News broke last week of Microsoft having quietly bought patents from SGI last year that include major core 3D technology. A strange item in SGI's SECC listing for last year shows an income of $62.5 million for "intellectual property" paid by Microsoft.
Representatives from SGI, when they are willing to comment, claim that the properties sold were "non-core" technologies, but The Register received evidence proving otherwise. A reaction to the initial story gets a bit heated, including The Register being called the "closest thing you can get to a computational version of the National Enquirer."
Experts point out that Microsoft is not in the PC hardware industry, but acquires assets like this for the advantage of influence. OpenGL, a competing technology to Microsoft's, depends on hardware manufacturers' loyalty.
insightful for showing an inability to google, I don't have to quote everything I write!
Well while we are here - I think it has been shown to stem from a) drivers b) opengl only c) user base and portability vis-a-vis drivers and opengl only.
Microsoft owns about 60% of opengl.:-(
In good news, flash games and java games all fly like shit out of a teflon coated colon. Which is kinda cool.
I actually am so apothetic on this issue (I rarely watch TV).
I would like adecent mythtv setup (in the works) for recording the odd stuff, the rest of my associated like to watch tv, so it gives me a platform to tinker.
I say, buyer beware, don't go paying the cost of these patents, which give little value to you.
Why should we pay the cost of DRM, i'd happily by DRM music at 25% of the cost of the non-DRM version.
The distinction? I wouldn't pay 400% the costs for a non DRM version (or buy the DRM version) that is, keep non-drm cheap, and make DRM cheaper if you will... I will not pay for DRM (or subsidise non-DRM licesing)
This means, that the more skilled something is, and the more effort, and the apprecation, gives rise to acclaimed art.
If an art piece is an a gallery of people who do not appreciate it, is it still art?
Computer art is not random, no more than considering using pre-tubed paints a random expression.
Pollock even asked himself at one point, is this shit art. Not the exact phrase I grant you.
A computer programmer has *GIVEN* the computer a pre-understanding of art. Wether is be a mathematical symmetry or description of a natural lighting occurance (gradient), or a colour based selection and using familar shaped (typography)
You typing the letter is like you doing a paint by numbers using ready made paints.
Computer art is not different to normal art. It is a lot harder to program a computer to produce something unique with a given input (and enter also variables of beauty).
If you had so make a picutre using the word apple, you could do it in so many ways. Not write apple, but paint an apple. A computer wired to google images, with an oil paint filter installed could do this also... with more random and haphazard results.
The thing is, GNU/HURD will still be... Linux. Don't shout, yes I know, the thing is, people call Linux, Linux.
Then people say, aaahaaaa Mr Bond... it is really GNU/Linux.
Well I am not so sure anymore. Debian think so, but why not call it GNU/Gimp/OOo/Java/Perl/apache/*all other installed apps*/Linux.
Is GNU software is great, and calling Linux+GNU 'Linux' is wrong, but calling any installation of the Linux kernel 'Linux' is correct regardless of other software.
If I call my OS Linux, I do so without reffering to the installed user space apps, however necessary they might be.
I think the person who is most keen to see HURD is Linus himself! After all, he has been waiting since 1990!
I do hope that/. in 2006 doesn't have a new flame topic:
HURD v Linux (and HURD will never sell with that name - IMHO)
HURD running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel first booted in 1994 and became GNU's official kernel
The development of the GNU/Hurd has important emotional and practical value to GNU fans because in 1990s GNU had not completed any kernel and used the Linux kernel out of necessity. Thus, a number of GNU fans feel that they will have "pure GNU" only with the Hurd kernel.
I do think that some of the GNU ramblings are a bit ungrateful to Linux kernel. Without Linux it would be in 5 years that people would wake up to *nix OS's types, and in 5 years we would be where we were in 1994.
I see one thing, with the FUD over linux, will the same FUD establish itself over the huge sprawling software base of GNU?
