But VHS? Are you kidding? VHS looked like half-baked crud when it was released, let alone by today's standards. Add to that the fact that it has crappy shelf life and what do you get? Total crud. It was never a format anyone wanted, it was just convenient at the time.
You own a Laserdisc don't you?;-) (just kidding)
Since the 70s video tape recorders have been the defacto video format for playback and recording, it has only been in the last decade that digital video playback has become affordable (while digital recording has just begun to flourish). It might be "crud" but compared to the relative costs of maintaining a Laserdisc or Super 8 collection in the 70s/80s video tape was the way to go.
Unless you meant that the video quality of Betmax was higher than VHS. Which, sadly, is simply not true. The differences between formats was/is almost imperceptable.
OK, first of all I'm a bit of an analog nut as well, I have a respectible collection of LPs, 8-tracks, 1/4" reels, cassettes, 16 mm, Betamax and VHS. But I also have plenty of CDs and DVDs, and in a lot of cases I have the same album / movie on both analog and digital format because as much as I hate it, the analog stuff is decaying. When I park the Beta, VHS and DVD versions of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" next to each other the DVD wins hands down in both the audio and visual categories, and as time marches on the gap gets bigger.
Now I know as well as anyone that "digital" media (CDs, DVDs, LaserDisc, etc) has a half-life too and will at some point will need replacing. However I don't think we're going to go beyond a "compact disc" style format, simply because it's tactile and easy to store. I do agree with you that compression techniques, storage formats, encoding and even content changes may become the latest cash cow for "the industry", but you can't be upset at the industry for keeping up with technology and passing the advantages to the customer.
sounds like normal boring phreakers to me. But they make news because they are blind.
That's for damn sure, I'm a visually impaired programmer what doesen't commit crimes, where's my news story?
Articles like these really piss me off. It makes it sound amazing that not only can blind people use computers but they can use them well enough to commit crime!
Yeesh next thing'll be "Blindsploitation" movies... "Take that sighty!"
I find it interesting that these old plans are being dusted off and re-evaluated. I remember seeing an article on Space about how NASA was going to scrap their "Space Plane" research in lieu of another Apollo style vehicle. I wonder how this makes today's spacecraft designers feel with the potential of being overridden with plans older than themselves...
There's a diference between real and fake. You can sleep with real ones.
You know I said the same thing to Halle Berry the other day after a night of hot sex...
Ok, seriously though, I think this is more about art than spankey-spankey. Just 'cause you can't have sex with the Mona Lisa or the Venus De Milo doesen't devalue them as artistic expression (of beauty).
XForms may be the most important XML vocabulary ever and Slashdot has *four* stories about it. Five years from now I hope people think back to this post...
Let's not forget about Word XML (and it ain't just BLOB!), say what you will, but I've been developing with their schema for some time and it's covering all the bases when it comes to Word I/O (which is 90% of the company I work for's income!).
Now if somehow we can get Microsoft to adopt XForms 1.0 (booyah!!!) and drop InfoPath I think everyone will be happier. Or wait, did Slashdot have a story on XForms 1.0 (!?! I hope they did and I just missed it!)
X-treme, XXXtreme, X-tream, XT-ream, AXEtreme, Xtreme, or is generally Xed-up in anyway. Please send a message to the X-tra stupid Advertising XX-cutives that X in the name is X-tremely dated and not an X-ellent idea.
The new marketing buzzword is 'Shit-Hot', as in "The new Intel Shit-Hot P4!"
Thanks.
Fine you can use SGML and everyone else can use XML......to the extreme!
Now, first things first, I'm not totally blind but I am legally blind. I have Achromatopsia, so I don't see a whole heck of a lot outside yet I can still play soccer, baseball, basketball (especially), Disc Golf and Ultimate Frisbee because I can hear what's going on around me at all times. I don't have to see where my disc lands I listen for the "thunk", with soccer and baseball there have been "beeper" balls for a long time and in basketball there are always sounds to let you know where the ball is (dribbling, passing, team mates, etc).
Now, this technology couldn't be used en masse as another post pointed out because there would be too much interferance from others and using headphones would block out other important sounds like traffic and other pedestrians.
I too hated this show, they took a concept that worked well in some anime (Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop) and worked well in another Sci-Fi series (Starhunter) and filled it with the crappy likes you already described (although you forgot those space-cavemen guys, that really bugged me, they can fly a spacecraft and set devious traps and they couldn't communicate? Please!).
If you want a show that's worth watching, check out the second season of Starhunter. The production values are (finally) up there and *gasp* it's actually well written!
Does exclude our "aerodynamically impossible" flying insect friend from a career in the movies?
