the FM band, but at the same time, the idea behind having your music station wherever you drive is cool.
That's my thoughts.
You forgot the following
3. Time-Warner buys out Turner Broadcasting
3a. Cable Companies figure out how to do broadband internet
3b. Cable Company installers will be by your house between 9am and 5pm on X date to install, they never show
3c. You get pissed at cable company, decide to go with Satellite
3d. Replace Satellite with Cable, repeat step 3b.
3e. You decide that maybe rabbit ears are better.
3f. Cable Company installer finally shows 3 months later, a fatal shooting happens
3g. Satellite Company installer finally shows 3 months after Cable Company installer, another hole in the back yard is dug with a nice shrubbery slightly elavated with a nice path in between is installed beside first hole in which Cable Company installer is buried with a shrubbery on top. The knights who say ni, who live in your back yard and look like pine trees, are happy and let you travel through the back yard without them saying "ni!" to you.
"Cable TV, too: When entrepreneurs first started installing cable in 1948, most refused to pay the networks for the content that they hijacked and delivered to their customers - even though they were basically selling access to otherwise free television broadcasts. Cable companies were thus Napsterizing broadcasters' content, but more egregiously than anything Napster ever did - Napster never charged for the content it enabled others to give away."
I know this a bit offtopic, but does anyone know a good site that could sort of present the whole history of the cable industry. I thought it didn't start up until the 1970's, but maybe I'm wrong. Have been before, will be again.
Thanks In Advance...
Kev
That wasn't the point of the question. I would think, in China anyhow, that it wouldn't matter what the people wanted since government controls everything anyhow. And since China has the manpower resources, I would think they would just rip Google off and run their own search engine. Or something like that. Probably doesn't matter anyhow since in the next few years they'll probably do that anyhow.
That's my two cents.
Kev
Wonder why China doesn't have a state-run search engine? They have a state-modified version of Linux (referring to RedStar Linux, I think...)
Seriously though, China has the largest population in the world with India at a close second right now. OF course their internet usage is BOOMING. Good luck to all those who design the search engines.
With Jimmy Buffet playing in the background too? I just wanna know where my flying cars are? The one that can fold up into a small briefcase like on The Jetsons and weighs like half an ounce.
However, I would rather keep the regular coctail waitress. They're more insightful, funny and better looking than the robots. Polished Steel doesn't really do it for me on looks.
Kev
Must be the galactic ultra-cricket. Those White Robots from Krikkit have a way of just stealing games from people. Geez, and using another Rover for a ball? They need to quit hitting it over the fence. Kev
it with. Maybe they should know better than to open any email from something called Beagle right now. Hehehehe...
Whatcha do for fuelless flight is this:
1) Push the craft off a cliff. Has to be a cliff.
2) Aim for the ground
3) Get distracted, then you begin to fly.
Hehehe...
Kev
Thank you. Ewwww... I just realized something: Windows XP Embedded. BTW: I know this is OT, but we've come across some virus problems here at my dorm/Auburn, AL area that seem to delete the TCP/IP protocol. Anyone know anything about that. Seems to affect Windows XP Home and Win 98. Anyhow, I dunno, just thought I would mention it. Kev
With all the commenting of vaporware, censorship, and after reading the article, here's what bothers me. 1) This sounds like Fraud. Really, really, really bad fraud. I don't think I would buy this game console for that reason. But, I have other reasons to. 2) Because the "Phantom" console uses a custom version of the Windows XPe kernel (the hell is XPe by the way... I've never heard of it.) Even though Microsoft has let this sort of thing happen before, I don't think they'd let it go on to for too long. Especially with X-Box 2, etc. I'd think that Microsoft and Sony would do something like the streaming game content themselves, along with adding other stuff that could be useful. 3) These people have no idea about console design apprarently. Aren't the rules of console design supposed to be "standardization" of product, so that EVERY game you design can work on EVERY console you PRODUCE! What's with this "configure your own system" crap? What if a new game comes out that you can only play on the highest end configuration and you have the bottom of the barrel. Yeah, that's not good. I just don't trust this period. It's definitely not a "fair cop guv."