Will GNUimp get sued by Adobe? How will this GNUism evolve?
And the final question on every/. lips is, in regard to anything, when will HURD run Linux?;-)
Three words you would not equate with a software program.
boolean i_fancy_a_shag = true;
Does not mean you have a horny, emotional, sensitive, or insensitive, self replicating robot.
Lets analyse the shit report:
has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that, he says, will allow robots to feel lusty, and could eventually lead to them reproducing.
Wow sign me up!
the software, which will be installed in a robot within the next three months, will give the machines the ability to feel, reason and desire.
Oh poo, it is a shitty piece of coding. Probably LESS evolved than the AI in SIMS or GTA
Kim, a leading authority on technology and ethics of robotics
*sigh*, I thought *I* was the only leading authority on the ethics of robotics...
"Christians may not like it, but we must consider this the origin of an artificial species.
Uuuuh so if your work isn't actually of any consequence, but you want to make headlines, just pretend some group of people have objected to it, so it must make sense.
Tamagotchi's probably have more sex drive than his coding skills.
Until now, most researchers in this field have focused only on the functionality of the machines,
Instead of trying to make headlines with a binary string of values defining some human emotions, and placing them inside a state of a machine, and then defining the functions of that machine based on this data?
but we think in terms of the essence of the creatures." That "essence" is a computer code, which determines a robot's propensity to "feel" happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry or afraid.
public int happy_or_sad = 5;//10 is cum in pants happy, 0 is slit wrists
public int angry = who_the_fuck_cares;//he cant kill anyone because I wrote the 3 laws in permanent marker on his back
public int sleepy = hey_you_dumb_fucking_sewing_mahcine_with_eyes_get_ bacj_to_work_and_stop_fucking_sleeping_useless_pie ce_of_shit;
public int hungry... blah this is so pathetic.
Kim says this software is modelled on human DNA, though equivalent to a single strand of genetic code rather than the complex double helix of a real chromosome.
WHAT THE FUCK. Oh damn this is the worse misreporting ever. I hate silly fancies who dance around the reality. He has written a "piece of code to simulate human emotion responses" and applied it to... a machine, I think the use of the word robot should be dissallowed lest we all buy kettles with 2" LCDs which show a smiling face when the water boils, and they call it ROBOTIC KETTLE, it laughs, it cries, it runs off with your bastard fridge!
Of course, I could be wrong, and singing toasters that can pass the turin test may be just around the corner.
But you know I am right, and this is a piece of shit report.
Sorry, but I really hate it when people rape the meaning of words to suite thier own purposes.
rant over. mod down, who cares, the story will still be there, misinforming society.
I will leave you with a gut wrenching penultimate paragraph that really pisses on sanity:
Kim said: "Robots will have their own personalities and emotion and - as films like I Robot warn - that could be very dangerous for humanity. If we can provide a robot with good - soft - chromosomes, they may not be such a threat."
a: mentions I Robot THE FILM like the leading fucking robot guy has ever fucking heard of Isaac Asimov, STUPID ASSHOLE.
b: 'soft' chromosomes? You mean like 'I am a happy puppy' programming? A mechnical device with IO that is influenced by, and influences the surrounding environment can only be safe if normal industrial safegaurds apply, not gay chromosome programming (no offense to gays)
You have a 10mbit connection, sue you can sign up for thier long distance, and then make all you own VOIP calls. Heck use Skype. The real problem is many companies are geared up to make money off providing packet switched network telephony, but every man and his dog can easily use free voice (voice to landline is like 2 cents a minute intl. over Internet)
That is like saying, we will give you this hydrogen car for free, but you must buy your petrol from us (that is gasoline for the lexically challenged)
Now, noone can say who does or doesn't, but I am guessing that many apps and many peoples habits of leaving things open wuoldmean that watching tv, writing DVD's, using P2P, and reading 6.2 billion graphics heavy web pages at once can consume RAM.