I mean seriously, if someone had said in the Middle Ages that there was to be no fiction to challenge or exaggerate current scientific knowledge think how boring literature and art would be. Flying machines were built by technical people who were inspired by science fiction of the day. Who knows, perhaps there is a flux capacitor or perpetual motion machine out there in someones imagination;-)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the reason light bulbs burn out because there is a minute amount of oxygen wich slowly oxidises the filiment? Should not having a perfect vacuum within the bulb significantly extend the bulb's lifetime?
Also, what manufacturer would want to sell you something that lasts 80 years? They want you coming back for more, so they build items with a limited durability.
What I managed to get out of the first two pages (which wasen't easy, this guy apparently hasen't heard about paragraphs) was that there is a need for more+better video game Journalism. But I really have to question this, I don't know about others but when new games come out all I'm really interested in are the technical details; Look? Cost? Run? Let me figure out if it's fun. But then again the same thing could be said about about movie reviews couldn't they? I'm not interested in someone else's opinion on their level of enjoyment gleaned from a title or how this game might or might not impact society or how it might alter our culture. To be honest I find that most reviews are fairly pointless.
He then talks about the current situation of game Journalism, which basically boils down to reviews (and not so much comment). To me, reviewers have no choice but to compare their own (jaded?) experience towards game reviews and will lean harder on games that might well be fun for you and me.
I guess it will always boil down to what my personal preferences are, not what some "journalist" thinks.
I'd also like to point out that the author of this feature tries to validate himself as an authority on gaming by telling us how many games he has in comparison to his pissing-contest-winning music collection. How does this make the reader respect the opinion of the author exactly?
What the heck kind of name for a "Bond" girl is Serena St. Germaine?
It should be something like "Helen Back", "Connie Troller" or even "Jaqulene Auff" you know something with a high probability for humerous double-entendre!
"Darling, you look like you just went through Hell... and back"
I think it's too constrictive, the game developer is going to tell the writer what his parameters are for writing his story for example:
Here is a game where a little yellow dot (Pac-Man) eats little dots in a giant maze and gets chased by ghosts until he eats a slightly-bigger dot, therefore allowing him to eat the ghosts (for a set amount of time). Pac-Man advances to the next level (maze) by eating all the dots in the current maze.
Granted, it's not the most complex game in the world but is it possible to write even a simple story that doesen't interfere with the gameplay / goals of this game? It also illustrates another feature of most popular games today: There is no linear plot per se, in order to advance or be ranked you must perform operations repeatedly (in an MMORPG, think of levelling by killing endless monsters or visiting dungeons and aquiring items). Try writing a coherant, linear plot around non-linear, player choices (it's a daunting task as any good pen & paper RPG Game Master will tell you).
Of course, having writers proof-read some of the grammar before it goes out the door couldn't hurt;-)
Slashdot Mirror
Arrgh! You've just made my life an ontological nightmare...
Since the 70s video tape recorders have been the defacto video format for playback and recording, it has only been in the last decade that digital video playback has become affordable (while digital recording has just begun to flourish). It might be "crud" but compared to the relative costs of maintaining a Laserdisc or Super 8 collection in the 70s/80s video tape was the way to go.
Unless you meant that the video quality of Betmax was higher than VHS. Which, sadly, is simply not true. The differences between formats was/is almost imperceptable.
OK, first of all I'm a bit of an analog nut as well, I have a respectible collection of LPs, 8-tracks, 1/4" reels, cassettes, 16 mm, Betamax and VHS. But I also have plenty of CDs and DVDs, and in a lot of cases I have the same album / movie on both analog and digital format because as much as I hate it, the analog stuff is decaying. When I park the Beta, VHS and DVD versions of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" next to each other the DVD wins hands down in both the audio and visual categories, and as time marches on the gap gets bigger.
Now I know as well as anyone that "digital" media (CDs, DVDs, LaserDisc, etc) has a half-life too and will at some point will need replacing. However I don't think we're going to go beyond a "compact disc" style format, simply because it's tactile and easy to store. I do agree with you that compression techniques, storage formats, encoding and even content changes may become the latest cash cow for "the industry", but you can't be upset at the industry for keeping up with technology and passing the advantages to the customer.
Articles like these really piss me off. It makes it sound amazing that not only can blind people use computers but they can use them well enough to commit crime!
Yeesh next thing'll be "Blindsploitation" movies...
"Take that sighty!"
He should also be credited with solving thousands of Windows support calls...
"Well, I just don't know... Have you tried rebooting?"
In 1959 the "current technology" didn't support a trip to the moon.
Think about that.
I find it interesting that these old plans are being dusted off and re-evaluated. I remember seeing an article on Space about how NASA was going to scrap their "Space Plane" research in lieu of another Apollo style vehicle. I wonder how this makes today's spacecraft designers feel with the potential of being overridden with plans older than themselves...
