"Five years ago, console fanboys dismissed PC gamers when they pointed out 64mb might be nice now but would barely cut it in two years and seriously hamstring the console in 4-5 - the lifecycle of a typical console. They were wrong then.
Now, five years later, all they've done is up that hamstrung amount in accordance with Moore's law and, once again, it seems fine for a console's release and is going to be a major issue well within the system's lifespan."
Well, that's called "planned obsolescence" (I think). It makes sense for the company. We could have lightbulbs that lasted 10 years, but where would be the money for the company in that?
I also think the companies are worried that if they don't release new consoles and keep pace with the current game of computational power one-uppance, they'll be seen as falling behind. I think they're still capitalizing on our past experiences where each new generation of consoles delivered jaw-dropping improvements. I remember changing from the original Zelda to Link to the past on the SNES: sheer exuberance! By contrast, my friend's Dreamcast and today's demo clips of the future don't seem to be all that different. Sure, you can see slightly better details, but everything seems like the same ol'. Even the beloved Final Fantasy series are becoming same ol'.
The video game industry doesn't really know how to deal with growth, except by mimicking Hollywood by only putting out "blockbuster-style" games. What they don't realize is how much they were profitting by the wide variety of titles and gameplay--the 'noise' of alternate experimental gaming styles is what made the gaming universe so incredibly rich. I'm incredibly glad to have grown up when I did now (I used to rent a different NES game every weekend, did it for TWO years!). Remember Contra? Zelda? Marble Madness? Super Mario Brothers? Metroid? Secret of Mana? Final Fantasy? etc. etc. etc. All with different feelings and worlds. Now they all feel the same. Same sugar, different brand.
IS ANYONE FROM NINTENDO OUT THERE STILL LISTENING? You've got a major fanbase, so don't lose it! Nintendo sys admin slashdotting? ha! turn it to research! Please forward a link of articles like these to executives who might give a damn! You can market the sugar-crap if you have to (which we understand and accept), but PLEASE don't stop creating new worlds!
"Now Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy says that he doesn't see Amazon entering the online movie rental business in the US, putting ice on the idea that Amazon is naturally suited to the business."
There you go, cause and effect. What else did you expect? Do you think the CEO of Netflix would say: "the market is expanding rapidly with absurdly high profit margins and plenty of opportunities for newcomers. Amazon is perfectly suited to join the competition and can make tons of money with little alteration to their existing infrastructure. I'll be the first to welcome them with a handshake while we prepare to downsize!"?
Doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary to me.
"As to whether or not Amazon and Netflix are in negotiations for a partnership, McCarthy said "my comment is 'no comment'." I think that statement is about as obvious as obvious gets. No doubt non-disclosure agreements are par for the course, but sometimes nothing is so revealing as a "no comment". Then again, that could be read as some kind of public invitation to Amazon. Idunno... this is/., somebody smarter than me help me out here...
That makes us sound like a bunch of liars. So they won't like the figure until it's high enough for them? What if 99% people said they did, but they wanted 100%? Would they say "only 99% admitted to..."? In this case, are they saying the other 95% of us lied?
They don't get the numbers they wanted, so they have to call us liars who didn't admit to it and ignore the possibility that we simply don't do it.
Buddha's philosophy does not see treating other people kindly "in a negative light". Buddha would not condone seeing this in a "negative" or a "positive" light. Buddhism would not condone doing kind deeds while thinking in terms of a "negative" or "positive" light. Let me explain: Buddhism is concerned with seeing things *as they are* and seeing how the mind creates our many "life's problems"--i.e. to see how humanity's problems are not metaphysical (some ancient curse from some supernatural being because of eating some ancient fruit, etc.) but personal (are you being greedy? impatient? ignorant? letting desire overcome you? etc.). With this comes the realization that we are, despite all our differences, the same. We were all born young and innocent, and have a core that remains so despite the experiences and struggles of later years. Compassion arises naturally then, for you see the same person in every stranger as well as in the mirror. Everyone is close to you like a family.
Christianity was like this once. That is probably why they tried to preserve it by using family titles: "Father" John, "Sister" Mary, "Brother" Joe. Unfortunately, the introduction of a god into all of this puts one thing above everything else in status: an unknowable being. That is all right, because younger or "weaker" people need something to hold onto before they can start making realizations and spiritually maturing on their own. The trouble is, what was a tool along the way became a fixation. Now you don't do good because you FEEL compassion for all sentient beings, but because if you don't some powerful being will punish you and make you suffer eternally.
