Honestly I find this idea that these things you lable as adolescent are not adult more troubling than the idea that all games are for kids. In part because it feeds the idea that these are really aimed at kids, but more because it effectively makes the claim that these things are never acceptable entertainment. We aren't supposed to enjoy them when we're kids becuase we're not old enough, and we shouldn't enjoy them now that we're adults because we're too mature for that. It's absurd, puritanical, and judgemental. It helps the cause of restricting games on multiple levels, and is probably the most damning opinion of entertainment I can think of.
After doing a little looking at thier site, Target Technology gets their name because they do actually make products with this technology. The make silver alloy targets for sputtering the metal onto optical discs, and their targets are currently used manufacture of many DVD-R's and other optical discs. I would guess (though I don't have enough information to be sure) that they think Sony looked at the compostion of their targets, said "hey, these work really well," and decided to make their own targets of the same compesition for their Blu-ray discs. True or not, I have no idea, but it is at least possible a valid patent case. It's not like this is just an company who hoards patents and licenses them, they actually make products based off of those patents.
The reason none of these rollable devices have been brought to market yet is not the E-ink display, their grey scale display is quite good, and already used in consumer products (the Sony E-reader for example). The problem is the flexible back plane needed to drive the display. Currently, every system demonstrated including the Readius uses organic polymers for the drivers, which have a shelf life of a couple of days if you're lucky. They are incredibly sensitive to moisture, and the only system so far capable of protecting them requires the deposition of many layers of transparent metal oxides, which alone cost somewhere in the range of $60/ square foot. Anytime you see news about a flexible display, look to see if they are using organic drivers, if they are and they don't explicitly address the moisture issue, the product will never reach consumers.
Miyamoto is still a luminary of game design, and I look forward to his future projects. Wii Sports is still incredibly popular (it just passed a million units sold in Japan, where it is not a pack in), and people are still waiting in line to buy units here in the US. Twilight Princess is an excellent game, though not having tried the GC version I can't really speak on it being more immersive than using a controller. I still play my Wii whenever I can find time, as does everyone I know who has one. In addition to Wii Sports, games like Wario Ware, Rayman, and Excite Truck continue to be a great deal of fun, and I still haven't had time to start on Trauma Center due to playing the other games. Add in the virtual console and a long list of games I want there, and the Wii has an amazing lineup already, and enough to keep someone who doesn't spend there whole life playing video games busy for some time to come. Whenever the NPD numbers for Jan come out, I think we will see that the Wii is continuing to dominate console sales, given that stores can't seem to keep them on the shelves for more than a few minutes at a time.
As far as Miyamoto and Nintendo at large being able to access new markets, my mother has purchased both a DS and a Wii in the last 3 months. She wouldn't even allow my brother and I to have a NES when we were growing up, so that's a pretty big shift for her, largely due to a fresh look at game design being encouraged by Nintendo.
The key difference from the Milgram Experiments that makes this an acceptable experiment is that the subjects know the torture is fake. In the Milgram experiments the setup was that subjects were randomly chosen to be Teacher (adminstering shock) or Learner (recieving shock). In reality the random choice was fixed and the Learner was a paid actor, but the subject (the Teacher) did not know that until after the experiment. A large number of subjects from the Milgram Experiments ended up seriously psychologicly damaged because they found our they could kill if told to by an authority figure. In this experiment, the subjects know the Learner is a virtual character and they are not potentially killing a human being. If you don't read the actual study, it would be easy to compare it to the Milgram Experiments, but the setup is really quite different.
I suspect that many that had actual bids were also being artificially bid up by the sellers, as I saw one with 8 bids when none of the others had any suddenly get pulled.
I've only played a few games on the DS, but if there is serious complaint over the lack on an analog stick the fault lies with the game developer, not the hardware. The touchscreen can be used to provide much greater control than an analog nub. Also, the author goes on about how the stylus is a clnky interface for interacting with the touch screen, which is true, that's why there is a little thumb nub on the cord for the system. It takes some getting used to but it is really an excellent control scheme.
I wouldn't put too much faith in anything ECD says... Forbes had a great article titled Repeat Pretender (reprinted here) about Stan Ovshinsky, the master con-man behind the company.
A number of people have attempted and claimed a commercially viable roll-to-roll process for solar, but from what I can see the only company to actually produce modules with it is Iowa Thin Film Technologies.
They are in fact refering to the last battle scene in the movie, and according to Jackson are going to add approx. 30 sec to the scene with Boromir, Merry, and Pippin, showing the two hobbits fighting more than was shown in the original. It is supposed to be somewhat more violent, and they were unsure if it would land the movie an R rating, but it seems that it didn't.
