"800x600, 100 lumen (no missing zero there: one-hundred lumen) projector in 2009 A.D., but for the past four weeks, I've used it as my primary display, and come out happy. It has some drawbacks, but it's an impressive little device for its $499 pricetag"
"Actually, a person in a boss-like role issuing stupid and counterproductive directives solely for their own benefit is precisely how reality works,"
I could not have agreed more. All too often I hear people complain about the stupidest things in the workforce and they don't appreciate they are employed at all. For example, my job has a "coffee club" that costs $6 a month to join if you want to use the break room coffee machine (just regular cheap walmart coffee machine, nothing fancy). A few new hires were use to free coffee at their old jobs and complained loudly about our policy, even "stealing" cups of coffee that the rest of us either paid for or decided not to join the club and therefore did not drink coffee. While no one was fired over it, months later we all remember those involved and it has permanently tarnished their record. All over $6 a month.
While I understand where this kid is coming from, is it really worth it? Why was he battling so hard to put the code online? Just for the principle? What did he hope to gain by going above his professor's head, to make the professor look stupid in front of his peers? Think next year's professor will remember what this kid thinks of authority? Not saying anything bad will happen, but if it did the kid would always have to wonder...
I think that's why military people are great in the workforce. They've been trained to do things without question. They have to be, you can't have a dozen men saying "I really don't wanna go up that hill, I hear gunfire and might get hurt. I'll talk to the CO about this when we get back".
"Actually doesn't seem like that bad of an idea for a patent. "
As strange as this may sound I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I recently purchased a touchscreen Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone and shortly after had a dream where I needed to dial 911 but key hitting the wrong touchscreen keys. I have a hard time when it's not an emergency, with the screen not recognizing input, adding or leaving out digits, so I can easily see where it would be very tough during and emergency, even if it is just three numbers.
I'm glad to see someone had the insight to recognize this could be a problem and to try and do something about it. I'm disappointed in both Google and Microsoft for not recognizing the need for something like this, especially Microsoft since they've had smartphones for many more years than Apple.
" I bought a PS3, which is the best Blu-Ray player out there."
I'm glad to hear that. I also bought a PS3, since used ones are going for mid $200s on ebay now. Unless you can find a good bluray player for less than $100 I'd recommend just getting a PS3. Not only does it play bluray and games, but you can rent movies and tv episodes through it. Highly recommended for the price.
"they can take my SD CRT television when they pry it from my cold, dead hands....When they wise up and replace LCD/plasma with viable technology"
I was in the same boat, very happy with my SD CRT, until I bought a ps3 for one particular game. The game looks great, but when I tried playing other games like Quake Wars and Pixel Junk Monsters, the text and details are just too small and fuzzy to see. I've tried messing with the settings but it doesn't seem to help, the games were just not designed with SD in mind.
"I never actually even said I didn't like the Wii.... I just wouldn't spend $250 plus a zillion dollars for peripherals on a toddler's toy. "
See! He didn't say he didn't like the Wii, he just said it's a toddler's toy. Completely different. I'm he's not trying trying to troll or flame anyone, honest!
"But, like the other guy said, it's novel and fun. And near-zero learning curve (my 2-year-old can play it and my 4-year-old can play it pretty well). It's fun to play with friends with a wide array of genres. It's just not for serious gaming. It's a toy."
Gee, what a crazy idea, to play a game and have fun?! Remember the NES and it's two buttons that anyone could figure out? Didn't have a memorize what L1 R1 L2 R2 X O triangle square up down left or right did, just move and press A or B. ta-da! Simple and fun.
Nintendo has returned to it's roots. The Wii is the NES of the 21st century. My parents can golf, play tennis, bowl or play baseball on the Wii and be good at it without pressing O at exactly the right moment.
See they should have a "I'm a Wii... and I'm a PS3/Xbox360" and on the PS3/Xbox360 there's a guy showing someone how to play a game "press X.... NOW!.... no no that was too late, here now press O to wind up again and...." and with the Wii he just walks up and says "here", handing him the controller, and he immediately hits a homerun.
This publisher is exactly why the Wii is selling well and the other consoles are struggling.
"The problem isn't the Wii, it's the damn publishers. "
Exactly. When I bought "Star Wars: Force Unleashed" for Wii I didn't whine when I found out the graphics were akin to the ps2 and psp version of the game, while the PS3 and Xbox360 looked vastly superior. It was still fun to play and it got the job done. However I'll admit the game was much more fun on the PSP than the Wii because it was far too difficult on Wii with having to perfectly type holding your controller at a certain angle to fight end boss. PSP just required "press X..... press O....."