Note: I am only 25, and this is merely what I've learned and realized so far. I'm still maturing and growing spiritually, and know there are literally millions of you/.ers out there more enlightened than me. I humbly invite your corrections.
If you want to learn more, I would recommend "365 Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao. Don't worry, Taoism and Buddhism are, ultimately, the same thing: mere names and aspects for the same universal truth (barring cults and perversions... they pervade the world).
I'd talk about Confucius too (he was greatly misunderstood to be a strict disciplinarian who emphasized conventions, which is too bad), but I'm late for my tutorial! This is especially bad, since I am the TA!
35 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED (U) Specialist Lozano spotlighted the car before it reached the Alert Line, fired warning shots as it reached the Warning Line, and fired on the vehicle in an attempt to disable it immediately after it crossed the Warning Line. (Annexes 79C, 87C, 129C, 134C). (U) Specialist Lozano was the only one to fire his weapon. (Annexes 77C, 79C, 81C, 83C, 85C, 87C, 89C). (U) The car was traveling at approximately 50 mph as it crossed the Warning Line. (Annex 83C). (U) Mr. Carpani did not apply his brakes until after the rounds began striking the car. (Annexes 104C, 105C). (U) Given the cyclic rate of fire of the M240B, Specialist Lozano's expertise with the weapon, and that only 11 rounds struck the vehicle with only five of those impacting the front of the car, it is highly unlikely that any shots were fired after the car came to a stop. (Annexes 79C, 6G, 1I, 3M). (U) Both the blocking and overwatch vehicles were moved after the incident as directed by Captain Drew to transport Ms. Sgrena to the Combat Support Hospital. Both vehicles were needed to provide security for the move to the hospital. (Annexes 74C, 77C). (U) The gunner complied with the Rules of Engagement. After operating the spotlight, and perceiving the on-coming vehicle as a threat, he fired to disable it and did not intend to harm anyone in the vehicle. (Annexes 79C, 83C). -------------------
The report says 50mph. Yeah, I drive faster than that going to work, so the Italians probably don't see that as very fast, but I could see how that *would* be considered fast if you're approaching an army checkpoint already nervous about suicide bombers.
What I don't get is this: I find it hard to believe that the Italian agents neglected to tell other troops around that area what they were planning to do. It's common sense because your allies are armed forces too. Something about this just doesn't seem to fit yet (for me).
I don't know, how about Buddha? Or Ghandi? Or Mother Theresa? Or a million others that we'll never know about? Why do you choose a long-dead person in a book and insist that there were no others? How do you know the homeless person who died on a street corner last week didn't live a morally spotless life?
The problem with how some people accept religion in their lives is that it blinds them instead of opening their eyes.
I betcha if Jesus was still alive, he'd smack you upside the head to wake you up, just like a zen monk would.
(yes, call me flamebait if you wish, but at least please seriously consider what I am saying)
don't be fooled. He wouldn't be in the position he's in if he couldn't spin politics around his finger at a whim. As several people above already noted, he squirmed out of a lot of tough questions (FUD campaign, EULA, etc.), even resorting to repeatedly finger-pointing at Red Hat as an "answer" (TCO, crippling software issue, etc.).
That he's done all this but still made things seem congenial is why he's in the position in the world he's in.
To take a different approach: he did agree to this interview, which either makes him a good sport, or maybe it shows that Microsoft is now wary of the slashdot crowd, which is very vocal about MS's tactics and weaknesses. And any person in the IT industry worth his salt reads/., so of course he's gotta defuse some things, like the MS vs Open Source (i.e./. crowd) thing -- something which he tried to do in the interview.
Doubtful? Count the number of times he goes off track, pauses, says "you know", etc. Honest answers are direct and come right away. Evasive answers take time to work in/set up.
This is their response to the NY Times ad. Someone at MS finally sat up and took notice, so they sent one of their writers to cool the Fire from Firefox.
