No matter how many time I read about this accident, it still sickens me
Yes, I agree. It sickens me that it has been almost 40 years since people landed on the moon, and the human component of space exploration is barely out of the atmosphere, and only done by a poorly funded govt. organization. It sickens me to read about Software patents in Europe, the USPTO here, the way John Ashcroft wants to police america, and all the wars and conflict in the world that we have the resources to resolve, but don't.
It sickens me that people care more about their own self interest and their company or agency's PR, than advancing the human race. I really hope in the next election some of these issues come up, instead of being pushed behind the tired old debates about abortion and taxes.
I totally agree. It's a third party making modifications. The original company shouldn't have any legal liability (unless of course they own said third party) for anything that happens to the person or the product. They also should not have any power to dictate how one uses the product. If people are stupid and void their warranty, or get themselves hurt (in the case of modding a car) it's their own fault. I mean put the warning labels on it, but really, people are going to pretty much do whatever they want anyway.
This is reality. Just live with it microsoft. Be happy they bought the damn thing in the first place.
No doubt. More consoles out there will only end up driving up software sales, the only thing that can help save a failing division of their company
Really, I don't see that M$ should care too much about this company and their mods. After all, presumably they are still buying the original Xboxen hardware and simply swapping it out. Even if they aren't, it shouldn't matter since M$ is making most of their money from game sales anyway.
On a similar note, I don't see any good reason why end users shouldn't be able to legally modify the hardware that they bought and resell it. I mean, no one is losing out in that situation. Sure you could make the argument, oh no, if people can run 3rd party software on an xbox they wont' buy x-box games! Whatever. I bought my dreamcast when they were super cheap in stores (~$20) and spent way way more than that on games, despite all the emulators and stuff I've tried. More Xboxes in the market (in whatever form) will only help to drive up software sales. This is a win-win situation for everyone.
I believe with all my heart that the pendulum will return, that ignorance will become unfashionable again one day, that my junior colleagues are about to ignite a new renaissance in science fiction, and that our next 50 years will make the first 50 pale by comparison, taking us all the way to immortality and the stars themselves.
This pretty much speaks for itself- Spider's idealistic and hopeful view of the future... that someday people will care about more than what's in front of their face and the immediate problems of today. That maybe we'll care about going out into this huge universe and really stretching the limits of the human race.
Democracy and capitalism have conquered the world.
I have to disagree. While capitalism has been around forever in the world, there's no assurance that it will be anything like its current form even a hundred years down the future. What happens when someone invents a "replicator" and can solve the world's hunger, shelter, and other consumption needs in one fell swoop? Capitalism will all but disappear. I think then there will be some very important decisions to make. What will everyone do when 3/4 of the world is no longer struggling to obtain the basic needs in life?
And democracy too? Like another poster said, how do you know it will be around in a hundred years? The roman empire lasted for centuries more than the US or any other "democratic" nation. And is it really Democracy in the US when you have 2 major polical parties that get their funding from the same mega-corporations? Is it really democracy when you have less than 50% of the population turn out for any given election??
After the revolutionary war, people wanted to crown George Washington as king, and frankly, I don't think too many people would even really care beyond the knee-jerk reaction if the president were to have powers equal to a monarch today. As long as he's a good ol' boy who says the right things who really gives a damn? Today in America people only vote when it's convenient, and don't see a world outside the border. I imagine a lot of the other "democracies" are the same way. It'll be interesting to see if it does survive another hundred years, or whether the apathetic masses will let democracy slide into a footnote of history.
At least in the summer, it wouldn't be a problem if it was cloudy. With no sun out heating up the building through the windows (and walls), air conditioning costs would be considerably lower. And of course, since A/C is the biggest energy drain on the grids in summer, it shouldn't be a problem at all on cloudy days
I mean really. Every time a large corporation tries to do something like this, it eventually backfires on them. Look at everything the RIAA has tried the past few years... and P2P has become even more universal in the computer world because of the publicity. They've only managed to undermine themselves by doing things to make people hate them.
