At least it is better than Half-Life 2 article that was published recently, when they boasted "advanced enemy AI" that stopped them from attacking the player if he was sprayed with some crap that made him smell like them (sounds like invisibility from Doom) or attack other monsters (sounds like Doom again).
And no, it doesn't sound exactly like PR. If the game allows such realistic non-scripted events like a monster flying through the window after being shot with a shotgun, that is gonna be one hell of a game.
The same is done by the Team17 with their upcoming Worms 3D. They have a lot of "Making of" style articles on their site and an active community in the forums, where they often ask the fans things like what little tricks they used in multiplayer that should be learned by AI worms (like teleporting a worm really-really high in the sky so that it has lotsa kinetic energy when it hits the enemy on the ground). And their attitude also was that having the same freedom (completely deformable landscape) and similar gameplay was essential if they were to make Worms. It seems that it is working out and we'll soon be able to play Worms in glorious 3D.
A great solution, but one which is not possible to implement. Only gradual changes are possible with e-mail, it is too big a thing for such revolutionary change.
One thing to consider is that there are companies sending legit mail. Subscribe.Ru sends 2-3 million legit e-mail daily. 2 seconds per e-mail means they need a hundred servers doing nothing but calculating the hashes.
Mod parent up!:) Apple is actually very likely to make the store accessible to Windows people. iPod already works with Windows, now all they need is to port iTunes. Given how large the potential market is, Windows version can be expected quite soon. So yes, if someone buys an Aplle just for this service, most likely he is not very bright.
Liberal capitalist society is fundamentally flawed
on
Brain Privacy
·
· Score: 1
The problems that we are always going to face in the US, in Europe and in other liberal capitalist societies are fundamental. Nothing can be done about it. The only chance is slow and gradual transition to the society where people are brought up to care about common good and to respect others. Basically a communist society in its ideal form.
In a communist society no one would worry about using MRI to sell more Coca-Cola. People would think rationally about this and see that: 1) Companies are not motivated to maximize profits, they are motivated to maximaze common good. 2) Corporate employees do not care about quarterly earnings, but care about people's health, ecology and other similar factors. 3) No one would use advertising to sell more Coca-Cola because every person already has access to various drinks in the public catering in stores or at home and is free to select the one that he wants. 4) If there was actually a reason to use MRI to find out why people drink what they drink, everyone would be sure that the researchers will behave responsible and in everyone's best interests, because that's the way everyone behaves.
P.S. Please don't flame about the failure of communism. You know better than I do that some forces are not interested in trying it. One failure of the specific implementation that was launched in the wrong place and in the wrong time according to the theory, that had to deal with the economy destroyed by world war, with almost 0% literacy, with poor industrial development and with a paranoid dictator who killed everyone who could stop him before they got a chance to do it, does not mean the failure of the idea. And practically all other attempts were to build state socialism, state capitalism or just plain dictatorship.
It is necessarily a bad thing, because it places ads where none should be. Software (games) will become cheaper, but the advertised product will become more expensive. So in the end we all lose, because large share of GDP is wasted on creating and showing ads.
Virtual copy. Virtual. Right as you say. And Apple's service might just be it. I know that I don't like storing my movies on tangible CDs. I want them on my 300Gb (total capacity) hard drives.
High-definition is expensive. And not just the media or the players - the content. You have to basically make everything in the movies real if it is shown in high-resolution. That would lead to higher budgets for most movies (like LOTR, where they went raelly hardcore on realism). On the other hand, it might stimulate CGI movies, since it can be more cost-effective to make a detailed 3d model than making the prop traditional way.
1) Don't call downloading music from Internet stealing. It it not. If you insist on calling it so, I will call you a murdurer for posting something I don't agree with.
2) In many countries downloading music is perfectly 100% legal, but sharing is illegal, in some sharing is 100% legal and downloading is illegal, in some both are legal. And Slashdot is an international forum. Stop spreading FUD that RIAA/MPAA infected you with.
3) It doesn't matter whether you personally steal the music. There are tens of millions of other users. Your own action are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
4) Nothing terrible would happen if people stop buying music. The market will adapt. There will still be music, although produced and distributed in different ways.
5) You are right that it is important to fight DMCA. That is important. Everyone reading this, please consider going to the fridge for a beer or a coke, sit down and write a letter to your congressman. Explain that you oppose DMCA and would like him to do the same. And donate something to EFF if you haven't done so recently.