So, instead of the electronic EULA you're normally forced to read as part of installation, companies can replace that with a "Please see EULA at www.microsoft.com" in small black text at the bottom of the box. That's not technically illegal, but actually makes the EULA even more invisible. Really: out of 100 customers, how many do you expect to go home and read up the EULA online before coming back to buy Norton or Windows? (yes, there's always the few, but I'm certain the percentage is less than 1%).
Who's victory was this supposed to be again?
Not as crazy as it sounds.
on
HIV Vaccine
·
· Score: 1
Your second claim, I mean. Food is not a genetically engineered weapon, but the food distribution is certainly engineered. We have enough food on this planet to feed everyone already. People are still starving to death because of failures in global food distribution. Hell, could you imagine if all the coffee bean fields in the world were growing a vegetable like corn? Who could possibly go hungry?
Obviously, when you're telling the truth you're just recalling, but when you're lying you're both recalling the truth and inventing a lie, which involves creativity, logistics, etc. Of course your brain will be used differently.
What's harder to do? Sing a song you already know, or make up a new one?
Not trolling, I'm Chinese. Usually the US is fanatical about data-gathering. Thought hottest/coldest places on earth were visited and studied long ago.
Guess despite for all our telecommunications, earth's still pretty damn big.
First of all, yes, I did make a general statement, but one that's defendable. Even if people don't ride in a subway system per se, they might be taking a bus, or taxi, or shuttlebus, or bicycle, or whatever else. But who gives a shit? I was just trying to imagine what uses some people might have for this device, so why are you so preoccupied on this technicality? Why don't you start arguing about how some people are unemployed, and therefore might not be going to "work" per se? Or how about deaf people? Am I being a bigoted "eastern european" (where the hell did that come from anyway?) bastard for assuming that everyone can hear mp3s?
For christ's sake, I was just giving a casual example on a small 30-second post for an article on slashdot, not presenting a dissertation, so get a life, quit wasting my time, and let's move the fuck on already.
Wouldn't it be better to buy a laptop for that price? Then you could play DVD movies and do a lot more other things too.
Then again, with this you can bring all your work AND media with you. Plug it in at work, detach it, listen to mp3s on the subway ride home, plug it in at home...
I already considered that I may have been taking it too seriously before posting, but I thought that my opinions were, too a certain extent, justified. After all, I don't say "Jesus Christ!" as an exclamation of surprise out of respect for my Christian friends. A certain respect for the perceived holiness of certain words by others is a good thing. Not everyone who is offended by misuse of his/her holy word is a "fanatic".
Finally, even if I did become too attached to the word "Tao", it doesn't mean I need "a little less ego and a bit more Tao". This is not really an issue of ego, but one of attachment. You speak as if you're understanding of Taoism is deep and know what Lao Tzu would have approved of. However, if you disagreed, you should have taught, enlightened, and instilled peace, not rant about fanatics everywhere and make a superfluous personal attack.
To assert my point again: would you name your dog "Jesus Christ" or "Buddha"? Why not? It's just a name, isnt' it? Why, are you some fanatic?
This is not OT, but I know it's probably irrelevent for most of you, but what is it with the abuse of people who write "The Tao of Management" and "The Tao of Security MOnitoring" and "The Tao of Funds Management" and "The Tao of trying-to-use-the-word-tao-to-seem-really-cool"? As a Taoist, I'm more than a little bugged that the word Tao is used haphazardly by every joe shmoe to title their new instructional book.
Using the word without understanding it or true reverance is almost sacreligous for me.
Stupid call maybe, but I'm just throwing it out there anyway.
I'm trying to only look at the beneficiaries of a situation, and it seems like IBM is getting some of the best publicity in years for a very simply legal suit.
Tinfoil hat or not? idunno, what you guys think? maybe after this IBM'll come out with their own version linux and everyone'll buy it because:
1) It's big blue 2) They're now a linux hero
PHB's happy because of 1), tech geeks happy cuz of 2)
Slashdot Mirror
"Five years ago, console fanboys dismissed PC gamers when they pointed out 64mb might be nice now but would barely cut it in two years and seriously hamstring the console in 4-5 - the lifecycle of a typical console. They were wrong then.
Now, five years later, all they've done is up that hamstrung amount in accordance with Moore's law and, once again, it seems fine for a console's release and is going to be a major issue well within the system's lifespan."