Hey hey,
you can't beat in Knights of the Old Republic being so "light" sided that you glow in the dark. You're a demi-god at that point, or you've just stepped into a nuclear reactor for a few seconds. Reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer goes into space and the Carbon Rod gets all the credit for everything.
Anyhow, just to respond, I think the best game I've played this year was Medieval: Total War. I loved it! They just need to do a more modern war with more guns. (I know, it defeats the purpose. But hey, I would love to play the Prussian Army during the late 19th Century going up against the French with Needle Guns! That would be fun.)
Kev
Best part about that would be if is "mister" was Big Gay Al. Hehehehehehehe.... ;) :p Just kidding.
It really, really sucks. I had to use *shutters to begin with for having to use winblows...* Internet Explorer to open it. That says something.
The only thing I don't like is that I don't retain ownership of the satelite during the whole thing. If I'm dropping $9.5 Million, then shouldn't I at least get to slap a sticker on there that says "Property of Ultimatealchemy Productions... Powered by Linux"? It would make sense to me.
Another thing: What's with the whole "time share" program. This isn't a damn condo! IT'S A SATELITE! I'm not going to just, you know, drop 9.5 million bucks on something then have SpaceDev assholes tell me that I "should lease it out" or better yet, have them control the "lease program", so I don't have any control over the "revenue" that comes my way from people "buying satelite time". Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Let's let SpaceDev sell commercial satelite time that I'm supposed to own to some jerkoff terrorist. Real nice there boys.
I will say one thing. It would be nice to have one of those puppies. You could have a globe and design a little system that shows it's relative position to earth at the moment... or something like that. It would be fun. Oh, and lets not forget, like many people have mentioned, the obvious John Ashcroft snooping issues. I say let's find out if he has a mistress or not! Or, you know, we could always give Monica a call. National Scandals, here we come!
After looking over the site as well, I find some other problems with the software you might want to look into thinking about.
1) Everything nowadays is skinnable. It would help if you set up some sort of template system in which you can skin the pages easily. Web designers can go hack your code, but regular real estate people are going to have a hard time making things look the way they want to without having to hire peoples. Just a thought.
2) Think about people being able to port over to use it as a module for some other system. While the system by itself is fine, people are going to want to integrate it into their systems as well. Good CMS systems to think about would be slash (of course slash), phpWebSite (what I use on my page, it's done by the guys over @ Appalachian State University computer science departmet; linkto: http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu ) and PHPNuke. Those seem to be some, anyhow.
3) Work on your documentation on the site.
4) Get some color on the site. It looks plain, and boring. Make people want to download and use your system.
That's it for me.
Kevin "Kev" Myrick
It's in NYC, in Manhattan near Union Square. Eight miles of books. 'Nuff Said.
Kevin "Kev" Myrick
It runs linux, has a bootloader, and supported hardware to do so. They've clustered with it. All the consoles are made cheap and dirty in either Taiwan or Mexico. 'Nuff said.
What is it with people and the XBOX anyhow? I could buy a PS2 and still get just about the same performance running Linux. Heck, I'm suprised people HAVEN'T gotten a Linux bootloader running yet with all the crap they do to xboxes nowadays. And to tell you the truth, the xbox really isn't that impressive. I boycott it on the grounds it is built by Microsoft. That should be reason enough. The only time I am ever going to buy a console again is if a) it has usefulness and includes a multi-tasking *NIX based OS with a decent interface and a keyboard and mouse (so basically a computer I use on the TV, but without the crappy resolutiuon) and/or 2) if Apple ever enters the market, which of course they will get creamed, and brings with it the style and passion they bring to everything. I could see 2GHz dual G5's in the next console, couldn't everyone else? (A revival of the cube. That would steal the thunder of the gamecube. Which btw- why hasn't anyone done anything to it of high notice on Slashdot. Unless I was off vacationing somewhere, I don't think I have seen any stories...)
Anyhoo, it's all good.
Solar Panels, feathers of fire...
KevX45