I had a Sony Viao, and it had a problem similar to that described on the dell here, but worse. It had the 15" display, and very tight hinges, to the point that I could see the screen ripple every time I opened or closed it. 3 weeks after I got it, I opened it one day to find the screen had fractured. On contacting Sony I was informed that they do not cover displays in their warrenty, despite not saying that in their warrenty. Eventually I took them to small claims court and the case was ruled in my favor, but one shouldn't have to do that to get what should have been taken care of as soon as I called. After fairly thurough seaching, I found that this was fairly normal for Sony. I currently own a Dell Inspiron 5000e, which has worked fine, but I'm glad to hear that they will at least fix problems even if they don't want to replace the whole machine.
Encryption research is protected provided the researchers meet certain criteria, on of which is
(A) whether the information derived from the encryption research was disseminated, and if so, whether it was disseminated in a manner reasonably calculated to advance the state of knowledge or development of encryption technology, versus whether it was disseminated in a manner that facilitates infringement under title 17, United States Code, or a violation of applicable law other than this section, including a violation of privacy or breach of security;
and another of which is
The exception permits a researcher to develop and use a circumvention technology, to share such technology with a project collaborator, or to share such technology with someone verifying the researcher's work.
My guess is that RIAA was considers Felten to be violating both of these, considering it distribution in a manner that facilitates infringement and going outside of the bounds of what is allowed for information on circumvention technology.
Your right, Episode I was a children's movie, and it was intended to be, I didn't like everhting Lucas did with it, but it served it's purpouse: it got a new generation fired up about Star Wars. Episode II is designed to be an action/adventure movie, and Episode III is high tragedy, Anikin becoming Vader. Star Wars has always been a family series, so it is reasonable for Episode I to have been a kids movie.
That being said this title sucks, and we do care because this movie is supposed to be aimed at a somewhat older crowd (everyone who wants to see the Jedi kicking ass). On the bright side, I was at a Star Wars seminar at GenCon, and they told us we could expect to see Yoda and Mace, along with the rest of the Jedi, truly demonstrating why they are Jedi Masters, i.e. kicking some major ass. So all is not lost, it can still be a good movie even if it has a crappy name, and with luck they'll change the name.
By this point, a Microsoft breakup probably wouldn't do a whole lot. If Microsofts monopololy is to be broken what is needed is to revoke some of software copyright law so they couldn't other companies could easily read/write the same format files.
CmdrTaco's representation of Dell here is highly unfair and irrisponisible journalism. It is the first time I have heard anyone do anything but praise Dell for its customer service. They are rated #1 by Consumer reports in customer service and warrenty repair; whereas Sony, who/. seems to be able to do nothing but praise for their Viao, has an abysmal warrenty repair record, and doesn't even rate in the top 10 in either customer service or warrenty repair. I am currently working on a Dell, which has been one of the best machines I've ever owned of any type, which I had to buy as a replacement for my Sony Viao thats screen spontaneously fractured and Sony refused warrenty coverage on despite it clearly being covered according to their warrenty card. Let's have some fair journalism here, maybe do a little reserch before unfair article like that.
I agree that banning full human cloning is an excellent idea. Cloning is biologicly pointless for reproduction, as is pointed out above. There are only 2 possible uses of cloning:
1. Creating cloned slave, which is illeagle and immorale. This reason for cloning however, is also why clones should not, under any cicuimstances, be banned from immigration. If a clone was created in another country and would end up as a slave there, we should support their immigration and treat them like the human being they are.
2. Organ farming, which we are not currently equipped to do in a reasonable fashion and may not even be a feasible method of organ growth. Growing a full human clone just to take its organs is wrong by any standerds, as by the time there organs are really usable in an adult body they are concoius and aware. We currently lack the genetic technology to create a clone w/out a brain, and such a clone might not even be possible or useful, due to the necessicity of neural activity for full neural deveopmnet throught the body. Embryonic stem cell reserch is currently our best bet for good organs.
This means that cloning is an entirely pointless endevor, and givin our already ridiculus population, should be highly discouraged accross the world.
So you're saying that civil disobedience is a terminally flawed idea that should never be used? Where would this country be without people breaking unjust laws? The Civil Rights movement never would have made it anywhere, laws banning the teaching of evolution probably never would have been challenged, hey we wouldn't even have a country. Do you think the American Revolution was legal? Breaking unjust laws is a time honered and effective method of getting them removed. A law that no one follows becomes unenforcable, and that is the idea behind civil disobedience, which is what this is.