Why does it happen that when the journalists write about anything that you know at least a little about, you understand that it's bullshit almost 100% of the time?
The whole article consists of random facts collected to support the idea they a priori had. Oh yes, "Adobe Acrobat has brought the same benefits to sending documents over the Web". How insightful. Look what we found! That is surely a sign of things to come...
It's no different from any article written during the dot-com boom. They first decide what they want to write (and what their subscribers want to read) and then dig up the facts to support their preconceived ideas.
This is not research, just a lame article that is not worth the magnetic particles that it is stored on.
Summary:
Fancy media on websites typically fails user testing. Simple text and clear photos not only communicate better with users, they also enhance users' feeling of control and thus support the Web's mission as an instant gratification environment.
Why Complex Media Gets into Sites
Design agencies sometimes recommend more elaborate solutions than the client really needs in order to increase their billing.
Website managers never watch people using their websites, so they make decisions without first-hand understanding of usability. Because advanced solutions seem better intuitively, those managers are easy prey for promoters of complexity.
The filesharing systems are used in order to distribute large legit files. When I need to give a N-megabyte file to one person, I can set up an FTP server on my computer. When I need to give this file to several people, I can upload it to my web-page. But if I need to give this file to many people or if the file is at least 100Mb, then my personal Internet connection is not sufficient and I need to buy a pricey hosting (that allows at least 1Gb of space and many gigabytes of traffic). I don't want that. Instead I will share the file using eDonkey2000 network and give a link. It works just like the Freenet is supposed to work (although Freenet will work better) - if the demand is high, then many clients will have a [partial] copy and will help distributing it.
It also happens that someone places a legit N-megabyte file on his web-page, but after this file becomes popular ISP disables the account. Without filesharing systems the file is lost. With them it can remain available forever.
P.S. And note how many game-related sites set up their own P2P systems in order to distribute demos, trailers and other heavyweight stuff.
You probably can contact this guy one way or another. Send him a message, explain your position. Explain that you have nothing against him selling your books, but would like to ask him to honour the licence (mention it and list you as an author).
There is no problem that can't be solved by people just calmly discussing it.
Copying is not stealing. Stealing is not copying. In your example somebody still has to reimburse the store, ergo there is real loss for someone. But if you manage to "steal" the router from staples so that the original remains where it was and you also have one, then you get my "go ahead".
I will repeat once again. Copying a TV set that your friends have is fine. Copying a car from the parking is fine. Copying anything that you find in stores is fine. Stealing so that it is no longer there is not.
Actually, in the Purist Edit, Eomer is not banished.:) That was a minor change, but a really nice touch.:) Of course, it is impossible to insert the non-existing footage of Erkenbrand, who probably wasn't even casted... Same with the Huorns, only they will finally appear in November. May be there will be an updated Purist Edit, who knows...
This is something special for all Tolkien lovers here. When The Two Towers was released in cinemas, many people disliked (and some hated) the changes to Tolkien's story (Faramir, Ents, etc.). If you had similar feelings, this file is for you.
This is a re-edit of the DVD-screener that deals with most of the changes that people disliked. To name just the biggest ones: no Elves at HD, normal Faramir, normal Ents, Arwen doesn't leave, no "exorcism", etc. As a result, this version is about 40 minutes shorter, but it is superiour to the original release. The editing is seamless and it is amazing how the author of the reedit managed in some places to completely undo Jackson's changes and make something much more faithful to Tolkien.
So, enough talking, download and see for yourselves. You can also check the trailer first.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - The Purist Edit
ed2k://|file|Lord_of_the_Rings-The_Two_Towers-The_ Purist_Edit.avi|729462784|ec0671172619e490d7b0ea6b 5278468c|/
The Purist Edit Trailer
ed2k://|file|The_Two_Towers-The_Purist_Edit-Traile r.avi|14997504|965c013e991ee246d63d45ea71954c4d|/
Hey, Anonymous Asshole, guess what happens if you have a 600x400 flash site and you zoom in 100%. Do you think that Flash content will somehow be reformated in order to accomodate new zoom level? Surprise, surprise! It won't. You will be peeking through the small window, seeing just 25% of the original page. And it doesn't matter if you have 1600x1200 monitor.
