Honestly, I always thought Cabbage Patch Kids was one of the best games for Colecovision. Seriously. It had more diversity than most games, and was difficult in the right ways: you needed dexterity and timing to get the vine-swinging and jumping just right, and not be knocked out. Think "Metroid for Kids" or something.
Dang, now I have to dig out my Colecovision and revv up my carpal tunnel again.
Push for a standards body that can't be bought by the highest bidder.
On this planet? Are you serious? Everything can be bought, though at some levels it requires secret fancy footwork in media instead of blatant bribery. But no person or group is safe from being swayed.
You know when you go to a theme park, and there's some bozo photographer at the entrance asking to take your photograph, and then you can buy a print of that photograph as you leave? And even though it's a lousy shot, they want $20 for it? It's like that.
Or better yet, they'll sell anonymized scans of other people.
In 1991, I was friends with a girl whose father worked at IBM's Armonk facility. He and several other researchers had Mac systems for some kind of graphic/visual analysis research, mostly IIci and IIfx systems. He had problems with System 7, I was a Mac guy, and I had reason to impress the girl. So when I said I could fix his Mac, he invited me up to Armonk, and I fixed it.
Didn't help much with the girl, but at least I got to visit a major IBM facility.
This service only exists between Boston and DC, and is extremely expensive to travel on. Most other routes are considerably worse.
As has been recently reported, outside of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, their national on-time rate in 2007 was 42%. FORTY TWO FRICKIN PERCENT. However, Acela's on-time rate is around 86%. The main difference seems to be prioritization of traffic on the rails: on Acela, Amtrak owns the tracks and can make the traffic move smoothly, while throughout most of the rest of the country, Amtrak rents track usage from freight lines, who don't give a rat's ass about passenger rail, and this has cost millions of dollars for Amtrak (and by extension, taxpayers).
As someone who commutes regularly on Amtrak (in fact I'm on the train as I write this, thanks to EVDO), you just made me laugh. Bush has nearly killed Amtrak. Maybe the next President will be nicer to it, but currently, Amtrak is fighting to get even a few hundred million dollars of support, while other countries are putting billions into their systems. *sigh*
I think it's only financially interesting to the people who own the gym. Might be able to power the stereo in the aerobics room with power generated by the bike machines....
I watched the "Idol Gives Back" episodes with the celebrity appearances. Bono introduced the three leading presidential candidates, who sent in 30-second video spots where they encouraged viewers to donate to the various worthy causes (fighting AIDS, educating poor children, etc.). But only McCain was funny: he said something like "unlike a primary, on American Idol your vote actually means something." Clearly, he's alluding to fact that Idol commands more involvement of the US public than politics.
Clinton and Obama were a bit stiff and cliche in their videos. McCain was funny throughout the clip, and actually looked comfortable and natural delivering it. (and I'm a Democrat!!!)
Psystar is doomed if for no other reason than that they are selling a computer with "Mac" in the name.
Actually the computer is called "Open Computer". Maybe the name has changed since TFA was posted, but Psystar's web site currently calls it an Open Computer.
420mhz shouldn't be a problem. My wife's 400mhz PowerBook G3 (Pismo, I think -- bronze keyboard and Firewire) runs OS 10.4.11 very nicely. It ran 10.2.8 nicely before that, but honestly 10.4.11 runs even faster than 10.2.8. The system has 640mb RAM and a 60gb HD (partitioned -- on old systems, OS X will only install on a disk or partition of 8gb or less). We are seriously considering upgrading it only because the backlighting has dimmed too much, and it's not worth replacing the part.
Until recently, I also had a 366mhz beige G3 minitower running 10.2.8 as a local file and print server. It had 512mb RAM, 80gb HD running off an ATA/66 PCI card, and sported three Firewire and three USB slots from a Firewire Depot card. Not the fastest thing ever, but it served its duty quite nicely.
Still, these are Apple machines. Could be that your PowerCenter won't like it for some reason.
Google presets a big fat target for would-be hackers and attackers.
Must be a new Google appliance. I'm glad it is preset, and does not need any end-user configuration.
In any case, I commute on the train with Google guys in NY. They use their laptops to work on the train, but have those little wireless security devices that generate random passwords for them when they want to log in, so their connection is fully encrypted.
From the article: "In addition to consulting, Winkler is author of the books Spies Among Us and Zen and the Art of Information Security."
(italics in the original)
Spies Among Us and Zen? Can't wait to read that. And: "Hi, I'm Art. Art of Information Security." Or maybe that is a coffee-table book of famous paintings reimagined through security logs, Matrix-style.
