That seems unlikely to me. If you have a business account, you're probably a prime target, because you presumably have more funds than a soccer mom or elderly grandmother (though many, of course, are just home users with a business account to get rid of that stupid low usage cap).
Subscription VPN services are about as shady as porn and warez sites. Good luck finding the right mix of:
+ Our policy is not to retain logs, so we have no data to respond to requests for data with. + We have plenty of locations. + We don't have caps (or, at least, low caps). + We don't require that you install a ridiculous crappy VPN client (and, often, one that is just specifically aimed at file sharing -- or even worse, they just give you their own version of a torrent client with the VPN crap built into it). + We actually are in business and provide a service (you'll find many are fly-by-not or that you just sent payment to a company that hasn't done business in six months, despite their site suggesting its an active company. + We have decent speeds and are not overloading our capacity.
It's also unfortunate that so many end-users believe that if they use a VPN, they're completely fine. They don't understand that -- even if everything else is fine -- your VPN provider, themselves, is a weak point and subject to warrant and so forth.
If you buy a phone, you CAN do whatever you want with it. But most people don't buy phones. They get heavily discounted phones from their cell service in exchange for signing a term contract. How the fuck else do you think you're getting that $800 iPhone for $200?!
If you actually want to BUY a phone, then go pay $800 for an unlocked one and you CAN do whatever the hell you like.
I mean, seriously, do you expect to have the same liberty with a leased car as you do with a purchased car? Of course not.
The legislative branch has become a bunch of whipped pussies, cowering to the demands of the executive branch, like a bunch of yes-men. We've gone from three branches of government, with checks and balances and all that, to -- at best -- two branches of government in the span of two Bush and two Obama presidential terms. President demands the right to whisk people away forever without any trial? Hey, we're not going to bother questioning it. Let's get back to work on interviewing major league baseball about steroids! President wants to wiretap everything everywhere without any need for warrant or justification or notification? Well, who are we to question, sir? President wants to hand out trillions in corporate welfare? Okay. Claims the right to kill American citizens without trial? Sure thing, boss!
Cell phones are only expensive for lazy people. I found ting.com and use them for my cell and Google Voice for my main/routing/filtering line that feeds to my cellphone (or any phone I might use, really). Between the two, I pay about $12/mo.
I agree -- we shouldn't need a petition. That whole petition site is idiotic. The premise is, obviously, that it represents the way government works in America. If they really want to facilitate an easy online way for the American public to participate in the way the American government actually runs, they'll dump the petition website and replace it with an auction website. Want the right to unlock your phone under any condition, ever? Great -- you and your fellow tax-payers just need to pledge/bid enough on the government auction site to outbid the companies that are paying to have that model protected and maintained.
Game publishers need to get realistic about the price of games. Take this week's release of "Metal Gear: Revengance". It's a mediocre game for $60 (+tax). And it's four hours long. I can't think of a lot of entertainment that occurs in your own home, on a couch for as much as $16/hr.
I have mod points, but dude you are a bonafide coward! Why are they giving Linux a bad name? I use Ubuntu all the time, and if anything they are making Linux usable.
I used to appreciate Ubuntu (well, Kubuntu), but I really just wish another powerhouse distro would come along and take the banner for awhile. Preferably still based on Debian, but not necessary.
This isn't what you're thinking of your typical MMO. It's basically a shooter MMO. And not really even MMO. It's more, as I understand it, like Journey. That is, you encounter other people in certain circumstances. Anyway, I see no problem with attempting this on a console. I think it's fantastic. I'm just disappointed that it's on the current generation which, by the time the game launches, will be the last generation of hardware. I just don't see this 2005 console hardware and scaffolding holding up to something this supposedly massive and complex.
I'll never understand why global warming is such a big deal. It's undeniable that based on the data we have, the planet is getting warmer. However, my understanding is that we still do not have evidence that the warming is, indeed, caused by man. Of course, any rational human being would still say that whether we have evidence or not, it's the smart thing to minimize pollutants of all kind. Even if it doesn't impact the climate, it still impacts our quality of life and the world around us. So even if it's all bullshit, the cautious measures are wise, regardless.
