you are right, I was immediately thinking about how skype differs from e.g. MSN messenger, or Internet Explorer....
nohow.....
and by the way what the hell is undetectable and untraceable mean ????? They meant you could not sniff it? Listen to it? Or see if it is installed on a computer?
I am not affiliated to skype in any way, but since the telco charger $1+/minute for overseas calls, I am a happy individual and business user in one...
not secure or secure, my windows box is a throw-away installation, some poo hits the fan and I copy an image and back up and kicking
I don't agree, I am sure ther is a bunch of us who just want a higher quality (resolution wise), and have a projector or a nice HDTV, and are sick of 480i/p when they can display 800x600 and higher.....
It is pretty sad to see my PC pumping 1024x768+ resolutions while i'm doomed with both consoles to 480p....
I only have a 800x600 device, but it is pretty sad sometimes to look at a 180cm (6ft) wide screen in 640x480....
So I would be actually happier to be able to pop-in all my games into the 360 until many new ones come out, would be able to get rid of my old xbox that takes up space and a bunch of connections on my amp......
I also read somewhere, that rendering will be altered for old games, and while textures won't be nicer, they will be rendered in higher res -> I don't know if it is true though, but if it is, I would be really happy to have the games I like play on the 360...
And there is a lot missing from that list, including farcry, battlefront, midnight club -> good multiplayer games I would be happy to continue playing without the bulky black box and the extra kilometer ot UTP,audio and video cables (incl the high definition pack that is a bit bigger than normal)
By the way PS3 will support all your games as far as I know, but dunno if I am really interested about that, as I didn't touch my ps2 for months since I am sick of loading times ruining gameplay... my lens are probably crapping out too as well and read errors plague some games....
I wonder why they completely dumped the 3d glasses, that worked just fine in theatres (the colorless polarised ones, not the blue/red)
Also where are the promised VR goggles? I tested one at a computer show with the "descent game" a long time ago, and it had ridiculous resolution (gravis cybermax or something like that), but now my cellphone has a better cheaper display so why aren't they there ?
Oh and where are the LCD shutter glasses? The ones that came with any higher end ASUS nvidia card? I know these were hard on the eye, because technically it halved the refresh rate with terrible blinking (e.g. a 80Hz monitor became a 40Hz output).... these were fun though for some games, but they are completely gone...
Mentioning 3d every time makes me think what sony really wants with dual video output on the ps3... yes duak head... and maybe "split screen" gaming is finally possible without a split screen on the same box.....
but is dony about to bring 3d thru their dual output? with projection + 3d filter lens? VR goggles.....
We hear so much about 3d LCD, 3d DLP, 3d tv, 3d laptop, and I just do not see these devices on the shelves of stores when I walk in. Am I missing something ?
As XBC and KAI (Xlink) gives the opportunity for non-us non-Xbox-live and other console owners the possibility to play online and split-screen and local link is included in more and more games, it might turn out that consoles give more room for multiplayer than pc games (that are sometimes limited to the manufacturers' servers).
I really love the idea to play with others, and better go into a brainless fragfest on an old game (i still prefer ghost recon-like teamplay) other than playing the latest and nicest new FPS alone in my room, against dumb AI bots, and many times scripted events.
Talking of competitive: I found the new Greg Hasting (max'd) Paintball game very entertaining, with short rounds and realistic play.
It is also very competitive in an unexplainable way, besides being one of the few FPS games suitable even for children as it is not a blood-and-brain splashing experience.
Besides I love paintball as it is super competitive and you can shoot your buddies or even your boss with no consequences just like in an online game:) (you get more bruises though especially if you play with those sneaky jungel fighters that are trained here in the dense local jungles:) )
First of all I am for online games so what I write is biased. I am tired of fighting A.I. and just to run thru missions to usually get a totally uninteresting cutscene at the end summarising something you already knew when you got the game box in your hand. Most of the time the last few maps I either do not either bother or just fight thru it throwing up of boredom.
However online play can be just as boring with some games, mor specifically game modes (or the lack of them).
FFA: free for all, can be fun for some time, but makes me bored after 20 mins, running on a map, shooting everyone is fun, but I want more.
TS: Team survival, can be real fun, when playing with normal people, with decent communication (such as a headset) but then again, make a 30 minute session with resplawns, and at the end you are just sick of it, and you hear the others on the mic saying the same...
When you play SS on Ghost recon 2 or Rainbow six (without repawn) it gives you an appreciation of your life, so game turns a bit more intelligent other than a brainless fragfest, with people ending up with 200kills in 20 minute rounds, while others have -22
Vehicles: yes, that can be fun. SW Battlefront, and FarCry can be really enjoyable, especially in multi-manned vehicles, or ones that fly.
There we come to star wars bf II, which packs all the good and the bad together : nice graphics, and somewhat good space fights, some completely retarder annoying game modes (usually I just log-off when villans vs heros start)
Now the critics: CTF is really uniq in BF II, and for the good, however it would be really nice to have an actual FLAG , call it Sample or container or a chip, whatever.
Vehicles are really uniq (well it is star wars) and it is really fun to drive most of them...
The space fight is however lackluster a bit. I have the XBOX version so the visual quality is somewhat determined already.
However looking at the XBOX and the hardware I was running Xwing VS Tie Fighter on might suggest that the current version of flying should not be as simplystic as it is. The sense of speed or the lack of a cockpit is somewhat annoys me and I really wish that they made this part at least as good as the other game was 5+ years ago.
But because I am the kind of guy who always wanted a dogfight with as many people as the bandwidth allows, I play with it and try to ignore the step that happened to be a backward one.
What is really missing from the game is the "you can only die once" aspect that makes people actually use that mike and require a team effort in games like Rainbow Six or Ghost recon, and the "retreive the flag" type CTF which does the same in farcry....
It is however a very entertaining "everyone runs and flies in chaos" kind of games that is really fun for a few hours in a row... (I clocked 1:30 of battlefield play yesterday before my wife requested lower audio volume, and lights in the room, which caused me to stop as my projector sucks in daylight-strong fluorescent lighting)
I cannot comment on quake, as I am not playing on the PC anymore at all (unless some rare occasion leads me o download a demo of something) and because I completely lost interest in the series a long time ago.