Well, that's called "planned obsolescence" (I think). It makes sense for the company. We could have lightbulbs that lasted 10 years, but where would be the money for the company in that?
I also think the companies are worried that if they don't release new consoles and keep pace with the current game of computational power one-uppance, they'll be seen as falling behind. I think they're still capitalizing on our past experiences where each new generation of consoles delivered jaw-dropping improvements. I remember changing from the original Zelda to Link to the past on the SNES: sheer exuberance! By contrast, my friend's Dreamcast and today's demo clips of the future don't seem to be all that different. Sure, you can see slightly better details, but everything seems like the same ol'. Even the beloved Final Fantasy series are becoming same ol'.
The video game industry doesn't really know how to deal with growth, except by mimicking Hollywood by only putting out "blockbuster-style" games. What they don't realize is how much they were profitting by the wide variety of titles and gameplay--the 'noise' of alternate experimental gaming styles is what made the gaming universe so incredibly rich. I'm incredibly glad to have grown up when I did now (I used to rent a different NES game every weekend, did it for TWO years!). Remember Contra? Zelda? Marble Madness? Super Mario Brothers? Metroid? Secret of Mana? Final Fantasy? etc. etc. etc. All with different feelings and worlds. Now they all feel the same. Same sugar, different brand.
IS ANYONE FROM NINTENDO OUT THERE STILL LISTENING? You've got a major fanbase, so don't lose it! Nintendo sys admin slashdotting? ha! turn it to research! Please forward a link of articles like these to executives who might give a damn! You can market the sugar-crap if you have to (which we understand and accept), but PLEASE don't stop creating new worlds!
"Now Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy says that he doesn't see Amazon entering the online movie rental business in the US, putting ice on the idea that Amazon is naturally suited to the business."
/., somebody smarter than me help me out here...
There you go, cause and effect. What else did you expect? Do you think the CEO of Netflix would say: "the market is expanding rapidly with absurdly high profit margins and plenty of opportunities for newcomers. Amazon is perfectly suited to join the competition and can make tons of money with little alteration to their existing infrastructure. I'll be the first to welcome them with a handshake while we prepare to downsize!"?
Doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary to me.
"As to whether or not Amazon and Netflix are in negotiations for a partnership, McCarthy said "my comment is 'no comment'." I think that statement is about as obvious as obvious gets. No doubt non-disclosure agreements are par for the course, but sometimes nothing is so revealing as a "no comment". Then again, that could be read as some kind of public invitation to Amazon. Idunno... this is
That makes us sound like a bunch of liars. So they won't like the figure until it's high enough for them? What if 99% people said they did, but they wanted 100%? Would they say "only 99% admitted to..."? In this case, are they saying the other 95% of us lied?
They don't get the numbers they wanted, so they have to call us liars who didn't admit to it and ignore the possibility that we simply don't do it.
Firefox won Product of the Year! Congratulations to the Firefox guys!
Hopefully this will help further "legitimatize" Firefox to those who are reluctant to switch to something "underground".
"...dictates that not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah's text..."
:)
how about two?
Please mod parent down. He speaks from ignorance.
/.ers out there more enlightened than me. I humbly invite your corrections.
Buddha's philosophy does not see treating other people kindly "in a negative light". Buddha would not condone seeing this in a "negative" or a "positive" light. Buddhism would not condone doing kind deeds while thinking in terms of a "negative" or "positive" light. Let me explain: Buddhism is concerned with seeing things *as they are* and seeing how the mind creates our many "life's problems"--i.e. to see how humanity's problems are not metaphysical (some ancient curse from some supernatural being because of eating some ancient fruit, etc.) but personal (are you being greedy? impatient? ignorant? letting desire overcome you? etc.). With this comes the realization that we are, despite all our differences, the same. We were all born young and innocent, and have a core that remains so despite the experiences and struggles of later years. Compassion arises naturally then, for you see the same person in every stranger as well as in the mirror. Everyone is close to you like a family.
Christianity was like this once. That is probably why they tried to preserve it by using family titles: "Father" John, "Sister" Mary, "Brother" Joe. Unfortunately, the introduction of a god into all of this puts one thing above everything else in status: an unknowable being. That is all right, because younger or "weaker" people need something to hold onto before they can start making realizations and spiritually maturing on their own. The trouble is, what was a tool along the way became a fixation. Now you don't do good because you FEEL compassion for all sentient beings, but because if you don't some powerful being will punish you and make you suffer eternally.
