The trouble is that "broadband" is a completely vague term. I seem to recall anything under 256kbps was labelled as "midband" here in the UK for a while until it died simply because no ISPs provided it when broadband became widespread.
Using any kind of pseudo-superlative to describe a current technology is a bad idea since it will be obsolete in a couple of years. Up here in Québec, "broadband" cable internet has been available for many years now through Videotron. When it all started, they labeled their 7Mbps "high-speed". Then they offered a 10Mbps alternative, so 7Mbps is "high-speed", while 10Mbps is "extreme high-speed". Then they offered a 20Mbps alternative, so 7Mbps remained "high-speed", 10Mbps is "extreme high-speed", and we now have 20Mbps as "extreme plus high-speed"...
I can't wait in a couple of years when I get to subscribe to their "super-duper-ultra-extreme-plus-high-speed" internet service.
Money represents resources, which ultimately have an environmental cost, whether through feeding more people to provide labor, mining more for metals, clearing land for roads... There are, of course, ways of decreasing the impact of any input on the environment - solar power generation is, ceteris paribus, one of them. However, the ceteris is not paribus, if you will.
Money also represents a choice for consumers. Spending more money on solar power than what it saves or generates doesn't mean it has a bigger environmental cost, it means you won't have that money so buy a 75 inches TV and a PlayStation 3. People prefer using their money to buy things that *do* have an environmental cost, rather than spending that money to actually act on environmental problems and do their part in solving it.
The guy in the article spent $100,000 for this solar power and will never make it all back. A lot of these green things just aren't economically feasible, yet. Soon, but just not yet.
Welcome to America, where we will continue to screw the environment until it's cheaper not to do it, and God forbids you spend money to try and save the planet if there's no way to make money off of it. In God we trust.
Worse yet, we have to be sure the designers have included the ability to ignore other types of bangs, like a car backfiring.
The robot can identify the type of weapon fired based on the sound of the bang, mostly in order to prevent it from identifying friendly fire, but I suppose it's also designed that way to make sure the robots doesn't zero-in on a backfiring car.
The other advantage is that it's really really hard to stop the projectiles. The only defense is a) being out of range, b) destroying the gun c) massively hunkered down. Those are all pretty hard when your range is 200miles. It's like Big Berthas in Total Annihilation. You gotta go after the source.
How about launching a missile that zigzags towards it's destination? Once the anti-missile bullet is fired, it can't adjust to a change of trajectory.
The problem isn't the OS becoming unstable. It's the craplets becoming unstable, crashing and the lusers thinking that the crash message is "Vista crashing".
Microsoft should make a better dialog when a program crashes. "Crapware v1.0 has quit unexpectedly. This is probably due to a bug in Crapware." And get rid of the stupid "report this to Microsoft" button (or whatever it's called). Is that even useful?
KDE has autorun? Do you mean the actions available under the "Peripherals -> Storage Media" item in Control Center? If so, then you must have a different KDE than me: all the actions listed in my menu are for media playback, media encoding, and opening in Konqueror. There is no action for executing code unless I add it myself.
If the stores are willing to accept them it's because they have "shelf space"...and that's because they've sold their last shipment already. From the manufacturer's perspective these units are sold.
Not so. In early November, all the stores wanted to have as many PS3 as possible knowing (or thinking) that it would easily sell out. Say StoreX ordered 100 units in november, but due to the initial shortage, Sony sent them 15, sold the 15 units (10 of them going to scalpers), and 5 of them get returned and sit on the shelves (typical situation), Sony will still send 85 more units to the store from the initial order.
The stores did not order more units, they simply received what they had ordered during the hype period.
Well considering in order to not find a PS3 people would have had to miss a giant pile of boxes with "Please Buy Me!" signs on them, I doubt that many.
Now, we see a giant pile of boxes with "Please buy me" on them, but that wasn't the case in november. There has been a shortage of PS3's for a while, mostly due to scalpers. Stores got more stocks quite fast, but it wasn't Sony who provided them with it...