512Mb is still a whole 512Mb less than 1GB. Yes prices will fall, why buy 1Gb now? Well I personally use every last Kb of it, and try and keep out of my page file.
Yes I am a power user, I burden my poor silicon based machine (and my computer sometimes) will all the thinking jobs.
Bill said "Suprise! what did you expect fuckers?":-) *bang goes my karma!*
Really, Microsoft always say they will do some things, to basically spread FUD, to make managers have an excuse for not jumping ship.
Why do they do this?
Hmmm, lets read my crystal ball, aaaah here is a M$ press release:
"Closed format is more secure! Plus it locks you into Office, which we have no bundled with Windows, which is now etched into the core of every processor! *stiffled manic laughter*"
Translation:
"We really don't want to allow people to easily leave Office behind and we want to make it harder for OpenOffice to import etc, because when people realise they don't need office, we will loose money
Also we don't want people to easily crack our DRM and embarrass us as we extort money from publishing companies and spread FUD amongst authors, so people can no longer read stuff without money coming to us
Is silly, if you stop brute force... with intrusion detection systems, if a password does get lost, why give yourself a 45 day (average) allowance? so it is ok for someone to have a password for 45 days, but not longer.
Also, the root password for my laptop is 'swordfish' (oh halle... I love your baps, but when the line 'it isn't just a multi-monitor system' comes up, I really have to kill nearby carbon based lifeforms.) but noone has hacked it yet for 3 reasons:
1: It is linux, therefore unhackable, even with r00t password 2: It has no networking capability 3: It no longer actually works, and after the drop I gave it, I suspect even the parked heads might not have stopped platter axle damage...
So have some auditing and heuristic behaviour analysis. Use one time passwords, rigorously check all intrusions based on internal/external. Follow up a failed pssword attempt with a human call (SOMETIMES computers can be the weak link in security);-)
Longer harder to remember passwords require more human intervention (IT helpdesk reset passwords to 'monday' when you forget it).
You also are tempted to write them down, or use consequtive patterns as passwords:
qwer789456123 0ok9ij8uh
Things like that. A simple phrase password, with a one time algorithm (give me the 4th, 5th, 7th and 10th letters) take longer to work out in your head, but eavesdroppers (video, shoulder surfing, finger prints (national treasure) and electronic) have a harder time.
Of course, if you store all your new 8 digita alpha numeric passwords in an access file which is shared in a public folder, that woud make any attempt of l33t passwords a bit redundant.:-)
I see a big deadly fire, and a google news page saying 'house burns down killing 3 in prank'.
DiscLa1mer! nice idea, not original, but read the disclaimer... oh you did...
I say don't do anything conspicuous from the outside, but perhaps ONE styrofoam piece on the porch... inside, empty... open a door........argh!
how to do it? What you will need are:
Large supply of styrofoam pieces from a company that makes them (a packaging company who wants free advertising?)
Some trucks with tail-gates or open top trucks... big ones, about 10 (or do some runs).
Industrial air moving machine for blasting the pieces.
A house (medium sized, with windows)
Open the windows in all doors leading off from hall. Then close the doors on the way out, make sure you can push the windows closed if needs be.
Place the nozzle of the large machine thingy, and plast through the window until room full. Draw curtains, clean window sill, close window. (anyone trying to break in will have a suprise.
Repeat for all other windows on ground floor, and then do top floor if needs be. Make sure toilet seat is up when you do this, hahah, bastards.
Let marinate for 2-3 days until your friend comes back and dies shortly after from suffocation and ingestion of foam pieces.
Have a laugh about it in prison with your new friend Bob, who used to read slashdot until he decided he liked touching young boys. Have fun!
I agree and disagree, sun and apple should take a page out of each others books.
Sun should release some hardware, for sure, and some pretty decent and funky stuff soon. I want Sun to be at the forefront of Java enabled devices. They have manuf. facilities, and they need to move fast.
