Sometimes he resigned, sometimes Number 2 was "reassigned." (Remember the uber-sexy 60's phone?) The Number 2's in the original Prisoner were tasked to get information from No. 6. Through varying methods, No. 6 was subjected to all sorts of tricks and outright violence (remember the ladies from the Committee?), and it was No. 6 who foiled their plans by not revealing squat. They even gave No. 6 a chance to become No. 2 in an "election" (one of my favorite, because of its scathing commentary on current "choices" in politics). The reasons for No. 2's departure(s) throughout the series was each of their failures to extract the "information" required of No. 6 by whoever ran The Village. What that information was, or who was running the Village, is never stated. No. 6 alternates from foiling the plans of No. 2 to orchestrating escapes and/or convoluted acts to throw off No. 2.
One of the biggest "aha!" moments actually occurred at the end of the final episode. When No. 6 returns to his apartment in London (after a wild ride altogether), the door opens automatically... JUST like in the Village. How's that for a mind-blowing twist?:)
I was thinking more about Fedora, but unless I'm mistaken, there's been more reports of success getting the internal iSight camera working on Ubuntu.
Great thing about Virtualbox (and the non-free equivalents) is the ease of testing various flavors of Linux without mucking up your computer. I tried 3 distros before settling on ubuntu, and I might try some new ones here soon, since I've got the disk space.:)
I don't understand what you mean. I was just stating a fact of the upgrade process for Snow Leopard. I think $10 is nominal and for all intents and purposes "free". (I feel the same way about the $29.99 too, considering what it could cost.) The funny thing about the free Windows 7 for recent PC buyers is not so much a Microsoft promotion as an OEM promotion, because not all machines appear to qualify. (Or perhaps they do, but I don't see that neat "free upgrade to Windows 7" on all the Vista PCs out there in the channel... though I do believe most, if not all, Dells are eligible by now.) I would have to google more to see how the promotion worked.
Officially it was June 8th. I mis-quoted Apple's website. (I bought my Mini June 15th.) This is one of those rare times Apple's done this for buyers too. 3 months is pretty nice lead-time for an unshipped OS upgrade. I suspect it won't be repeated for a while, though.:)
Oh it's not a huge problem. Get Sun's VirtualBox and install Ubuntu on your intel Mac like I did. (My mini, to be exact.) It's snappy, and best of all Virtualbox is free.
You're right about Vista->Win 7 being a bigger leap. If Vista had delivered on its promises, I think Windows 7 wouldn't be getting nearly the hype it is now. Still, some folks are too forgiving of the problems that Vista introduced, because Microsoft finally started thinking seriously about Security and the like. (It was a good first effort, though it shouldn't have been this late in the OS game for them to have started their security initiatives.) But with Windows 7, it looks like they're coming into their own. It'll make Apple forge ahead with 10.7 (whatever cat that is), and it'll make them work even harder for switchers and faithful alike.:)
Most people will have to look at their "About this Mac" boxes to see if they're really running Snow Leopard. It's that subtle. (I do like the finder and dock improvements the most... along with the Snazzy new Quicktime...)
I can run Leopard on 11 year old hardware. (My G4). Snow Leopard is Intel Only, so that's not a fair comparison. Does it run acceptably? Yes, but I prefer Tiger on that machine. I run Leopard on a 5 year old machine, and I run Snow Leopard on a 3+ year old machine. Nothing's forced me to get a new Mac in the last 3 years. I'm still using my G5 as my main system, with my Mini (that I just bought, but didn't have to) slowly taking the G5's place (and letting my G5 be my file server for my other Macs.) I don't really bet that Vista would have run at all well on your 9 year old PC with only 1GB of RAM. Seems unlikely, given the hefty requirements Vista imposed.
I'd say that's not bad, considering the misinformation about Apple hardware that permeates the net. And really your G4 isn't unsupported... you can install Leopard if you want, albeit unofficially. I'm sorry you feel you HAVE to get new hardware. But considering the largest chunk of Windows OS sales comes from bundles with new hardware, it shows the rest of the PC world believes the same about their machines as well.