"Have any naked baby photos of your kids? Remember the mother who got arrested at Wal-Mart after taking such photos to be developed?"
link: "a WalMart worker in Pennsylvania reported 59-year-old Donna Dull to local authorities after Dull dropped off some film that included shots of her three-year-old granddaughter in and just out of the bath. Dull was arrestedâ"roughly, she saysâ"and charged with producing and distributing child pornography. The charges were dropped 15 months later..."
"n there is a sign saying "you're not supposed to be able to get here" or something similar."
quick google search results: "Go to Staunton Island. Head for Bedford Point, and bring a tall vehicle with you, like an Ambulance. Go to the parking lot that is behind some buildings in the projects (it was used in the "Kingdom Come" mission you do for King Courtney). Park your Ambulance next to the wall where the Kuruma is parked. Climb up on top of the ambulance and jump over the wall. On the other side, you'll see a sign that says "You weren't supposed to be able to get here you know". "
"AMD has pretty embarrassing performance on the high end"
But it was interesting to see all the lower end AMD models being of equal performance and just a few dollars cheaper than the Intel counterparts.
My issue with the graph is someone needs to take a class on "how to make a graph". 0% performance and $0 cpu.... why? Was there a $0 cpu? Did any of the cpus get a 0%? So instead of a nice, full graph that explains everything easily they have big empty white spaces at the x-y axis, then a cluster of ~20 plot points within a small area. Over half the graph is empty: from 0% to 275%, 0-100% is empty, and 250% to 275% is empty, so nearly half the graph is empty white space. Fail
Stop now. I upgraded from a Q that would crash constantly to a HTC 6800 running wm 6.1 and it's absolutely horrible. Every time it checks email it pops up a notification whether it's a new email or not, and the notification overrides anything you're doing including making a phone call. So you're typing in the number and the notification pops up and takes over the screen, close out of it and uh-oh your number is gone, start over. I've found a registry hack that's suppose to work but it doesn't.
I've been desperately seeking something to replace the interface but I've found nothing sufficient. Spb Mobile Shell is close but it doesn't replace the keypad and it doesn't stop the email notification.
I also can't stand only having a onscreen keyboard or sliding keyboard on the side. On the Q the keys were available and could be used with on hand, so the rare times I was driving and lost I could quickly google name and zip and find the address. That's very difficult to do with a touchscreen and impossible to do with the keyboard sliding to the side. Because of this I'm seriously considering a Palm Pre or Blackberry. The only thing that holds me to Windows Mobile is dashwire, an absolutely essential utility that automatically uploads all calls, contacts, photos, videos, text, etc to a website. Unfortunately it's only WM compatible but if it supported another OS I would be gone.
"Exploiting a Window bug may count if they are not cross-platform may count, but bribing the janitor probably doesn't."
The hell it doesn't! If hackers can pay the janitor or other employee a few bucks to access the CEO's email then I wanna know that before I hand StrongWebmail $$$ to handle my email. That's like saying social engineering doesn't count. Of course it counts, the end results were the same, right?
"A new game from the creators of Ico and Shadow Of the Colossus?"
*what*? Shadow of the Colossus?? They made that? now I'm interested! That game was revolutionary. Incredibly simple but easily the best looking game on the PS2 *and*.... just amazing. No crazy power ups or levels or XP or life meters or power meters or anything, just you and your horse and some 5 story monsters you have to climb up their legs and stab them in the head.
*googles Last Guardian*..... here's the video. Looks like a perfect sequel to Shadow of the Colossus, can't wait to see that come out.
In other industries (e.g. the bridge building) it can also mean criminal prosecution of the auditor - for criminal negligence. I would argue the same should apply here.
I think too many people are reading this and not understanding the responsibility of the auditor. Say I am buying a piece of gold, and I want to certify that it's 99% pure. I call some metal testing place and tell them I want it tested for purity. They say it'll cost XX amount to test it and verify it's 99% pure. I pay them, they test it and certify it. I go on and buy the gold. If I find out a week later it's not 99% pure and certification is wrong then I should be compensated in some regard.
Same idea here. If the auditor goes through and says "I have tested all your systems and they meet PCI compliance" and I find out it does not because the auditor either missed a test or a test failed and the auditor said it passed, then I the auditor should be held liable.
Of course the auditor should also have some kind of insurance for this, like errors and omissions insurance, which is what real estate agents, insurance agents, and many other individuals that write contracts have to cover them incase they write down or say the wrong thing. It's very cheap and very important to have.