6-bit dithering displays are inferior in every respect
I fully agree. But the lawsuit at hand claims that Apple is completely lying when it says that 6-bit monitors are capable of "millions" of colors. In terms of perceived colors, 6-bit monitors are capable of it, when you add temporal dithering (which they undoubtably have). Maybe it looks worse than an 8-bit monitor, but that's not the issue: they are suing over a specific marketing claim that frankly they don't understand.
I'm reminded (slightly) of the lawsuits about hard drive capacity: drive manufacturers calculated space based on a pure metric basis (1kb = 1000 bytes) while computers used a binary byte calculation (1kb = 1024 bytes). This could result in a 30gb drive only having 28gb of usable space. Companies settled, and now the measurement methods are printed clearly in the drive specs. Or the lawsuits about viewable area on CRTs -- maybe the glass is physically 14", but you can only actually use 13" -- which changed how manufacturers could describe the size of their monitors. Even if Apple does not lose, I hope this new lawsuit (an iSuit?) somehow forces them and other manufacturers to clearly state the color technology used in a screen.
A 6 bit chip can only produce 190 colors per pixel.
Right. But then it rapidly switches between two of those colors to simulate interim colors. This is called temporal dithering; see more here. To most people (even graphic designers, of which I am one) this dithering is virtually undetectable, and still achieves millions of colors. (Some sensitive people can see the difference -- the same people who can detect the flicker in old flourescent lighting.) You cannot discuss 6-bit pixels separately from temporal dithering, because the latter makes the former commercially possible.
Apple may still be doing it badly, of course, but there are still millions of percieved colors.
My office has more than a dozen conference rooms, which can be reserved for meetings through our Microsoft Exchange/Outlook system. We're very heavily reliant on this system. We also have way too many meetings.
A month ago, I went into the system and booked *all* the conference rooms for the entire workday of April 1 (8am to 6pm). My set of fictitious meetings was called "Productivity in the 21st Century: An Interactive Meta-Analysis of Resource Allocation." A handful of other people were in on the joke.
Last week, one of our executives came to me with a senior person in our facilities department (who ultimately handles room management). They did not find it funny, and insisted I un-book all the meeting rooms. In all seriousness, the facilities guy offered to show me how to book a meeting that didn't consume all the rooms for the entire day. Right. I unbooked them. *sigh* They had a couple of good reasons for it (like scheduling meetings on April 1 with a set of federal officials) but still... the humor was totally over their heads.
If my boss was moving me from an office into a cubicle, I'd be looking for another job. That's just insulting.
It depends. Awhile back, a company I worked for moved locations, and everyone was given a cubicle except senior VPs and the president. It was called an "open office environment". I suppose it was still insulting, but it was not personal...
From the article: "When someone takes our vision and our intellectual property without a license after several attempts, we have no option but to protect it through every means available to us," Robert Frohwein, ZapMedia's general counsel, said in a statement.
Apple took their vision? iTunes has been out since January 2001 -- and based on 1999 software released by a third-party that Apple acquired -- and NOW somebody says it was theirs? Please. The only reason ZapMedia lacks vision is because they've got their heads up their sunless parts.
Let's get this straight. Cats only condescendingly permits us to live in the same house with them. They own us. You die less from heart attacks because it's cheaper for them to keep you alive than to find another pet human.
According to Wikipedia's conflict of interest (COI) rules, there is nothing to prevent COI edits as long as they maintain Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy. Editors are strongly discouraged from making COI edits because it's really really hard to avoid bias. But, nonetheless, it can be possible for someone deeply involved in something to write a nearly unbiased article, or make unbiased edits.
Given this, I don't see why Jimmy could not edit Marsden's article, as long as it was an objective edit. The idea that he handled it through other editors suggests that he was trying to hide something.
TFA: In the Texas primary, [Clinton] won with 51 pecent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Obama.
3% is winning the state? Remember that Democratic state delegates are divided up by vote percentages, unlike the Republican "winner take all" delegate process. So Clinton's win in Texas is fairly thin, and frankly a poor showing after all the money and campaigning she's spent lately in a state that was always considered an automatic win for her.
...they have too much power. I hope this kid beats the rap and the abusive powers we have given law enforcement are brought to the attention of the nation.
You are missing the point. This has nothing to do with cops power, even if I agree that it might be excessive. This has everything to do with a person finding a way to direct that power in an illegal and dangerous manner. It'd be like finding a way to send powerful surges of electricity to your house and damaging your electronics -- you wouldn't blame the electric company for the problem, even if they were responsible for a system in which such a surge was possible.
Slashdot Mirror
Honestly, I always thought Cabbage Patch Kids was one of the best games for Colecovision. Seriously. It had more diversity than most games, and was difficult in the right ways: you needed dexterity and timing to get the vine-swinging and jumping just right, and not be knocked out. Think "Metroid for Kids" or something.