You don't have to spend $2000 to replace your Mac to switch. a Mini costs $599+ and works just as well as any Mac (and the latest even supports OpenCL and 64-bit)... But my 3 year old Macbook Pro runs Snow Leopard just fine too. And my 6 year old G5 is running Leopard like a top.:) My 11 year old G4 runs Tiger, and if I was adventurous, it could run Leopard as well.. but there's really no need. Granted my MBP was $1500, and my G5 was $2200... but they've worked great and with the exception of a dodgy optical drive, none of my Macs have seen the Genius repair bar.:)
Or you could buy a $329 HP Mini 1000 and install Leopard and get 100% functionality. Of course that's outside the realm of the EULA.:) Yes, Windows Vista required a jump in hardware (for it to run acceptably... MS and Intel are getting sued about putting Vista Ready stickers on too many clunkers), and Windows 7 needs the latest to shine. That's how commercial OSes work. I don't see it as being an issue, since most people who are in line for Snow Leopard have the capable machines already... Unless they are running a G5.:) But then again, the Mini's a great candidate for Snow Leopard, and not $2k. You can't really say that all XP machines that exist today are Vista or Windows 7 capable, but all Intel Macs are Snow Leopard capable.
Or $10 if you bought a mac after June 15th of this year.:) Still, I know people are saying that Windows 7 is a great OS (and I'm inclined to agree), I think it's more Snow-Leopard-esque in terms of upgrade than a whole new OS. I can't be entirely sure, though. Ah well... at least we're getting decent and more stable OSes around. And that is indeed a good thing.:)
When Windows 7 settles down a little bit, I may put it on my Mini via boot camp.:)
The fundamental difference between "piracy" and "infringement" is being subverted these days by the entrenched media conglomerates. A fake Gucci bag or a bootleg copy of a theatrical release sold for $5 on the street corner is considered criminal infringement (and has been for many decades). Making a copy of "1001 Duck farts" for a friend, or posting a torrent to a website where 500 people can get the duck farts over the tubes is not criminal, but civil. In terms of the law, it's a tort. Now, enter the RIAA/MPAA/BSA. They want infringement "without monetary gain" (the definition of what was "lost" doesn't get proven easily when you're dealing with P2P and Torrents) to be criminal. They want to put you in jail. They just can't get around that pesky freedom and Constitution thing (here in the States, I mean). Give them time.
I do agree that the fake merchandise (cloned by Chinese government funded businesses at times) is stealing, and I applaud those who go after that type of infringement. I do not however, subscribe to the notion that P2P is just as harmful. That's just me. I've not found a compelling argument that would change my opinion of that. So "pirating" a game is not simply infringing on copyright (via bittorrent or P2P). The fundamental argument doesn't change w/r/t piracy, but it certainly eliminates most of what the BSA labels as "piracy" (and thereby attaching a criminal aspect to the infringement.) To me, this is a moral issue, and like someone once said "you can't legislate morality." It only ends up making criminals of us all.
That's the point. Both MS and Sony are banking on the notion that you'll get the "one stop shop" BB or whatever $90 HDMI cable, helping out their retail "partners" whenever they can. I remember when the Elites were first out, the BB employee tried to sell someone a Monster cable because the pack-in "sucked". Now that's fun, isn't it?:) The pack-in did suck, but not $99 suck.:)
But the parity is back now that the Elite has no good cables, but MS's component cables are a tad pricier than the equivalent PS3 cables (last I checked...) We should get some monoprice.com stickers and put them all over the boxes at BB and such... so someone, somewhere, will do a little research and stop making the gimpy bastard who runs Monster cable rich off fleecing the ignorant.:)
For me it's just east of Dallas (Rockwall, and right outside of that area... the further east you go, the less coverage you have if you veer even a little from I-30). It's spotty between Rockwall and Royse City as well, I suspect it's the slightly hilly nature of certain roads (and the expansive ranches that probably don't have any incentive to allow cell towers. Though Sprint's pretty solid, and AT&T is as well.. I have not tried Verizon... nor do I know anyone offhand who does ironically enough. I don't like how they gimp their phones (and I will protest until FiOS comes and levels the cable/DSL playing field here.... heh.)
Dallas is golden of course.. for most providers... with the exception of the dense inner urban jungle (it's not deadzones but patches of low signal strength that can play havoc with lesser phones...)