That said, we all know that the way you find out the truth about a thing is to follow the money. Unfortunately, both sides are full of shit, here. You have one side paying billions to trot out supposed "experts" (handily associated to the oil industries) to refute what the rest of the world claims. Money. On the other, you have people like Al Gore and other opportunists pushing the idiotic "carbon credits" economy. People who both invest heavily in them and also promote them and climate fear to increase their value. Not only that, but they push heavily to make these "credits" and this bullshit "credit economy" part of the political and economic structure of as many advanced nations as possible. And even at its best, it would accomplish nothing. It doesn't limit pollution. It just makes polluting something you can buy the right to do, while making other people rich as you do it. It's the same scam we have now, except we've found a way to have additional people intervene in the process so that, along with the companies and CEOs, these new people can make bank. Money.
A lot of console games do not have servers hosted by the developer/publisher and they don't allow users to host the games on their own consoles. Or, rather, I should rephrase that -- the developer/publisher does host servers for the games -- but players have to pay a monthly fee to rent and run them. This is happening more often on PCs, too.
In other words, they no longer give you the facilities to simply install and run your own servers. And, in many cases, to even rent servers from a third party. And they don't provide their own community servers for free. They offload the cost of running those servers to players and force them to pay for it.
Media companies suckered/forced people into buying music all over again on 8-track to replace their records. Then again, on cassette. Then again on CD. Then again, digitally. Even though all you really owned for those things was a license to listen to the music and nothing else. Everyone was happy to see digital distribution of everything, because now there is finally a format of distribution that won't need to be replaced!. (But you still only own a license to enjoy the content for as long as they want to allow you to).
The truth, I suspect, is that Microsoft and Sony will probably just tell you that you have to buy your content all over again on the new platforms. They might even claim "well, gosh, it requires so much money to make those old XBLA/PSN games work on the new system, so we have to charge you for them again!". Or they might not even make your digital games playable at all on the new systems (because, you know, making 2013 hardware capable of emulating almost decade-old software is ... I don't know -- impossible or something).
DRM only affects and impacts paying customers and publishers are not concerned with piracy. It's the excuse they use, but what they really are concerned with is people exercising their first-sale rights.
Frankly, it just sounds like you're pushing an agenda. The fact is that consoles have a lot to offer. So do PCs. While I'm a die-hard life-long PC gamer and I build a glorious new rig every year or two (the video cards alone in my most recent rig -- 3 4gb 670s -- were $1,500), but I also enjoy games on the consoles. I wish PC gaming was bigger, more wide-spread, and more focused on than consoles. Totally. That's where my main interest is. But I don't have to convert everyone from their console to a PC and people can, frankly, have both.
That's not even a fair comparison. A high end video card is $600-$750. A console, on launch, will probably be less than that. And as a die-hard PC gamer (who also owns several of every console), I have no interest in putting together a $3,000 rig and sitting it next to my home theater so that all I can use it for is gaming. Also, there is a bit of a chasm between PC experiences and console experiences for a lot of games, due to developer and publisher focus on consoles and lack of enthusiasm about development for PC (see the recent Dead Space 3 for an example).
And, of course, these are things your average consumer are simply not going to do -- period.
I'm sorry, but your comment makes absolutely no sense. Are you saying that console gaming should not be improved? That they shouldn't have more power, better graphics, and more features? What does decoding h264 have to do with how powerful the PS4 is going to be? It's like complaining that my PC is too powerful "just to stream video". Sure, maybe it is just to stream video. But how about everything else I do with it? How about everything else you do with the PS4? You know, like playing non streaming games? (Especially since OnLive and GaiKai have very unsatisfactory experiences due to input/response lag and lower graphic fidelity).
Huh. My reasoning was more along the lines that this president has betrayed every promise he has made (remember being open and transparent and no revolving doors and taking it to the bank that the first thing we'd do is get out of Iraq?) He's every bit the scum the prior administration was. Saying something in a SOTU speech means jack shit as far as results. Or, shit, for intention, even.
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That seems unlikely to me. If you have a business account, you're probably a prime target, because you presumably have more funds than a soccer mom or elderly grandmother (though many, of course, are just home users with a business account to get rid of that stupid low usage cap).
Subscription VPN services are about as shady as porn and warez sites. Good luck finding the right mix of:
+ Our policy is not to retain logs, so we have no data to respond to requests for data with.
