... a magical little thing called a "Tape Recorder". Or at the very least a "Line Out Jack". I mean, yeah, the quality of XM/Sirius is CD-level so the comparison to taping plain old OTA radio is a bit weak, but it still applies.
I figure eventually the RIAA is going ot end up suing everyone on the planet, including its own members. Such is the insanity of the corporate world...
More than a DVD? You're shopping in the wrong place.
The local Wal-Mart carries UMD movies for $14.95 to $21.95, with the majority being in the low end - prices comparable or even lower than the cost of the same DVD.
All it takes to invalidate an arguement is one proof that it doesn't work - youjust got invalidated...
...that no one else came to the conclusion that this is a way for WW to milk more money out of the masses that do LARP and other WW tabletop games at conventions. Think about it. Say you've got ten WW sessions going every day for three days at SuperUberMegaCon. That's 30 sessions. Figure a minimum of five unique people per session (and I'm lowballing here because we know there are more than 5 people in any LARP) and you're looking at WW pulling a quick three grand for doing nothing more than having their name on the rulebook.
Con organizers are going to have to go through the administrative overhead of checking each person who registers for a WW event at a con. And they're going to have to go through the headache of charging everyone who has not already paid for their yearly license an extra $20. I see this as a death-knell for WW games at organized conventions everywhere...
For example: Unreal Tournament series has peaked in my opinion, the systematic annual release of UT 200x titles is starting to wear very thin, and the quality of the work and time going into the games seems to be declining.
And yet Gamers keep buying other sports titles, like Madden 20xx year after year after year with minimal changes to the game itself... People buy the stuff that is familliar to them. And don't knock the communities that build up around the games - they move faster than you think.
Ahh, but do you really think that Sony is going to let the UMD standard out of its yard to play in the big, bad world?
I think not.
Y'see, as soon as they let it out in the open for people to burn their own, someone will reverse engineer it (DMCA be DAMNED!) and the piracy will begin. No way in hell will Sony let that happen...
More info from another 30-something here: You left out the fact that most TV sets also had the "U" on the dial that went from 2-13 to be able to pull in the UHF band. Switch it to "U" and you could use the SECOND dial on the set to pull in another 50-70 channels, of which maybe four were being utilized by actual broadcast stations.
Back in the day we had two other channels that we could pick up on the UHF - 17 and 20. And then a new local broadcast company started up on channel 55 - My parents loved hearing me switching the dial to that one (because that was where all the cartoons were):
*CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLIC K*
Actually, the parents need smacked upside the head and told that they're supposed to be a parent, not their kid's "best friend". They need to be told that they're supposed to keep an eye on their kids, not just plop them in front of the TV/video game/internet and let that be their babysitter. And most important of all, they need to be told that they WILL be held responsible for not only their own actions but also their kids' actions - the kid must have gotten the money to rent/buy the game from somewhere, after all...
And yeah, I'd give even odds that this will end up in the supreme court, where it will hopefully get shot down...
As was mentioned before, you're taking a lossy algorithm and re-encoding it with another lossy algorithm. You end up losing quality.
The other end of it is that you lose all the information that is included with the song - ID3 tags, album cover, et cetera. If you use the tags to catalog your collection, you have to re-enter all of that. Not too bad for one song, pain in the ass for a whole CD full.
In the long run, we paid for it, we should be able to do with it what we want. End of story.
If there's one thing I wish for RMS, it would be that he and his team finally wrap up and release the Hurd kernel. Maybe then he'll finally bugger off and leave Linux alone.
"Recently manhunt got blamed for some psycho killing another kid... why arn't games like this blamed?"
Games like this aren't blamed because this is not the type of game your typical "homicidal teenager" is going to play. The mass-market doesn't hype the mental imagery of violence in ARGs like they hype the gratuitous blood-splattering and ho-smacking in games like Manhunt and GTA. Someone isn't going to be able to blame a mass-murder on an ARG unless the perp comes right out and says it or the people involved on the case are very perceptive whereas they can easily blame a drive-by shooting on GTA...
I was really skeptical when I first heard the announcement of the DS. The two-screen configuration had me a bit baffled. I was pleasantly surprised to see the re-emergence of the old game-and-watch configuration as well as the full compliment of SNES buttons.