Everytime there are sales numbers around, we need to remember that Sony always only report on shipped units, not on sold units. And no, even for the PS3, shipped != sold. I have seen PS3's on the shelves of some stores, and several other slashdotters have seen them too. Many PS3's are being returned by scalpers and are therefore unsold.
Wii probably could have sold more, if only it had been able to produce more of them. As for the Xbox 360, the only console not suffering from shortages (anymore), then good for them. I wonder how many were bought by people wanting a PS3, but then not finding any, so they bought a 360 instead.
As an adult, I do have a problem with being asked for ID. I have gray hair and I'm obviously older than the little fucks asking for my ID. It's a power-trip for minimum-wage clerks.... "Sir, the law REQUIRES me to card you for appearing to be under the age of 60...."
While I do agree that requiring the ID of anyone under 60 (is that really true? 60???) is stupid, if it is law, then it is law, and the clerk is not having a power trip, he's simply doing what he must do. Don't get mad at him, get mad at the lawmakers.
Remember in school when you learned about the law system, how there were 3 independent parts... legislative, executive and judicial. There it is at work. The clerk is simply executive, and he has no power in deciding whether the law is good or not. That's for the legislative to decide (or maybe judicial to interpret), so you have no reason at all to get mad at those who apply the law. Write to your congressman for christsake. If the congressman approved a law requiring ID for people under 60, and he's the one with the power trip. If the law is really only about people under 25, and you're exagerating, then you're a jerk.
I just can't believe they can set the limit at 60... where in hell do you live that requires that?
Well, age guessing is always tricky and when in doubt, it's a good idea to ask.
Heck, I got carded for cigarettes this morning and I'm more than twice the legal age.
I don't know how it goes in other places, but up here in Québec, the law requires convenience stores to ask the ID of anyone under the age of 25 when buying cigarettes or alcohol, even though the legal age is 18. That way, it removes much of the ambiguity of "this guy looks like he's 22 but he could as well be 17". It's no longer "Show me your ID if you look under 18", it's "Show me your ID if you look under 25". Much harder for a 16 year old to look 25, and adults don't really care about being IDed.
Anyhow about the science curriculum in US schools, they are actually not that bad.
When creationism is taught as science, and evolution is merely a theory that can be easily discarded, then yes, I'd say the science curriculum in US schools is lacking.
If your going to use that example Dinosaurs existed for millions of years
Nowadays, in computers and technology, we consider a decade to be an eternity. It's all about scale, in astrology, the millions of years that dinosaurs existed are merely a nanosecond.
where's the astroid hitting the game industry that requires such a huge shift in controller technology
What I'm saying is change for changes sake ussually ends in failure. Nintendo is like the goth kid that wears black becuase he wants to be diffent than everyone else and to stand out, but ends up just looking like a dork with black nail polish on.
Nintendo isn't changing just for change's sake. It's changing because it realized that fighting the power-spec war isn't worth the money it costs (whether they are right or wrong is something only the future can tell). They also have noticed that most adults do not play video games or play them "casually".
Those same adults, while not purchasing videogames last generation, still had an entertainment budget, and spent money on things that entertained them. Nintendo decided they could get part of that money, while Sony litteraly said to all those casual gamers and non-gamers "fuck off, if you can't handle 22 objects at the same time with your two hands (4 face buttons, 4 triggers, 2 analog sticks, 2 buttons while you press those sticks, 4 parts of the pseudo D-pad, 6 axis), I don't want you on my console". No wonder those people prefer Wii Sports to whatever the PS3 can offer.
Nintendo changed indeed, but not for change's sake. They had very good reasons to do so.
Because you have a fair use right to use a portion of the song for parody, review or critique. So you might have to chop out the relevant part of the recording, and you need the recording to do that.