And yes I am in my thirties, yes my favourite was chuck yeager's air combat, and yes I played some rpgs and text-mode stuff, and no I never liked them.... no KOTOR bored me to hell...
And no, Halo 2 sucks, because no one plays game modes that appeal to my taste and because there are 15 9-year-old kids are shouting into their headseds per game room at the same time "cool dude we are 3leeetz, we owned them, they are n0000bz" let's make 6 teams out of 10 people and shoot the shit out of each other on the smallest map ever...
What is next? Letting users change the theme of a website? Letting users see information? Letting users use a shopping cart? Letting users enter information?
If I break a patent by putting an entry form on my site and say: If you tried XYZ product, you can write 20 words about it. Button, 1-5 selection, then BE IT...
This is outrageous and retarded.
We used rating systems in our BBSes 15+ years ago, with PPE we wrote ourselves, now some bigassed company comes again and says: hey, now you pay us if you want to do it our we sue you out of your boots?
Of course my rage would just ruin my day...
Seriously what can be done against it?
Any lawyers here? What if I am not in the states and not a US citizen or company? Can that crap be applied to a foreign entity?
Now probably some will kill me, but can you US people (YOU PEOPLE - PUN intended) just cancel your patent chaos and please sign it over the the U.N.?
Am I misguided and is this already a patent that applies everywhere ?
You can tunnel an other protocol in another, so ther is way to run IPv6 on IPv4 and I am certain vica versa.
So if you start converting equipment, the networks would still reach each other just fine thru access points that make tunnels, or whatever is needed.
If I set-up my linux and connect to one of the IPv6 nets (tunneled thru IPv4) my other machine (assuming it supports IPv6) can reach the IPv6 net as well as the IPv4 net.
And if that is the case I would assume that I could set a whole ISP up with IPv6 only, and use proxies that would make the rest of the net accessible just fine, even providing tunneled IPv4 for devices that need it.
I mean it sounds a bit too easy like that and I know it is not. It is not because no one is moving their asses to change....
unless some bigass huge ISP starts it, it won't happen. Or maybe universities... someone big, not a 10-man ISP at the end of the world.
I know for a fact, the they do not automate reverse addresses to avoid their networks to be banned by idiot admins.
E.g. someone sets a chinese reverse address and then starts scanning someone's server for exploits might end-up with a C address being blocked without checking just because the tld is china. Explanation: chinese ISP's never ever answered my mails about scanning hosts, and I am sure some webmasters/admins are easy handed with just denying C nets from offending hosts from the country.
Even if you restrict the reverse to exclude certain tlds, you might put competing ISPs or whatever else unwanted into the reverse and cause some trouble.
That is why it has to be reviewed by a human, and that is why they charge a fee.
I agree that it should be a one-time fee though, as probably you already pay for the static public IP.
Well since there'll be a waste number of ip addresses you can get one on an other net - e.g. get a webserver on an other network.
When I get the "this service is not available in your country" I just use my other browser config to go thru an address in the states....
That also saves me of being redirected to "official latin american" version of some companies in spanish just because I am located in Costa Rica
Having a fixed public address is a good thing, you can close all ports and then open them whenever you need someone to connect if you are really paranoid.
this is BS, IPS cost money to the ISP as well, so they want to sell them out, in fact small ISPs keep their IP number at a level close to the required ones.
Now on the making money issue, if your ISP has more ips for the same price, you can get them cheaper per IP, or you pay the same price for a bulk.
Because you do not need IPs some people do. Think hosting (not everyone is happy their sites being associated with 2000 others on the same host, not even when only 5-6 idiots are spamming), think mobile, think when your instant messenger said: cannot make direct connection to Buddy1235 (when you just wanted to send that picture).
It won't be a free ride, but might be a cheaper one.... remember when there were a few registrars? A domain was 39.99, now you can get one for 5 (info for 1.50).
Think why tomatoes are a lot more expensive during winter? Ohh there si not enough and you have to greenhouse grow them.
The more you have the cheaper it gets. It's not like coffee beans that if there is an over production you better throw it into the sea so you can keep the pricing....
I happened to have a bit insight into IPv6 and at that time (looong time ago) it seemed to promise a lot more than a longer address.
I am not familiar with the current state of the protocol (other than I religiously compile it into my kernel) - so I better not talk out of my butt.
It had a lot of support for a more secure IP implementation, QOS and routing.
Read the proposal on www.ietf.org and do not post "we do not need more addresses" crap.
Besides: we need more addresses, even end users who are stuck behind crappy nat boxes of our ISPs, but even more those who run public services and have to pay $5-10 or more for an extra address.
It is not because some use 5-10 addresses on their hosting, or because my ISP wants to give me an address for each"allowed computers"; it is because large companies are holding comlete B address spaces, ones that do not even use it.
That is why your toaster won't have a public address even if you wanted, and some want it. I just stuff all my computers, consoles, pdas behind a linux box because that is what I trust, but some people want to do gaming, work, p2p or use that damn IM software that allows tehm to "direct connect" to send a pic or voice chat.
On Nat: nat is not security by default, however if you do not use port forwarding to netted machines and use a private address space it gives a level of security, even if you only nat on the same physical network (e.g. internal and external net on the same device). Not true? My windows machine is 192.168.1.210 on the same utp as my outer interface on my router. Can you ping it or ftp to it? No. It is a level of security.
I do not want to fight with anyone, but it is sad that/. only wrote about nat and "we don't need more addresses" on the entire first page:(
Besides tin foil hats not looking cool - unless you are an ubergeek - now it turns out that they do not even work.
As expected. I you beleive in earth radiation - the bad one, cats like - you suspected that putting an upside down parabolic antenna is not a good idea.
Of course in that case you already have upside down plates under your bed, crystals on edges of furniture, and you unplug everything whenever possible.
Time to design a wearable faraday cage. Imageine a faraday hat! Probably it would look like a darkage torture device such as the one in 13th Ghost on the big guy's head, but never mind.
Wonde what that thing does when I wear dark sunglasses, laser protection glasses or similar protection.