The battery life and the backwards compatability are big selling points for me. The ability to pick it up and still be able to play all the old GB games I have amassed is probably the clinching point for a sale...
Do you really think those were "real" callers? Didn't you know everything on TV is scripted and made up? Why introduce unknown variables to your formula when you can script more interesting in concept and solution?
It may seem scripted, but you should go have a look at the CFH website. If you call them up with a problem, they fill out a full questionaire (sp?) on your OS, net connection, general problem category, and get the specifics of your problem so they have a good idea of what they're going up against. They'll then put you on hold while they dig for more info on your issue and put you on the air when they figure out what might be wrong.
Anyone who would just take off-the-cuff calls from joe user would be in a world of hurt because they would have to scramble to get the info they needed to properly answer the question, and that doesn't make for good tv...
While I have my suspicions about the business model (the content will have to be damn good for people to keep paying for upgraded stuff), I must say that the model is a killer idea. How many people out there don't play MMOs because of the monthly fee? I know I don't (Yeah, yeah - call me a cheapskate...although City of Heroes looks damn tempting...) I'll be there for the E3 event...
...shouldn't a company gunning for a stock split (even a minor stock split, like a two-for-one) actually have a viable product that is actually bringing in a profit?
From the HeraldTribune article:
"A month from now, the company, whose stock is traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board, said it will have 92 million shares outstanding, up from 23 million." (bolding added by me)
Ummm.... thanks but no thanks - I'm not going to trust any stock that isn't traded on the open market...
More from the article:
"Infinium shares reacted positively to the split news, climbing 75 cents, or about 15 percent, to close at $5.80 a share."
Woo-hoo... that's a hot-ticket stock right there! [/sarcasm]
I found it a bit funny, especially considering the ramifications of the Slashdot Effect these days. As I am reading this article (11:21 AM US Central Time) both sites are totally/.'ed. The only thing the poster succeeded in doing was knocking both Underdogs AND his site off the net for the next 12-24 hours.
I've got a whole slew of abandonware sites bookmarked, but I'll be darned if I'd just jump right up and post them on/., 'cause I know what'd happen to them... in a flash of electrons, *POOF*, they'd be gone, thanks to the overload of people looking to get something for nothing...
Frank, Professional Devil's Advocate. Contact me for rates...
I will concur that it is ridiculous to flood a machine with packets in an attempt to bring it down - this is a valid point. There are other, more elegant ways to bring about the demise of a machine on the net. However... I misinterpreted your response? let's take a quick look at it:
"I hope all you fucking denial of service assholes get what's coming to you... a big bill from the telcos and isps and a trip to federal prison. I see that as no different than tying someone up in your basement and not letting them go to work. You probably don't even have a clue of what the real use of denial-of-service is."
It's no wonder I missed your point. First off, if you were trying to make a rational argument then the inflammatory language was totally unnecessary. Secondly, I wouldn't call any use of a DoS, for whatever reason, actual and legitimate.
You yourself agree that there is no need for spoofing in any form and no need for DoS attacks in any form. If there is no need for DoS, and no need for spoofing, you just killed your own argument that there is an actual use for DoS.
As a matter of fact, I could care less if some kid breaks out a bunch of spray cans and does a graffiti mural - provided it's tasteful and not just a bunch of gang/hatred symbols thrown together. I could care less if someone wants to throw a DoS attack at a box or spoof their IP all day long. Hackers hack, crackers crack, and me... I write code and manage the systems here at where I work. Never once have I had break out a DoS or Spoof to do something productive. Do I know how to do these things? Yes. Do I see a need to do these things? No. Am I going to campaign to take away someone's rights to do these things? Hell no. It's a free country - do whatever the hell you want. Just don't come bitching to me if you do something illegal and the law clamps down on you...
Y'know, I'm hoping that the original post on this thread was a troll, 'cause I'd really hate to think anyone's mind works in this way...
Okay, let me get this straight... In your mind, it's okay to use a DoS to nearly knock another machine down, just so you can spoof it, but it's not right to use a DoS to totally knock a machine off the net?
Riiiiiiiiiigghhhttt....
Did the thought ever cross your mind that Spoofing is just as heinous as a DoS? That neither of them has any real use in an active and productive society?
It's nice to see that the $73 mil that was spent on the satellite isn't totally going to waste. It constantly blows my mind when I hear about all the junk that is floating around up in the near orbit. Heck, it's a wonder they can even put anything else up there with all the satellites and debris that's flying around...
