It's kind of a shame that Microsoft scrapped the Courier. Based on the demo videos I saw, it seems like it would have been a natural fit for something like this.
I use Handbrake http://handbrake.fr/ for encoding. Handbrake will let you chose from MP4 or MKV for container, H.264 or Theora for video and MP3, AAC or Vorbis for audio.
Why do we need Linux for the desktop? While Windows has the best hardware support coverage among all operating systems, I am curious what are the reasons behind picking Linux for a desktop oriented operating system.
Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too.
Xboxe 360s that were manufactured in the latter part of 2008(Falcon and Jasper revisions, I believe) should be fine. Newer models have dealt with the heatsink design flaw that killed so many of the older revisions. On the older models, as the internal temprature of the unit increased, the heatsink would pull away from the GPU and then the GPU would fry, causing the RROD. The chances of a newer model failing are very slim in comparison. That being said, I usually purchase multi-platform titles for my PS3, as part of me has nagging doubts about the 360. After my first 360 went tits up, I swore I wouldn't buy another one, but the JRPGS on the 360 were too tempting for me to pass up. The 360 is an outstanding platform in terms of software, but man does the hardware QA suck.
If you learned anything from SCO, it should be that you should have a solid case before taking someone to court, or you're going to become familiar with such terms as "case dismissed with prejudice" and "paying court fees". Its unfortunate that there is no Linux support for this motherboard, but the guy should have returned the motherboard and purchased one from a vendor that is happy to support Linux.
You can make a very good argument that Vista is crap technology, but lack of sales is not something they really have to worry about. Microsoft has sold something like 100 - 150 million copies of Vista.
I may be in the minority when it comes to OS preference and Slashdot but does no one recognize the fact that Apple has been making shitty business decisions that take years to work out if they ever do.
Their "shitty business decisions" as you put it, currently have them placed as the 12th largest company in the US with a market cap of over $152 billion, right behind Google and IBM. As far as marketshare goes, there are steps that they could take to pull closer to Microsoft in terms of OS adoption, but in terms of profitability, they're doing just fine.
The big deal is that, regardless of your personal opinion of the games, Final Fantasy is one of the best selling video game franchises of all time, with nearly 100 million units sold. Prior to yesterday's announcement, anyone who wanted to play FF XIII would have had to pick up a PS3. Its the kind of game that could easily sell an extra couple million consoles for Sony.
I'm in the exact same position. I want an iPod Touch, but 16GB is way too small. Until they increase the storage capacity, my 60GB 5th Gen iPod will have to suffice.
First can someone explain me why they don't like the name? Whats so bad about it?(Maybe because im not native English speaker i don't "sense" something?) And you can always use the long name...
The problem with the name is that most english speakers associate the word gimp with the sex slave from the movie Pulp Fiction. The gimp wore a leather suit, leather mask and was kept in a dungeon. For a lot of people, the word gimp is associated with images of sexual bondage and depravity.
McBride listed IBM, Red Hat, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems as distributors of Linux or other software that is "aggressively taking market share away from Unix."
OS X is UNIX http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/technology/unix.html and you don't hear Apple whining about Linux taking away their market share. You learn to adapt in the marketplace or you go out of business. OS X is a great OS that performs ably in the desktop, workstation or server environments, but rather than bet the farm on OS X, Apple diversified their offerings and have the iPod, iPhone, iTV and iTunes to strengthen their bottom line. SCO felt entitled and thought that the day would never come when people would switch to Linux from their product. They took no steps to compete with Red Hat, Novell and Sun and now they're paying the price for it. Screw SCO.
I know that this is going to be modded down as flamebait (and rightfully so) but I'm sick of the goddam Wii and the watered-down bullshit games for it. The games are fun, but they're shallow and the fun doesn't last long. Everyone that I know that owns a Wii, had an absolute blast with it for the first few weeks they had it and they became bored by the overly simplistic gameplay and the Wii sits unused in their living rooms. You can offer the arguement that it has widespread appeal and it's not for the hardcore gamer, but that's a crap arguement. Popularity is not a sign of quality. As someone once rightfully said, "The masses are asses." Michael Bay keeps on making movies that financially successful, but that doesn't mean that any of them are worth a damn. That being said, the DS is a wonderful device with a wide variety of games that manages to cater to thetaste of pretty much any gamer. More DS, less Wii.