The next ime I drive thru that roadblock I probably have to a wear a welding mask. DAMN! I just go used to those damn paintball masks that work well with the shattering mask every time they shoot my windscreen..... OK bad joke, I am not driving thru any roadblocks and never got my windscreen shot with anything else but paintballs near the field where I play.....
What about flashbang grenades? Be close enough and you get eye damage. Special forces, Swat teams, maybe even the police is using them.
I do not mean it as flamebait, so do not comment on this part, but recent events suggest that the US military (or at least part of their personnel) seems to take a nice steaming dump on international laws when it comes to the handling of POWs.
hmm, don't know about fossil fuels, my wife studied biology and took a conservation/recycling faculty, and she told me that we do not have any fossil burning powerplants.
Actually the local prowider deployed a bunch of wind turbines on the shoreline so the facts you read might be a bit outdated.
Costa rica is a small country, I am hungarian originally, and it is a so country as well, but that does not mean that many small countries who rely on clean energy don't make a difference at the end.
1,800kWH vs 13,700kWH ? Hmm, maybe the guys over there in the US should switch to fluorescant, turn to switch light off, and dump 3 of the 5 TV sets that are permanently on.
Assuming this number is only residential power consumption. If not, that train/metro and other public transport and other services are more developed there and that might account some extra KiloWatts.
So my point was only that I am happy that I live at a place that does not pollute for power, even that I know that local agriculture and tourism makes a lot of damage and pollution.
Then I did not mention the damn companies who outsource their industrial activities here for cheap labour, a lot of them are leaving since CR is getting more expensive than neighbouring poor countries.
haha you are actually so right:) I did not think of it at all !
On the other hand now looking at the image again it seems like ther could be escape even if the bird is already inside. Not 100% but better than tha traditional blades; that's for sure.
I just got out two nvidia geforce cards out of my main desktop box because I could not work.
I am not a newbie to linux, but a happy user since 94 and while not a kernel or X hacker I have some knowledge of troubleshooting servers or desktops with linux.
The nvidia cards work just fine in windows (where they did not lock-up or misbehave in the last 14 days, but under X i had all kinds of weird problems.
I just dropped in an old MGA 450 matrox with 16 megs and I am the happiest X user on earth. I won't play quake a lot, but can work without the whole crap collapsing on me, or my pointer disappearing without an error in the log, forcing me to angrily smash ctrl-alt-backslash with a curse in hungarian-spanglish with a bleeding nose
Now what does that mean?
With all respect to Nvidia, maker of kickass chips, if they would open their driver source so people with more X knowledge could look at it would make thousands a happy user of their cards....
If binary kernel development starts, that means one thing for me: no hardware that needs a binary driver in my servers, and unless it is some "better than anything" coold hardware I cannot live without - not even on my desktop.
I respect kernel maintainers a lot, and trust them, even that some drivers cause problems or they completely suck.
I do not trust big-evil-corporation that cannot give a decent OPEN SOURCE driver with their "make 200% at least profit a chip" hardware.
Make money on your hardware, I pay for it, but gimme the opportunity to have the developers inspect and improve that damn driver so I can actually use the hardware, instead of replacing it and shoving it under the table where my dog can piss on it.
I am skeptic; it still looks like a meatgrinder to me. O.k it does not look like the propeller desigh that chops the bird, but when that thing is spinning at speed I am sure it pets the bird in the back as gently as a bud hits you with 50mph windspeed from the back....
just a visual observation, and probably they threw some chickens into their grinder before they claimed that.
Besides being an asshole critic, I really appreciate the aspect of renewable energy paired with not being a traditional meatgrinder.......
fact: did you guys know that costa rica is only using wind and water power? In fact we produce as much from these sources that CR exports energy to neighbouring countries; clean energy. In fact, while still considered a developing country, electricity coverage is the best in central AM, technically you have electricity everywhere. For US/European readers it is probably normal, but when you drive around in Panama/Nicaragua you canappreciate grid coverage here.
OK, water energy creates some mess with the environment in some cases especially when you have wetlands, because dams can affect these in a bad way, but still better than burning coal or radiating, etc.
I can agree on the seatbelt issue in the viewpoint absolutely. And as I told I wear a belt and a fullface helmet when riding my motorbikes.
However on the wireless issue I do not agree how it is put: If I am a tech (as I am) I might want to run my own circus and if I am competent and know what I am doing I might no want to go the WEP+firewall way.
I might want to build a more secure VPN, and I might want to keep my AP open to monitor possible break-in attempts and then go after the hacker myself with my own knowledge+software.
And again I hate wireless as hell (the last time I plugged my card in when I was wardriving for fun - 3 months ago) and I am freaked by all open ports and by how people leave their info wide open.
I agree on a regulation that would sound like this : do whatever to prevent unauthorized access FROM your network, otherwise we can fine you. Whoever access MY AP is my business IMO as far as I do not let them out into the wild where they can cause harm.
Maybe you agree with that analogy then: I agree I should not walk naked on the streets exposing my reproduction organs, but I do not want any government to tell me if I should wear boxers or tangas, and it I should use zippers, velcro or buttons, or what colours of pants I should wear.
you have to be in the office -> on time to be on time, you need an ALAMR CLOCK -> worst creation ever, I mean I want to get up when my body tells me : "you got enough sleep" not when the BEEP BEEP BEEP starts.
On the other hand, unless you are the owner of the company, who in most cases makes the most money and drives the nicest car etc.. etc.. you will in many cases feel that life sucks. You might also hate some of your daily tasks. That is a reason to whine.
In a workplace you might not have such a cool office as some other more successful person - that is a reason to whine.
Then there are the folks who wanted to be "somebodies" and are sitting at a work they completely hate.
I am neither of these, but by some cultural mistake I always liked to whine or complain after a certain time at a workplace, be it salary, office environment, the secretary's boobs, the speed of my computer..... in Hungary people like to whine a lot.....
Well I quit my jobs and moved to an other country and now run my own 1-man projects and I stopped whining.......
I also figured that MR Smith was right, and some humans find their pleasure in misery. Some people love to whine, and complain; that's their life and when everything goes OK, they somehow mess something up so they can whine. I talk to friends back at home, and at 35 they still whine about the same things and are willing to do nothing about it. I guess they enjoy it at the end.