Out of the box, my Ubuntu Netbook remix (on my Windows XP defaulted HP Mini 1000) gave me as much (if not more, slightly) battery life as the XP install did.
It's all in the distro you choose, I suppose. If the average users stick to the Ubuntus and the like, it might alleviate the need to recompile the kernel (though as a geek, we all know that's tempting... heh.)
That's my problem. T-mobile has some craptacular coverage out where I live.. (and it's even hit and miss closer to the big city...) I'd rather them get some decent coverage (and I hate AT&T as much as I do Microsoft.) But what's funny is that I'm not interested in an iPhone, even though I'm a mac-head. (I have 4 Macs of varying ages... evenly split between Intel and PowerPC.) I guess I'm not the target demographic, but I wouldn't hazard a guess as to what that demographic might be (I'll leave that to marketeers and the like.)
Here's to hoping T-Mobile fixes their service issues (to bring them on par with the AT&T/Verizon ubiquity.) Oh, and hopefully they won't lose customer data again.:)
You do have a point. Of course these days he could've _said_ he used Elephant dung and simply CGI'ed the extra bits (the corny textural goodness, whatever the dung of an elephant has in it that makes it unique).
However, in the age of the digital "enhancement", even Elephant dung is passe'
I honestly don't know why this is flamebait.:) It's the most insightful comment I've read all morning... (Admittedly it's still early.) But there are far too many Whedonites on Slashdot than there should be. (given their percentage of the general population.)
I'd rather have my butt hair plucked out than watch Joss Whedon's work. The man can throw elephant dung at a screen and his fans will marvel at how original it was he used elephant dung... as opposed to horse dung like all the other "wannabes". Yeesh.
You could pick up a slim PS3 and slim PS2 and you're set for $400. I have a slim hooked to my old tube TV, because contrary to popular opinion, most PS2 games look like hammered ass on my 46" HDTV (even with my PS3.)
Still, this price cut is a good thing... FINALLY people can stop bitching about how expensive a PS3 is... considering the new "Elite" 360 doesn't come with a friggin HDMI cable (now that it's only $300 and even though the MS pack-in cable blew dead bears), we can stop with the "whaah, sony doesn't include HDMI cables... whaah.":) Or at least I hope we can.:) I'm sure there is something else for the fanbois to bitch about.
I only object to the cost being prohibitive (for an add-on) or if the game is somehow missing something that becomes DLC later in the cycle to milk the franchise. (Add on missions are fine, but there's a limit to add-ons before they become something akin to "stuff we should've included at launch.")
DLC is going to become the new "DRM" to thwart the First Sale Doctrine. That is the direction _I_ don't want it to go. Dragon Age is going to have some free DLC if you buy the game new, but it'll cost $15 for those who buy used. No one has really said it out loud, but it'll only take a few bold moves by the EA sized conglomerates to make that DLC "essential", making the game useless without the one-time-only DLC. I wouldn't put it past them to try, and that is what makes DLC the potential crapfest it can become. We've come a long way since horse armor.:) Speaking of Oblivion, Shivering Isles was a perfect example of DLC that can be great but not essential to enjoying the game. (Not to mention the Game of the Year edition included it all, I think, after a while as DLC.) Shivering Isles gave some great new gameplay in an entirely new world, and it wasn't like Fable 2's short-short "Knothole Island" DLC.
Wouldn't that make them an accessory, or at least on the hook for attempting to cover up evidence? I'm not arguing the validity/morality/equity of the laws being broken, just pointing out a possible side-effect of their attempt at suppression.
Maybe the DMCA will make it to the Supreme Court and they can handle it like they did Heller. If it is a right to make backups, but the law prohibits the means to make them, then it's unconstitutional.:) D.C.'s phantom "registrar" was set up to get around the problem of making guns "illegal". (which the powers that be in D.C. wanted). The DMCA quite similar in scope. D.C. never said you couldn't have guns, but the requirements for owning a handgun had a provision for registration that could not be fulfilled. No one is arguing that you can't make backups. You just can't get the software to do it. (Granted, you can in real life, but this is from a legal standpoint...)