The same will be true of Microsoft... the more they attack open source software, they will undermine their own monopoly. This could end up causing a huge draw towards open source. Just like the RIAA they could have chose to embrace new technology (and ways of thinking), Microsoft could have embraced open source. Given grants to developers and kept their own business alive by forever by making good interfaces to those programs (after all, it's what they're good at). But instead, like the RIAA, they chose to go on the offensive and in the end it will kill their business if they don't change.
So I say, bring it on Microsoft! You're only ensuring that in the future, with those tactics, Open Source will dominate the computer world, just like P2P is beginning to dominate the music distribution world.
Seemed to work pretty well for me. No errors. However, hardly anyone is downloading any of these from me which is odd... usually i'm uploading twice as much as I download
Yes! This ruling seems to be saying that it is the user's choice what to do with any content that comes in through their connection, or to use any hardware/software to modify the portion of the content they see.
This could be extended to TV as well. The broadcasters can show whatever they want, but it's up to the users to decide how to use it (ie. skipping commercials). After all, it's not 'stealing' content by not watching the ads... the content that is being broadcast on public airwaves is FREE, despite what they want you to believe. There may be 'intent' for you to watch the ads (just like those companies that send you free stuff like address labels and expect you to donate/buy) but that doesn't mean you have to let your actions be dictated by it. You have a CHOICE.
Looks cool, but am I going to be able to transfer shows to my computer to burn to VCD/DVD? Or is this yet another PVR to be filled with DRMific goodness?
I was just thinking about that. I've found that ever since I got broadband I spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer browsing websites. Why? because it's so fast! When I was on dial up I'd be frustrated enough by that wasted time that I wouldn't spend so much online. Now, every free moment at my apt. I tend to gravitate towardst the computer.
Sorta like how I'd imagine having a free beer tap in the kitchen. You'd tend to drink it a lot more and all the time because it's so easy to get. If you have to go out to make a beer run, you think about it a lot more.
So I dunno, broadband is great but I wish I was a lot more diciplined about it.
You can find a lot of good specials especially in cities. Cox right now has a 1 year/ half off deal which ironically enough brings the price down to $20 a month (their service is now $39+taxes/fees if you have your own cable modem.) Offer code 594. They also have a cheap digital telephone package.
In Minneapolis Comcast is doing a 6 month half off deal, and AOHell/TimeWarner is doing a 3 month half off deal (both of those are normally $45-$50) a month. As for DSL, the rates aren't that good but I suppose you get a slighly more reliable connection. I absolutely hate Qwest though so I wouldn't go that route.
Comcast and Timewarner I have first hand experience, both are fine, and I've heard Cox is excellent from my friends. Really if you live in a city I don't see what the problem is. Usually rural ISPs aren't that bad either. I lived in a small town of less than 200 people and the cable service was great and again only $40 a month for broadband... no specials though.
I wholeheartedly agree. I own "The Elegant Universe" and can also say that it is very readable and it is one of the few books I kept from my quantum physics courses.
Some other good physics books that don't focus on String Theory that I also thought were very readable:
For Dark Matter and Dark Energy-
Quintessence by Lawrence Krauss (who also wrote the Physics of Star Trek)
I am! Just the other day I found a perfectly working Smith Corona in the dumpster. It's awesome! I can't imagine why anyone would throw it out.
It's even got a 1 line digital display on it; makes me want to figure out how to mod it to use that digital signal as an input for my computer. Imagine having a Typewriter in front of your computer! Okay well maybe that sort of defeats the purpose of having a typewriter in the first place...