"Just buy a Nokia N8x0. I am willing to bet you can pick up an n800 for well under $200. "
You're comparing apples with oranges? The Nokia N8x0 has a 4.1" screen. It's in a different class than a web tablet with a 12" LCD. The Nokia's competition is the similarly priced Apple Touch.
"Why would it need specs? This is a web appliance, not a general purpose computer."
Because for $299 you can get a decent name brand netbook now days, so if I'm gonna spend $299 on a "web appliance" it better provide something a netbook can not
"The FIRST thing a Pedo will do is get rid of the cell phone."
Really? I'd imagine they'd be busy trying to find a safe place to hid, I mean if you just kidnapped a child you'd probably be busy trying to drive to a safe place.
besides, if the pedo is taking away cellphones and other devices and destroying them there really isn't a option then is there?
"make the school district do their friggin' jobs."
so daddy comes in and shouts and screams and makes a big stink, then goes back to work leaving little 6 yr old Susie in the hands of these complete idiots. I'm sure nothing will go wrong with that...
"a far better solution would be a call to your local news organizations about how the school district is getting kids lost on their bus system and admits to doing that regularly. Raise a stink at school board meetings, PTA meetings, and so forth. Get other parents involved. You're talking about a school district's incompetence endangering not only your own child but all the children in the district."
Oh great idea! That'll make his daughter very popular with the school. I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong by embarrassing the school district in the local newspapers.
Slashdot Mirror
FTFA: "Flocks of sparrow-sized bombers"
Isn't this kinda like going to war by using just snipers?
"800x600, 100 lumen (no missing zero there: one-hundred lumen) projector in 2009 A.D., but for the past four weeks, I've used it as my primary display, and come out happy. It has some drawbacks, but it's an impressive little device for its $499 pricetag"
If you liked that, you might want to check out the $100 LED projector.
At that price I'm thinking about having all my walls be projectors, so I can change the colors whenever I like, or have a giant screen.
"Vista 7 is made from chilli [bbspot.com]."
ahhh... if only that was a real commercial! I'd try OpenBSD just for that commercial.
"Actually, a person in a boss-like role issuing stupid and counterproductive directives solely for their own benefit is precisely how reality works,"
I could not have agreed more. All too often I hear people complain about the stupidest things in the workforce and they don't appreciate they are employed at all. For example, my job has a "coffee club" that costs $6 a month to join if you want to use the break room coffee machine (just regular cheap walmart coffee machine, nothing fancy). A few new hires were use to free coffee at their old jobs and complained loudly about our policy, even "stealing" cups of coffee that the rest of us either paid for or decided not to join the club and therefore did not drink coffee. While no one was fired over it, months later we all remember those involved and it has permanently tarnished their record. All over $6 a month.
While I understand where this kid is coming from, is it really worth it? Why was he battling so hard to put the code online? Just for the principle? What did he hope to gain by going above his professor's head, to make the professor look stupid in front of his peers? Think next year's professor will remember what this kid thinks of authority? Not saying anything bad will happen, but if it did the kid would always have to wonder...
I think that's why military people are great in the workforce. They've been trained to do things without question. They have to be, you can't have a dozen men saying "I really don't wanna go up that hill, I hear gunfire and might get hurt. I'll talk to the CO about this when we get back".
"Actually doesn't seem like that bad of an idea for a patent. "
As strange as this may sound I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I recently purchased a touchscreen Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone and shortly after had a dream where I needed to dial 911 but key hitting the wrong touchscreen keys. I have a hard time when it's not an emergency, with the screen not recognizing input, adding or leaving out digits, so I can easily see where it would be very tough during and emergency, even if it is just three numbers.
I'm glad to see someone had the insight to recognize this could be a problem and to try and do something about it. I'm disappointed in both Google and Microsoft for not recognizing the need for something like this, especially Microsoft since they've had smartphones for many more years than Apple.
" I bought a PS3, which is the best Blu-Ray player out there."
I'm glad to hear that. I also bought a PS3, since used ones are going for mid $200s on ebay now. Unless you can find a good bluray player for less than $100 I'd recommend just getting a PS3. Not only does it play bluray and games, but you can rent movies and tv episodes through it. Highly recommended for the price.