Slashdot Mirror
... a magical little thing called a "Tape Recorder". Or at the very least a "Line Out Jack". I mean, yeah, the quality of XM/Sirius is CD-level so the comparison to taping plain old OTA radio is a bit weak, but it still applies.
I figure eventually the RIAA is going ot end up suing everyone on the planet, including its own members. Such is the insanity of the corporate world...
More than a DVD? You're shopping in the wrong place.
The local Wal-Mart carries UMD movies for $14.95 to $21.95, with the majority being in the low end - prices comparable or even lower than the cost of the same DVD.
All it takes to invalidate an arguement is one proof that it doesn't work - youjust got invalidated...
...that no one else came to the conclusion that this is a way for WW to milk more money out of the masses that do LARP and other WW tabletop games at conventions. Think about it. Say you've got ten WW sessions going every day for three days at SuperUberMegaCon. That's 30 sessions. Figure a minimum of five unique people per session (and I'm lowballing here because we know there are more than 5 people in any LARP) and you're looking at WW pulling a quick three grand for doing nothing more than having their name on the rulebook.
Con organizers are going to have to go through the administrative overhead of checking each person who registers for a WW event at a con. And they're going to have to go through the headache of charging everyone who has not already paid for their yearly license an extra $20. I see this as a death-knell for WW games at organized conventions everywhere...
For example: Unreal Tournament series has peaked in my opinion, the systematic annual release of UT 200x titles is starting to wear very thin, and the quality of the work and time going into the games seems to be declining.
And yet Gamers keep buying other sports titles, like Madden 20xx year after year after year with minimal changes to the game itself... People buy the stuff that is familliar to them. And don't knock the communities that build up around the games - they move faster than you think.
Ahh, but do you really think that Sony is going to let the UMD standard out of its yard to play in the big, bad world?
I think not.
Y'see, as soon as they let it out in the open for people to burn their own, someone will reverse engineer it (DMCA be DAMNED!) and the piracy will begin. No way in hell will Sony let that happen...
More info from another 30-something here: You left out the fact that most TV sets also had the "U" on the dial that went from 2-13 to be able to pull in the UHF band. Switch it to "U" and you could use the SECOND dial on the set to pull in another 50-70 channels, of which maybe four were being utilized by actual broadcast stations.
C K*
Back in the day we had two other channels that we could pick up on the UHF - 17 and 20. And then a new local broadcast company started up on channel 55 - My parents loved hearing me switching the dial to that one (because that was where all the cartoons were):
*CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLI
Dang... now I DO feel old...
Actually, the parents need smacked upside the head and told that they're supposed to be a parent, not their kid's "best friend". They need to be told that they're supposed to keep an eye on their kids, not just plop them in front of the TV/video game/internet and let that be their babysitter. And most important of all, they need to be told that they WILL be held responsible for not only their own actions but also their kids' actions - the kid must have gotten the money to rent/buy the game from somewhere, after all...
...damn whiny-ass politicians...
And yeah, I'd give even odds that this will end up in the supreme court, where it will hopefully get shot down...
The problem there is twofold -
As was mentioned before, you're taking a lossy algorithm and re-encoding it with another lossy algorithm. You end up losing quality.
The other end of it is that you lose all the information that is included with the song - ID3 tags, album cover, et cetera. If you use the tags to catalog your collection, you have to re-enter all of that. Not too bad for one song, pain in the ass for a whole CD full.
In the long run, we paid for it, we should be able to do with it what we want. End of story.
If there's one thing I wish for RMS, it would be that he and his team finally wrap up and release the Hurd kernel. Maybe then he'll finally bugger off and leave Linux alone.
I'm pretty sure Dante's line was:
36! My girlfriend sucked 36 dicks!
As he was number 37 on the dick-sucking list...
"Recently manhunt got blamed for some psycho killing another kid... why arn't games like this blamed?"
Games like this aren't blamed because this is not the type of game your typical "homicidal teenager" is going to play. The mass-market doesn't hype the mental imagery of violence in ARGs like they hype the gratuitous blood-splattering and ho-smacking in games like Manhunt and GTA. Someone isn't going to be able to blame a mass-murder on an ARG unless the perp comes right out and says it or the people involved on the case are very perceptive whereas they can easily blame a drive-by shooting on GTA...
