I wish more people would point this out! A firewall by itself is not security. It's just an extra layer of protection. Protecting insecure apps by putting them behind a firewall is a recipe for disaster. Ideally, you should be able to turn your firewall off and still not be any more vulnerable. The primary function of a firewall is to reduce visibility, not add security.
Yeah, Horde may actually be a better choice for this place, Roundcube is basically straight no-frills webmail with a nifty AJAX interface...it serves my needs for my home email server perfectly, while Horde was just bloated with too many features that I had absolutely no use for. It does have a nice calendar/schedule for those that need it though.
With desktops this is a no-brainer...just build your own and don't buy Windows. At the current time however, there really isn't any way to build your own laptop...you have to buy a prebuilt one from a manufacturer, most of which are going to include Windows. TFA was about someone getting a Windows refund for a laptop.
Don't quote me on this (I haven't gotten my RAZR yet, still waiting on UPS)...but from the specs I read, the memory card on the RAZR is removable, and the site said it also came with an SD adaptor so you can put the card in anything that can read SD cards. Currently the only thing I have with an SD reader is my Wii, so I can't really test this out even after I get my phone until I get an SD reader. Might be worth a shot though.
No kidding...I have to use Notes at work for email, and I have to say it's one of the most bloated clunky programs I've ever used. The interface is absolutely awful, and it's one of the slowest programs I've ever used. It takes about 2 minutes to start on this work machine (3.2 GHz P4), and about 30 seconds to shut down. They only use it for email also...Thunderbird and IMAP servers with something like Horde or Roundcube for web access would serve the function just as well.
The N64 games don't implement rumble functionality? That sucks...they should, at least if you're using the GC controller. The N64-to-Gamecube Zelda ports used the rumble functionality. Then again, the only N64 games I'm interested in are OoT and MM and I already have both of those on the GC, so I doubt I'll ever download any N64 games anyway. The main use I'm going to see out of the VC is if they release games that are rare/hard to find the original cartridges for, as I've already got all the old systems except the N64 and TG-16. If they released Herzog Zwei for the Genesis I'd get that immediately, even if it was $10...that game is hellaciously hard to find and often goes for $100+ on Ebay. It was pretty much the first RTS game, several years before Warcraft or Dune 2. There was a limit of 50 units on each side, and instead of a cursor, you had a plane you flew around to pick up and drop units to move them around, but it was much fun.
What about Viewtiful Joe and Four Swords Adventures? VJ did use 3D graphics, but the gameplay was 2D (I guess you could call it 2.5D). FSA was 2D all the way...the graphics were like Link to the Past on steroids combined with the enemy death and bomb explosion animations from Wind Waker. It was a great game...I played it all the way through by myself using a GBA, and it's rather long.
Backward compatibility is not the correct term to use. Falling back to the standard when your bastardized version of it doesn't work isn't backward compatibility. Microsoft would probably like for it to be called backward compatibility though, it makes it sound like their nonstandard implementation is "more advanced". The correct term to use is broken.
The GC version has the normal map orientation (un-mirrored), also Link is left handed. This information comes from the official Nintendo Power Twilight Princess guide (it has a separate section for the Gamecube version in the back). They have pages of nothing but Gamecube maps, showing that they are the opposite of their Wii equivalents.
The Gamecube version hasn't been released yet...it's due to come out on the 12th of this month in the US. However, that said...some things are known about it. The GC version has a more traditional control scheme. I've played the Wii version, and using the Wii-mote to swing the sword works really well. The sword swings are not 1:1 though...basically moving the Wii-mote in any direction just equates to a button press...this will work just as well using a button on the GC controller. However, the spin attack and shield bash are done using the nunchuck's accelerometer, and these moves are terribly unresponsive. You're supposed to shake the nunchuck back and forth (or spin it) to get the spin attack, and jab it forward to do the shield bash. However, it seems that 90% of the time I try to shield bash Link just does a spin attack instead. You have to jab it forward really slowly, to the point of it being unnatural. If you try to shield bash in the heat of battle (without thinking about it), you'll almost always do a spin attack instead. It's not the nunchuck's fault...the accelerometer is used to great effect in the fishing parts of the game, it works REALLY well, this game has the best fishing controls I've ever used. I'm not sure why the game has so much trouble differentiating between the spin attack and shield bash. The GC controls are known...they're listed in the Wii strategy guide...hold B to spin attack, hit R while locked on to shield bash. To that end, I think that swordfighting and controlling Link in general will be better on the GC (shield bash/spin attack), but fishing is better on the Wii. The graphics are identical in both versions. They did not enhance the graphics for the Wii version...it's a Gamecube game through and through. However, they did remove free camera from the Wii version (the GC version has free camera)...they added 16:9 anamorphic support to replace it, which is nice. Both versions support 480p. Also, they literally mirrored the entire game on the Wii, east is west and vice versa (they edited text also, changing references to west to east) to make Link right handed. This will make the geography very confusing to anyone who's played Ocarina of Time (what the map is based on). I'm personally going to play both versions, though I think I'll prefer the GC version (fishing excepted) for the reasons above.