Of course we are talking about a basic Constitutionally enumerated (God-given as the founders mention) right vs. an implied right. But I think the same reasoning holds true. The right of the people to make archival backups of their own DVD collection is nil if law removes the ability to exercise that right through other means. Therefore the law is unconstitutional. *shrug* IANAL, so put the torches down if I'm off-base here. I am just spitballing. Seems reasonable to me.:)
Indeed. I remember some fee (I am not certain of which one it was, you could be correct on what kind) went up after January, and a contract holder, by law could get out of the contract without an ETF because they changed the rules of the contract as signed by you back when you joined the ranks of Sprint. Of course they weren't about to publicize that, and it took some wrangling to get someone who wouldn't put you on hold for hours or try to "out wait" you. I didn't do it, because I've got a seriously cheap phone plan that doesn't actually suck.:) If I were to quit now, I'd be ass-raped by another Wireless provider... so I'll stick with the devil I know.:)
If this portion of the contract is fundamental to what you signed before (not some arbitrary add-on that "terms change with notice") I imagine AT&T will get lots of cancellations (or at least a noisy few) with no $170 ETF.:) *shrug* I don't know if this change qualified though.
Yes, losing is a big issue with the HDD in the PS3. But I keep my original 20GB HDD in a box so if mine ever dies, I'll remove my 120GB drive and replace it with the original for repairs.:) Not everyone will do that, of course... The GOOD thing in all of that is the PS3 isn't like the 360 in that the DLC isn't tied to the console... so you can re-download without much hassle. (Though MS did make that available recently after many complaints, it's still not perfect...) Being a 20GB owner, I didn't know much of the YLOD... though I'm sure I'm susceptible... just not as much so as a 60GB. In spite of this, I'm still surprised by the reliability of the PS3 v. PS2 fat/PS1... and I'm not so surprised the 360 still has issues, since my only repair last generation had to do with my original XBox.
PS1 games suffer still from the same thing on the PS3 that they did on the PS2... they're glitchy (at least some of them were). Fortunately, I don't have that many I haven't played through in my collection.:) And I still have my PSOne in case I wax nostalgic (in a box in the closet....)
I only save my games on my 360 using the memory cards, just in case (I have a 256mb one). I am sure it's not warranted, but judging by MS's track record with their consoles, I don't trust their "hermetically sealed" hard drives.:)
Being on my 5th 360 and still on my launch PS3 means that your situation might be considered anomalous, and since the hardware is built better than the 360's... I think your PS3 will last for quite some time. So don't worry too much.
As for PS2 compatibility, I find myself simply using my PS2 (fat) rather than using PS3's upscaling (on everything except Pinball Hall of Fame... it looks GREAT smoothed). I don't know how the PS1 smoothing is on the newer models, though. I figure if the slim comes out soon, it will be positioned at a comparable level to the "Arcade" 360. It won't be $199, but it will have more base features than the Arcade model has. And since MS is phasing out their "pro" model... the only thing Sony has to compete with on the high end is the Elite. (And depending upon your perspective, it might be a tough sell with MS's brand so saturated right now, at least in North America.)
I truthfully don't know why I still support MS after 4 dead Elites (one died THE DAY it arrived back from the repair center)... ah well.:) YMMV.
Every innovation, sadly, has a built-in backlash from the entrenched. MP3's are no different in that regard, you're right. It's up to us to make sure the sue-happy idiots don't cripple innovation to protect a dying market model.
These sorts of suits aren't about who's right and wrong anymore (or if it's even willful or not)... it's just a contest between idiots where each tries NOT to out-idiot the other. In this case the RIAA actually didn't out-idiot the defendant or his lawyers (I use that term loosely). The rest of the fiasco is merely the luck of the draw. Most judges are old enough to remember the invention of radio (I swear they feed off the blood of virgins to stay alive), so asking them to apply laws to a moving target like technology is bound to end up in some "well that stuck on the wall..." I'm surprised the judges don't equate file-sharing with that "evil technology called piano rolls." Either we make judges understand technology, or we provide a colorful handout to juries. (I'm not necessarily saying this case needed a "new technology coloring book", but most tech-related trials like this need some help...) *shrug* It's going to get worse before it gets better, I think...
