Eolas's patent, which covers web browser plugins, should never have been awarded -- let alone validated by the USPTO. As it stands, no browser that supports plugin technology is immune from Eolas, a one-man-show run by a university professor.
The patent needs to be thrown out immediately; the amount of prior art must be staggering.
For the future of the web, this is a case you'll want Microsoft to win, ultimately.
I feel bad that some people are willing to instantly dismiss some of the most fun and creative games because they feel the graphics are too "kiddy." Nintendo's games carry a charm which I think is sorely lacking in the industry today.
Paper Mario, Pikmin, Wind Waker, and other Nintendo franchises are games I think everyone should have the chance to play. They're charming and fun, and somehow manage to be so without featuring multiplayer killing action or large weapons to blow other players up in numerous ways.
So the graphics in Twilight Princess "realistic" and not stylized? Would anyone confuse them with reality?
The fact is, Twilight Princess, which embracing a darker style, is still heavily stylized. I do like the style, but I do not believe it's any better or worse than Wind Waker's style. (Wind Waker's graphics, in my opinion, were absolutely stunning and held a charm perfectly suited to the storyline.)
The problem with "realism" is that it's very difficult to get right. The closer to reality you get, the more grotesque the imperfections seem to the human mind. It's called "The Uncanny Valley," a term coined during the development of human-like robots. People have a much stronger negative reaction to graphics that look almost, but not quite, real than ones that approximate features.
You can also get XML feeds from specific weather stations at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/data/current_obs/ (Not lat and long required; just the station name)
Now to wait until the Canadian government does the same thing...
What are you talking about? One of the demos at E3 was Super Mario 64 (with multiplayer abilities added, no less).
Due to the success of the NES Classic Series, we're bound to see a lot of SNES ports on the DS as well, due to it's increased capabilities.
Try the Samsung YP-T5V. With the exception of the SD slot, it has all those features (including the "new?" features, SRS, WOW, and Trubass.)
I love the thing to death, personally.
Part of the problem, I believe, must also be the inadequacy of software download websites. In general Open Source distributions are tricky to obtain and install. The sites are difficult to navigate and provide too many download options that reqiure understanding beyond what most users posess. i.e., should I download the "source" or "binary" version? "Stand-alone" or "self-installing?" All of these are terms outside the average user's vocabulary. Worse, many simply link to those SourceForge sites where users are presented with myriad different versions of the same product--some not even stable.
Prototype languages still hold many of the OO concepts, but objects are created directly. That is, a "blueprint" approach (i.e., the class) is not used in the creation of objects. Inheritance still works by cloning and modifying existing objects.
Although this makes sense in some ways (ideas like the Singleton pattern fit more nicely in this paradigm), in reality prototype languages gain features that make them more and more class-like. I'm not a big fan, personally.
But XML can be compressed using some amazingly efficient text compression algorithms. In fact, XML generally compresses better than regular text because it has so many predictable features.
An SVG file compressed using standard ZIP format yeilds impressive results. It's highly likely most SVG files will be distributed this way.
Poppycock. The only reason the author didn't include Outlook 2003 was because he didn't have access to it. While this is perfectly acceptable, the little blurb in the FAQ (before the author admits not having access) is pure BS.
When writing an article about the "next generation of email clients" there is no justification for comparing the latest version of everything to an old version of Microsoft's product. This is, indeed, unfair and misleading.
At the risk of being unpopular (gulps), I have to put in my say for the new Outlook. I'm surprised Outlook 2003 wasn't included in the review, since it offers significant enhancements over the version in the article. The concept of "search folders" and being able to flag messages for follow-up in many colours is, simply put, invaluable. Mozilla mail doesn't even come close--although it should.
"Unlimited" is almost always defined by the ISP. If there is no explicit definition (read the fine print--there might be one), you may want to get it in writing.
Of course, anyone who is over their limits by an amount high enough for their ISP to notice is probably running some sort of public service off their machine (FTP, Web, etc). Many ISPs disallow this, so check your contract.
A lot of these features are already in Outlook 2003, albeit under different names. The coloured annotations, collection folders, and headers described in the article have all recently made an appearance in Outlook 2003.
At the risk of being modded down, I quite like these features and thus... *gulps* also like... the new Outlook.
I my office, the IT personnel grant or deny software installation requests (among many other IT-related tasks, but software installation draws a nice example).
People usually want software because it would make doing their job easier. Does this mean IT should allow any tool to be installed? If a software request is denied, the requestor will sometimes complain loudly along the lines of "Your job is to make sure I can do mine, not regulate it," to which IT will retort "but if we allow any software, it will result in incompatabilities between departments ultimately reducing productivity and increasing maitenance costs."
Both are right; this sometimes results in a bitter relationship, but lets face it, they're keeping checks on each other. A successful development company needs to find a balance between the two.
Once infected, a follow-up e-mail is sent to the user stating that a CD containing child pornography will be delivered to their postal address.
This would scare the living daylights out of my mother if she were infected by this trojan/worm.
I think part of the problem with computer security nowadays is that home users believe that anything is possible. Computers are still far too mysterious to the average user; I'll bet you dimes to dollars many users will think this CD mailing scare is real. Unless email and antivirus vendors do something to educate homes users, what's to stop the next virus from saying "open this attachment or we'll send illegal merchandise to your door?"
Spammers, even benign ones, thrive on the naivety of home users. I still haven't received my cheque from Bill Gates and Walt Disney Jr...
Slashdot Mirror
More information on Eolas and the offending patent.