01010111011001010110110001101100001000000100010001 0101010100100000100001
Are you my boss, 'cause you sound like him...
Am I fired yet?
Ok, seriously though, I think this is more about art than spankey-spankey. Just 'cause you can't have sex with the Mona Lisa or the Venus De Milo doesen't devalue them as artistic expression (of beauty).
...or wait, it is...
cube root of five hundred
Yeah, but did you know it went 1.0?
XForms may be the most important XML vocabulary ever and Slashdot has *four* stories about it. Five years from now I hope people think back to this post...
Let's not forget about Word XML (and it ain't just BLOB!), say what you will, but I've been developing with their schema for some time and it's covering all the bases when it comes to Word I/O (which is 90% of the company I work for's income!).
Now if somehow we can get Microsoft to adopt XForms 1.0 (booyah!!!) and drop InfoPath I think everyone will be happier. Or wait, did Slashdot have a story on XForms 1.0 (!?! I hope they did and I just missed it!)
Is Microsoft's goal to make better software? No.
Is OSS development / Linux goal to maintain a large unweildly cash-factory? No.
What is a corporate software "road map"? The shiny feature-lure for the software treadmill hook.
Is Microsoft going to fire a few random statements in the dark to keep the industry looking at them? You bet.
This article is a troll and sucks a little life out of everyone who reads it.
...well, for sports at any rate.
Now, first things first, I'm not totally blind but I am legally blind. I have Achromatopsia, so I don't see a whole heck of a lot outside yet I can still play soccer, baseball, basketball (especially), Disc Golf and Ultimate Frisbee because I can hear what's going on around me at all times. I don't have to see where my disc lands I listen for the "thunk", with soccer and baseball there have been "beeper" balls for a long time and in basketball there are always sounds to let you know where the ball is (dribbling, passing, team mates, etc).
Now, this technology couldn't be used en masse as another post pointed out because there would be too much interferance from others and using headphones would block out other important sounds like traffic and other pedestrians.
Anywho, my $0.02
When was the last time you saw something by Asimov on television? Never thats when!
I too hated this show, they took a concept that worked well in some anime (Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop) and worked well in another Sci-Fi series (Starhunter) and filled it with the crappy likes you already described (although you forgot those space-cavemen guys, that really bugged me, they can fly a spacecraft and set devious traps and they couldn't communicate? Please!).
If you want a show that's worth watching, check out the second season of Starhunter. The production values are (finally) up there and *gasp* it's actually well written!
Reminds me when Babylon 5 first started.
Amphibious cars are old hat, no one wanted them 30 years ago and no one wants them now (well, no one except for Sunbeam enthusiasts).
The downside to this is that unless a series is reprinted you'll have a better chance of finding a snowball in hell.
Does exclude our "aerodynamically impossible" flying insect friend from a career in the movies?
;-)
I mean seriously, if someone had said in the Middle Ages that there was to be no fiction to challenge or exaggerate current scientific knowledge think how boring literature and art would be. Flying machines were built by technical people who were inspired by science fiction of the day. Who knows, perhaps there is a flux capacitor or perpetual motion machine out there in someones imagination
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the reason light bulbs burn out because there is a minute amount of oxygen wich slowly oxidises the filiment? Should not having a perfect vacuum within the bulb significantly extend the bulb's lifetime?
Also, what manufacturer would want to sell you something that lasts 80 years? They want you coming back for more, so they build items with a limited durability.
What I managed to get out of the first two pages (which wasen't easy, this guy apparently hasen't heard about paragraphs) was that there is a need for more+better video game Journalism. But I really have to question this, I don't know about others but when new games come out all I'm really interested in are the technical details; Look? Cost? Run? Let me figure out if it's fun. But then again the same thing could be said about about movie reviews couldn't they? I'm not interested in someone else's opinion on their level of enjoyment gleaned from a title or how this game might or might not impact society or how it might alter our culture. To be honest I find that most reviews are fairly pointless.
He then talks about the current situation of game Journalism, which basically boils down to reviews (and not so much comment). To me, reviewers have no choice but to compare their own (jaded?) experience towards game reviews and will lean harder on games that might well be fun for you and me.
I guess it will always boil down to what my personal preferences are, not what some "journalist" thinks.
I'd also like to point out that the author of this feature tries to validate himself as an authority on gaming by telling us how many games he has in comparison to his pissing-contest-winning music collection. How does this make the reader respect the opinion of the author exactly?
What the heck kind of name for a "Bond" girl is Serena St. Germaine?
It should be something like "Helen Back", "Connie Troller" or even "Jaqulene Auff" you know something with a high probability for humerous double-entendre!
"Darling, you look like you just went through Hell... and back"
Of course, having writers proof-read some of the grammar before it goes out the door couldn't hurt
Just my $0.02