Don't forget to add $10 for a misnamed "sensor bar" (assuming you don't already have one)...or you could use two candles (or two of anything else that emits IR).
The best part...since the Wii is backward compatible, Gamecube games are not going to disappear for a long time. Remember how store just recently (like within the past year) stopped stocking PS1 games? The GC games will probably be like that this generation. Anyone with a Wii can just pop in a Gamecube game and play it, so stores will continue to stock them, and new games (probably more budget oriented games, like the PS1 games produced during the PS2's life) will keep showing up, and they'll probably be cheap too.
Ecco was a great game on the Genesis. I'd probably download it if I didn't already own the Sega CD version. The Sega CD version (which was released 6 months to a year after the cartridge version) is much better...far better music (CD audio), faster/better animation, and several levels that were omitted from the cartridge version. I have both Ecco and its sequel for Sega CD...sadly they can't really put these versions on the Virtual Console because the images would be around 650MB each (they filled the parts of the CD's not used for game data with redbook audio).
Yes...they've only had one quarter EVER where they posted a loss, and that loss was due to some bad investments overseas when the value of the yen dropped, and they got screwed on the currency exchange.
Tin snips (the things you use to cut the metal bands holding lumber, shingles, etc on skids, you will see these all over the place in the lumber dept of Lowe's and Home Depot) work well too.
Having looked more into it, it appears that mostly X-rays are used for food irradiation, though in some cases gamma rays and lower level beta radiation (free electrons) are also used. Apparently they limit the amount of beta so that there's no induced radioactivity in the food (though it would take a VERY high level of beta to induce radioactivity in anything, usually only neutron radiation induces radioactivity). Still though, there's no cause for concern, it's not much different from putting your food in a microwave (it just doesn't heat it/denature the proteins like a microwave does).
It's funny to try to explain to the masses that the light from that flashlight *is* a form of radiation, then watch them either look terrified or puzzled. Light, IR, UV, microwaves, gamma rays, X-rays, all the same thing. I believe that EM is all that's used for irradiated food also, just package it in a sealed container, hit it with enough microwaves/other frequency EM to kill everything in it, and then you have food that will last practically forever until the seal is broken.
Gamecube games this generation should be like PS1 games last generation. PS1 games have only started to disappear within the last year. Gamecube games should still be readily available throughout most of the Wii's lifespan, one big advantage of backward compatibility. New GC games can still be made too for the same reason.
I don't remember the last time I threw away anything electronic. I've still got a Vectrex from 1982 sitting in my basement (still works, tried it earlier this week), still have a working NES and Sega Master System. SNES, Genesis/CD/32X, and Saturn are still hooked up. My old computer (K6) is also still working...when I quit using it as my main system (when I got the Athlon-XP), the K6 got relegated to storage and various network tasks. Of course, this means my house (especially my room) is pretty badly cluttered, lots of stuff lying around...but that's not bad considering how much old electronic stuff I have.
The solution is to try to teach people exactly what radiation is, what its effects are, and what causes it. People also need to understand that we are *constantly* exposed to radiation from any number of different natural background sources. People also need to understand that exposing something (aka meat) to radiation does not make it radioactive or dangerous in any way (well, unless it gets contaminated by a radioactive material, but that's about as likely to happen in a meat plant as getting contamination from a smoke detector in your house). If they understood that irradiating meat isn't much different from putting it in a microwave, then maybe the irrational fear would go away...people just fear what they don't understand. Understanding the difference between particle and electromagnetic radiation would be a start. Oh noes, light is electromagnetic radiation, it's just like gamma rays only lower frequency! The horror! *runs and hides in the dark basement* Wait, as another poster pointed out, that's not even safe, there might be radon there!
Apparently the software will not be an option to download, as Nintendo said that more than just a firmware update would be required to utilize it (no idea why, the Wii is certainly fast enough to handle software playback). They're going to release a second, more expensive version of the console that will be DVD-video enabled alongside the normal one. This is a good idea, but it would've been better to do it at launch, that way the people that want DVD in their Wii but also wanted to get one at launch won't feel shafted. I'm personally not really interested in using my Wii for DVD playback...even the best software DVD players aren't that great, and are easily bested in quality by a $28 progressive scan player by an order of magnitude.