I do agree with your sentiment. PC games are the future, and more and more consoles are turning into a PC in disguise (see x-box). So that leaves us with an obvious conclusion: why not just get a pc? PC controls are much better for almost any game, IMHO. Every PC port of a console game I've played has been easier. Granted, the intial cost is higher, but it's a multipurpose machine. Good PC games can be developed by anyone with the time and willingness to learn how to develop. After all, the best selling games of all time are pretty basic at heart (Sims, Mario Bros, Quake, etc...). Take away the console liscensing fees and you have the PC market. ANYONE can develop.
I think the 2 killer concepts for the PC market would be a cheap box that would accept multiple standard controllers (like a 4 port system), and more developers willing to develop multiplayer games. That's where the console strength lies... in multi player games on the same system in a small package. Unfortunately every FPS game requires multiple players to have their own computers.
As for myself, I haven't purchased a console that wasn't more than 3 years old at the time. I think there's definitely a market for them, and some excellent revolutionary games have come out of them. (See the Dreamcast and the music series games, Samba, Space channel 5, Crazy taxi, etc). But IMO you're wasting your money buying a brand new console for hundreds of dollars and new games for $60 a shot when you could be getting a great pc game for less than $50, or a used console and a ton of games for even cheaper.
Were both excellent classroom games when I was in grade school. Everyone *loved* playing them, and they both had that stealth learning experience...one under the guise of an arcade game, the other strategy.
I'm not sure about the "moral sensitivity" parth though. I suppose I learned that you could only carry 100lbs of meat back to the wagon, but that didn't really stop me from shooting every buffalo on sight.
I would hope that NASA already operates like this, but the gist of what I'm getting is that mgmt. in NASA are "big picture" people and don't really understand how to effectively let the people who know what's going on and how to solve problems do the actual work. With something that complex, understandably you should have 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinions, but the engineers and commmanders need a little autonomy to do things like go on EVA's and bring to light any problems. Like you said Dave, they should be paid to do their jobs as part of a team, not as drones following orders.
From what I understand it seems like everyone is so wrapped up in procedure, that they're scared to bring up problems and/or deviate from that procedure. Just from working in an office or at home you know that you can't stop and micromanage every little thing without getting overwhelmed. And it's so easy to be afraid to bring a potential big problem to management when there's the possibility it isn't one. I think the solution is to give people more responsibility over their respective areas. Inform the desk jockeys/management what's going on, but give them a chance to do their jobs!! Let the MBA's there run the PR dept and leave the engineering to the Engineers, and the commanding to the Commanders.
I'm going to copyright, trademark and patent every character of the enlish language alphapet. Fuck freedom, who need its when you've got stupidity!
I think that would be a WONDERFUL idea for you to patent every letter in the "enlish" alphabet! Go for it! Believe me, if I ever use any letters in that alphabet, I will be more than happy to pay any licensing fees.
IMO a really good turn based strategy game like Worms II would be an excellent choice. It will run on practically any hardware, and the characters are both amusing and cute (like lemmings almost). People I know who hate computer games loved this one. Plus it doesn't take that long to learn, and after 4 years it's the one game I still play on a regular basis. Team 17 did an excellent job constructing that game.
On the other hand, I think game-playing in the office is going to have a lot of pitfalls. What if everyone doesn't want to participate? What if you can't pry people off of the games? Do you really think game playing is going to make people more productive throughout the day? Somehow I doubt it. Not to mention shareholders and corporate mgmt. will probably be very wary of an endeavor like this.
I have to disagree. Admittably, if you're building something on that scale you probably have money to burn. But looking at a cost/benefit analysis of it, I think the advantages to overclocking are enormous. With a modest amount of overclocking (~100mhz/machine for example), the risks are virtually nonexistant for that 5% increase. Maybe ten years down the road, the chips will start to suffer, but honestly who will care then? In ten years a $1500 home computer will most likely have this sort of processing power, making the whole setup obsolete anyway.
So I say, why not get the extra power while you can for free? Because a few years down the road it won't even be worth the electricity to keep this setup going.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I agree. It sickens me that it has been almost 40 years since people landed on the moon, and the human component of space exploration is barely out of the atmosphere, and only done by a poorly funded govt. organization. It sickens me to read about Software patents in Europe, the USPTO here, the way John Ashcroft wants to police america, and all the wars and conflict in the world that we have the resources to resolve, but don't.