Dang, now I have to dig out my Colecovision and revv up my carpal tunnel again.
Push for a standards body that can't be bought by the highest bidder.
On this planet? Are you serious? Everything can be bought, though at some levels it requires secret fancy footwork in media instead of blatant bribery. But no person or group is safe from being swayed.
You know when you go to a theme park, and there's some bozo photographer at the entrance asking to take your photograph, and then you can buy a print of that photograph as you leave? And even though it's a lousy shot, they want $20 for it? It's like that.
Or better yet, they'll sell anonymized scans of other people.
In 1991, I was friends with a girl whose father worked at IBM's Armonk facility. He and several other researchers had Mac systems for some kind of graphic/visual analysis research, mostly IIci and IIfx systems. He had problems with System 7, I was a Mac guy, and I had reason to impress the girl. So when I said I could fix his Mac, he invited me up to Armonk, and I fixed it.
Didn't help much with the girl, but at least I got to visit a major IBM facility.
This service only exists between Boston and DC, and is extremely expensive to travel on. Most other routes are considerably worse.
As has been recently reported, outside of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, their national on-time rate in 2007 was 42%. FORTY TWO FRICKIN PERCENT. However, Acela's on-time rate is around 86%. The main difference seems to be prioritization of traffic on the rails: on Acela, Amtrak owns the tracks and can make the traffic move smoothly, while throughout most of the rest of the country, Amtrak rents track usage from freight lines, who don't give a rat's ass about passenger rail, and this has cost millions of dollars for Amtrak (and by extension, taxpayers).
Maybe someday they'll fix Amtrak....
As someone who commutes regularly on Amtrak (in fact I'm on the train as I write this, thanks to EVDO), you just made me laugh. Bush has nearly killed Amtrak. Maybe the next President will be nicer to it, but currently, Amtrak is fighting to get even a few hundred million dollars of support, while other countries are putting billions into their systems. *sigh*
I think it's only financially interesting to the people who own the gym. Might be able to power the stereo in the aerobics room with power generated by the bike machines....
Mod parent up. If the iPhone SDK has the same clause as the ADC has had for awhile, this is very much a "red herring."
I watched the "Idol Gives Back" episodes with the celebrity appearances. Bono introduced the three leading presidential candidates, who sent in 30-second video spots where they encouraged viewers to donate to the various worthy causes (fighting AIDS, educating poor children, etc.). But only McCain was funny: he said something like "unlike a primary, on American Idol your vote actually means something." Clearly, he's alluding to fact that Idol commands more involvement of the US public than politics.
Clinton and Obama were a bit stiff and cliche in their videos. McCain was funny throughout the clip, and actually looked comfortable and natural delivering it. (and I'm a Democrat!!!)
Psystar is doomed if for no other reason than that they are selling a computer with "Mac" in the name.
Actually the computer is called "Open Computer". Maybe the name has changed since TFA was posted, but Psystar's web site currently calls it an Open Computer.
420mhz shouldn't be a problem. My wife's 400mhz PowerBook G3 (Pismo, I think -- bronze keyboard and Firewire) runs OS 10.4.11 very nicely. It ran 10.2.8 nicely before that, but honestly 10.4.11 runs even faster than 10.2.8. The system has 640mb RAM and a 60gb HD (partitioned -- on old systems, OS X will only install on a disk or partition of 8gb or less). We are seriously considering upgrading it only because the backlighting has dimmed too much, and it's not worth replacing the part.
Until recently, I also had a 366mhz beige G3 minitower running 10.2.8 as a local file and print server. It had 512mb RAM, 80gb HD running off an ATA/66 PCI card, and sported three Firewire and three USB slots from a Firewire Depot card. Not the fastest thing ever, but it served its duty quite nicely.
Still, these are Apple machines. Could be that your PowerCenter won't like it for some reason.
Google presets a big fat target for would-be hackers and attackers.
Must be a new Google appliance. I'm glad it is preset, and does not need any end-user configuration.
In any case, I commute on the train with Google guys in NY. They use their laptops to work on the train, but have those little wireless security devices that generate random passwords for them when they want to log in, so their connection is fully encrypted.
From the article: "In addition to consulting, Winkler is author of the books Spies Among Us and Zen and the Art of Information Security."
(italics in the original)
Spies Among Us and Zen? Can't wait to read that. And: "Hi, I'm Art. Art of Information Security." Or maybe that is a coffee-table book of famous paintings reimagined through security logs, Matrix-style.
SlashVideo.org?
If Internet history is any indication, we'll get a dumber name, like SlashTube or VlashDot.