You are right that using a portion of a song for parody, review or critique is fair use. If you want to make a parody, or to review it, then you get the recording and take the portion of it. Even after doing that, you still have no right to host a torrent to the file "just in case somebody needs the song to do a parody".
A torrent pointer to a copyrighted mp3 file is not, has never been, and never will be fair use.
In baseball, do you give a weak throw to get a 100mph pitch?
In baseball, if your 100mph pitch breaks a window, do you sue the ball manufacturer?
In golf, do you swing haphazardly to hit the ball 400 yards?
In golf, if you swing and let go of your club, and it hurts someone, do you sue the club manufacturer?
but if people are getting excited and having fun and playing the game as they would in real life because that's how the system is marketed by Nintendo and fanboys alike, so how could that be using the device improperly?
Tennis players don't throw their racket when serving. Golf players don't throw their clubs when playing. And if they do, the player is responsible for what happens next.
The suit states that they break when used "as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console."
Yes, and if they had indeed read "the material that accompanied the Wii console", they would have noticed that, when playing Wii bowling, you need to release the button while keeping hold of the Wii remote, not throw the remote in the general direction of your TV. They would also have noticed that, when playing Wii tennis, the instruction booklet says "use gentle motion while playing". So far, all the videos I've seen of straps breaking while playing tennis were of players trying to send the Wiimote back in time.
Read "the material that accompanied the Wii console", do what it says, and your strap will never break.
i've watched video of them busting on youtube. and i don't think the video was doctored in any way. the video was of a guy playing and you can see that the strap snapped.
You mean videos like this one, or maybe this one? All of the Wii straps I've seen break were from people trying to send the thing flying into orbit. That is simple abuse of the hardware.
From the article:
Owners of the Nintendo Wii reported that when they used the Nintendo remote and wrist strap, as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console, the wrist strap broke and caused the remote to leave the user's hand.
No where in the documentation does it say to let go of the remote. In the Wii Sports instruction booklet, on the Wii Tennis page, it says "Use gentle motion while playing". Throwing the thing hard enough to break a TV is not "gentle motion". These people are not using the Nintendo remote and wrist strap as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console. It's not the strap breaking that caused the remote to leave the user's hand, it's the user letting go of the remote that caused the strap to break.
I really hope that these people go to court and use the argument "that's what the documentation says", because it's exactly what the documentation says NOT TO DO. If you can't read the manual, and if you can't control yourself, it's not Nintendo's fault.
It seems that I could link to torrents all day if by doing so I was commenting on DRM or copyright or any number of other things. Intent may be different, but the act is still the same. Or is reporting/educational purposes not a valid reason?
If you were indeed commenting on DRM or doing some sort of thing that has a minimum amount of scientific or journalistic value, then it could be ok to link to torrents. Educational purposes are a valid reason. But then, can you explain to me how sites like The Pirate Bay, or allofmp3, fit into that educational purpose? When the sole purpose of a website is to infringe on other people's copyright, that's when it should be stopped.
Slippery slopes aren't all bad, and we should never fall into an "all-or-nothing" decision making process. Because there are valid uses of a torrent doesn't mean that we should allow all torrents in a free-for-all environment. Murder is a bad thing, yet there is a valid use of murdering, and it's called self-defense. Not throwing in jail someone who killed in self-defense is a slippery slope, yet we manage to live with it. Just because it is ok to kill someone in self defense doesn't mean it should always be ok to kill someone. Just because it is ok to link to copyrighted material for educational purposes doesn't mean it's always ok to do so.
Slashdot Mirror
The analogy didn't involve cars, therefore, it can't be that bad...
Using any kind of pseudo-superlative to describe a current technology is a bad idea since it will be obsolete in a couple of years. Up here in Québec, "broadband" cable internet has been available for many years now through Videotron. When it all started, they labeled their 7Mbps "high-speed". Then they offered a 10Mbps alternative, so 7Mbps is "high-speed", while 10Mbps is "extreme high-speed". Then they offered a 20Mbps alternative, so 7Mbps remained "high-speed", 10Mbps is "extreme high-speed", and we now have 20Mbps as "extreme plus high-speed"...