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That alters it, yes. Now the post makes more sense. :)
Sometimes he resigned, sometimes Number 2 was "reassigned." (Remember the uber-sexy 60's phone?) The Number 2's in the original Prisoner were tasked to get information from No. 6. Through varying methods, No. 6 was subjected to all sorts of tricks and outright violence (remember the ladies from the Committee?), and it was No. 6 who foiled their plans by not revealing squat. They even gave No. 6 a chance to become No. 2 in an "election" (one of my favorite, because of its scathing commentary on current "choices" in politics). The reasons for No. 2's departure(s) throughout the series was each of their failures to extract the "information" required of No. 6 by whoever ran The Village. What that information was, or who was running the Village, is never stated. No. 6 alternates from foiling the plans of No. 2 to orchestrating escapes and/or convoluted acts to throw off No. 2.
:)
One of the biggest "aha!" moments actually occurred at the end of the final episode. When No. 6 returns to his apartment in London (after a wild ride altogether), the door opens automatically... JUST like in the Village. How's that for a mind-blowing twist?
I was thinking more about Fedora, but unless I'm mistaken, there's been more reports of success getting the internal iSight camera working on Ubuntu.
Great thing about Virtualbox (and the non-free equivalents) is the ease of testing various flavors of Linux without mucking up your computer. I tried 3 distros before settling on ubuntu, and I might try some new ones here soon, since I've got the disk space. :)
I don't understand what you mean. I was just stating a fact of the upgrade process for Snow Leopard. I think $10 is nominal and for all intents and purposes "free". (I feel the same way about the $29.99 too, considering what it could cost.) The funny thing about the free Windows 7 for recent PC buyers is not so much a Microsoft promotion as an OEM promotion, because not all machines appear to qualify. (Or perhaps they do, but I don't see that neat "free upgrade to Windows 7" on all the Vista PCs out there in the channel... though I do believe most, if not all, Dells are eligible by now.) I would have to google more to see how the promotion worked.
:)
Officially it was June 8th. I mis-quoted Apple's website. (I bought my Mini June 15th.) This is one of those rare times Apple's done this for buyers too. 3 months is pretty nice lead-time for an unshipped OS upgrade. I suspect it won't be repeated for a while, though.
Oh it's not a huge problem. Get Sun's VirtualBox and install Ubuntu on your intel Mac like I did. (My mini, to be exact.) It's snappy, and best of all Virtualbox is free.
:)
You're right about Vista->Win 7 being a bigger leap. If Vista had delivered on its promises, I think Windows 7 wouldn't be getting nearly the hype it is now. Still, some folks are too forgiving of the problems that Vista introduced, because Microsoft finally started thinking seriously about Security and the like. (It was a good first effort, though it shouldn't have been this late in the OS game for them to have started their security initiatives.) But with Windows 7, it looks like they're coming into their own. It'll make Apple forge ahead with 10.7 (whatever cat that is), and it'll make them work even harder for switchers and faithful alike.
Most people will have to look at their "About this Mac" boxes to see if they're really running Snow Leopard. It's that subtle. (I do like the finder and dock improvements the most... along with the Snazzy new Quicktime...)
I can run Leopard on 11 year old hardware. (My G4). Snow Leopard is Intel Only, so that's not a fair comparison. Does it run acceptably? Yes, but I prefer Tiger on that machine. I run Leopard on a 5 year old machine, and I run Snow Leopard on a 3+ year old machine. Nothing's forced me to get a new Mac in the last 3 years. I'm still using my G5 as my main system, with my Mini (that I just bought, but didn't have to) slowly taking the G5's place (and letting my G5 be my file server for my other Macs.) I don't really bet that Vista would have run at all well on your 9 year old PC with only 1GB of RAM. Seems unlikely, given the hefty requirements Vista imposed.
I'd say that's not bad, considering the misinformation about Apple hardware that permeates the net. And really your G4 isn't unsupported... you can install Leopard if you want, albeit unofficially. I'm sorry you feel you HAVE to get new hardware. But considering the largest chunk of Windows OS sales comes from bundles with new hardware, it shows the rest of the PC world believes the same about their machines as well.