Solaris cannot compete against linux for home users (i.e. it doesn't differeantiate enough for home usage, just critical apps / support requirements / specialist software) so Sun realise that ensuring the market for it is good. I personally I sticking Solaris 10 as a server on my first available box.
Panther on the other hand can compete against winXP because of the software, the hype, and the interface (Konfabs etc, plus WinXP skinned is still CR@P! zyShadow is funky though).
So Mac *could* release intel software, but then would make less beneficial thier hardware platform (think apple-mac means wintel really).
So Sun needs some consumer based products, like an iPod (but I am thinking a gaming device... with PJava chips... hardware java bytecode profiling etc... opengl support... who knows?)
Apple need to keep on doing what they are doing, thier rise in the media has been fantastic. I want a mac mini (don't bother posting your free mac-mini BS links)
How did they crack the DRM on the doodles so they they could be analysed outside of Media Player?
And why didn't the paper contain a little ticker that showed the time and date and author of the doodle?
Anyone have a link the torrent? Oh man, I feel strange... it must be the/. effect.
Did the doodles point to any new ideas in windows? Or was one of the doodles a strange on-flying bird like creature being beaten to death by office stationary (paperclips)
Who knows?:-) Or was it a monkey screaming 'oooh ooh develoopers! developers developers! aaaargh!'
Aaah maybe they are preoccupied with 76 new games on all platforms for the release of SWIII.
You can only have so much quality...
There are some great open sourced adventure engines coming out... I would like to see an adventure game engine written in some crazy engine like GTA or Doom3... smooth camera movements, nice UI...
Perhaps the license to make sam and max 2 is inside some cute kitten somewhere, and you should jsut turn it inside out and look!
Buying a machine with 256 mb is like running windows 98 on a 16mb machine.
Running with 512 is like having 32 mb a while ago. Just stick 1Gb in and be DONE with it.
RAM is so important for so many things. Don't spare the RAM. ok, enough with it. Just slap 1Gb in. Should be ok for a while, not much data exists that cannot be processed in a stream today that you *want* to load into memory all at once.
Here is a d/l for linux drivers, they have for about 20 of thier cards...
Are the drivers crap? Is this an urban myth? I loved my first ATI card with MPEG on board, and TV in... it was so nice! years ago now...
Then I had a matrox... damn thing, was a nice card but they supported my motherboard exactly 1 day (YES!! the next day they updated thier website!) after I ditched the card, after 13 months of unhappy marraige.
Now I just got two free nvidia 5700le's and they are nice enough:-) Well one is a 5200:-( which is notably slower, even though it has double memory (256).
Doom3 on 5700le is definately playable on default settings.
R* games seem to revel in being the violent and edgy game company, whereas lucasarts are reknown for thier familyesque non-violence (non-human death).
Carmagedon the original sprite based version was banned in Germany, but I haven;t heard too many reports of games being banned now.
The huge ammount of FPS and RTS games being developed would make me question those stats - but I am not an advocate of violent games for children.
I realised that NO WAY in hell would I let my 11 year old nephew play GTA:SA. He plays soul blade and other fighting games, but this is different stuff.
Fighter against fighter, a match, a game, like boxing.
GTA:SA allows for free roaming and killing of innocents. I think it is hypocritical for R* to not place child models in the game, if somehow the proportional dimensions of the vertices makes a difference. They are walking a fine line. I do not see the peds in GTA:SA as innocent people, I just see them as utter bastards who would sooner steal my car as be mowed down by my gatling gun (nuttertools - cheat for nice weapons [gta:vc]).
Other adult themes (non-violent) are a little quaint in GTA:SA, and probably put in there as to say, hey, movies are violent, and movies contain sex, if we make our game contain sex, then you cannot complain about the violence.
People worry about the interactivity of violence in games, I did a small study into students attitudes, and those who thought games were too violent showed no more concern for violent games and children than those who didn't think games were too violent.