Re:Why shouldn't I be able to have designer kids?
on
Frankenstein Time
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· Score: 1
Comparing genetc engineering to Hitler is an incredibly poor comparison. Hitler actively tried to wipe whole races off the Earth in his efforts, genetic engineering seeks to help all races. If we cure diseases with genetics, the only intelligent thing to do is to cure that disease everywhere. Viruses mutate enough that if we cure one just in our country, it won't be to long before a mutation arises somewhere else that is immune to our cure, the only logical thing to do would be to wipe it out entirely, as has been done to small pox (well, with the exception of one or two vials). This will benifit the whole world, and if someone wants to give there child some physical bonuses, that is their choice, and only their choice.
Lucyfer Sam "In the beggining Man created God, in the end, Man will realize that He is God."
no such thing as the "perfect baby"
on
Frankenstein Time
·
· Score: 1
Every critic I hear of the HGP keeps going on about this fear of ppl wanting the "perfect baby," sorry folk, but there is no such thing. Every person has a different idea of what their "perfect child" would be like, ask 50 couples and I garauntee you'll get 100 different answers. The worry about increased class division also seems unnecassary, every technology created throught history has been in the hands of the rich and influential first, and eventually drops in price enough for the common person to use it, I see no reason why this one will be any different. It will give a short term increased advantage (maybe) to the rich, but in the long term if anything it will help equalize the playing field. We are gaining power over our own evolution. We have eliminated natural selection almost entirely in human society, so htis is the only way we're going to continue to grow as a species.
Lucyfer Sam "In the beggining, Man created God, in the end, Man will realize that He is God."
Yes, other than magic, ShadowRun seems to be a relitively acurrate portrayal of our future, but it does a good job preciecely because it is not really a dystopian future. Everyday life in the SR universe is not that much different than it is today. The 3rd ed. book had a different opening than the 2nd, which summed it up quite well, the constant refrain throughout the story was "the more things change, the more they stay the same," which is pretty well sums up the SR universe.
I would be anxios to see the Dolphin, but Nintendo seems to have lost my two favorite game series (Final Fantasy and Mega Man) to the Playstation, and Playstation seems to get better games in general.
Slashdot Mirror
Honestly I find this idea that these things you lable as adolescent are not adult more troubling than the idea that all games are for kids. In part because it feeds the idea that these are really aimed at kids, but more because it effectively makes the claim that these things are never acceptable entertainment. We aren't supposed to enjoy them when we're kids becuase we're not old enough, and we shouldn't enjoy them now that we're adults because we're too mature for that. It's absurd, puritanical, and judgemental. It helps the cause of restricting games on multiple levels, and is probably the most damning opinion of entertainment I can think of.
After doing a little looking at thier site, Target Technology gets their name because they do actually make products with this technology. The make silver alloy targets for sputtering the metal onto optical discs, and their targets are currently used manufacture of many DVD-R's and other optical discs. I would guess (though I don't have enough information to be sure) that they think Sony looked at the compostion of their targets, said "hey, these work really well," and decided to make their own targets of the same compesition for their Blu-ray discs. True or not, I have no idea, but it is at least possible a valid patent case. It's not like this is just an company who hoards patents and licenses them, they actually make products based off of those patents.
For refence, E-ink is the name of the compnay that makes the front plane display, rather than some general term for the technology.
The reason none of these rollable devices have been brought to market yet is not the E-ink display, their grey scale display is quite good, and already used in consumer products (the Sony E-reader for example). The problem is the flexible back plane needed to drive the display. Currently, every system demonstrated including the Readius uses organic polymers for the drivers, which have a shelf life of a couple of days if you're lucky. They are incredibly sensitive to moisture, and the only system so far capable of protecting them requires the deposition of many layers of transparent metal oxides, which alone cost somewhere in the range of $60/ square foot. Anytime you see news about a flexible display, look to see if they are using organic drivers, if they are and they don't explicitly address the moisture issue, the product will never reach consumers.
