I think it's simply a case of the head guys leaving, and some of the employees following. What surprises me is that none of these people had non-competition clauses in their contracts, which I thought was standard in the gaming industry
Moreover, the rest of the market is dominated by companies that move a lot of poduct but make a very small profit on each one. Trying to compete in that space is incredibly difficult, as margins are so low it's hard to differentiate your product. In what way is a Dell better than a Gateway or whatever? They're essentially the same exact thing, the only reason people would choose one over the other is brand awareness.
Apple would rather sell fewer computers at more of a profit to people who are willing to pay more for quality, and they're doing just fine.
I'm running it on a P3 1 ghz laptop with less ram and I haven't had this problem at all. I have turned off all the XP eye candy though, which might make a difference...
It's not replacing our current processors. It is just helping them with intensive floating-point calculations. Is that really going to be helpful to the average user?
Hey, this is slashdot, we don't care about the average user.
Another problem with Sitefinder, which I haven't heard anybody mention yet, is that the suggestions offered were often not the actual domain you were looking for, but various typo squatters. So how is this helping the consumer?
First of all, Steam requires a live internet connection to play. Not just to register, or to activate, but every time you want to play. Goodbye gaming during that boring 10-hour flight, eh?
The last I heard, Valve was planning on removing the internet connection requirement from steam, so that you can play single player and multiplayer lan games without having an internet connection. What I do know for sure is that you will be able to buy and play the single player game without using steam at all.
A lot of music now days very barely falls into the definition of music.
And just how do you define what is music and what isn't? Going by the dictionary definition, music is:
a : the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony.
Which encompasses everything anybody ever called music, and quite a bit more. What you're really saying is that a lot of music now days barely falls into your definition of music, which is hardly an objective statement.
Indie music, on the whole, DOES suck because the people either lack talent, lack recording skills, they lack the funds to get proper equipment, or maybe they just really really universally bad taste. Whatever their excuse may be...
Conversely, I would say commercial music sucks because labels favor image over talent, are afraid to take risks and have really really universally bad taste. Fundamentally, the majors are in the business of music to sell records, and will release anything that they think will make money; sucking or not doesn't enter into the equation. There are certain styles of music that are only available from indie labels, or where the quality of what comes from indies is considered superior to the majors; it depends on what you're into.
Some people will jump in here now to defend new and interesting sounds, or things that "break the rules" because it's cool or interesting, but most of the time it really isn't either.
This is purely a question of taste; I listen to a lot of music featuring "new and interesting sounds" that I enjoy immensely, and which other people (say, my parents) wouldn't even consider music. I do agree that experimentation for experimentation's sake can lead to pretty ugly results, but it doesn't mean that experimentation is in itself a bad thing; quite the opposite, it is vital to the continuing evolution of music.
He then pointed out to me that those songs that "make sense" stand the test of time.
But some of those things that "make sense" now didn't neccessarily make sense when they were created, or when you first heard them. Some of the most enduring classical music was actually quite unpopular at the time it was written, and much of the best music of the last couple of decades was a departure from the norm at the time. Personally, many of my all time favorite albums are the ones that grew on me.
Back to the topic -- This Shareware Music thing hasn't any more or less potential to create good music than the current Music Business. It just has more of a chance of exposing us to the stuff that REALLY SUCKS (irrelevent of tates).
This is true to a certain extent, but only of the companies like mp3.com, where anybody can upload their latest song, even if it was a demo that came with the software they pirated off the web (this does happen!). In the long run, the succesful ventures (i.e. the ones that will make money) are going to be the ones that have a clear musical vision, and good quality control. These are the ones whose releases you will take a chance listening to even if you've never heard of the artist before, because the label has proven itself to you as a source of good music. These are the ones who will get the best marketing money can't buy, as you tell all your friends about them.
Finally, since the barrier to entry is much lower, I think the shareware music concept has a much better chance of exposing people to good, innovative, music that will stand the test of time than the current music business.
This doesn't make much sence linguistically. 'San Greal" has no meaning in French and even the term that it is supposedly misstranslated from (sang real) is not French. 'Real' is not French for 'royal' , it's Spanish. The French say "royale', which comes from 'roi' which means King. "Sang" is French for 'blood' (sangre in Spanish). So your phrase "sang real' , if it means anything, is a mix between French and Spanish, which doesn't seem to fit into the Francophilic theory about the Merovingian kings.
Actually, it does make sense; In medieval times the word Real was used as an adjective for royalty in certain circumstances, most notably when talking about the kings primary galley and the staff contained on it i.e. "La galere reale". Also, the name of the city Montreal quite obviously comes from Mont Real. I would know, I happen to live there, and am a native french speaker as well.
As for "San Greal", regardless of whether it actually means anything, that is the way it is most commonly written in most French Arthurian legends.