Flash itself is not a problem. It allows resizing fonts, copying text and supposedly even has some accessibility features. Guess what is the real problem. Flash designers. Idiots that somehow forget to include this functionality or even go as far as to disable it altogether.
That's absolutely the same. There is no difference at all, except small technical one.
If you can't (or don't want to) afford expensive music/movies/books, that means just that. You Can't Afford It. Not being able to afford it, you are not going to buy them anyway. No way. No fucking way.
That effectively means that RIAA/MPAA/BSA/ are going to have exactly 0$ (0?, 0?, 0) from you regardless of your choice. That means their lost profits in case of downloading equal 0. Zero. Null.
The only viable choices for the person who decided to spend less (downshifter) are to spend zero (or very little) on unnecessary stuff. The only remaining consideration is ease of use. Downloading is easier than going to the library. Ergo launch the donkey (or other favorite animal) and download everything.
I think what LeiGong meant was not the Final Fantasy VIII or Chrono Cross analogy. It probably is more along the lines of Unreal vs. Unreal 2.
1) You can make a different game that is better in some aspects and worse in others and still have a success. C&C: Generals is one such example. Yes, the game is different from the classic, but it has enough innovation, creativity and fun gameplay to be a great game.
2) Unreal 2, on the other hand is an example of pure crap that doesn't add anything at all (except graphics) to the original, but takes away the story and the fun.
Let's hope that Half-Life 2 will be more like Generals than like U2.
This book is of course Nine Princes of Amber by Roger Zelazny. If there every was a sequence impossible to film without heavy-weight year 2003 CGI it is a chase through the dimensions, not Gollum or Ringlworld.
Here is some information about the possibility of mini-series by SCI FI Channel and old news (1998) about Ed Neumeier (Starship Troopers) planning to make a movie.
But how difficult have your life become after the switch due to QWERTY everywhere else? Do you have to use other PCs often? How easy/difficult is it to constantly switch from Dvorak to qwerty?
I use a custom keyboard layout (that was used on computers before Windows 95) for punctuation marks in Cyrillic on my home PC (Shift+7 for ".", Shift+6 for ",", etc.). In the university I have to use standard MS layout for Cyrillic, standard layout for English (which is different from MS Cyrillic) and yet another layout on many PCs that have Finnish language as default.
That crazyness drives me nuts already. I can't imagine how I would feel if I had to switch between layouts for the whole keyboard, not just punctuation marks...
Slashdot Mirror
At least it is better than Half-Life 2 article that was published recently, when they boasted "advanced enemy AI" that stopped them from attacking the player if he was sprayed with some crap that made him smell like them (sounds like invisibility from Doom) or attack other monsters (sounds like Doom again).
And no, it doesn't sound exactly like PR. If the game allows such realistic non-scripted events like a monster flying through the window after being shot with a shotgun, that is gonna be one hell of a game.
The same is done by the Team17 with their upcoming Worms 3D. They have a lot of "Making of" style articles on their site and an active community in the forums, where they often ask the fans things like what little tricks they used in multiplayer that should be learned by AI worms (like teleporting a worm really-really high in the sky so that it has lotsa kinetic energy when it hits the enemy on the ground). And their attitude also was that having the same freedom (completely deformable landscape) and similar gameplay was essential if they were to make Worms. It seems that it is working out and we'll soon be able to play Worms in glorious 3D.
So in the end we all see how megahertzs are a really good indicator of CPU performance and idiotic naming conventions like Athlon 1400+ are not. :)
A great solution, but one which is not possible to implement. Only gradual changes are possible with e-mail, it is too big a thing for such revolutionary change.
One thing to consider is that there are companies sending legit mail. Subscribe.Ru sends 2-3 million legit e-mail daily. 2 seconds per e-mail means they need a hundred servers doing nothing but calculating the hashes.
I don't think it is large. When you have 2 billion test cases everyday you can make your rules pretty accurate.
Mod parent up! :) Apple is actually very likely to make the store accessible to Windows people. iPod already works with Windows, now all they need is to port iTunes. Given how large the potential market is, Windows version can be expected quite soon. So yes, if someone buys an Aplle just for this service, most likely he is not very bright.
The problems that we are always going to face in the US, in Europe and in other liberal capitalist societies are fundamental. Nothing can be done about it. The only chance is slow and gradual transition to the society where people are brought up to care about common good and to respect others. Basically a communist society in its ideal form.