Miyamoto is still a luminary of game design, and I look forward to his future projects. Wii Sports is still incredibly popular (it just passed a million units sold in Japan, where it is not a pack in), and people are still waiting in line to buy units here in the US. Twilight Princess is an excellent game, though not having tried the GC version I can't really speak on it being more immersive than using a controller. I still play my Wii whenever I can find time, as does everyone I know who has one. In addition to Wii Sports, games like Wario Ware, Rayman, and Excite Truck continue to be a great deal of fun, and I still haven't had time to start on Trauma Center due to playing the other games. Add in the virtual console and a long list of games I want there, and the Wii has an amazing lineup already, and enough to keep someone who doesn't spend there whole life playing video games busy for some time to come. Whenever the NPD numbers for Jan come out, I think we will see that the Wii is continuing to dominate console sales, given that stores can't seem to keep them on the shelves for more than a few minutes at a time.
As far as Miyamoto and Nintendo at large being able to access new markets, my mother has purchased both a DS and a Wii in the last 3 months. She wouldn't even allow my brother and I to have a NES when we were growing up, so that's a pretty big shift for her, largely due to a fresh look at game design being encouraged by Nintendo.
The key difference from the Milgram Experiments that makes this an acceptable experiment is that the subjects know the torture is fake. In the Milgram experiments the setup was that subjects were randomly chosen to be Teacher (adminstering shock) or Learner (recieving shock). In reality the random choice was fixed and the Learner was a paid actor, but the subject (the Teacher) did not know that until after the experiment. A large number of subjects from the Milgram Experiments ended up seriously psychologicly damaged because they found our they could kill if told to by an authority figure. In this experiment, the subjects know the Learner is a virtual character and they are not potentially killing a human being. If you don't read the actual study, it would be easy to compare it to the Milgram Experiments, but the setup is really quite different.
I suspect that many that had actual bids were also being artificially bid up by the sellers, as I saw one with 8 bids when none of the others had any suddenly get pulled.
I've only played a few games on the DS, but if there is serious complaint over the lack on an analog stick the fault lies with the game developer, not the hardware. The touchscreen can be used to provide much greater control than an analog nub. Also, the author goes on about how the stylus is a clnky interface for interacting with the touch screen, which is true, that's why there is a little thumb nub on the cord for the system. It takes some getting used to but it is really an excellent control scheme.
I wouldn't put too much faith in anything ECD says... Forbes had a great article titled Repeat Pretender (reprinted here) about Stan Ovshinsky, the master con-man behind the company. A number of people have attempted and claimed a commercially viable roll-to-roll process for solar, but from what I can see the only company to actually produce modules with it is Iowa Thin Film Technologies.
They are in fact refering to the last battle scene in the movie, and according to Jackson are going to add approx. 30 sec to the scene with Boromir, Merry, and Pippin, showing the two hobbits fighting more than was shown in the original. It is supposed to be somewhat more violent, and they were unsure if it would land the movie an R rating, but it seems that it didn't.
I had a Sony Viao, and it had a problem similar to that described on the dell here, but worse. It had the 15" display, and very tight hinges, to the point that I could see the screen ripple every time I opened or closed it. 3 weeks after I got it, I opened it one day to find the screen had fractured. On contacting Sony I was informed that they do not cover displays in their warrenty, despite not saying that in their warrenty. Eventually I took them to small claims court and the case was ruled in my favor, but one shouldn't have to do that to get what should have been taken care of as soon as I called. After fairly thurough seaching, I found that this was fairly normal for Sony. I currently own a Dell Inspiron 5000e, which has worked fine, but I'm glad to hear that they will at least fix problems even if they don't want to replace the whole machine.
Encryption research is protected provided the researchers meet certain criteria, on of which is
(A) whether the information derived from the encryption research was disseminated, and if so, whether it was disseminated in a manner reasonably calculated to advance the state of knowledge or development of encryption technology, versus whether it was disseminated in a manner that facilitates infringement under title 17, United States Code, or a violation of applicable law other than this section, including a violation of privacy or breach of security;
and another of which is
The exception permits a researcher to develop and use a circumvention technology, to share such technology with a project collaborator, or to share such technology with someone verifying the researcher's work.
My guess is that RIAA was considers Felten to be violating both of these, considering it distribution in a manner that facilitates infringement and going outside of the bounds of what is allowed for information on circumvention technology.
Your right, Episode I was a children's movie, and it was intended to be, I didn't like everhting Lucas did with it, but it served it's purpouse: it got a new generation fired up about Star Wars. Episode II is designed to be an action/adventure movie, and Episode III is high tragedy, Anikin becoming Vader. Star Wars has always been a family series, so it is reasonable for Episode I to have been a kids movie.