So, let games contain violent (yet fun) themes. I wouldn't particularly like a game that was violent but not fun, IMHO GTA isn't even violent, it is a depiction of violence on a non-realistic, joking scale. It isn't harmful (the other content is - I would happily let my nephew play a game where you could shoot people or accidentally run them all down!)
There wasn't one. He showed how you stick this in together, and didn't even boot it... well if his hacksaw hack didn't kill it.
The net result: Mac had more power, the G4 at 1,25 will run apps equiv to at least a P4 at 1.5-2Ghz, and try fitting a P4 setup in the case they did!
The version he made had no CD - why have an exteral cd when you are going for size (and price!)
I see the mini-mac as a great hardware idea - price seems good, especially since you are paying for the shrinkage factor (it shrinks?).
So this wasn't a comparison, more of a 'look ma, I can use a hacksaw'. I searched for a 'next page' link, but none was found, an update would be nice. some benchmarks... run pear PC on the intelly version.
Slashdot Mirror
Just one story because I am bored to search more
Here is the text:
News broke last week of Microsoft having quietly bought patents from SGI last year that include major core 3D technology. A strange item in SGI's SECC listing for last year shows an income of $62.5 million for "intellectual property" paid by Microsoft.
Representatives from SGI, when they are willing to comment, claim that the properties sold were "non-core" technologies, but The Register received evidence proving otherwise. A reaction to the initial story gets a bit heated, including The Register being called the "closest thing you can get to a computational version of the National Enquirer."
Experts point out that Microsoft is not in the PC hardware industry, but acquires assets like this for the advantage of influence. OpenGL, a competing technology to Microsoft's, depends on hardware manufacturers' loyalty.
insightful for showing an inability to google, I don't have to quote everything I write!
Well while we are here - I think it has been shown to stem from a) drivers b) opengl only c) user base and portability vis-a-vis drivers and opengl only.
:-(
Microsoft owns about 60% of opengl.
In good news, flash games and java games all fly like shit out of a teflon coated colon. Which is kinda cool.
...flag until July 5th?
I actually am so apothetic on this issue (I rarely watch TV).
I would like adecent mythtv setup (in the works) for recording the odd stuff, the rest of my associated like to watch tv, so it gives me a platform to tinker.
I say, buyer beware, don't go paying the cost of these patents, which give little value to you.
Why should we pay the cost of DRM, i'd happily by DRM music at 25% of the cost of the non-DRM version.
The distinction? I wouldn't pay 400% the costs for a non DRM version (or buy the DRM version) that is, keep non-drm cheap, and make DRM cheaper if you will... I will not pay for DRM (or subsidise non-DRM licesing)
Put that in your | and smoke it.
What is art, and what constitutes art are two different questions.
Art, IMHO, can be derived from:
Art-theta = (effort * skill) * beholder^(effort * skill);
This means, that the more skilled something is, and the more effort, and the apprecation, gives rise to acclaimed art.
If an art piece is an a gallery of people who do not appreciate it, is it still art?
Computer art is not random, no more than considering using pre-tubed paints a random expression.
Pollock even asked himself at one point, is this shit art. Not the exact phrase I grant you.
A computer programmer has *GIVEN* the computer a pre-understanding of art. Wether is be a mathematical symmetry or description of a natural lighting occurance (gradient), or a colour based selection and using familar shaped (typography)
You typing the letter is like you doing a paint by numbers using ready made paints.
Computer art is not different to normal art. It is a lot harder to program a computer to produce something unique with a given input (and enter also variables of beauty).
If you had so make a picutre using the word apple, you could do it in so many ways. Not write apple, but paint an apple. A computer wired to google images, with an oil paint filter installed could do this also... with more random and haphazard results.
Anyway.