When Sony introduced the Playstation, everyone thought that it would get stomped by Nintendo and Sega. Even though Microsoft has huge cash reserves, there were some who thought that Microsoft would get whipped by Nintendo and Sony. It wasn't the market leader, it sold a respectable number of consoles and proved that it was a player. Apple could compete with Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, but they would have to make very good decisions. Otherwise it would be a repeat of the poor, dead Pippin.
DLP sets are prety nifty, but they're not that great for gaming. There's up to a half second lag on DLP sets that you won't have on LCD or CRT TVs. I've heard some of the newer Samsungs have a decent game mode that helps compensate for this, but if you're playing games that have fast, intensive action, you're going to better off staying away from DLP.
I am very nearsighted and for that I dont own a 'Big Screen' TV; I dont have a TV at all, I watch everything on my computers.
Good news pal! There's a fancy new invention that might help you with this "nearsighted" problem of which you speak:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasses/
First, let's get one important thing out of the way: not every developer for PS2 is on for PS3 yet. Many are taking a "wait and see" attitude at the moment. Point me to the Atlus and Nippon Ichi titles in development for the PS3. Unless you consider "every single developer...and their games" to be Square/Final Fantasy and Konami/MGS, then you're mistaken.
Glad to see that you're a fan of NIS and Atlus games. However, NIS is developing Makai Wars for the PS3, and Atlus is working on a new Shin Megami Tensei game. This fall, I'm going to buy a Nintendo Wii, but I'll probably pick up a PS3 next year when some of the niftier niche titles start to make it over from Japan.
There are no video game makers that are compareble to Merchant Ivory, but Atlus would be an excellent example of David Lynch-like video game makers. Or possibly David Croneberg. NIS' strategy RPGs have a lot of the charm and wonderful visual sense of Tim Burtons. Rockstar's GTA series have the same sort of raw power and black humor that you would see in a Sam Peckinpah or Quentin Tarantino movie. Actually, I take that back; there have been "Merchant-Ivory" video games: the Oddworld games. They have beautiful designs, spiffy graphics, well designed gameplay, and like most Merchant-Ivory movies, are no goddamn fun at all. Like Howard's End and A Room With a View, the Oddworld games have all the ingredients for a superior product, but they're somehow less than the sum of their parts.
The Ubuntu Forums are a wonderful resource. Instead of beeing called an ingnorant newbie, people with questions get quick, polite answers. Very little of the arrogant, elitist attitude that pops up in so many Linux forums.
Slashdot Mirror
It's kind of a shame that Microsoft scrapped the Courier. Based on the demo videos I saw, it seems like it would have been a natural fit for something like this.
Kudos to you on the Mencken quote. Another apt one: "Immorality is the morality of those who are having a better time."
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28812/
I use Handbrake http://handbrake.fr/ for encoding. Handbrake will let you chose from MP4 or MKV for container, H.264 or Theora for video and MP3, AAC or Vorbis for audio.
Why do we need Linux for the desktop? While Windows has the best hardware support coverage among all operating systems, I am curious what are the reasons behind picking Linux for a desktop oriented operating system.
"Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continues... AAY!"
Xboxe 360s that were manufactured in the latter part of 2008(Falcon and Jasper revisions, I believe) should be fine. Newer models have dealt with the heatsink design flaw that killed so many of the older revisions. On the older models, as the internal temprature of the unit increased, the heatsink would pull away from the GPU and then the GPU would fry, causing the RROD. The chances of a newer model failing are very slim in comparison. That being said, I usually purchase multi-platform titles for my PS3, as part of me has nagging doubts about the 360. After my first 360 went tits up, I swore I wouldn't buy another one, but the JRPGS on the 360 were too tempting for me to pass up. The 360 is an outstanding platform in terms of software, but man does the hardware QA suck.