It sickens me that people care more about their own self interest and their company or agency's PR, than advancing the human race. I really hope in the next election some of these issues come up, instead of being pushed behind the tired old debates about abortion and taxes.
This is reality. Just live with it microsoft. Be happy they bought the damn thing in the first place.
No doubt. More consoles out there will only end up driving up software sales, the only thing that can help save a failing division of their company
On a similar note, I don't see any good reason why end users shouldn't be able to legally modify the hardware that they bought and resell it. I mean, no one is losing out in that situation. Sure you could make the argument, oh no, if people can run 3rd party software on an xbox they wont' buy x-box games! Whatever. I bought my dreamcast when they were super cheap in stores (~$20) and spent way way more than that on games, despite all the emulators and stuff I've tried. More Xboxes in the market (in whatever form) will only help to drive up software sales. This is a win-win situation for everyone.
This pretty much speaks for itself- Spider's idealistic and hopeful view of the future... that someday people will care about more than what's in front of their face and the immediate problems of today. That maybe we'll care about going out into this huge universe and really stretching the limits of the human race.
I have to disagree. While capitalism has been around forever in the world, there's no assurance that it will be anything like its current form even a hundred years down the future. What happens when someone invents a "replicator" and can solve the world's hunger, shelter, and other consumption needs in one fell swoop? Capitalism will all but disappear. I think then there will be some very important decisions to make. What will everyone do when 3/4 of the world is no longer struggling to obtain the basic needs in life?
And democracy too? Like another poster said, how do you know it will be around in a hundred years? The roman empire lasted for centuries more than the US or any other "democratic" nation. And is it really Democracy in the US when you have 2 major polical parties that get their funding from the same mega-corporations? Is it really democracy when you have less than 50% of the population turn out for any given election??
After the revolutionary war, people wanted to crown George Washington as king, and frankly, I don't think too many people would even really care beyond the knee-jerk reaction if the president were to have powers equal to a monarch today. As long as he's a good ol' boy who says the right things who really gives a damn? Today in America people only vote when it's convenient, and don't see a world outside the border. I imagine a lot of the other "democracies" are the same way. It'll be interesting to see if it does survive another hundred years, or whether the apathetic masses will let democracy slide into a footnote of history.
At least in the summer, it wouldn't be a problem if it was cloudy. With no sun out heating up the building through the windows (and walls), air conditioning costs would be considerably lower. And of course, since A/C is the biggest energy drain on the grids in summer, it shouldn't be a problem at all on cloudy days
The same will be true of Microsoft... the more they attack open source software, they will undermine their own monopoly. This could end up causing a huge draw towards open source. Just like the RIAA they could have chose to embrace new technology (and ways of thinking), Microsoft could have embraced open source. Given grants to developers and kept their own business alive by forever by making good interfaces to those programs (after all, it's what they're good at). But instead, like the RIAA, they chose to go on the offensive and in the end it will kill their business if they don't change.
So I say, bring it on Microsoft! You're only ensuring that in the future, with those tactics, Open Source will dominate the computer world, just like P2P is beginning to dominate the music distribution world.
Seemed to work pretty well for me. No errors. However, hardly anyone is downloading any of these from me which is odd... usually i'm uploading twice as much as I download
This could be extended to TV as well. The broadcasters can show whatever they want, but it's up to the users to decide how to use it (ie. skipping commercials). After all, it's not 'stealing' content by not watching the ads... the content that is being broadcast on public airwaves is FREE, despite what they want you to believe. There may be 'intent' for you to watch the ads (just like those companies that send you free stuff like address labels and expect you to donate/buy) but that doesn't mean you have to let your actions be dictated by it. You have a CHOICE.