You don't have to spend $2000 to replace your Mac to switch. a Mini costs $599+ and works just as well as any Mac (and the latest even supports OpenCL and 64-bit)... But my 3 year old Macbook Pro runs Snow Leopard just fine too. And my 6 year old G5 is running Leopard like a top. :) My 11 year old G4 runs Tiger, and if I was adventurous, it could run Leopard as well.. but there's really no need. Granted my MBP was $1500, and my G5 was $2200... but they've worked great and with the exception of a dodgy optical drive, none of my Macs have seen the Genius repair bar. :)
:) Yes, Windows Vista required a jump in hardware (for it to run acceptably... MS and Intel are getting sued about putting Vista Ready stickers on too many clunkers), and Windows 7 needs the latest to shine. That's how commercial OSes work. I don't see it as being an issue, since most people who are in line for Snow Leopard have the capable machines already... Unless they are running a G5. :) But then again, the Mini's a great candidate for Snow Leopard, and not $2k. You can't really say that all XP machines that exist today are Vista or Windows 7 capable, but all Intel Macs are Snow Leopard capable.
Or you could buy a $329 HP Mini 1000 and install Leopard and get 100% functionality. Of course that's outside the realm of the EULA.
Or $10 if you bought a mac after June 15th of this year. :) Still, I know people are saying that Windows 7 is a great OS (and I'm inclined to agree), I think it's more Snow-Leopard-esque in terms of upgrade than a whole new OS. I can't be entirely sure, though. Ah well... at least we're getting decent and more stable OSes around. And that is indeed a good thing. :)
:)
When Windows 7 settles down a little bit, I may put it on my Mini via boot camp.
The fundamental difference between "piracy" and "infringement" is being subverted these days by the entrenched media conglomerates. A fake Gucci bag or a bootleg copy of a theatrical release sold for $5 on the street corner is considered criminal infringement (and has been for many decades). Making a copy of "1001 Duck farts" for a friend, or posting a torrent to a website where 500 people can get the duck farts over the tubes is not criminal, but civil. In terms of the law, it's a tort. Now, enter the RIAA/MPAA/BSA. They want infringement "without monetary gain" (the definition of what was "lost" doesn't get proven easily when you're dealing with P2P and Torrents) to be criminal. They want to put you in jail. They just can't get around that pesky freedom and Constitution thing (here in the States, I mean). Give them time.
I do agree that the fake merchandise (cloned by Chinese government funded businesses at times) is stealing, and I applaud those who go after that type of infringement. I do not however, subscribe to the notion that P2P is just as harmful. That's just me. I've not found a compelling argument that would change my opinion of that. So "pirating" a game is not simply infringing on copyright (via bittorrent or P2P). The fundamental argument doesn't change w/r/t piracy, but it certainly eliminates most of what the BSA labels as "piracy" (and thereby attaching a criminal aspect to the infringement.) To me, this is a moral issue, and like someone once said "you can't legislate morality." It only ends up making criminals of us all.
That's the point. Both MS and Sony are banking on the notion that you'll get the "one stop shop" BB or whatever $90 HDMI cable, helping out their retail "partners" whenever they can. I remember when the Elites were first out, the BB employee tried to sell someone a Monster cable because the pack-in "sucked". Now that's fun, isn't it? :) The pack-in did suck, but not $99 suck. :)
:)
But the parity is back now that the Elite has no good cables, but MS's component cables are a tad pricier than the equivalent PS3 cables (last I checked...) We should get some monoprice.com stickers and put them all over the boxes at BB and such... so someone, somewhere, will do a little research and stop making the gimpy bastard who runs Monster cable rich off fleecing the ignorant.
For me it's just east of Dallas (Rockwall, and right outside of that area... the further east you go, the less coverage you have if you veer even a little from I-30). It's spotty between Rockwall and Royse City as well, I suspect it's the slightly hilly nature of certain roads (and the expansive ranches that probably don't have any incentive to allow cell towers. Though Sprint's pretty solid, and AT&T is as well.. I have not tried Verizon... nor do I know anyone offhand who does ironically enough. I don't like how they gimp their phones (and I will protest until FiOS comes and levels the cable/DSL playing field here.... heh.)
Dallas is golden of course.. for most providers... with the exception of the dense inner urban jungle (it's not deadzones but patches of low signal strength that can play havoc with lesser phones...)