+ We have plenty of locations.
+ We don't have caps (or, at least, low caps).
+ We don't require that you install a ridiculous crappy VPN client (and, often, one that is just specifically aimed at file sharing -- or even worse, they just give you their own version of a torrent client with the VPN crap built into it).
+ We actually are in business and provide a service (you'll find many are fly-by-not or that you just sent payment to a company that hasn't done business in six months, despite their site suggesting its an active company.
+ We have decent speeds and are not overloading our capacity.
It's also unfortunate that so many end-users believe that if they use a VPN, they're completely fine. They don't understand that -- even if everything else is fine -- your VPN provider, themselves, is a weak point and subject to warrant and so forth.
I agree. Nothing can ever go wrong when government and corporations establish a re-education programs.
If you buy a phone, you CAN do whatever you want with it. But most people don't buy phones. They get heavily discounted phones from their cell service in exchange for signing a term contract. How the fuck else do you think you're getting that $800 iPhone for $200?!
If you actually want to BUY a phone, then go pay $800 for an unlocked one and you CAN do whatever the hell you like.
I mean, seriously, do you expect to have the same liberty with a leased car as you do with a purchased car? Of course not.
The legislative branch has become a bunch of whipped pussies, cowering to the demands of the executive branch, like a bunch of yes-men. We've gone from three branches of government, with checks and balances and all that, to -- at best -- two branches of government in the span of two Bush and two Obama presidential terms. President demands the right to whisk people away forever without any trial? Hey, we're not going to bother questioning it. Let's get back to work on interviewing major league baseball about steroids! President wants to wiretap everything everywhere without any need for warrant or justification or notification? Well, who are we to question, sir? President wants to hand out trillions in corporate welfare? Okay. Claims the right to kill American citizens without trial? Sure thing, boss!
Cell phones are only expensive for lazy people. I found ting.com and use them for my cell and Google Voice for my main/routing/filtering line that feeds to my cellphone (or any phone I might use, really). Between the two, I pay about $12/mo.
I agree -- we shouldn't need a petition. That whole petition site is idiotic. The premise is, obviously, that it represents the way government works in America. If they really want to facilitate an easy online way for the American public to participate in the way the American government actually runs, they'll dump the petition website and replace it with an auction website. Want the right to unlock your phone under any condition, ever? Great -- you and your fellow tax-payers just need to pledge/bid enough on the government auction site to outbid the companies that are paying to have that model protected and maintained.
Pluto me once, shame on you. Pluto me twice, shame on me.
Because the best way to avoid being burgled is to burn down your house.
Cronus, is that you?
When people call gaming an addiction, it only proves they don't have any experience with people who have actual addictions to actual addictive stuff.
Game publishers need to get realistic about the price of games. Take this week's release of "Metal Gear: Revengance". It's a mediocre game for $60 (+tax). And it's four hours long. I can't think of a lot of entertainment that occurs in your own home, on a couch for as much as $16/hr.
I have mod points, but dude you are a bonafide coward! Why are they giving Linux a bad name? I use Ubuntu all the time, and if anything they are making Linux usable.
Does "usable" have to mean "shady invasive crap"?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/02/18/1652242/mark-shuttleworth-addresses-ubuntu-privacy-issues
I used to appreciate Ubuntu (well, Kubuntu), but I really just wish another powerhouse distro would come along and take the banner for awhile. Preferably still based on Debian, but not necessary.
Unity already supports linux as of version 4.0.
Oh -- you mean that shitty flashy interface thing; not the game engine.
Suppository.
This isn't what you're thinking of your typical MMO. It's basically a shooter MMO. And not really even MMO. It's more, as I understand it, like Journey. That is, you encounter other people in certain circumstances. Anyway, I see no problem with attempting this on a console. I think it's fantastic. I'm just disappointed that it's on the current generation which, by the time the game launches, will be the last generation of hardware. I just don't see this 2005 console hardware and scaffolding holding up to something this supposedly massive and complex.
This is normal - the rich don't pay tax.
Neither do government agencies.