I lost some friend to this, as I was sick of the "let's get a beer in a dark cheap bar and discuss how much our life sucks" events.
Well I guess you also have to find out if you like whining or like to do something about the things you want different.
my dog urinates in public all the time too... the smaller one does it with pleasure on the rugs, and on the bathroom floor - no shame.
And my big male urinates whereever he can.... he is in the garden all the time though because of this GOD given right, while the others enjon being in my bed...
My point is: if you want to urinate IN public, there are places for it, but you might miss out on some better and fun activities.... and I do not mean country club dinners, just regular NORMAL social life
it is kinda covered by a previous amazon patent, besides displaying an ad on a visitors behaviour exists for a long time:
e.g. My visitor is looking at portable mp3 audio players for the last 5 visits, you want to display an ipod commercial instead of a hairdryer.
When that user searches for "moby audio tracks" you will present results ranked higher for places that sell mp3 other than LPs.
Respect to google, but I think it is also a common knowledge patent. I mean what I mentioned is an afternoon of SQL query tuning that I do not want to compare to millions of results organized by google, but at the end that patent seems to cover a bunch of similar practices that fall under the
"search result ordering based on user behaviour"....
the typing issue is a good idea though.... e.g. you can distingush grandma typing 1 letter per 5 seconds, while mr 10-finger-typer geek can type 5+ letters in a sec:) hmm... strange idea.... I guess it also includes typo watch, misspell watch and similar..... cool idea:) never thought of that....
now google will start displaying ads about "quit drinking" or "hangover pills" when compared to my normal daily typing I start typing terribly on a late Saturday night ? ARE YOU DRUNK ?:)
now google just needs to start putting a HAL-like glowing red eye and microphones into our rooms, an anal implant and urine and stool analyzer to provide perfect results....
off topic:
I mentioned it already , but interestingly the more and more google refines it's algo, the more and more I find myself using other search engines, as some of the things I am searching for provide less and less usable information for me... for tech stuff google is unbeatable, however shopping/comparing and travel, I turn to yahoo more and more nowadays.....
security : computer security is obvious if you are a tech, for the paperwork: bigassed steel locker, with shared, and private lockers.
stalking: I hate it when people read my screen. Have no secrets with my wife (hey she even knows that sometimes I visit "explicit sexual content" sites) but still I get upset if I find her staring into my screen -> let's face it, if there is a screen with something interesting YOU WILL look at it....
now here is the solution : rearrange the room, that no one can get behind you without you noticing it. Use a webcam, a mirror (chimp ? ) if not possible otherwise.
You can complain (to reason the rearrangement) about noise, radiation, bad karma, bad lighting, your colleagues armpit, claustrophoby or whatever else. Be sure not to look like a wussy, but to give a reason why you have to face TO THE DIRECTION of incoming threats -> bad company stalking up on you.
Honestly, I cannot work in the corner, with my back and motinors exposed to the middle of the room (unless I am alone or someone really trusted). No I am not paranoid, I guess it is just some instinct that protects us and animals for many years from whatever or whoever getting behind us....
and spraypaint it to the car : "my knife is in my pocket, in case I am unconcious hanging upside down"
"Plus it is the act of being ejected out of the vehicle in a rollover that kills most people."
I read a study (no link) that states otherwise. Besides that, if you have airbags all over you have a good chance of being kept in the car (e.g. front seat front pretty much locks you for a good few seconds into your seat, I assume that side ones do the same...
"Not wearing a seatbelt is a stupid proposition and the analogy doesn't follow either."
It's the question of right to choose, not a proposition. I wear a belt all the time, even if I just go 500 meters on a dirt road 15kms/h.
"and the analogy doesn't follow either"
well try this: I have the right not to run a firewall and leave my AP open -I know it is not safe, but I might choose that for some reason that is weighted more to my liking...
I should have the right not to wear a belt - even if I know that it is dangerous, but I am more afraid of burning in a car tangled in my belt.
I think it is fairly comparable, especially because both is for your own safety and does not endanger anyone else....
I am getting more and more confused.... not about the technical facts, but about support for online play....
I had a Ps2, and then an xbox, and now I barely boot the ps2: load times just kill the experience, and graphics are not there (for 1st person games, that I like the most)....
Ps2 net support is limited to the manufacturers' often paying service (often only available to the US), while many xbox games have link mode, that you can play on XBC or KAI.
I just do not see my self as a Live subscriber, not because I am not willing to pay a few bucks, but because it is simply not sold where I live, and the Live site is super confusing about how the subscriptions work (seems that you can buy subs in stores, well not here.)
Also you can play link games on many of nodes worldwide, and you can always pick one witn an acceptable ping, if I sub to LIVE and mi ping is bad to their servers; I am screwed.
Now back to the question : who will have a decent amount of LIVE games that is not limited to certain countries?
I am not a game junkie, but I like to play a few hours with people a few hours a week at nights and I do not want to get into the pitfall of getting an xbox 360, than drool over the ps3 with better games..... nor want I to wait for a ps3 to figure it out, that there are only company servers with horrid ping times and limited amount of players.....
It is really bad to say, but sometimes I wish developers mad cross compatible games (on the network level at least)...
I know bigger machines get bigger maps and different features, but there should abe a way to have the same maps with less bling-bling for less powerful machines, and more for the stronger...
I mean, you sent the position and actions to the server, you can implement a uniform audio encoding for comms, could it be done? So I do not need a machine for Socom3 and an other for Halo (i hate halo), then an other for who knows what?
It would be nice to play the same game on ps2,xbox, ps3, 360 and pc, over nicely tunneled "link mode".
yeah... i dream on..
Dreamcast: never had one, but I have friends who still love it... I just wan't into console gaming, I lived alone and a pc in the living room, bedroom, wherever else for gaming and work was OK then... now I am married and a console fits the living room better.... I am sad I missed that era, but it was just a cultural difference..
Slashdot Mirror
you are right, I was immediately thinking about how skype differs from e.g. MSN messenger, or Internet Explorer ....
.....