Another interesting biblical reference is the Merovingian. According to certain versions of history (which was first popularised by the book "holy blood, holy grail") the Merovingian kings were direct descendants of Jesus (who hadn't died at the cross and who fled Jerusalem with Mary Magdalene and later had a child with her) and that bloodline is the actual Holy Grail. One of the first things that hint at this possibility is the term Holy Grail, which come from the french "San Greal"; it's likely that it's a misstranslation of the term "Sang Real", which literally means Royal Blood.
This would mean that the Merovingian in the movie is a decendant of Christ, which adds an interesting twist to biblical interpretations of the movie.
Audio cassettes 40 minutes or more in length: $.29 each
Audio cassettes less than 40 minutes long: $0
CD-Rs and CD-RWs (100 megabytes or more in capacity): $.21 each
CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDisc: $.77 each
Removable electronic memory card, removable flash memory storage medium of any type, or removable micro-hard drive: not covered
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or any other type of recordable or rewritable DVD: not covered
Non-removable electronic memory card or non-removable flash memory storage medium of any type incorporated into an MP3 player: not covered
Non-removable hard drive incorporated into an MP3 player or similar device... primarily to record and play music.: not covered
Microcassettes (commonly used in dictating machines): $0
Digital audio tapes (DATs): $0
As you can see, the 77 cents people keep mentioning in their posts only applies to those CD-R specifically designated for recording audio, which nobody uses anyway (although there are some standalone audio CD recording units which require them).
What I find insulting is that I run a recording studio, and every single cd I buy for my own or my clients' music puts a little money into the pockets of people like Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne... although I recently discovered that, if you import CDs for your own use (i.e. buy them online from outside canada) the levy doesn't apply.
The answer to that is simple; you offer a selection of content, some of it for free and some of it your pay for. In the case of Scott McCloud, he has a LOT of comics already available for free, so you get a good idea his work before paying for anything. Most other webcomic artist who are (or are considering) charging for content are doing the same.
I also think that micropayments are usefull for providing higher quality versions of media that is already available for free; higher res comics, or higher bitrate/lossless music.
mLAN is a protocol for transmiting audio and midi over firewire, and as such has no use for the optical port. it's likely there for 5.1, as most surround sound systems come with optical inputs. It would be nice if it could be used as 8 channel lightpipe though.
Slashdot Mirror
How did this thing ever get off the drawing board?
The onboard computer isn't running some variant of Windows... that would give a whole new meaning to Blue Screen Of Death.
Well the pdf says:
Life support systems consist of oxygen flasks intern a land external and metering valve sufficient to keep 2 persons in the craft for 72 hours.
so that detail could be right.
I think it's simply a case of the head guys leaving, and some of the employees following. What surprises me is that none of these people had non-competition clauses in their contracts, which I thought was standard in the gaming industry
Moreover, the rest of the market is dominated by companies that move a lot of poduct but make a very small profit on each one. Trying to compete in that space is incredibly difficult, as margins are so low it's hard to differentiate your product. In what way is a Dell better than a Gateway or whatever? They're essentially the same exact thing, the only reason people would choose one over the other is brand awareness.
Apple would rather sell fewer computers at more of a profit to people who are willing to pay more for quality, and they're doing just fine.
I believe the general sentiment here is not that electronic voting is a bad idea, but that it just needs to be done properly.
I'm running it on a P3 1 ghz laptop with less ram and I haven't had this problem at all. I have turned off all the XP eye candy though, which might make a difference...
It's not replacing our current processors. It is just helping them with intensive floating-point calculations. Is that really going to be helpful to the average user?
Hey, this is slashdot, we don't care about the average user.
Actually Halo for PC has already been released
Another problem with Sitefinder, which I haven't heard anybody mention yet, is that the suggestions offered were often not the actual domain you were looking for, but various typo squatters. So how is this helping the consumer?
Well, seeing as how the game makes use of DirectX9 for its graphics, making a linux client would involve rewriting all the graphics code, no?
First of all, Steam requires a live internet connection to play. Not just to register, or to activate, but every time you want to play. Goodbye gaming during that boring 10-hour flight, eh?
The last I heard, Valve was planning on removing the internet connection requirement from steam, so that you can play single player and multiplayer lan games without having an internet connection. What I do know for sure is that you will be able to buy and play the single player game without using steam at all.
And just how do you define what is music and what isn't? Going by the dictionary definition, music is: Which encompasses everything anybody ever called music, and quite a bit more. What you're really saying is that a lot of music now days barely falls into your definition of music, which is hardly an objective statement.
Indie music, on the whole, DOES suck because the people either lack talent, lack recording skills, they lack the funds to get proper equipment, or maybe they just really really universally bad taste. Whatever their excuse may be...
Conversely, I would say commercial music sucks because labels favor image over talent, are afraid to take risks and have really really universally bad taste. Fundamentally, the majors are in the business of music to sell records, and will release anything that they think will make money; sucking or not doesn't enter into the equation. There are certain styles of music that are only available from indie labels, or where the quality of what comes from indies is considered superior to the majors; it depends on what you're into.