The battery life and the backwards compatability are big selling points for me. The ability to pick it up and still be able to play all the old GB games I have amassed is probably the clinching point for a sale...
It may seem scripted, but you should go have a look at the CFH website. If you call them up with a problem, they fill out a full questionaire (sp?) on your OS, net connection, general problem category, and get the specifics of your problem so they have a good idea of what they're going up against. They'll then put you on hold while they dig for more info on your issue and put you on the air when they figure out what might be wrong.
Anyone who would just take off-the-cuff calls from joe user would be in a world of hurt because they would have to scramble to get the info they needed to properly answer the question, and that doesn't make for good tv...
While I have my suspicions about the business model (the content will have to be damn good for people to keep paying for upgraded stuff), I must say that the model is a killer idea. How many people out there don't play MMOs because of the monthly fee? I know I don't (Yeah, yeah - call me a cheapskate...although City of Heroes looks damn tempting...) I'll be there for the E3 event...
From the HeraldTribune article:
"A month from now, the company, whose stock is traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board, said it will have 92 million shares outstanding, up from 23 million."
(bolding added by me)
Ummm.... thanks but no thanks - I'm not going to trust any stock that isn't traded on the open market...
More from the article:
"Infinium shares reacted positively to the split news, climbing 75 cents, or about 15 percent, to close at $5.80 a share."
Woo-hoo... that's a hot-ticket stock right there! [/sarcasm]
I found it a bit funny, especially considering the ramifications of the Slashdot Effect these days. As I am reading this article (11:21 AM US Central Time) both sites are totally /.'ed. The only thing the poster succeeded in doing was knocking both Underdogs AND his site off the net for the next 12-24 hours.
/., 'cause I know what'd happen to them... in a flash of electrons, *POOF*, they'd be gone, thanks to the overload of people looking to get something for nothing...
I've got a whole slew of abandonware sites bookmarked, but I'll be darned if I'd just jump right up and post them on
Frank, Professional Devil's Advocate. Contact me for rates...
I will concur that it is ridiculous to flood a machine with packets in an attempt to bring it down - this is a valid point. There are other, more elegant ways to bring about the demise of a machine on the net.
However...
I misinterpreted your response? let's take a quick look at it:
"I hope all you fucking denial of service assholes get what's coming to you... a big bill from the telcos and isps and a trip to federal prison. I see that as no different than tying someone up in your basement and not letting them go to work. You probably don't even have a clue of what the real use of denial-of-service is."
It's no wonder I missed your point.
First off, if you were trying to make a rational argument then the inflammatory language was totally unnecessary. Secondly, I wouldn't call any use of a DoS, for whatever reason, actual and legitimate.
You yourself agree that there is no need for spoofing in any form and no need for DoS attacks in any form. If there is no need for DoS, and no need for spoofing, you just killed your own argument that there is an actual use for DoS.
Q.E.D.
As a matter of fact, I could care less if some kid breaks out a bunch of spray cans and does a graffiti mural - provided it's tasteful and not just a bunch of gang/hatred symbols thrown together. I could care less if someone wants to throw a DoS attack at a box or spoof their IP all day long.
Hackers hack, crackers crack, and me... I write code and manage the systems here at where I work. Never once have I had break out a DoS or Spoof to do something productive. Do I know how to do these things? Yes. Do I see a need to do these things? No. Am I going to campaign to take away someone's rights to do these things? Hell no. It's a free country - do whatever the hell you want. Just don't come bitching to me if you do something illegal and the law clamps down on you...
Y'know, I'm hoping that the original post on this thread was a troll, 'cause I'd really hate to think anyone's mind works in this way...
Okay, let me get this straight... In your mind, it's okay to use a DoS to nearly knock another machine down, just so you can spoof it, but it's not right to use a DoS to totally knock a machine off the net?
Riiiiiiiiiigghhhttt....
Did the thought ever cross your mind that Spoofing is just as heinous as a DoS? That neither of them has any real use in an active and productive society?
Here's a buck... go buy a clue.
It's nice to see that the $73 mil that was spent on the satellite isn't totally going to waste. It constantly blows my mind when I hear about all the junk that is floating around up in the near orbit. Heck, it's a wonder they can even put anything else up there with all the satellites and debris that's flying around...