/minute for overseas calls, I am a happy individual and business user in one...
nohow
and by the way what the hell is undetectable and untraceable mean ?????
They meant you could not sniff it? Listen to it? Or see if it is installed on a computer?
I am not affiliated to skype in any way, but since the telco charger $1+
not secure or secure, my windows box is a throw-away installation, some poo hits the fan and I copy an image and back up and kicking
I don't agree, I am sure ther is a bunch of us who just want a higher quality (resolution wise), and have a projector or a nice HDTV, and are sick of 480i/p when they can display 800x600 and higher.....
....
... my lens are probably crapping out too as well and read errors plague some games ....
:)
It is pretty sad to see my PC pumping 1024x768+ resolutions while i'm doomed with both consoles to 480p....
I only have a 800x600 device, but it is pretty sad sometimes to look at a 180cm (6ft) wide screen in 640x480
So I would be actually happier to be able to pop-in all my games into the 360 until many new ones come out, would be able to get rid of my old xbox that takes up space and a bunch of connections on my amp......
I also read somewhere, that rendering will be altered for old games, and while textures won't be nicer, they will be rendered in higher res -> I don't know if it is true though, but if it is, I would be really happy to have the games I like play on the 360...
And there is a lot missing from that list, including farcry, battlefront, midnight club -> good multiplayer games I would be happy to continue playing without the bulky black box and the extra kilometer ot UTP,audio and video cables (incl the high definition pack that is a bit bigger than normal)
By the way PS3 will support all your games as far as I know, but dunno if I am really interested about that, as I didn't touch my ps2 for months since I am sick of loading times ruining gameplay
nah just a note
I wonder why they completely dumped the 3d glasses, that worked just fine in theatres (the colorless polarised ones, not the blue/red)
.... these were fun though for some games, but they are completely gone...
... yes duak head ... and maybe "split screen" gaming is finally possible without a split screen on the same box.....
Also where are the promised VR goggles? I tested one at a computer show with the "descent game" a long time ago, and it had ridiculous resolution (gravis cybermax or something like that), but now my cellphone has a better cheaper display so why aren't they there ?
Oh and where are the LCD shutter glasses? The ones that came with any higher end ASUS nvidia card? I know these were hard on the eye, because technically it halved the refresh rate with terrible blinking (e.g. a 80Hz monitor became a 40Hz output)
Mentioning 3d every time makes me think what sony really wants with dual video output on the ps3
but is dony about to bring 3d thru their dual output? with projection + 3d filter lens? VR goggles.....
We hear so much about 3d LCD, 3d DLP, 3d tv, 3d laptop, and I just do not see these devices on the shelves of stores when I walk in. Am I missing something ?
Agreed, but also on the consoles.
:) (you get more bruises though especially if you play with those sneaky jungel fighters that are trained here in the dense local jungles :) )
As XBC and KAI (Xlink) gives the opportunity for non-us non-Xbox-live and other console owners the possibility to play online and split-screen and local link is included in more and more games, it might turn out that consoles give more room for multiplayer than pc games (that are sometimes limited to the manufacturers' servers).
I really love the idea to play with others, and better go into a brainless fragfest on an old game (i still prefer ghost recon-like teamplay) other than playing the latest and nicest new FPS alone in my room, against dumb AI bots, and many times scripted events.
Talking of competitive: I found the new Greg Hasting (max'd) Paintball game very entertaining, with short rounds and realistic play.
It is also very competitive in an unexplainable way, besides being one of the few FPS games suitable even for children as it is not a blood-and-brain splashing experience.
Besides I love paintball as it is super competitive and you can shoot your buddies or even your boss with no consequences just like in an online game
First of all I am for online games so what I write is biased. I am tired of fighting A.I. and just to run thru missions to usually get a totally uninteresting cutscene at the end summarising something you already knew when you got the game box in your hand. Most of the time the last few maps I either do not either bother or just fight thru it throwing up of boredom.
... (I clocked 1:30 of battlefield play yesterday before my wife requested lower audio volume, and lights in the room, which caused me to stop as my projector sucks in daylight-strong fluorescent lighting)
.... no KOTOR bored me to hell ...
However online play can be just as boring with some games, mor specifically game modes (or the lack of them).
FFA: free for all, can be fun for some time, but makes me bored after 20 mins, running on a map, shooting everyone is fun, but I want more.
TS: Team survival, can be real fun, when playing with normal people, with decent communication (such as a headset) but then again, make a 30 minute session with resplawns, and at the end you are just sick of it, and you hear the others on the mic saying the same...
When you play SS on Ghost recon 2 or Rainbow six (without repawn) it gives you an appreciation of your life, so game turns a bit more intelligent other than a brainless fragfest, with people ending up with 200kills in 20 minute rounds, while others have -22
Vehicles: yes, that can be fun. SW Battlefront, and FarCry can be really enjoyable, especially in multi-manned vehicles, or ones that fly.
There we come to star wars bf II, which packs all the good and the bad together :
nice graphics, and somewhat good space fights, some completely retarder annoying game modes (usually I just log-off when villans vs heros start)
Now the critics: CTF is really uniq in BF II, and for the good, however it would be really nice to have an actual FLAG , call it Sample or container or a chip, whatever.
Vehicles are really uniq (well it is star wars) and it is really fun to drive most of them...
The space fight is however lackluster a bit. I have the XBOX version so the visual quality is somewhat determined already.
However looking at the XBOX and the hardware I was running Xwing VS Tie Fighter on might suggest that the current version of flying should not be as simplystic as it is. The sense of speed or the lack of a cockpit is somewhat annoys me and I really wish that they made this part at least as good as the other game was 5+ years ago.
But because I am the kind of guy who always wanted a dogfight with as many people as the bandwidth allows, I play with it and try to ignore the step that happened to be a backward one.
What is really missing from the game is the "you can only die once" aspect that makes people actually use that mike and require a team effort in games like Rainbow Six or Ghost recon, and the "retreive the flag" type CTF which does the same in farcry....
It is however a very entertaining "everyone runs and flies in chaos" kind of games that is really fun for a few hours in a row
I cannot comment on quake, as I am not playing on the PC anymore at all (unless some rare occasion leads me o download a demo of something) and because I completely lost interest in the series a long time ago.