I can't wait in a couple of years when I get to subscribe to their "super-duper-ultra-extreme-plus-high-speed" internet service.
Money also represents a choice for consumers. Spending more money on solar power than what it saves or generates doesn't mean it has a bigger environmental cost, it means you won't have that money so buy a 75 inches TV and a PlayStation 3. People prefer using their money to buy things that *do* have an environmental cost, rather than spending that money to actually act on environmental problems and do their part in solving it.
Welcome to America, where we will continue to screw the environment until it's cheaper not to do it, and God forbids you spend money to try and save the planet if there's no way to make money off of it. In God we trust.
The robot can identify the type of weapon fired based on the sound of the bang, mostly in order to prevent it from identifying friendly fire, but I suppose it's also designed that way to make sure the robots doesn't zero-in on a backfiring car.
How about launching a missile that zigzags towards it's destination? Once the anti-missile bullet is fired, it can't adjust to a change of trajectory.
I'm sorry, but you didn't understand anything from all those units 'n numbers discussions. We need 16 fingers, not 12. Hex is the one true base.
Or cut your hands off, use your 2 arms and stick to binary.
Microsoft should make a better dialog when a program crashes. "Crapware v1.0 has quit unexpectedly. This is probably due to a bug in Crapware." And get rid of the stupid "report this to Microsoft" button (or whatever it's called). Is that even useful?
Or maybe Microsoft is afraid that OEM's might bundle Firefox with Vista.
See ~/.kde/Autostart and Google.
Because I'm paid by the hour, you insensitive clod!
I need more hours every month, not less.
Not so. In early November, all the stores wanted to have as many PS3 as possible knowing (or thinking) that it would easily sell out. Say StoreX ordered 100 units in november, but due to the initial shortage, Sony sent them 15, sold the 15 units (10 of them going to scalpers), and 5 of them get returned and sit on the shelves (typical situation), Sony will still send 85 more units to the store from the initial order.
The stores did not order more units, they simply received what they had ordered during the hype period.
Now, we see a giant pile of boxes with "Please buy me" on them, but that wasn't the case in november. There has been a shortage of PS3's for a while, mostly due to scalpers. Stores got more stocks quite fast, but it wasn't Sony who provided them with it...
Wii probably could have sold more, if only it had been able to produce more of them. As for the Xbox 360, the only console not suffering from shortages (anymore), then good for them. I wonder how many were bought by people wanting a PS3, but then not finding any, so they bought a 360 instead.
While I do agree that requiring the ID of anyone under 60 (is that really true? 60???) is stupid, if it is law, then it is law, and the clerk is not having a power trip, he's simply doing what he must do. Don't get mad at him, get mad at the lawmakers.
Remember in school when you learned about the law system, how there were 3 independent parts... legislative, executive and judicial. There it is at work. The clerk is simply executive, and he has no power in deciding whether the law is good or not. That's for the legislative to decide (or maybe judicial to interpret), so you have no reason at all to get mad at those who apply the law. Write to your congressman for christsake. If the congressman approved a law requiring ID for people under 60, and he's the one with the power trip. If the law is really only about people under 25, and you're exagerating, then you're a jerk.
I just can't believe they can set the limit at 60... where in hell do you live that requires that?
I don't know how it goes in other places, but up here in Québec, the law requires convenience stores to ask the ID of anyone under the age of 25 when buying cigarettes or alcohol, even though the legal age is 18. That way, it removes much of the ambiguity of "this guy looks like he's 22 but he could as well be 17". It's no longer "Show me your ID if you look under 18", it's "Show me your ID if you look under 25". Much harder for a 16 year old to look 25, and adults don't really care about being IDed.