In a communist society no one would worry about using MRI to sell more Coca-Cola. People would think rationally about this and see that:
1) Companies are not motivated to maximize profits, they are motivated to maximaze common good.
2) Corporate employees do not care about quarterly earnings, but care about people's health, ecology and other similar factors.
3) No one would use advertising to sell more Coca-Cola because every person already has access to various drinks in the public catering in stores or at home and is free to select the one that he wants.
4) If there was actually a reason to use MRI to find out why people drink what they drink, everyone would be sure that the researchers will behave responsible and in everyone's best interests, because that's the way everyone behaves.
P.S. Please don't flame about the failure of communism. You know better than I do that some forces are not interested in trying it. One failure of the specific implementation that was launched in the wrong place and in the wrong time according to the theory, that had to deal with the economy destroyed by world war, with almost 0% literacy, with poor industrial development and with a paranoid dictator who killed everyone who could stop him before they got a chance to do it, does not mean the failure of the idea. And practically all other attempts were to build state socialism, state capitalism or just plain dictatorship.
It is necessarily a bad thing, because it places ads where none should be. Software (games) will become cheaper, but the advertised product will become more expensive. So in the end we all lose, because large share of GDP is wasted on creating and showing ads.
Virtual copy. Virtual. Right as you say. And Apple's service might just be it. I know that I don't like storing my movies on tangible CDs. I want them on my 300Gb (total capacity) hard drives.
High-definition is expensive. And not just the media or the players - the content. You have to basically make everything in the movies real if it is shown in high-resolution. That would lead to higher budgets for most movies (like LOTR, where they went raelly hardcore on realism). On the other hand, it might stimulate CGI movies, since it can be more cost-effective to make a detailed 3d model than making the prop traditional way.
1) Don't call downloading music from Internet stealing. It it not. If you insist on calling it so, I will call you a murdurer for posting something I don't agree with.
2) In many countries downloading music is perfectly 100% legal, but sharing is illegal, in some sharing is 100% legal and downloading is illegal, in some both are legal. And Slashdot is an international forum. Stop spreading FUD that RIAA/MPAA infected you with.
3) It doesn't matter whether you personally steal the music. There are tens of millions of other users. Your own action are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
4) Nothing terrible would happen if people stop buying music. The market will adapt. There will still be music, although produced and distributed in different ways.
5) You are right that it is important to fight DMCA. That is important. Everyone reading this, please consider going to the fridge for a beer or a coke, sit down and write a letter to your congressman. Explain that you oppose DMCA and would like him to do the same. And donate something to EFF if you haven't done so recently.
Somehow I feel that argoff wouldn't mind. I certainly wouldn't if I were him.
Why does it happen that when the journalists write about anything that you know at least a little about, you understand that it's bullshit almost 100% of the time?
The whole article consists of random facts collected to support the idea they a priori had. Oh yes, "Adobe Acrobat has brought the same benefits to sending documents over the Web". How insightful. Look what we found! That is surely a sign of things to come...
It's no different from any article written during the dot-com boom. They first decide what they want to write (and what their subscribers want to read) and then dig up the facts to support their preconceived ideas.
This is not research, just a lame article that is not worth the magnetic particles that it is stored on.
Because...
Summary: Fancy media on websites typically fails user testing. Simple text and clear photos not only communicate better with users, they also enhance users' feeling of control and thus support the Web's mission as an instant gratification environment.
Why Complex Media Gets into Sites
Design agencies sometimes recommend more elaborate solutions than the client really needs in order to increase their billing.
Website managers never watch people using their websites, so they make decisions without first-hand understanding of usability. Because advanced solutions seem better intuitively, those managers are easy prey for promoters of complexity.
Source: Low-End Media for User Empowerment, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, April 21, 2003
Make it "The General Protection Fault warns that this product may be bad for your business."
It also happens that someone places a legit N-megabyte file on his web-page, but after this file becomes popular ISP disables the account. Without filesharing systems the file is lost. With them it can remain available forever.
P.S. And note how many game-related sites set up their own P2P systems in order to distribute demos, trailers and other heavyweight stuff.
You probably can contact this guy one way or another. Send him a message, explain your position. Explain that you have nothing against him selling your books, but would like to ask him to honour the licence (mention it and list you as an author).