Note: I am only 25, and this is merely what I've learned and realized so far. I'm still maturing and growing spiritually, and know there are literally millions of you
If you want to learn more, I would recommend "365 Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao. Don't worry, Taoism and Buddhism are, ultimately, the same thing: mere names and aspects for the same universal truth (barring cults and perversions... they pervade the world).
I'd talk about Confucius too (he was greatly misunderstood to be a strict disciplinarian who emphasized conventions, which is too bad), but I'm late for my tutorial! This is especially bad, since I am the TA!
35 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED
(U) Specialist Lozano spotlighted the car before it reached the Alert Line, fired warning shots as it reached the Warning Line, and fired on the vehicle in an attempt to disable it immediately after it crossed the Warning Line. (Annexes 79C, 87C, 129C, 134C).
(U) Specialist Lozano was the only one to fire his weapon. (Annexes 77C, 79C, 81C, 83C, 85C, 87C, 89C).
(U) The car was traveling at approximately 50 mph as it crossed the Warning Line. (Annex 83C).
(U) Mr. Carpani did not apply his brakes until after the rounds began striking the car. (Annexes 104C, 105C).
(U) Given the cyclic rate of fire of the M240B, Specialist Lozano's expertise with the weapon, and that only 11 rounds struck the vehicle with only five of those impacting the front of the car, it is highly unlikely that any shots were fired after the car came to a stop. (Annexes 79C, 6G, 1I, 3M).
(U) Both the blocking and overwatch vehicles were moved after the incident as directed by Captain Drew to transport Ms. Sgrena to the Combat Support Hospital. Both vehicles were needed to provide security for the move to the hospital. (Annexes 74C, 77C).
(U) The gunner complied with the Rules of Engagement. After operating the spotlight, and perceiving the on-coming vehicle as a threat, he fired to disable it and did not intend to harm anyone in the vehicle. (Annexes 79C, 83C).
-------------------
The report says 50mph. Yeah, I drive faster than that going to work, so the Italians probably don't see that as very fast, but I could see how that *would* be considered fast if you're approaching an army checkpoint already nervous about suicide bombers.
What I don't get is this: I find it hard to believe that the Italian agents neglected to tell other troops around that area what they were planning to do. It's common sense because your allies are armed forces too. Something about this just doesn't seem to fit yet (for me).
I don't know, how about Buddha? Or Ghandi? Or Mother Theresa? Or a million others that we'll never know about? Why do you choose a long-dead person in a book and insist that there were no others? How do you know the homeless person who died on a street corner last week didn't live a morally spotless life?
The problem with how some people accept religion in their lives is that it blinds them instead of opening their eyes.
I betcha if Jesus was still alive, he'd smack you upside the head to wake you up, just like a zen monk would.
(yes, call me flamebait if you wish, but at least please seriously consider what I am saying)
don't be fooled. He wouldn't be in the position he's in if he couldn't spin politics around his finger at a whim. As several people above already noted, he squirmed out of a lot of tough questions (FUD campaign, EULA, etc.), even resorting to repeatedly finger-pointing at Red Hat as an "answer" (TCO, crippling software issue, etc.).
/., so of course he's gotta defuse some things, like the MS vs Open Source (i.e. /. crowd) thing -- something which he tried to do in the interview.
That he's done all this but still made things seem congenial is why he's in the position in the world he's in.
To take a different approach: he did agree to this interview, which either makes him a good sport, or maybe it shows that Microsoft is now wary of the slashdot crowd, which is very vocal about MS's tactics and weaknesses. And any person in the IT industry worth his salt reads
Doubtful? Count the number of times he goes off track, pauses, says "you know", etc. Honest answers are direct and come right away. Evasive answers take time to work in/set up.
This is their response to the NY Times ad. Someone at MS finally sat up and took notice, so they sent one of their writers to cool the Fire from Firefox.