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I wish more people would point this out! A firewall by itself is not security. It's just an extra layer of protection. Protecting insecure apps by putting them behind a firewall is a recipe for disaster. Ideally, you should be able to turn your firewall off and still not be any more vulnerable. The primary function of a firewall is to reduce visibility, not add security.
Yeah, Horde may actually be a better choice for this place, Roundcube is basically straight no-frills webmail with a nifty AJAX interface...it serves my needs for my home email server perfectly, while Horde was just bloated with too many features that I had absolutely no use for. It does have a nice calendar/schedule for those that need it though.
With desktops this is a no-brainer...just build your own and don't buy Windows. At the current time however, there really isn't any way to build your own laptop...you have to buy a prebuilt one from a manufacturer, most of which are going to include Windows. TFA was about someone getting a Windows refund for a laptop.
Don't quote me on this (I haven't gotten my RAZR yet, still waiting on UPS)...but from the specs I read, the memory card on the RAZR is removable, and the site said it also came with an SD adaptor so you can put the card in anything that can read SD cards. Currently the only thing I have with an SD reader is my Wii, so I can't really test this out even after I get my phone until I get an SD reader. Might be worth a shot though.
No kidding...I have to use Notes at work for email, and I have to say it's one of the most bloated clunky programs I've ever used. The interface is absolutely awful, and it's one of the slowest programs I've ever used. It takes about 2 minutes to start on this work machine (3.2 GHz P4), and about 30 seconds to shut down. They only use it for email also...Thunderbird and IMAP servers with something like Horde or Roundcube for web access would serve the function just as well.
The N64 games don't implement rumble functionality? That sucks...they should, at least if you're using the GC controller. The N64-to-Gamecube Zelda ports used the rumble functionality. Then again, the only N64 games I'm interested in are OoT and MM and I already have both of those on the GC, so I doubt I'll ever download any N64 games anyway. The main use I'm going to see out of the VC is if they release games that are rare/hard to find the original cartridges for, as I've already got all the old systems except the N64 and TG-16. If they released Herzog Zwei for the Genesis I'd get that immediately, even if it was $10...that game is hellaciously hard to find and often goes for $100+ on Ebay. It was pretty much the first RTS game, several years before Warcraft or Dune 2. There was a limit of 50 units on each side, and instead of a cursor, you had a plane you flew around to pick up and drop units to move them around, but it was much fun.
"I am invincible! Invincible!! I *CRASH* Yeoooooow!"
This message is ROT-26 encoded. You're violating the DMCA by decoding and reading it without permission.
What about Viewtiful Joe and Four Swords Adventures? VJ did use 3D graphics, but the gameplay was 2D (I guess you could call it 2.5D). FSA was 2D all the way...the graphics were like Link to the Past on steroids combined with the enemy death and bomb explosion animations from Wind Waker. It was a great game...I played it all the way through by myself using a GBA, and it's rather long.
Backward compatibility is not the correct term to use. Falling back to the standard when your bastardized version of it doesn't work isn't backward compatibility. Microsoft would probably like for it to be called backward compatibility though, it makes it sound like their nonstandard implementation is "more advanced". The correct term to use is broken.
The GC version has the normal map orientation (un-mirrored), also Link is left handed. This information comes from the official Nintendo Power Twilight Princess guide (it has a separate section for the Gamecube version in the back). They have pages of nothing but Gamecube maps, showing that they are the opposite of their Wii equivalents.
The Gamecube version hasn't been released yet...it's due to come out on the 12th of this month in the US. However, that said...some things are known about it. The GC version has a more traditional control scheme. I've played the Wii version, and using the Wii-mote to swing the sword works really well. The sword swings are not 1:1 though...basically moving the Wii-mote in any direction just equates to a button press...this will work just as well using a button on the GC controller. However, the spin attack and shield bash are done using the nunchuck's accelerometer, and these moves are terribly unresponsive. You're supposed to shake the nunchuck back and forth (or spin it) to get the spin attack, and jab it forward to do the shield bash. However, it seems that 90% of the time I try to shield bash Link just does a spin attack instead. You have to jab it forward really slowly, to the point of it being unnatural. If you try to shield bash in the heat of battle (without thinking about it), you'll almost always do a spin attack instead. It's not the nunchuck's fault...the accelerometer is used to great effect in the fishing parts of the game, it works REALLY well, this game has the best fishing controls I've ever used. I'm not sure why the game has so much trouble differentiating between the spin attack and shield bash. The GC controls are known...they're listed in the Wii strategy guide...hold B to spin attack, hit R while locked on to shield bash. To that end, I think that swordfighting and controlling Link in general will be better on the GC (shield bash/spin attack), but fishing is better on the Wii. The graphics are identical in both versions. They did not enhance the graphics for the Wii version...it's a Gamecube game through and through. However, they did remove free camera from the Wii version (the GC version has free camera)...they added 16:9 anamorphic support to replace it, which is nice. Both versions support 480p. Also, they literally mirrored the entire game on the Wii, east is west and vice versa (they edited text also, changing references to west to east) to make Link right handed. This will make the geography very confusing to anyone who's played Ocarina of Time (what the map is based on). I'm personally going to play both versions, though I think I'll prefer the GC version (fishing excepted) for the reasons above.