Looks cool, but am I going to be able to transfer shows to my computer to burn to VCD/DVD? Or is this yet another PVR to be filled with DRMific goodness?
Sorta like how I'd imagine having a free beer tap in the kitchen. You'd tend to drink it a lot more and all the time because it's so easy to get. If you have to go out to make a beer run, you think about it a lot more.
So I dunno, broadband is great but I wish I was a lot more diciplined about it.
Why that gives a whole new meaning to packet sniffing!
In Minneapolis Comcast is doing a 6 month half off deal, and AOHell/TimeWarner is doing a 3 month half off deal (both of those are normally $45-$50) a month. As for DSL, the rates aren't that good but I suppose you get a slighly more reliable connection. I absolutely hate Qwest though so I wouldn't go that route.
Comcast and Timewarner I have first hand experience, both are fine, and I've heard Cox is excellent from my friends. Really if you live in a city I don't see what the problem is. Usually rural ISPs aren't that bad either. I lived in a small town of less than 200 people and the cable service was great and again only $40 a month for broadband... no specials though.
am getting sick of these stupid jokes in every story today.
Section 6.4 page 173 more specifically (it's a looooong chapter)
Anyone else see the dancing mouse in the lower left hand corner? I swear, those darn magic eye pictures take me *FOREVER* to see....
Some other good physics books that don't focus on String Theory that I also thought were very readable:
For Dark Matter and Dark Energy- Quintessence by Lawrence Krauss (who also wrote the Physics of Star Trek)
For Quantum Computing- Minds, Machines and the Multiverse by Julian Brown
It's even got a 1 line digital display on it; makes me want to figure out how to mod it to use that digital signal as an input for my computer. Imagine having a Typewriter in front of your computer! Okay well maybe that sort of defeats the purpose of having a typewriter in the first place...
I think the 2 killer concepts for the PC market would be a cheap box that would accept multiple standard controllers (like a 4 port system), and more developers willing to develop multiplayer games. That's where the console strength lies... in multi player games on the same system in a small package. Unfortunately every FPS game requires multiple players to have their own computers.
As for myself, I haven't purchased a console that wasn't more than 3 years old at the time. I think there's definitely a market for them, and some excellent revolutionary games have come out of them. (See the Dreamcast and the music series games, Samba, Space channel 5, Crazy taxi, etc). But IMO you're wasting your money buying a brand new console for hundreds of dollars and new games for $60 a shot when you could be getting a great pc game for less than $50, or a used console and a ton of games for even cheaper.
I'm not sure about the "moral sensitivity" parth though. I suppose I learned that you could only carry 100lbs of meat back to the wagon, but that didn't really stop me from shooting every buffalo on sight.
Will someone PLEASE make an SCO section so those of us who don't care to have hourly updates can filter them out!
From what I understand it seems like everyone is so wrapped up in procedure, that they're scared to bring up problems and/or deviate from that procedure. Just from working in an office or at home you know that you can't stop and micromanage every little thing without getting overwhelmed. And it's so easy to be afraid to bring a potential big problem to management when there's the possibility it isn't one. I think the solution is to give people more responsibility over their respective areas. Inform the desk jockeys/management what's going on, but give them a chance to do their jobs!! Let the MBA's there run the PR dept and leave the engineering to the Engineers, and the commanding to the Commanders.
I think that would be a WONDERFUL idea for you to patent every letter in the "enlish" alphabet! Go for it! Believe me, if I ever use any letters in that alphabet, I will be more than happy to pay any licensing fees.
On the other hand, I think game-playing in the office is going to have a lot of pitfalls. What if everyone doesn't want to participate? What if you can't pry people off of the games? Do you really think game playing is going to make people more productive throughout the day? Somehow I doubt it. Not to mention shareholders and corporate mgmt. will probably be very wary of an endeavor like this.
So I say, why not get the extra power while you can for free? Because a few years down the road it won't even be worth the electricity to keep this setup going.