I'll never understand why global warming is such a big deal. It's undeniable that based on the data we have, the planet is getting warmer. However, my understanding is that we still do not have evidence that the warming is, indeed, caused by man. Of course, any rational human being would still say that whether we have evidence or not, it's the smart thing to minimize pollutants of all kind. Even if it doesn't impact the climate, it still impacts our quality of life and the world around us. So even if it's all bullshit, the cautious measures are wise, regardless.
That said, we all know that the way you find out the truth about a thing is to follow the money. Unfortunately, both sides are full of shit, here. You have one side paying billions to trot out supposed "experts" (handily associated to the oil industries) to refute what the rest of the world claims. Money. On the other, you have people like Al Gore and other opportunists pushing the idiotic "carbon credits" economy. People who both invest heavily in them and also promote them and climate fear to increase their value. Not only that, but they push heavily to make these "credits" and this bullshit "credit economy" part of the political and economic structure of as many advanced nations as possible. And even at its best, it would accomplish nothing. It doesn't limit pollution. It just makes polluting something you can buy the right to do, while making other people rich as you do it. It's the same scam we have now, except we've found a way to have additional people intervene in the process so that, along with the companies and CEOs, these new people can make bank. Money.
So, frankly, fuck them all.
A lot of console games do not have servers hosted by the developer/publisher and they don't allow users to host the games on their own consoles. Or, rather, I should rephrase that -- the developer/publisher does host servers for the games -- but players have to pay a monthly fee to rent and run them. This is happening more often on PCs, too.
In other words, they no longer give you the facilities to simply install and run your own servers. And, in many cases, to even rent servers from a third party. And they don't provide their own community servers for free. They offload the cost of running those servers to players and force them to pay for it.
Media companies suckered/forced people into buying music all over again on 8-track to replace their records. Then again, on cassette. Then again on CD. Then again, digitally. Even though all you really owned for those things was a license to listen to the music and nothing else. Everyone was happy to see digital distribution of everything, because now there is finally a format of distribution that won't need to be replaced!. (But you still only own a license to enjoy the content for as long as they want to allow you to).
The truth, I suspect, is that Microsoft and Sony will probably just tell you that you have to buy your content all over again on the new platforms. They might even claim "well, gosh, it requires so much money to make those old XBLA/PSN games work on the new system, so we have to charge you for them again!". Or they might not even make your digital games playable at all on the new systems (because, you know, making 2013 hardware capable of emulating almost decade-old software is . .. I don't know -- impossible or something).
DRM only affects and impacts paying customers and publishers are not concerned with piracy. It's the excuse they use, but what they really are concerned with is people exercising their first-sale rights.
Frankly, it just sounds like you're pushing an agenda. The fact is that consoles have a lot to offer. So do PCs. While I'm a die-hard life-long PC gamer and I build a glorious new rig every year or two (the video cards alone in my most recent rig -- 3 4gb 670s -- were $1,500), but I also enjoy games on the consoles. I wish PC gaming was bigger, more wide-spread, and more focused on than consoles. Totally. That's where my main interest is. But I don't have to convert everyone from their console to a PC and people can, frankly, have both.
That's not even a fair comparison. A high end video card is $600-$750. A console, on launch, will probably be less than that. And as a die-hard PC gamer (who also owns several of every console), I have no interest in putting together a $3,000 rig and sitting it next to my home theater so that all I can use it for is gaming. Also, there is a bit of a chasm between PC experiences and console experiences for a lot of games, due to developer and publisher focus on consoles and lack of enthusiasm about development for PC (see the recent Dead Space 3 for an example).
And, of course, these are things your average consumer are simply not going to do -- period.
I'm sorry, but your comment makes absolutely no sense. Are you saying that console gaming should not be improved? That they shouldn't have more power, better graphics, and more features? What does decoding h264 have to do with how powerful the PS4 is going to be? It's like complaining that my PC is too powerful "just to stream video". Sure, maybe it is just to stream video. But how about everything else I do with it? How about everything else you do with the PS4? You know, like playing non streaming games? (Especially since OnLive and GaiKai have very unsatisfactory experiences due to input/response lag and lower graphic fidelity).
Huh. My reasoning was more along the lines that this president has betrayed every promise he has made (remember being open and transparent and no revolving doors and taking it to the bank that the first thing we'd do is get out of Iraq?) He's every bit the scum the prior administration was. Saying something in a SOTU speech means jack shit as far as results. Or, shit, for intention, even.