6-bit dithering displays are inferior in every respect
I fully agree. But the lawsuit at hand claims that Apple is completely lying when it says that 6-bit monitors are capable of "millions" of colors. In terms of perceived colors, 6-bit monitors are capable of it, when you add temporal dithering (which they undoubtably have). Maybe it looks worse than an 8-bit monitor, but that's not the issue: they are suing over a specific marketing claim that frankly they don't understand.
I'm reminded (slightly) of the lawsuits about hard drive capacity: drive manufacturers calculated space based on a pure metric basis (1kb = 1000 bytes) while computers used a binary byte calculation (1kb = 1024 bytes). This could result in a 30gb drive only having 28gb of usable space. Companies settled, and now the measurement methods are printed clearly in the drive specs. Or the lawsuits about viewable area on CRTs -- maybe the glass is physically 14", but you can only actually use 13" -- which changed how manufacturers could describe the size of their monitors. Even if Apple does not lose, I hope this new lawsuit (an iSuit?) somehow forces them and other manufacturers to clearly state the color technology used in a screen.
A 6 bit chip can only produce 190 colors per pixel.
Right. But then it rapidly switches between two of those colors to simulate interim colors. This is called temporal dithering; see more here. To most people (even graphic designers, of which I am one) this dithering is virtually undetectable, and still achieves millions of colors. (Some sensitive people can see the difference -- the same people who can detect the flicker in old flourescent lighting.) You cannot discuss 6-bit pixels separately from temporal dithering, because the latter makes the former commercially possible.
Apple may still be doing it badly, of course, but there are still millions of percieved colors.
My office has more than a dozen conference rooms, which can be reserved for meetings through our Microsoft Exchange/Outlook system. We're very heavily reliant on this system. We also have way too many meetings.
A month ago, I went into the system and booked *all* the conference rooms for the entire workday of April 1 (8am to 6pm). My set of fictitious meetings was called "Productivity in the 21st Century: An Interactive Meta-Analysis of Resource Allocation." A handful of other people were in on the joke.
Last week, one of our executives came to me with a senior person in our facilities department (who ultimately handles room management). They did not find it funny, and insisted I un-book all the meeting rooms. In all seriousness, the facilities guy offered to show me how to book a meeting that didn't consume all the rooms for the entire day. Right. I unbooked them. *sigh* They had a couple of good reasons for it (like scheduling meetings on April 1 with a set of federal officials) but still... the humor was totally over their heads.
It's CanSecWest, not CamSecWest. Or is that country now called Camada? I guess, there, everyone is a Camedian...
One can always play with the criteria to get any desired winner.
Or, as the saying goes, "if you torture statistics long enough, they will confess to anything."
If my boss was moving me from an office into a cubicle, I'd be looking for another job. That's just insulting.
It depends. Awhile back, a company I worked for moved locations, and everyone was given a cubicle except senior VPs and the president. It was called an "open office environment". I suppose it was still insulting, but it was not personal...
From the article: "When someone takes our vision and our intellectual property without a license after several attempts, we have no option but to protect it through every means available to us," Robert Frohwein, ZapMedia's general counsel, said in a statement.
Apple took their vision? iTunes has been out since January 2001 -- and based on 1999 software released by a third-party that Apple acquired -- and NOW somebody says it was theirs? Please. The only reason ZapMedia lacks vision is because they've got their heads up their sunless parts.
Let's get this straight. Cats only condescendingly permits us to live in the same house with them. They own us. You die less from heart attacks because it's cheaper for them to keep you alive than to find another pet human.
According to Wikipedia's conflict of interest (COI) rules, there is nothing to prevent COI edits as long as they maintain Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy. Editors are strongly discouraged from making COI edits because it's really really hard to avoid bias. But, nonetheless, it can be possible for someone deeply involved in something to write a nearly unbiased article, or make unbiased edits.
Given this, I don't see why Jimmy could not edit Marsden's article, as long as it was an objective edit. The idea that he handled it through other editors suggests that he was trying to hide something.
TFA: In the Texas primary, [Clinton] won with 51 pecent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Obama.
3% is winning the state? Remember that Democratic state delegates are divided up by vote percentages, unlike the Republican "winner take all" delegate process. So Clinton's win in Texas is fairly thin, and frankly a poor showing after all the money and campaigning she's spent lately in a state that was always considered an automatic win for her.
You are missing the point. This has nothing to do with cops power, even if I agree that it might be excessive. This has everything to do with a person finding a way to direct that power in an illegal and dangerous manner. It'd be like finding a way to send powerful surges of electricity to your house and damaging your electronics -- you wouldn't blame the electric company for the problem, even if they were responsible for a system in which such a surge was possible.