And yes I am in my thirties, yes my favourite was chuck yeager's air combat, and yes I played some rpgs and text-mode stuff, and no I never liked them
And no, Halo 2 sucks, because no one plays game modes that appeal to my taste and because there are 15 9-year-old kids are shouting into their headseds per game room at the same time "cool dude we are 3leeetz, we owned them, they are n0000bz" let's make 6 teams out of 10 people and shoot the shit out of each other on the smallest map ever...
What is next?
Letting users change the theme of a website?
Letting users see information?
Letting users use a shopping cart?
Letting users enter information?
If I break a patent by putting an entry form on my site and say:
If you tried XYZ product, you can write 20 words about it. Button, 1-5 selection, then BE IT...
This is outrageous and retarded.
We used rating systems in our BBSes 15+ years ago, with PPE we wrote ourselves, now some bigassed company comes again and says: hey, now you pay us if you want to do it our we sue you out of your boots?
Of course my rage would just ruin my day...
Seriously what can be done against it?
Any lawyers here? What if I am not in the states and not a US citizen or company?
Can that crap be applied to a foreign entity?
Now probably some will kill me, but can you US people (YOU PEOPLE - PUN intended) just cancel your patent chaos and please sign it over the the U.N.?
Am I misguided and is this already a patent that applies everywhere ?
You can tunnel an other protocol in another, so ther is way to run IPv6 on IPv4 and I am certain vica versa.
So if you start converting equipment, the networks would still reach each other just fine thru access points that make tunnels, or whatever is needed.
If I set-up my linux and connect to one of the IPv6 nets (tunneled thru IPv4) my other machine (assuming it supports IPv6) can reach the IPv6 net as well as the IPv4 net.
And if that is the case I would assume that I could set a whole ISP up with IPv6 only, and use proxies that would make the rest of the net accessible just fine, even providing tunneled IPv4 for devices that need it.
I mean it sounds a bit too easy like that and I know it is not. It is not because no one is moving their asses to change....
unless some bigass huge ISP starts it, it won't happen. Or maybe universities... someone big, not a 10-man ISP at the end of the world.
Zero effort:
I know for a fact, the they do not automate reverse addresses to avoid their networks to be banned by idiot admins.
E.g. someone sets a chinese reverse address and then starts scanning someone's server for exploits might end-up with a C address being blocked without checking just because the tld is china.
Explanation: chinese ISP's never ever answered my mails about scanning hosts, and I am sure some webmasters/admins are easy handed with just denying C nets from offending hosts from the country.
Even if you restrict the reverse to exclude certain tlds, you might put competing ISPs or whatever else unwanted into the reverse and cause some trouble.
That is why it has to be reviewed by a human, and that is why they charge a fee.
I agree that it should be a one-time fee though, as probably you already pay for the static public IP.
Well since there'll be a waste number of ip addresses you can get one on an other net - e.g. get a webserver on an other network.
When I get the "this service is not available in your country" I just use my other browser config to go thru an address in the states....
That also saves me of being redirected to "official latin american" version of some companies in spanish just because I am located in Costa Rica
Having a fixed public address is a good thing, you can close all ports and then open them whenever you need someone to connect if you are really paranoid.
this is BS, IPS cost money to the ISP as well, so they want to sell them out, in fact small ISPs keep their IP number at a level close to the required ones.
.... remember when there were a few registrars? A domain was 39.99, now you can get one for 5 (info for 1.50).
Now on the making money issue, if your ISP has more ips for the same price, you can get them cheaper per IP, or you pay the same price for a bulk.
Because you do not need IPs some people do. Think hosting (not everyone is happy their sites being associated with 2000 others on the same host, not even when only 5-6 idiots are spamming), think mobile, think when your instant messenger said: cannot make direct connection to Buddy1235 (when you just wanted to send that picture).
It won't be a free ride, but might be a cheaper one
Think why tomatoes are a lot more expensive during winter? Ohh there si not enough and you have to greenhouse grow them.
The more you have the cheaper it gets. It's not like coffee beans that if there is an over production you better throw it into the sea so you can keep the pricing....
I happened to have a bit insight into IPv6 and at that time (looong time ago) it seemed to promise a lot more than a longer address.
/. only wrote about nat and "we don't need more addresses" on the entire first page :(
I am not familiar with the current state of the protocol (other than I religiously compile it into my kernel) - so I better not talk out of my butt.
It had a lot of support for a more secure IP implementation, QOS and routing.
Read the proposal on www.ietf.org and do not post "we do not need more addresses" crap.
Besides: we need more addresses, even end users who are stuck behind crappy nat boxes of our ISPs, but even more those who run public services and have to pay $5-10 or more for an extra address.
It is not because some use 5-10 addresses on their hosting, or because my ISP wants to give me an address for each"allowed computers"; it is because large companies are holding comlete B address spaces, ones that do not even use it.
That is why your toaster won't have a public address even if you wanted, and some want it. I just stuff all my computers, consoles, pdas behind a linux box because that is what I trust, but some people want to do gaming, work, p2p or use that damn IM software that allows tehm to "direct connect" to send a pic or voice chat.
On Nat: nat is not security by default, however if you do not use port forwarding to netted machines and use a private address space it gives a level of security, even if you only nat on the same physical network (e.g. internal and external net on the same device).
Not true? My windows machine is 192.168.1.210 on the same utp as my outer interface on my router. Can you ping it or ftp to it? No. It is a level of security.
I do not want to fight with anyone, but it is sad that
Besides tin foil hats not looking cool - unless you are an ubergeek - now it turns out that they do not even work.
As expected. I you beleive in earth radiation - the bad one, cats like - you suspected that putting an upside down parabolic antenna is not a good idea.
Of course in that case you already have upside down plates under your bed, crystals on edges of furniture, and you unplug everything whenever possible.
Time to design a wearable faraday cage.
Imageine a faraday hat! Probably it would look like a darkage torture device such as the one in 13th Ghost on the big guy's head, but never mind.
Wonde what that thing does when I wear dark sunglasses, laser protection glasses or similar protection.