Eolas's patent, which covers web browser plugins, should never have been awarded -- let alone validated by the USPTO. As it stands, no browser that supports plugin technology is immune from Eolas, a one-man-show run by a university professor.
The patent needs to be thrown out immediately; the amount of prior art must be staggering.
For the future of the web, this is a case you'll want Microsoft to win, ultimately.
Probably not, considering Graham Bell was born in Scotland before moving to Canada (where he invented the telephone).
I feel bad that some people are willing to instantly dismiss some of the most fun and creative games because they feel the graphics are too "kiddy." Nintendo's games carry a charm which I think is sorely lacking in the industry today.
Paper Mario, Pikmin, Wind Waker, and other Nintendo franchises are games I think everyone should have the chance to play. They're charming and fun, and somehow manage to be so without featuring multiplayer killing action or large weapons to blow other players up in numerous ways.
So the graphics in Twilight Princess "realistic" and not stylized? Would anyone confuse them with reality?
The fact is, Twilight Princess, which embracing a darker style, is still heavily stylized. I do like the style, but I do not believe it's any better or worse than Wind Waker's style. (Wind Waker's graphics, in my opinion, were absolutely stunning and held a charm perfectly suited to the storyline.)
The problem with "realism" is that it's very difficult to get right. The closer to reality you get, the more grotesque the imperfections seem to the human mind. It's called "The Uncanny Valley," a term coined during the development of human-like robots. People have a much stronger negative reaction to graphics that look almost, but not quite, real than ones that approximate features.
You can also get XML feeds from specific weather stations at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/data/current_obs/ (Not lat and long required; just the station name) Now to wait until the Canadian government does the same thing...
What are you talking about? One of the demos at E3 was Super Mario 64 (with multiplayer abilities added, no less). Due to the success of the NES Classic Series, we're bound to see a lot of SNES ports on the DS as well, due to it's increased capabilities.
What exactly is a dual-core microprocessor? The article didn't really elaborate.
Try the Samsung YP-T5V. With the exception of the SD slot, it has all those features (including the "new?" features, SRS, WOW, and Trubass.) I love the thing to death, personally.
Part of the problem, I believe, must also be the inadequacy of software download websites. In general Open Source distributions are tricky to obtain and install. The sites are difficult to navigate and provide too many download options that reqiure understanding beyond what most users posess. i.e., should I download the "source" or "binary" version? "Stand-alone" or "self-installing?" All of these are terms outside the average user's vocabulary. Worse, many simply link to those SourceForge sites where users are presented with myriad different versions of the same product--some not even stable.
Prototype languages still hold many of the OO concepts, but objects are created directly. That is, a "blueprint" approach (i.e., the class) is not used in the creation of objects. Inheritance still works by cloning and modifying existing objects. Although this makes sense in some ways (ideas like the Singleton pattern fit more nicely in this paradigm), in reality prototype languages gain features that make them more and more class-like. I'm not a big fan, personally.
But XML can be compressed using some amazingly efficient text compression algorithms. In fact, XML generally compresses better than regular text because it has so many predictable features. An SVG file compressed using standard ZIP format yeilds impressive results. It's highly likely most SVG files will be distributed this way.
Poppycock. The only reason the author didn't include Outlook 2003 was because he didn't have access to it. While this is perfectly acceptable, the little blurb in the FAQ (before the author admits not having access) is pure BS. When writing an article about the "next generation of email clients" there is no justification for comparing the latest version of everything to an old version of Microsoft's product. This is, indeed, unfair and misleading.
At the risk of being unpopular (gulps), I have to put in my say for the new Outlook. I'm surprised Outlook 2003 wasn't included in the review, since it offers significant enhancements over the version in the article. The concept of "search folders" and being able to flag messages for follow-up in many colours is, simply put, invaluable. Mozilla mail doesn't even come close--although it should.
"Unlimited" is almost always defined by the ISP. If there is no explicit definition (read the fine print--there might be one), you may want to get it in writing.
Of course, anyone who is over their limits by an amount high enough for their ISP to notice is probably running some sort of public service off their machine (FTP, Web, etc). Many ISPs disallow this, so check your contract.
A lot of these features are already in Outlook 2003, albeit under different names. The coloured annotations, collection folders, and headers described in the article have all recently made an appearance in Outlook 2003.
At the risk of being modded down, I quite like these features and thus... *gulps* also like... the new Outlook.
Forgive me if this is an obvious question, but why run a dedicated "firewall operating system" when hardware and software firewalls are available?
I my office, the IT personnel grant or deny software installation requests (among many other IT-related tasks, but software installation draws a nice example). People usually want software because it would make doing their job easier. Does this mean IT should allow any tool to be installed? If a software request is denied, the requestor will sometimes complain loudly along the lines of "Your job is to make sure I can do mine, not regulate it," to which IT will retort "but if we allow any software, it will result in incompatabilities between departments ultimately reducing productivity and increasing maitenance costs." Both are right; this sometimes results in a bitter relationship, but lets face it, they're keeping checks on each other. A successful development company needs to find a balance between the two.
This would scare the living daylights out of my mother if she were infected by this trojan/worm.
I think part of the problem with computer security nowadays is that home users believe that anything is possible. Computers are still far too mysterious to the average user; I'll bet you dimes to dollars many users will think this CD mailing scare is real. Unless email and antivirus vendors do something to educate homes users, what's to stop the next virus from saying "open this attachment or we'll send illegal merchandise to your door?"
Spammers, even benign ones, thrive on the naivety of home users. I still haven't received my cheque from Bill Gates and Walt Disney Jr...