Out of the box, my Ubuntu Netbook remix (on my Windows XP defaulted HP Mini 1000) gave me as much (if not more, slightly) battery life as the XP install did.
It's all in the distro you choose, I suppose. If the average users stick to the Ubuntus and the like, it might alleviate the need to recompile the kernel (though as a geek, we all know that's tempting... heh.)
That's my problem. T-mobile has some craptacular coverage out where I live.. (and it's even hit and miss closer to the big city...) I'd rather them get some decent coverage (and I hate AT&T as much as I do Microsoft.) But what's funny is that I'm not interested in an iPhone, even though I'm a mac-head. (I have 4 Macs of varying ages... evenly split between Intel and PowerPC.) I guess I'm not the target demographic, but I wouldn't hazard a guess as to what that demographic might be (I'll leave that to marketeers and the like.)
:)
Here's to hoping T-Mobile fixes their service issues (to bring them on par with the AT&T/Verizon ubiquity.) Oh, and hopefully they won't lose customer data again.
You do have a point. Of course these days he could've _said_ he used Elephant dung and simply CGI'ed the extra bits (the corny textural goodness, whatever the dung of an elephant has in it that makes it unique).
However, in the age of the digital "enhancement", even Elephant dung is passe'
I honestly don't know why this is flamebait. :) It's the most insightful comment I've read all morning... (Admittedly it's still early.) But there are far too many Whedonites on Slashdot than there should be. (given their percentage of the general population.)
I'd rather have my butt hair plucked out than watch Joss Whedon's work. The man can throw elephant dung at a screen and his fans will marvel at how original it was he used elephant dung... as opposed to horse dung like all the other "wannabes". Yeesh.
You could pick up a slim PS3 and slim PS2 and you're set for $400. I have a slim hooked to my old tube TV, because contrary to popular opinion, most PS2 games look like hammered ass on my 46" HDTV (even with my PS3.)
:) Or at least I hope we can. :) I'm sure there is something else for the fanbois to bitch about.
Still, this price cut is a good thing... FINALLY people can stop bitching about how expensive a PS3 is... considering the new "Elite" 360 doesn't come with a friggin HDMI cable (now that it's only $300 and even though the MS pack-in cable blew dead bears), we can stop with the "whaah, sony doesn't include HDMI cables... whaah."
I only object to the cost being prohibitive (for an add-on) or if the game is somehow missing something that becomes DLC later in the cycle to milk the franchise. (Add on missions are fine, but there's a limit to add-ons before they become something akin to "stuff we should've included at launch.")
:) Speaking of Oblivion, Shivering Isles was a perfect example of DLC that can be great but not essential to enjoying the game. (Not to mention the Game of the Year edition included it all, I think, after a while as DLC.) Shivering Isles gave some great new gameplay in an entirely new world, and it wasn't like Fable 2's short-short "Knothole Island" DLC.
DLC is going to become the new "DRM" to thwart the First Sale Doctrine. That is the direction _I_ don't want it to go. Dragon Age is going to have some free DLC if you buy the game new, but it'll cost $15 for those who buy used. No one has really said it out loud, but it'll only take a few bold moves by the EA sized conglomerates to make that DLC "essential", making the game useless without the one-time-only DLC. I wouldn't put it past them to try, and that is what makes DLC the potential crapfest it can become. We've come a long way since horse armor.
Wouldn't that make them an accessory, or at least on the hook for attempting to cover up evidence? I'm not arguing the validity/morality/equity of the laws being broken, just pointing out a possible side-effect of their attempt at suppression.
Maybe the DMCA will make it to the Supreme Court and they can handle it like they did Heller. If it is a right to make backups, but the law prohibits the means to make them, then it's unconstitutional. :) D.C.'s phantom "registrar" was set up to get around the problem of making guns "illegal". (which the powers that be in D.C. wanted). The DMCA quite similar in scope. D.C. never said you couldn't have guns, but the requirements for owning a handgun had a provision for registration that could not be fulfilled. No one is arguing that you can't make backups. You just can't get the software to do it. (Granted, you can in real life, but this is from a legal standpoint...)