That being said this title sucks, and we do care because this movie is supposed to be aimed at a somewhat older crowd (everyone who wants to see the Jedi kicking ass). On the bright side, I was at a Star Wars seminar at GenCon, and they told us we could expect to see Yoda and Mace, along with the rest of the Jedi, truly demonstrating why they are Jedi Masters, i.e. kicking some major ass. So all is not lost, it can still be a good movie even if it has a crappy name, and with luck they'll change the name.
By this point, a Microsoft breakup probably wouldn't do a whole lot. If Microsofts monopololy is to be broken what is needed is to revoke some of software copyright law so they couldn't other companies could easily read/write the same format files.
CmdrTaco's representation of Dell here is highly unfair and irrisponisible journalism. It is the first time I have heard anyone do anything but praise Dell for its customer service. They are rated #1 by Consumer reports in customer service and warrenty repair; whereas Sony, who /. seems to be able to do nothing but praise for their Viao, has an abysmal warrenty repair record, and doesn't even rate in the top 10 in either customer service or warrenty repair. I am currently working on a Dell, which has been one of the best machines I've ever owned of any type, which I had to buy as a replacement for my Sony Viao thats screen spontaneously fractured and Sony refused warrenty coverage on despite it clearly being covered according to their warrenty card. Let's have some fair journalism here, maybe do a little reserch before unfair article like that.
I agree that banning full human cloning is an excellent idea. Cloning is biologicly pointless for reproduction, as is pointed out above. There are only 2 possible uses of cloning:
1. Creating cloned slave, which is illeagle and immorale. This reason for cloning however, is also why clones should not, under any cicuimstances, be banned from immigration. If a clone was created in another country and would end up as a slave there, we should support their immigration and treat them like the human being they are.
2. Organ farming, which we are not currently equipped to do in a reasonable fashion and may not even be a feasible method of organ growth. Growing a full human clone just to take its organs is wrong by any standerds, as by the time there organs are really usable in an adult body they are concoius and aware. We currently lack the genetic technology to create a clone w/out a brain, and such a clone might not even be possible or useful, due to the necessicity of neural activity for full neural deveopmnet throught the body. Embryonic stem cell reserch is currently our best bet for good organs.
This means that cloning is an entirely pointless endevor, and givin our already ridiculus population, should be highly discouraged accross the world.
So you're saying that civil disobedience is a terminally flawed idea that should never be used? Where would this country be without people breaking unjust laws? The Civil Rights movement never would have made it anywhere, laws banning the teaching of evolution probably never would have been challenged, hey we wouldn't even have a country. Do you think the American Revolution was legal? Breaking unjust laws is a time honered and effective method of getting them removed. A law that no one follows becomes unenforcable, and that is the idea behind civil disobedience, which is what this is.
Comparing genetc engineering to Hitler is an incredibly poor comparison. Hitler actively tried to wipe whole races off the Earth in his efforts, genetic engineering seeks to help all races. If we cure diseases with genetics, the only intelligent thing to do is to cure that disease everywhere. Viruses mutate enough that if we cure one just in our country, it won't be to long before a mutation arises somewhere else that is immune to our cure, the only logical thing to do would be to wipe it out entirely, as has been done to small pox (well, with the exception of one or two vials). This will benifit the whole world, and if someone wants to give there child some physical bonuses, that is their choice, and only their choice.
Lucyfer Sam
"In the beggining Man created God, in the end, Man will realize that He is God."
Every critic I hear of the HGP keeps going on about this fear of ppl wanting the "perfect baby," sorry folk, but there is no such thing. Every person has a different idea of what their "perfect child" would be like, ask 50 couples and I garauntee you'll get 100 different answers. The worry about increased class division also seems unnecassary, every technology created throught history has been in the hands of the rich and influential first, and eventually drops in price enough for the common person to use it, I see no reason why this one will be any different. It will give a short term increased advantage (maybe) to the rich, but in the long term if anything it will help equalize the playing field. We are gaining power over our own evolution. We have eliminated natural selection almost entirely in human society, so htis is the only way we're going to continue to grow as a species.
Lucyfer Sam
"In the beggining, Man created God, in the end, Man will realize that He is God."
Yes, other than magic, ShadowRun seems to be a relitively acurrate portrayal of our future, but it does a good job preciecely because it is not really a dystopian future. Everyday life in the SR universe is not that much different than it is today. The 3rd ed. book had a different opening than the 2nd, which summed it up quite well, the constant refrain throughout the story was "the more things change, the more they stay the same," which is pretty well sums up the SR universe.
I would be anxios to see the Dolphin, but Nintendo seems to have lost my two favorite game series (Final Fantasy and Mega Man) to the Playstation, and Playstation seems to get better games in general.