The next ime I drive thru that roadblock I probably have to a wear a welding mask. DAMN! I just go used to those damn paintball masks that work well with the shattering mask every time they shoot my windscreen..... OK bad joke, I am not driving thru any roadblocks and never got my windscreen shot with anything else but paintballs near the field where I play.....
What about flashbang grenades? Be close enough and you get eye damage.
Special forces, Swat teams, maybe even the police is using them.
I do not mean it as flamebait, so do not comment on this part, but
recent events suggest that the US military (or at least part of their personnel) seems to take a nice steaming dump on international laws when it comes to the handling of POWs.
hmm, don't know about fossil fuels, my wife studied biology and took a conservation/recycling faculty, and she told me that we do not have any fossil burning powerplants.
Actually the local prowider deployed a bunch of wind turbines on the shoreline so the facts you read might be a bit outdated.
Costa rica is a small country, I am hungarian originally, and it is a so country as well, but that does not mean that many small countries who rely on clean energy don't make a difference at the end.
1,800kWH vs 13,700kWH ? Hmm, maybe the guys over there in the US should switch to fluorescant, turn to switch light off, and dump 3 of the 5 TV sets that are permanently on.
Assuming this number is only residential power consumption. If not, that train/metro and other public transport and other services are more developed there and that might account some extra KiloWatts.
So my point was only that I am happy that I live at a place that does not pollute for power, even that I know that local agriculture and tourism makes a lot of damage and pollution.
Then I did not mention the damn companies who outsource their industrial activities here for cheap labour, a lot of them are leaving since CR is getting more expensive than neighbouring poor countries.
haha you are actually so right :) I did not think of it at all !
On the other hand now looking at the image again it seems like ther could be escape even if the bird is already inside. Not 100% but better than tha traditional blades; that's for sure.
I just got out two nvidia geforce cards out of my main desktop box because I could not work.
....
I am not a newbie to linux, but a happy user since 94 and while not a kernel or X hacker I have some knowledge of troubleshooting servers or desktops with linux.
The nvidia cards work just fine in windows (where they did not lock-up or misbehave in the last 14 days, but under X i had all kinds of weird problems.
I just dropped in an old MGA 450 matrox with 16 megs and I am the happiest X user on earth.
I won't play quake a lot, but can work without the whole crap collapsing on me, or my pointer disappearing without an error in the log, forcing me to angrily smash ctrl-alt-backslash with a curse in hungarian-spanglish with a bleeding nose
Now what does that mean?
With all respect to Nvidia, maker of kickass chips, if they would open their driver source so people with more X knowledge could look at it would make thousands a happy user of their cards
If binary kernel development starts, that means one thing for me: no hardware that needs a binary driver in my servers, and unless it is some "better than anything" coold hardware I cannot live without - not even on my desktop.
I respect kernel maintainers a lot, and trust them, even that some drivers cause problems or they completely suck.
I do not trust big-evil-corporation that cannot give a decent OPEN SOURCE driver with their "make 200% at least profit a chip" hardware.
Make money on your hardware, I pay for it, but gimme the opportunity to have the developers inspect and improve that damn driver so I can actually use the hardware, instead of replacing it and shoving it under the table where my dog can piss on it.
I am skeptic; it still looks like a meatgrinder to me. O.k it does not look like the propeller desigh that chops the bird, but when that thing is spinning at speed I am sure it pets the bird in the back as gently as a bud hits you with 50mph windspeed from the back ....
.......
just a visual observation, and probably they threw some chickens into their grinder before they claimed that.
Besides being an asshole critic, I really appreciate the aspect of renewable energy paired with not being a traditional meatgrinder
fact: did you guys know that costa rica is only using wind and water power? In fact we produce as much from these sources that CR exports energy to neighbouring countries; clean energy. In fact, while still considered a developing country, electricity coverage is the best in central AM, technically you have electricity everywhere. For US/European readers it is probably normal, but when you drive around in Panama/Nicaragua you canappreciate grid coverage here.
OK, water energy creates some mess with the environment in some cases especially when you have wetlands, because dams can affect these in a bad way, but still better than burning coal or radiating, etc.
I can agree on the seatbelt issue in the viewpoint absolutely. And as I told I wear a belt and a fullface helmet when riding my motorbikes.
:)
However on the wireless issue I do not agree how it is put: If I am a tech (as I am) I might want to run my own circus and if I am competent and know what I am doing I might no want to go the WEP+firewall way.
I might want to build a more secure VPN, and I might want to keep my AP open to monitor possible break-in attempts and then go after the hacker myself with my own knowledge+software.
And again I hate wireless as hell (the last time I plugged my card in when I was wardriving for fun - 3 months ago) and I am freaked by all open ports and by how people leave their info wide open.
I agree on a regulation that would sound like this : do whatever to prevent unauthorized access FROM your network, otherwise we can fine you. Whoever access MY AP is my business IMO as far as I do not let them out into the wild where they can cause harm.
Maybe you agree with that analogy then: I agree I should not walk naked on the streets exposing my reproduction organs, but I do not want any government to tell me if I should wear boxers or tangas, and it I should use zippers, velcro or buttons, or what colours of pants I should wear.
cheers
you have to be in the office -> on time
..... in Hungary people like to whine a lot.....
to be on time, you need an ALAMR CLOCK -> worst creation ever, I mean I want to get up when my body tells me : "you got enough sleep" not when the BEEP BEEP BEEP starts.
On the other hand, unless you are the owner of the company, who in most cases makes the most money and drives the nicest car etc.. etc.. you will in many cases feel that life sucks. You might also hate some of your daily tasks. That is a reason to whine.
In a workplace you might not have such a cool office as some other more successful person - that is a reason to whine.
Then there are the folks who wanted to be "somebodies" and are sitting at a work they completely hate.
I am neither of these, but by some cultural mistake I always liked to whine or complain after a certain time at a workplace, be it salary, office environment, the secretary's boobs, the speed of my computer
Well I quit my jobs and moved to an other country and now run my own 1-man projects and I stopped whining.......