"they can take my SD CRT television when they pry it from my cold, dead hands....When they wise up and replace LCD/plasma with viable technology"
I was in the same boat, very happy with my SD CRT, until I bought a ps3 for one particular game. The game looks great, but when I tried playing other games like Quake Wars and Pixel Junk Monsters, the text and details are just too small and fuzzy to see. I've tried messing with the settings but it doesn't seem to help, the games were just not designed with SD in mind.
"Looks good to me:"
Bah, pictures mean nothing. Check out her youtube video
"I never actually even said I didn't like the Wii.... I just wouldn't spend $250 plus a zillion dollars for peripherals on a toddler's toy. "
See! He didn't say he didn't like the Wii, he just said it's a toddler's toy. Completely different. I'm he's not trying trying to troll or flame anyone, honest!
"But, like the other guy said, it's novel and fun. And near-zero learning curve (my 2-year-old can play it and my 4-year-old can play it pretty well). It's fun to play with friends with a wide array of genres. It's just not for serious gaming. It's a toy."
Gee, what a crazy idea, to play a game and have fun?! Remember the NES and it's two buttons that anyone could figure out? Didn't have a memorize what L1 R1 L2 R2 X O triangle square up down left or right did, just move and press A or B. ta-da! Simple and fun.
Nintendo has returned to it's roots. The Wii is the NES of the 21st century. My parents can golf, play tennis, bowl or play baseball on the Wii and be good at it without pressing O at exactly the right moment.
See they should have a "I'm a Wii... and I'm a PS3/Xbox360" and on the PS3/Xbox360 there's a guy showing someone how to play a game "press X.... NOW!.... no no that was too late, here now press O to wind up again and...." and with the Wii he just walks up and says "here", handing him the controller, and he immediately hits a homerun.
This publisher is exactly why the Wii is selling well and the other consoles are struggling.
"The problem isn't the Wii, it's the damn publishers. "
Exactly. When I bought "Star Wars: Force Unleashed" for Wii I didn't whine when I found out the graphics were akin to the ps2 and psp version of the game, while the PS3 and Xbox360 looked vastly superior. It was still fun to play and it got the job done. However I'll admit the game was much more fun on the PSP than the Wii because it was far too difficult on Wii with having to perfectly type holding your controller at a certain angle to fight end boss. PSP just required "press X..... press O....."
"Have any naked baby photos of your kids? Remember the mother who got arrested at Wal-Mart after taking such photos to be developed?"
link: "a WalMart worker in Pennsylvania reported 59-year-old Donna Dull to local authorities after Dull dropped off some film that included shots of her three-year-old granddaughter in and just out of the bath. Dull was arrestedâ"roughly, she saysâ"and charged with producing and distributing child pornography. The charges were dropped 15 months later..."
that article links to top 20 glitches in games. This is places you're not supposed to go. Not a "not exactly a dupe". It's two different things.
"n there is a sign saying "you're not supposed to be able to get here" or something similar."
quick google search results:
"Go to Staunton Island. Head for Bedford Point, and bring a tall vehicle with you, like an Ambulance. Go to the parking lot that is behind some buildings in the projects (it was used in the "Kingdom Come" mission you do for King Courtney). Park your Ambulance next to the wall where the Kuruma is parked. Climb up on top of the ambulance and jump over the wall. On the other side, you'll see a sign that says "You weren't supposed to be able to get here you know". "
"AMD has pretty embarrassing performance on the high end"
But it was interesting to see all the lower end AMD models being of equal performance and just a few dollars cheaper than the Intel counterparts.
My issue with the graph is someone needs to take a class on "how to make a graph". 0% performance and $0 cpu.... why? Was there a $0 cpu? Did any of the cpus get a 0%? So instead of a nice, full graph that explains everything easily they have big empty white spaces at the x-y axis, then a cluster of ~20 plot points within a small area. Over half the graph is empty: from 0% to 275%, 0-100% is empty, and 250% to 275% is empty, so nearly half the graph is empty white space. Fail
"personally I'm saving up for the HTC Touch HD."
Stop now. I upgraded from a Q that would crash constantly to a HTC 6800 running wm 6.1 and it's absolutely horrible. Every time it checks email it pops up a notification whether it's a new email or not, and the notification overrides anything you're doing including making a phone call. So you're typing in the number and the notification pops up and takes over the screen, close out of it and uh-oh your number is gone, start over. I've found a registry hack that's suppose to work but it doesn't.
I've been desperately seeking something to replace the interface but I've found nothing sufficient. Spb Mobile Shell is close but it doesn't replace the keypad and it doesn't stop the email notification.