Don't forget to add $10 for a misnamed "sensor bar" (assuming you don't already have one)...or you could use two candles (or two of anything else that emits IR).
The best part...since the Wii is backward compatible, Gamecube games are not going to disappear for a long time. Remember how store just recently (like within the past year) stopped stocking PS1 games? The GC games will probably be like that this generation. Anyone with a Wii can just pop in a Gamecube game and play it, so stores will continue to stock them, and new games (probably more budget oriented games, like the PS1 games produced during the PS2's life) will keep showing up, and they'll probably be cheap too.
Ecco was a great game on the Genesis. I'd probably download it if I didn't already own the Sega CD version. The Sega CD version (which was released 6 months to a year after the cartridge version) is much better...far better music (CD audio), faster/better animation, and several levels that were omitted from the cartridge version. I have both Ecco and its sequel for Sega CD...sadly they can't really put these versions on the Virtual Console because the images would be around 650MB each (they filled the parts of the CD's not used for game data with redbook audio).
Yes...they've only had one quarter EVER where they posted a loss, and that loss was due to some bad investments overseas when the value of the yen dropped, and they got screwed on the currency exchange.
Tin snips (the things you use to cut the metal bands holding lumber, shingles, etc on skids, you will see these all over the place in the lumber dept of Lowe's and Home Depot) work well too.
Having looked more into it, it appears that mostly X-rays are used for food irradiation, though in some cases gamma rays and lower level beta radiation (free electrons) are also used. Apparently they limit the amount of beta so that there's no induced radioactivity in the food (though it would take a VERY high level of beta to induce radioactivity in anything, usually only neutron radiation induces radioactivity). Still though, there's no cause for concern, it's not much different from putting your food in a microwave (it just doesn't heat it/denature the proteins like a microwave does).
It's funny to try to explain to the masses that the light from that flashlight *is* a form of radiation, then watch them either look terrified or puzzled. Light, IR, UV, microwaves, gamma rays, X-rays, all the same thing. I believe that EM is all that's used for irradiated food also, just package it in a sealed container, hit it with enough microwaves/other frequency EM to kill everything in it, and then you have food that will last practically forever until the seal is broken.
Someone just needs to hurry up and invent the holodeck already.
Gamecube games this generation should be like PS1 games last generation. PS1 games have only started to disappear within the last year. Gamecube games should still be readily available throughout most of the Wii's lifespan, one big advantage of backward compatibility. New GC games can still be made too for the same reason.
2 weeks and one day, to be exact. Dec 12.
I don't remember the last time I threw away anything electronic. I've still got a Vectrex from 1982 sitting in my basement (still works, tried it earlier this week), still have a working NES and Sega Master System. SNES, Genesis/CD/32X, and Saturn are still hooked up. My old computer (K6) is also still working...when I quit using it as my main system (when I got the Athlon-XP), the K6 got relegated to storage and various network tasks. Of course, this means my house (especially my room) is pretty badly cluttered, lots of stuff lying around...but that's not bad considering how much old electronic stuff I have.
The solution is to try to teach people exactly what radiation is, what its effects are, and what causes it. People also need to understand that we are *constantly* exposed to radiation from any number of different natural background sources. People also need to understand that exposing something (aka meat) to radiation does not make it radioactive or dangerous in any way (well, unless it gets contaminated by a radioactive material, but that's about as likely to happen in a meat plant as getting contamination from a smoke detector in your house). If they understood that irradiating meat isn't much different from putting it in a microwave, then maybe the irrational fear would go away...people just fear what they don't understand. Understanding the difference between particle and electromagnetic radiation would be a start. Oh noes, light is electromagnetic radiation, it's just like gamma rays only lower frequency! The horror! *runs and hides in the dark basement* Wait, as another poster pointed out, that's not even safe, there might be radon there!
Apparently the software will not be an option to download, as Nintendo said that more than just a firmware update would be required to utilize it (no idea why, the Wii is certainly fast enough to handle software playback). They're going to release a second, more expensive version of the console that will be DVD-video enabled alongside the normal one. This is a good idea, but it would've been better to do it at launch, that way the people that want DVD in their Wii but also wanted to get one at launch won't feel shafted. I'm personally not really interested in using my Wii for DVD playback...even the best software DVD players aren't that great, and are easily bested in quality by a $28 progressive scan player by an order of magnitude.