I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows)
/. in 2006 doesn't have a new flame topic:
/. lips is, in regard to anything, when will HURD run Linux? ;-)
Courtesy of Gooooooogle
The thing is, GNU/HURD will still be... Linux. Don't shout, yes I know, the thing is, people call Linux, Linux.
Then people say, aaahaaaa Mr Bond... it is really GNU/Linux.
Well I am not so sure anymore. Debian think so, but why not call it GNU/Gimp/OOo/Java/Perl/apache/*all other installed apps*/Linux.
Is GNU software is great, and calling Linux+GNU 'Linux' is wrong, but calling any installation of the Linux kernel 'Linux' is correct regardless of other software.
If I call my OS Linux, I do so without reffering to the installed user space apps, however necessary they might be.
I think the person who is most keen to see HURD is Linus himself! After all, he has been waiting since 1990!
I do hope that
HURD v Linux (and HURD will never sell with that name - IMHO)
HURD running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel first booted in 1994 and became GNU's official kernel
The development of the GNU/Hurd has important emotional and practical value to GNU fans because in 1990s GNU had not completed any kernel and used the Linux kernel out of necessity. Thus, a number of GNU fans feel that they will have "pure GNU" only with the Hurd kernel.
I do think that some of the GNU ramblings are a bit ungrateful to Linux kernel. Without Linux it would be in 5 years that people would wake up to *nix OS's types, and in 5 years we would be where we were in 1994.
I see one thing, with the FUD over linux, will the same FUD establish itself over the huge sprawling software base of GNU?
Will GNUimp get sued by Adobe? How will this GNUism evolve?
And the final question on every
Astronomers are amazed when the light from 42 stars going supernova reached earth at almost the same time.
Some people have decided to rewrite the astrology hack books with a new star sign - pepsi.
With apologies to Douglas Adams.
'Chromosomes - feeling - reproducing'
//10 is cum in pants happy, 0 is slit wrists
//he cant kill anyone because I wrote the 3 laws in permanent marker on his back
Three words you would not equate with a software program.
boolean i_fancy_a_shag = true;
Does not mean you have a horny, emotional, sensitive, or insensitive, self replicating robot.
Lets analyse the shit report:
has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that, he says, will allow robots to feel lusty, and could eventually lead to them reproducing.
Wow sign me up!
the software, which will be installed in a robot within the next three months, will give the machines the ability to feel, reason and desire.
Oh poo, it is a shitty piece of coding. Probably LESS evolved than the AI in SIMS or GTA
Kim, a leading authority on technology and ethics of robotics
*sigh*, I thought *I* was the only leading authority on the ethics of robotics...
"Christians may not like it, but we must consider this the origin of an artificial species.
Uuuuh so if your work isn't actually of any consequence, but you want to make headlines, just pretend some group of people have objected to it, so it must make sense.
Tamagotchi's probably have more sex drive than his coding skills.
Until now, most researchers in this field have focused only on the functionality of the machines,
Instead of trying to make headlines with a binary string of values defining some human emotions, and placing them inside a state of a machine, and then defining the functions of that machine based on this data?
but we think in terms of the essence of the creatures." That "essence" is a computer code, which determines a robot's propensity to "feel" happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry or afraid.
public int happy_or_sad = 5;
public int angry = who_the_fuck_cares;
public int sleepy = hey_you_dumb_fucking_sewing_mahcine_with_eyes_get_ bacj_to_work_and_stop_fucking_sleeping_useless_pie ce_of_shit;
public int hungry... blah this is so pathetic.
Kim says this software is modelled on human DNA, though equivalent to a single strand of genetic code rather than the complex double helix of a real chromosome.
WHAT THE FUCK. Oh damn this is the worse misreporting ever. I hate silly fancies who dance around the reality. He has written a "piece of code to simulate human emotion responses" and applied it to... a machine, I think the use of the word robot should be dissallowed lest we all buy kettles with 2" LCDs which show a smiling face when the water boils, and they call it ROBOTIC KETTLE, it laughs, it cries, it runs off with your bastard fridge!