"There's no link between diabetes and diet. That's a white myth, Ken, like Larry Bird or Colorado."
Great reference! Demolition Man is one of my great guilty pleasure movies.
If you learned anything from SCO, it should be that you should have a solid case before taking someone to court, or you're going to become familiar with such terms as "case dismissed with prejudice" and "paying court fees". Its unfortunate that there is no Linux support for this motherboard, but the guy should have returned the motherboard and purchased one from a vendor that is happy to support Linux.
I always said that Microsoft was pretty good as a hardware company.
My dead Xbox360 would respectfully disagree with you.
You can make a very good argument that Vista is crap technology, but lack of sales is not something they really have to worry about. Microsoft has sold something like 100 - 150 million copies of Vista.
Their "shitty business decisions" as you put it, currently have them placed as the 12th largest company in the US with a market cap of over $152 billion, right behind Google and IBM. As far as marketshare goes, there are steps that they could take to pull closer to Microsoft in terms of OS adoption, but in terms of profitability, they're doing just fine.
The big deal is that, regardless of your personal opinion of the games, Final Fantasy is one of the best selling video game franchises of all time, with nearly 100 million units sold. Prior to yesterday's announcement, anyone who wanted to play FF XIII would have had to pick up a PS3. Its the kind of game that could easily sell an extra couple million consoles for Sony.
I'm in the exact same position. I want an iPod Touch, but 16GB is way too small. Until they increase the storage capacity, my 60GB 5th Gen iPod will have to suffice.
I know that this is going to be modded down as flamebait (and rightfully so) but I'm sick of the goddam Wii and the watered-down bullshit games for it. The games are fun, but they're shallow and the fun doesn't last long. Everyone that I know that owns a Wii, had an absolute blast with it for the first few weeks they had it and they became bored by the overly simplistic gameplay and the Wii sits unused in their living rooms. You can offer the arguement that it has widespread appeal and it's not for the hardcore gamer, but that's a crap arguement. Popularity is not a sign of quality. As someone once rightfully said, "The masses are asses." Michael Bay keeps on making movies that financially successful, but that doesn't mean that any of them are worth a damn. That being said, the DS is a wonderful device with a wide variety of games that manages to cater to thetaste of pretty much any gamer. More DS, less Wii.
When Sony introduced the Playstation, everyone thought that it would get stomped by Nintendo and Sega. Even though Microsoft has huge cash reserves, there were some who thought that Microsoft would get whipped by Nintendo and Sony. It wasn't the market leader, it sold a respectable number of consoles and proved that it was a player. Apple could compete with Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, but they would have to make very good decisions. Otherwise it would be a repeat of the poor, dead Pippin.
DLP sets are prety nifty, but they're not that great for gaming. There's up to a half second lag on DLP sets that you won't have on LCD or CRT TVs. I've heard some of the newer Samsungs have a decent game mode that helps compensate for this, but if you're playing games that have fast, intensive action, you're going to better off staying away from DLP.
There are no video game makers that are compareble to Merchant Ivory, but Atlus would be an excellent example of David Lynch-like video game makers. Or possibly David Croneberg. NIS' strategy RPGs have a lot of the charm and wonderful visual sense of Tim Burtons. Rockstar's GTA series have the same sort of raw power and black humor that you would see in a Sam Peckinpah or Quentin Tarantino movie. Actually, I take that back; there have been "Merchant-Ivory" video games: the Oddworld games. They have beautiful designs, spiffy graphics, well designed gameplay, and like most Merchant-Ivory movies, are no goddamn fun at all. Like Howard's End and A Room With a View, the Oddworld games have all the ingredients for a superior product, but they're somehow less than the sum of their parts.
The Ubuntu Forums are a wonderful resource. Instead of beeing called an ingnorant newbie, people with questions get quick, polite answers. Very little of the arrogant, elitist attitude that pops up in so many Linux forums.