I also figured that MR Smith was right, and some humans find their pleasure in misery. Some people love to whine, and complain; that's their life and when everything goes OK, they somehow mess something up so they can whine. I talk to friends back at home, and at 35 they still whine about the same things and are willing to do nothing about it. I guess they enjoy it at the end.
I lost some friend to this, as I was sick of the "let's get a beer in a dark cheap bar and discuss how much our life sucks" events.
Well I guess you also have to find out if you like whining or like to do something about the things you want different.
my dog urinates in public all the time too ... the smaller one does it with pleasure on the rugs, and on the bathroom floor - no shame.
.... he is in the garden all the time though because of this GOD given right, while the others enjon being in my bed ...
.... and I do not mean country club dinners, just regular NORMAL social life
And my big male urinates whereever he can
My point is: if you want to urinate IN public, there are places for it, but you might miss out on some better and fun activities
it is kinda covered by a previous amazon patent, besides displaying an ad on a visitors behaviour exists for a long time:
....
.... e.g. you can distingush grandma typing 1 letter per 5 seconds, while mr 10-finger-typer geek can type 5+ letters in a sec :) hmm ... strange idea .... ..... cool idea:) never thought of that ....
:)
....
e.g.
My visitor is looking at portable mp3 audio players for the last 5 visits, you want to display an ipod commercial instead of a hairdryer.
When that user searches for "moby audio tracks" you will present results ranked higher for places that sell mp3 other than LPs.
Respect to google, but I think it is also a common knowledge patent. I mean what I mentioned is an afternoon of SQL query tuning that I do not want to compare to millions of results organized by google, but at the end that patent seems to cover a bunch of similar practices that fall under the
"search result ordering based on user behaviour"
the typing issue is a good idea though
I guess it also includes typo watch, misspell watch and similar
now google will start displaying ads about "quit drinking" or "hangover pills" when compared to my normal daily typing I start typing terribly on a late Saturday night ? ARE YOU DRUNK ?
now google just needs to start putting a HAL-like glowing red eye and microphones into our rooms, an anal implant and urine and stool analyzer to provide perfect results
off topic:
I mentioned it already , but interestingly the more and more google refines it's algo, the more and more I find myself using other search engines, as some of the things I am searching for provide less and less usable information for me...
for tech stuff google is unbeatable, however shopping/comparing and travel, I turn to yahoo more and more nowadays.....
security : computer security is obvious if you are a tech, for the paperwork: bigassed steel locker, with shared, and private lockers.
....
stalking: I hate it when people read my screen. Have no secrets with my wife (hey she even knows that sometimes I visit "explicit sexual content" sites) but still I get upset if I find her staring into my screen -> let's face it, if there is a screen with something interesting YOU WILL look at it
now here is the solution : rearrange the room, that no one can get behind you without you noticing it.
Use a webcam, a mirror (chimp ? ) if not possible otherwise.
You can complain (to reason the rearrangement) about noise, radiation, bad karma, bad lighting, your colleagues armpit, claustrophoby or whatever else. Be sure not to look like a wussy, but to give a reason why you have to face TO THE DIRECTION of incoming threats -> bad company stalking up on you.
Honestly, I cannot work in the corner, with my back and motinors exposed to the middle of the room (unless I am alone or someone really trusted). No I am not paranoid, I guess it is just some instinct that protects us and animals for many years from whatever or whoever getting behind us....
"Maybe always wear a seatbelt and carry a knife?"
...
....
and spraypaint it to the car : "my knife is in my pocket, in case I am unconcious hanging upside down"
"Plus it is the act of being ejected out of the vehicle in a rollover that kills most people."
I read a study (no link) that states otherwise. Besides that, if you have airbags all over you have a good chance of being kept in the car (e.g. front seat front pretty much locks you for a good few seconds into your seat, I assume that side ones do the same...
"Not wearing a seatbelt is a stupid proposition and the analogy doesn't follow either."
It's the question of right to choose, not a proposition. I wear a belt all the time, even if I just go 500 meters on a dirt road 15kms/h.
"and the analogy doesn't follow either"
well try this: I have the right not to run a firewall and leave my AP open -I know it is not safe, but I might choose that for some reason that is weighted more to my liking
I should have the right not to wear a belt - even if I know that it is dangerous, but I am more afraid of burning in a car tangled in my belt.
I think it is fairly comparable, especially because both is for your own safety and does not endanger anyone else
just my 2c
I am getting more and more confused.... not about the technical facts, but about support for online play....
..... nor want I to wait for a ps3 to figure it out, that there are only company servers with horrid ping times and limited amount of players .....
... i dream on ..
... I just wan't into console gaming, I lived alone and a pc in the living room, bedroom, wherever else for gaming and work was OK then ... now I am married and a console fits the living room better.... I am sad I missed that era, but it was just a cultural difference ..
I had a Ps2, and then an xbox, and now I barely boot the ps2: load times just kill the experience, and graphics are not there (for 1st person games, that I like the most)....
Ps2 net support is limited to the manufacturers' often paying service (often only available to the US), while many xbox games have link mode, that you can play on XBC or KAI.
I just do not see my self as a Live subscriber, not because I am not willing to pay a few bucks, but because it is simply not sold where I live, and the Live site is super confusing about how the subscriptions work (seems that you can buy subs in stores, well not here.)
Also you can play link games on many of nodes worldwide, and you can always pick one witn an acceptable ping, if I sub to LIVE and mi ping is bad to their servers; I am screwed.
Now back to the question : who will have a decent amount of LIVE games that is not limited to certain countries?
I am not a game junkie, but I like to play a few hours with people a few hours a week at nights and I do not want to get into the pitfall of getting an xbox 360, than drool over the ps3 with better games
It is really bad to say, but sometimes I wish developers mad cross compatible games (on the network level at least)...
I know bigger machines get bigger maps and different features, but there should abe a way to have the same maps with less bling-bling for less powerful machines, and more for the stronger...
I mean, you sent the position and actions to the server, you can implement a uniform audio encoding for comms, could it be done? So I do not need a machine for Socom3 and an other for Halo (i hate halo), then an other for who knows what?
It would be nice to play the same game on ps2,xbox, ps3, 360 and pc, over nicely tunneled "link mode".
yeah
Dreamcast: never had one, but I have friends who still love it