Of course, I could be wrong, and singing toasters that can pass the turin test may be just around the corner.
But you know I am right, and this is a piece of shit report.
Sorry, but I really hate it when people rape the meaning of words to suite thier own purposes.
rant over. mod down, who cares, the story will still be there, misinforming society.
I will leave you with a gut wrenching penultimate paragraph that really pisses on sanity:
Kim said: "Robots will have their own personalities and emotion and - as films like I Robot warn - that could be very dangerous for humanity. If we can provide a robot with good - soft - chromosomes, they may not be such a threat."
a: mentions I Robot THE FILM like the leading fucking robot guy has ever fucking heard of Isaac Asimov, STUPID ASSHOLE.
b: 'soft' chromosomes? You mean like 'I am a happy puppy' programming? A mechnical device with IO that is influenced by, and influences the surrounding environment can only be safe if normal industrial safegaurds apply, not gay chromosome programming (no offense to gays)
If we can provide a robot with goo
I am assuming thier first project (and subsequent) will be Duke Nukem Forever.
Gov. funded stuff seems to leak money worse than a striper in a wind tunnel.
Of course you have to incubate developers, if everyone tried to develop on one thing, there would be less competative nature.
ON
But how awesome would the core GNU/Linux/KDE/Gnome/Grub/Etc tools be if these all worked on one usable setup/install/remove program.
;-0
Plus it gets tiring wanting to try another version, Live CD's are fine, but you have to D/L *and* burn, and restart... phew, too much hassle
Sure, I'll sign, can anyone spell VOIP? ... ...
You have a 10mbit connection, sue you can sign up for thier long distance, and then make all you own VOIP calls. Heck use Skype. The real problem is many companies are geared up to make money off providing packet switched network telephony, but every man and his dog can easily use free voice (voice to landline is like 2 cents a minute intl. over Internet)
That is like saying, we will give you this hydrogen car for free, but you must buy your petrol from us (that is gasoline for the lexically challenged)
You do not need 1GB of RAM!!!
Now, noone can say who does or doesn't, but I am guessing that many apps and many peoples habits of leaving things open wuoldmean that watching tv, writing DVD's, using P2P, and reading 6.2 billion graphics heavy web pages at once can consume RAM.
512Mb is still a whole 512Mb less than 1GB. Yes prices will fall, why buy 1Gb now? Well I personally use every last Kb of it, and try and keep out of my page file.
Yes I am a power user, I burden my poor silicon based machine (and my computer sometimes) will all the thinking jobs.
She doesn't mind.
Bill said "Suprise! what did you expect fuckers?" :-) *bang goes my karma!*
Really, Microsoft always say they will do some things, to basically spread FUD, to make managers have an excuse for not jumping ship.
Why do they do this?
Hmmm, lets read my crystal ball, aaaah here is a M$ press release:
"Closed format is more secure! Plus it locks you into Office, which we have no bundled with Windows, which is now etched into the core of every processor! *stiffled manic laughter*"
Translation:
"We really don't want to allow people to easily leave Office behind and we want to make it harder for OpenOffice to import etc, because when people realise they don't need office, we will loose money
Also we don't want people to easily crack our DRM and embarrass us as we extort money from publishing companies and spread FUD amongst authors, so people can no longer read stuff without money coming to us
Plus world domination is fun!"
Is silly, if you stop brute force... with intrusion detection systems, if a password does get lost, why give yourself a 45 day (average) allowance? so it is ok for someone to have a password for 45 days, but not longer.
;-)
Also, the root password for my laptop is 'swordfish' (oh halle... I love your baps, but when the line 'it isn't just a multi-monitor system' comes up, I really have to kill nearby carbon based lifeforms.) but noone has hacked it yet for 3 reasons:
1: It is linux, therefore unhackable, even with r00t password
2: It has no networking capability
3: It no longer actually works, and after the drop I gave it, I suspect even the parked heads might not have stopped platter axle damage...