So, instead of the electronic EULA you're normally forced to read as part of installation, companies can replace that with a "Please see EULA at www.microsoft.com" in small black text at the bottom of the box. That's not technically illegal, but actually makes the EULA even more invisible. Really: out of 100 customers, how many do you expect to go home and read up the EULA online before coming back to buy Norton or Windows? (yes, there's always the few, but I'm certain the percentage is less than 1%).
Who's victory was this supposed to be again?
Your second claim, I mean. Food is not a genetically engineered weapon, but the food distribution is certainly engineered. We have enough food on this planet to feed everyone already. People are still starving to death because of failures in global food distribution. Hell, could you imagine if all the coffee bean fields in the world were growing a vegetable like corn? Who could possibly go hungry?
Is that necessary? It's just another meal, albeit a Blizzard-sponsored one.
Obviously, when you're telling the truth you're just recalling, but when you're lying you're both recalling the truth and inventing a lie, which involves creativity, logistics, etc. Of course your brain will be used differently.
What's harder to do? Sing a song you already know, or make up a new one?
Gator, or maybe Real! : )
you could put the price on the bar code tag instead, thereby saving your customers time and energy.
They won't even need a cell phone. Imagine that!
Not trolling, I'm Chinese. Usually the US is fanatical about data-gathering. Thought hottest/coldest places on earth were visited and studied long ago.
Guess despite for all our telecommunications, earth's still pretty damn big.
how do you get rid of the rats? :)
Let's just cut to the chase: what's your problem?
First of all, yes, I did make a general statement, but one that's defendable. Even if people don't ride in a subway system per se, they might be taking a bus, or taxi, or shuttlebus, or bicycle, or whatever else. But who gives a shit? I was just trying to imagine what uses some people might have for this device, so why are you so preoccupied on this technicality? Why don't you start arguing about how some people are unemployed, and therefore might not be going to "work" per se? Or how about deaf people? Am I being a bigoted "eastern european" (where the hell did that come from anyway?) bastard for assuming that everyone can hear mp3s?
For christ's sake, I was just giving a casual example on a small 30-second post for an article on slashdot, not presenting a dissertation, so get a life, quit wasting my time, and let's move the fuck on already.
So, you actually think that nobody takes the subway, and can't relate to my experience?
I live in Vancouver, BC. But i guess that doesn't matter, since you sound quite proud of your arrogance.
Wouldn't it be better to buy a laptop for that price? Then you could play DVD movies and do a lot more other things too.
Then again, with this you can bring all your work AND media with you. Plug it in at work, detach it, listen to mp3s on the subway ride home, plug it in at home...
Nah, I'd still rather have a laptop!
I already considered that I may have been taking it too seriously before posting, but I thought that my opinions were, too a certain extent, justified. After all, I don't say "Jesus Christ!" as an exclamation of surprise out of respect for my Christian friends. A certain respect for the perceived holiness of certain words by others is a good thing. Not everyone who is offended by misuse of his/her holy word is a "fanatic".
Finally, even if I did become too attached to the word "Tao", it doesn't mean I need "a little less ego and a bit more Tao". This is not really an issue of ego, but one of attachment. You speak as if you're understanding of Taoism is deep and know what Lao Tzu would have approved of. However, if you disagreed, you should have taught, enlightened, and instilled peace, not rant about fanatics everywhere and make a superfluous personal attack.
To assert my point again: would you name your dog "Jesus Christ" or "Buddha"? Why not? It's just a name, isnt' it? Why, are you some fanatic?
No, it's simply about respect.
This is not OT, but I know it's probably irrelevent for most of you, but what is it with the abuse of people who write "The Tao of Management" and "The Tao of Security MOnitoring" and "The Tao of Funds Management" and "The Tao of trying-to-use-the-word-tao-to-seem-really-cool"?
As a Taoist, I'm more than a little bugged that the word Tao is used haphazardly by every joe shmoe to title their new instructional book.
Using the word without understanding it or true reverance is almost sacreligous for me.
Stupid call maybe, but I'm just throwing it out there anyway.
I'm trying to only look at the beneficiaries of a situation, and it seems like IBM is getting some of the best publicity in years for a very simply legal suit.
Tinfoil hat or not? idunno, what you guys think? maybe after this IBM'll come out with their own version linux and everyone'll buy it because:
1) It's big blue
2) They're now a linux hero
PHB's happy because of 1), tech geeks happy cuz of 2)
Yah? Or nah?