I also can't stand only having a onscreen keyboard or sliding keyboard on the side. On the Q the keys were available and could be used with on hand, so the rare times I was driving and lost I could quickly google name and zip and find the address. That's very difficult to do with a touchscreen and impossible to do with the keyboard sliding to the side. Because of this I'm seriously considering a Palm Pre or Blackberry. The only thing that holds me to Windows Mobile is dashwire, an absolutely essential utility that automatically uploads all calls, contacts, photos, videos, text, etc to a website. Unfortunately it's only WM compatible but if it supported another OS I would be gone.
"Exploiting a Window bug may count if they are not cross-platform may count, but bribing the janitor probably doesn't."
The hell it doesn't! If hackers can pay the janitor or other employee a few bucks to access the CEO's email then I wanna know that before I hand StrongWebmail $$$ to handle my email. That's like saying social engineering doesn't count. Of course it counts, the end results were the same, right?
"A new game from the creators of Ico and Shadow Of the Colossus?"
.... just amazing. No crazy power ups or levels or XP or life meters or power meters or anything, just you and your horse and some 5 story monsters you have to climb up their legs and stab them in the head.
..... here's the video. Looks like a perfect sequel to Shadow of the Colossus, can't wait to see that come out.
*what*? Shadow of the Colossus?? They made that? now I'm interested! That game was revolutionary. Incredibly simple but easily the best looking game on the PS2 *and*
*googles Last Guardian*
"...particularly online sex crimes against children."
and FTA: ""I don't think that 15 cents per month is too much to ask for our children's protection," said Rep. Simone Champagne, D-Jeanerette. "
Think of the children!
"I would argue the same should apply here."
In other industries (e.g. the bridge building) it can also mean criminal prosecution of the auditor - for criminal negligence. I would argue the same should apply here.
I think too many people are reading this and not understanding the responsibility of the auditor. Say I am buying a piece of gold, and I want to certify that it's 99% pure. I call some metal testing place and tell them I want it tested for purity. They say it'll cost XX amount to test it and verify it's 99% pure. I pay them, they test it and certify it. I go on and buy the gold. If I find out a week later it's not 99% pure and certification is wrong then I should be compensated in some regard.
Same idea here. If the auditor goes through and says "I have tested all your systems and they meet PCI compliance" and I find out it does not because the auditor either missed a test or a test failed and the auditor said it passed, then I the auditor should be held liable.
Of course the auditor should also have some kind of insurance for this, like errors and omissions insurance, which is what real estate agents, insurance agents, and many other individuals that write contracts have to cover them incase they write down or say the wrong thing. It's very cheap and very important to have.
"Just buy a Nokia N8x0. I am willing to bet you can pick up an n800 for well under $200. "
You're comparing apples with oranges? The Nokia N8x0 has a 4.1" screen. It's in a different class than a web tablet with a 12" LCD. The Nokia's competition is the similarly priced Apple Touch.
The Fujitsu T4010 is a better competitor. 12" LCD, 1.6ghz, ram upgradeable to 2gb, 60+ gb hard drive, touchscreen, 4 lbs, boots XP in 30 seconds. It's a few years old so you should be able to find one for $300.
"Why would it need specs? This is a web appliance, not a general purpose computer."
Because for $299 you can get a decent name brand netbook now days, so if I'm gonna spend $299 on a "web appliance" it better provide something a netbook can not
here's a short list of examples:
ASUS Eee PC 901 XP with 8 hr battery life for $298
ASUS Eee PC with Linux for $298
Acer Pink 8.9" Aspire One for $248 = Pink for geek gurl Dell Inspiron Mini 10" Netbook with Intel Atom Z520 Processor for $298
"The FIRST thing a Pedo will do is get rid of the cell phone."
Really? I'd imagine they'd be busy trying to find a safe place to hid, I mean if you just kidnapped a child you'd probably be busy trying to drive to a safe place.
besides, if the pedo is taking away cellphones and other devices and destroying them there really isn't a option then is there?
"make the school district do their friggin' jobs."
so daddy comes in and shouts and screams and makes a big stink, then goes back to work leaving little 6 yr old Susie in the hands of these complete idiots. I'm sure nothing will go wrong with that...
"a far better solution would be a call to your local news organizations about how the school district is getting kids lost on their bus system and admits to doing that regularly. Raise a stink at school board meetings, PTA meetings, and so forth. Get other parents involved. You're talking about a school district's incompetence endangering not only your own child but all the children in the district."
Oh great idea! That'll make his daughter very popular with the school. I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong by embarrassing the school district in the local newspapers.