Of course we are talking about a basic Constitutionally enumerated (God-given as the founders mention) right vs. an implied right. But I think the same reasoning holds true. The right of the people to make archival backups of their own DVD collection is nil if law removes the ability to exercise that right through other means. Therefore the law is unconstitutional. *shrug* IANAL, so put the torches down if I'm off-base here. I am just spitballing. Seems reasonable to me. :)
Indeed. I remember some fee (I am not certain of which one it was, you could be correct on what kind) went up after January, and a contract holder, by law could get out of the contract without an ETF because they changed the rules of the contract as signed by you back when you joined the ranks of Sprint. Of course they weren't about to publicize that, and it took some wrangling to get someone who wouldn't put you on hold for hours or try to "out wait" you. I didn't do it, because I've got a seriously cheap phone plan that doesn't actually suck. :) If I were to quit now, I'd be ass-raped by another Wireless provider... so I'll stick with the devil I know. :)
:) *shrug* I don't know if this change qualified though.
If this portion of the contract is fundamental to what you signed before (not some arbitrary add-on that "terms change with notice") I imagine AT&T will get lots of cancellations (or at least a noisy few) with no $170 ETF.
Yes, losing is a big issue with the HDD in the PS3. But I keep my original 20GB HDD in a box so if mine ever dies, I'll remove my 120GB drive and replace it with the original for repairs. :) Not everyone will do that, of course... The GOOD thing in all of that is the PS3 isn't like the 360 in that the DLC isn't tied to the console... so you can re-download without much hassle. (Though MS did make that available recently after many complaints, it's still not perfect...) Being a 20GB owner, I didn't know much of the YLOD... though I'm sure I'm susceptible... just not as much so as a 60GB. In spite of this, I'm still surprised by the reliability of the PS3 v. PS2 fat/PS1... and I'm not so surprised the 360 still has issues, since my only repair last generation had to do with my original XBox.
:) And I still have my PSOne in case I wax nostalgic (in a box in the closet....)
:)
PS1 games suffer still from the same thing on the PS3 that they did on the PS2... they're glitchy (at least some of them were). Fortunately, I don't have that many I haven't played through in my collection.
I only save my games on my 360 using the memory cards, just in case (I have a 256mb one). I am sure it's not warranted, but judging by MS's track record with their consoles, I don't trust their "hermetically sealed" hard drives.
Being on my 5th 360 and still on my launch PS3 means that your situation might be considered anomalous, and since the hardware is built better than the 360's... I think your PS3 will last for quite some time. So don't worry too much.
:) YMMV.
As for PS2 compatibility, I find myself simply using my PS2 (fat) rather than using PS3's upscaling (on everything except Pinball Hall of Fame... it looks GREAT smoothed). I don't know how the PS1 smoothing is on the newer models, though. I figure if the slim comes out soon, it will be positioned at a comparable level to the "Arcade" 360. It won't be $199, but it will have more base features than the Arcade model has. And since MS is phasing out their "pro" model... the only thing Sony has to compete with on the high end is the Elite. (And depending upon your perspective, it might be a tough sell with MS's brand so saturated right now, at least in North America.)
I truthfully don't know why I still support MS after 4 dead Elites (one died THE DAY it arrived back from the repair center)... ah well.
And most people who buy a "replica" are convinced "it's just as good as the real thing..."
Every innovation, sadly, has a built-in backlash from the entrenched. MP3's are no different in that regard, you're right. It's up to us to make sure the sue-happy idiots don't cripple innovation to protect a dying market model.
These sorts of suits aren't about who's right and wrong anymore (or if it's even willful or not)... it's just a contest between idiots where each tries NOT to out-idiot the other. In this case the RIAA actually didn't out-idiot the defendant or his lawyers (I use that term loosely). The rest of the fiasco is merely the luck of the draw. Most judges are old enough to remember the invention of radio (I swear they feed off the blood of virgins to stay alive), so asking them to apply laws to a moving target like technology is bound to end up in some "well that stuck on the wall..." I'm surprised the judges don't equate file-sharing with that "evil technology called piano rolls." Either we make judges understand technology, or we provide a colorful handout to juries. (I'm not necessarily saying this case needed a "new technology coloring book", but most tech-related trials like this need some help...) *shrug* It's going to get worse before it gets better, I think...