Some people will jump in here now to defend new and interesting sounds, or things that "break the rules" because it's cool or interesting, but most of the time it really isn't either.
This is purely a question of taste; I listen to a lot of music featuring "new and interesting sounds" that I enjoy immensely, and which other people (say, my parents) wouldn't even consider music. I do agree that experimentation for experimentation's sake can lead to pretty ugly results, but it doesn't mean that experimentation is in itself a bad thing; quite the opposite, it is vital to the continuing evolution of music.
He then pointed out to me that those songs that "make sense" stand the test of time.
But some of those things that "make sense" now didn't neccessarily make sense when they were created, or when you first heard them. Some of the most enduring classical music was actually quite unpopular at the time it was written, and much of the best music of the last couple of decades was a departure from the norm at the time. Personally, many of my all time favorite albums are the ones that grew on me.
Back to the topic -- This Shareware Music thing hasn't any more or less potential to create good music than the current Music Business. It just has more of a chance of exposing us to the stuff that REALLY SUCKS (irrelevent of tates).
This is true to a certain extent, but only of the companies like mp3.com, where anybody can upload their latest song, even if it was a demo that came with the software they pirated off the web (this does happen!). In the long run, the succesful ventures (i.e. the ones that will make money) are going to be the ones that have a clear musical vision, and good quality control. These are the ones whose releases you will take a chance listening to even if you've never heard of the artist before, because the label has proven itself to you as a source of good music. These are the ones who will get the best marketing money can't buy, as you tell all your friends about them.
Finally, since the barrier to entry is much lower, I think the shareware music concept has a much better chance of exposing people to good, innovative, music that will stand the test of time than the current music business.
This doesn't make much sence linguistically. 'San Greal" has no meaning in French and even the term that it is supposedly misstranslated from (sang real) is not French. 'Real' is not French for 'royal' , it's Spanish. The French say "royale', which comes from 'roi' which means King. "Sang" is French for 'blood' (sangre in Spanish). So your phrase "sang real' , if it means anything, is a mix between French and Spanish, which doesn't seem to fit into the Francophilic theory about the Merovingian kings.
Actually, it does make sense; In medieval times the word Real was used as an adjective for royalty in certain circumstances, most notably when talking about the kings primary galley and the staff contained on it i.e. "La galere reale". Also, the name of the city Montreal quite obviously comes from Mont Real. I would know, I happen to live there, and am a native french speaker as well.
As for "San Greal", regardless of whether it actually means anything, that is the way it is most commonly written in most French Arthurian legends.
Another interesting biblical reference is the Merovingian. According to certain versions of history (which was first popularised by the book "holy blood, holy grail") the Merovingian kings were direct descendants of Jesus (who hadn't died at the cross and who fled Jerusalem with Mary Magdalene and later had a child with her) and that bloodline is the actual Holy Grail. One of the first things that hint at this possibility is the term Holy Grail, which come from the french "San Greal"; it's likely that it's a misstranslation of the term "Sang Real", which literally means Royal Blood.
This would mean that the Merovingian in the movie is a decendant of Christ, which adds an interesting twist to biblical interpretations of the movie.
Audio cassettes 40 minutes or more in length: $.29 each
Audio cassettes less than 40 minutes long: $0
CD-Rs and CD-RWs (100 megabytes or more in capacity): $.21 each
CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDisc: $.77 each
Removable electronic memory card, removable flash memory storage medium of any type, or removable micro-hard drive: not covered
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or any other type of recordable or rewritable DVD: not covered
Non-removable electronic memory card or non-removable flash memory storage medium of any type incorporated into an MP3 player: not covered
Non-removable hard drive incorporated into an MP3 player or similar device ... primarily to record and play music.: not covered
Microcassettes (commonly used in dictating machines): $0
Digital audio tapes (DATs): $0
As you can see, the 77 cents people keep mentioning in their posts only applies to those CD-R specifically designated for recording audio, which nobody uses anyway (although there are some standalone audio CD recording units which require them).
What I find insulting is that I run a recording studio, and every single cd I buy for my own or my clients' music puts a little money into the pockets of people like Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne... although I recently discovered that, if you import CDs for your own use (i.e. buy them online from outside canada) the levy doesn't apply.
The answer to that is simple; you offer a selection of content, some of it for free and some of it your pay for. In the case of Scott McCloud, he has a LOT of comics already available for free, so you get a good idea his work before paying for anything. Most other webcomic artist who are (or are considering) charging for content are doing the same.
I also think that micropayments are usefull for providing higher quality versions of media that is already available for free; higher res comics, or higher bitrate/lossless music.
mLAN is a protocol for transmiting audio and midi over firewire, and as such has no use for the optical port. it's likely there for 5.1, as most surround sound systems come with optical inputs. It would be nice if it could be used as 8 channel lightpipe though.