There is no problem that can't be solved by people just calmly discussing it.
Copying is not stealing. Stealing is not copying. In your example somebody still has to reimburse the store, ergo there is real loss for someone. But if you manage to "steal" the router from staples so that the original remains where it was and you also have one, then you get my "go ahead".
I will repeat once again. Copying a TV set that your friends have is fine. Copying a car from the parking is fine. Copying anything that you find in stores is fine. Stealing so that it is no longer there is not.
Actually, in the Purist Edit, Eomer is not banished. :) That was a minor change, but a really nice touch. :) Of course, it is impossible to insert the non-existing footage of Erkenbrand, who probably wasn't even casted... Same with the Huorns, only they will finally appear in November. May be there will be an updated Purist Edit, who knows...
This is something special for all Tolkien lovers here. When The Two Towers was released in cinemas, many people disliked (and some hated) the changes to Tolkien's story (Faramir, Ents, etc.). If you had similar feelings, this file is for you.
This is a re-edit of the DVD-screener that deals with most of the changes that people disliked. To name just the biggest ones: no Elves at HD, normal Faramir, normal Ents, Arwen doesn't leave, no "exorcism", etc. As a result, this version is about 40 minutes shorter, but it is superiour to the original release. The editing is seamless and it is amazing how the author of the reedit managed in some places to completely undo Jackson's changes and make something much more faithful to Tolkien.
So, enough talking, download and see for yourselves. You can also check the trailer first.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - The Purist Edit_ Purist_Edit.avi|729462784|ec0671172619e490d7b0ea6b 5278468c|/
ed2k://|file|Lord_of_the_Rings-The_Two_Towers-The
The Purist Edit Trailere r.avi|14997504|965c013e991ee246d63d45ea71954c4d|/
ed2k://|file|The_Two_Towers-The_Purist_Edit-Trail
Hey, Anonymous Asshole, guess what happens if you have a 600x400 flash site and you zoom in 100%. Do you think that Flash content will somehow be reformated in order to accomodate new zoom level? Surprise, surprise! It won't. You will be peeking through the small window, seeing just 25% of the original page. And it doesn't matter if you have 1600x1200 monitor.
Flash itself is not a problem. It allows resizing fonts, copying text and supposedly even has some accessibility features. Guess what is the real problem. Flash designers. Idiots that somehow forget to include this functionality or even go as far as to disable it altogether.
If you can't (or don't want to) afford expensive music/movies/books, that means just that. You Can't Afford It. Not being able to afford it, you are not going to buy them anyway. No way. No fucking way.
That effectively means that RIAA/MPAA/BSA/ are going to have exactly 0$ (0?, 0?, 0) from you regardless of your choice. That means their lost profits in case of downloading equal 0. Zero. Null.
The only viable choices for the person who decided to spend less (downshifter) are to spend zero (or very little) on unnecessary stuff. The only remaining consideration is ease of use. Downloading is easier than going to the library. Ergo launch the donkey (or other favorite animal) and download everything.
I think what LeiGong meant was not the Final Fantasy VIII or Chrono Cross analogy. It probably is more along the lines of Unreal vs. Unreal 2.
1) You can make a different game that is better in some aspects and worse in others and still have a success. C&C: Generals is one such example. Yes, the game is different from the classic, but it has enough innovation, creativity and fun gameplay to be a great game.
2) Unreal 2, on the other hand is an example of pure crap that doesn't add anything at all (except graphics) to the original, but takes away the story and the fun.
Let's hope that Half-Life 2 will be more like Generals than like U2.
Here is some information about the possibility of mini-series by SCI FI Channel and old news (1998) about Ed Neumeier (Starship Troopers) planning to make a movie.
But how difficult have your life become after the switch due to QWERTY everywhere else? Do you have to use other PCs often? How easy/difficult is it to constantly switch from Dvorak to qwerty?
I use a custom keyboard layout (that was used on computers before Windows 95) for punctuation marks in Cyrillic on my home PC (Shift+7 for ".", Shift+6 for ",", etc.). In the university I have to use standard MS layout for Cyrillic, standard layout for English (which is different from MS Cyrillic) and yet another layout on many PCs that have Finnish language as default.
That crazyness drives me nuts already. I can't imagine how I would feel if I had to switch between layouts for the whole keyboard, not just punctuation marks...