When creationism is taught as science, and evolution is merely a theory that can be easily discarded, then yes, I'd say the science curriculum in US schools is lacking.
Nowadays, in computers and technology, we consider a decade to be an eternity. It's all about scale, in astrology, the millions of years that dinosaurs existed are merely a nanosecond.
Right here
Nintendo isn't changing just for change's sake. It's changing because it realized that fighting the power-spec war isn't worth the money it costs (whether they are right or wrong is something only the future can tell). They also have noticed that most adults do not play video games or play them "casually".
Those same adults, while not purchasing videogames last generation, still had an entertainment budget, and spent money on things that entertained them. Nintendo decided they could get part of that money, while Sony litteraly said to all those casual gamers and non-gamers "fuck off, if you can't handle 22 objects at the same time with your two hands (4 face buttons, 4 triggers, 2 analog sticks, 2 buttons while you press those sticks, 4 parts of the pseudo D-pad, 6 axis), I don't want you on my console". No wonder those people prefer Wii Sports to whatever the PS3 can offer.
Nintendo changed indeed, but not for change's sake. They had very good reasons to do so.
98 blocks is more like 9.8Mb, not 98 Mb. However, 9.8 Mb for Genesis might still be big enough to include the emulator, or part of it.
You are right that using a portion of a song for parody, review or critique is fair use. If you want to make a parody, or to review it, then you get the recording and take the portion of it. Even after doing that, you still have no right to host a torrent to the file "just in case somebody needs the song to do a parody".
A torrent pointer to a copyrighted mp3 file is not, has never been, and never will be fair use.
Tennis players don't throw their racket when serving. Golf players don't throw their clubs when playing. And if they do, the player is responsible for what happens next.
Yes, and if they had indeed read "the material that accompanied the Wii console", they would have noticed that, when playing Wii bowling, you need to release the button while keeping hold of the Wii remote, not throw the remote in the general direction of your TV. They would also have noticed that, when playing Wii tennis, the instruction booklet says "use gentle motion while playing". So far, all the videos I've seen of straps breaking while playing tennis were of players trying to send the Wiimote back in time.
Read "the material that accompanied the Wii console", do what it says, and your strap will never break.
You mean videos like this one, or maybe this one? All of the Wii straps I've seen break were from people trying to send the thing flying into orbit. That is simple abuse of the hardware.
From the article:
No where in the documentation does it say to let go of the remote. In the Wii Sports instruction booklet, on the Wii Tennis page, it says "Use gentle motion while playing". Throwing the thing hard enough to break a TV is not "gentle motion". These people are not using the Nintendo remote and wrist strap as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console. It's not the strap breaking that caused the remote to leave the user's hand, it's the user letting go of the remote that caused the strap to break.
I really hope that these people go to court and use the argument "that's what the documentation says", because it's exactly what the documentation says NOT TO DO. If you can't read the manual, and if you can't control yourself, it's not Nintendo's fault.
If you were indeed commenting on DRM or doing some sort of thing that has a minimum amount of scientific or journalistic value, then it could be ok to link to torrents. Educational purposes are a valid reason. But then, can you explain to me how sites like The Pirate Bay, or allofmp3, fit into that educational purpose? When the sole purpose of a website is to infringe on other people's copyright, that's when it should be stopped.
Slippery slopes aren't all bad, and we should never fall into an "all-or-nothing" decision making process. Because there are valid uses of a torrent doesn't mean that we should allow all torrents in a free-for-all environment. Murder is a bad thing, yet there is a valid use of murdering, and it's called self-defense. Not throwing in jail someone who killed in self-defense is a slippery slope, yet we manage to live with it. Just because it is ok to kill someone in self defense doesn't mean it should always be ok to kill someone. Just because it is ok to link to copyrighted material for educational purposes doesn't mean it's always ok to do so.
Please tell me, how is it "fair use" to publish a .torrent file that links to a mp3 file to which you don't own the copyright?