So have some auditing and heuristic behaviour analysis. Use one time passwords, rigorously check all intrusions based on internal/external. Follow up a failed pssword attempt with a human call (SOMETIMES computers can be the weak link in security)
Longer harder to remember passwords require more human intervention (IT helpdesk reset passwords to 'monday' when you forget it).
:-)
You also are tempted to write them down, or use consequtive patterns as passwords:
qwer789456123
0ok9ij8uh
Things like that. A simple phrase password, with a one time algorithm (give me the 4th, 5th, 7th and 10th letters) take longer to work out in your head, but eavesdroppers (video, shoulder surfing, finger prints (national treasure) and electronic) have a harder time.
Of course, if you store all your new 8 digita alpha numeric passwords in an access file which is shared in a public folder, that woud make any attempt of l33t passwords a bit redundant.
I see a big deadly fire, and a google news page saying 'house burns down killing 3 in prank'.
DiscLa1mer! nice idea, not original, but read the disclaimer... oh you did...
I say don't do anything conspicuous from the outside, but perhaps ONE styrofoam piece on the porch... inside, empty... open a door........argh!
how to do it? What you will need are:
Large supply of styrofoam pieces from a company that makes them (a packaging company who wants free advertising?)
Some trucks with tail-gates or open top trucks... big ones, about 10 (or do some runs).
Industrial air moving machine for blasting the pieces.
A house (medium sized, with windows)
Open the windows in all doors leading off from hall. Then close the doors on the way out, make sure you can push the windows closed if needs be.
Place the nozzle of the large machine thingy, and plast through the window until room full. Draw curtains, clean window sill, close window. (anyone trying to break in will have a suprise.
Repeat for all other windows on ground floor, and then do top floor if needs be. Make sure toilet seat is up when you do this, hahah, bastards.
Let marinate for 2-3 days until your friend comes back and dies shortly after from suffocation and ingestion of foam pieces.
Have a laugh about it in prison with your new friend Bob, who used to read slashdot until he decided he liked touching young boys. Have fun!
I've gotten a machine running 10.2 to play two mp3s simultaneously, without skipping, and in only 64MB RAM.
Lets say they are both 10mb mp2's, decoded into a raw audio (stereo) stream on the fly.
All that is working is the processor, ram is running the stream, and the buffered bits, and the skin on the mp3 player.
Playing two 48kbps a second mp3's aint that much harder than playing one 96kbps stream (both of those are low bitrates for music really).
I might be wrong, cos I dont know how your mp3 player works, but that is how I would write one.
I agree and disagree, sun and apple should take a page out of each others books.
Sun should release some hardware, for sure, and some pretty decent and funky stuff soon. I want Sun to be at the forefront of Java enabled devices. They have manuf. facilities, and they need to move fast.
Solaris cannot compete against linux for home users (i.e. it doesn't differeantiate enough for home usage, just critical apps / support requirements / specialist software) so Sun realise that ensuring the market for it is good. I personally I sticking Solaris 10 as a server on my first available box.
Panther on the other hand can compete against winXP because of the software, the hype, and the interface (Konfabs etc, plus WinXP skinned is still CR@P! zyShadow is funky though).
So Mac *could* release intel software, but then would make less beneficial thier hardware platform (think apple-mac means wintel really).
So Sun needs some consumer based products, like an iPod (but I am thinking a gaming device... with PJava chips... hardware java bytecode profiling etc... opengl support... who knows?)
Apple need to keep on doing what they are doing, thier rise in the media has been fantastic. I want a mac mini (don't bother posting your free mac-mini BS links)
That is all
How did they crack the DRM on the doodles so they they could be analysed outside of Media Player?
/. effect.
:-) Or was it a monkey screaming 'oooh ooh develoopers! developers developers! aaaargh!'
And why didn't the paper contain a little ticker that showed the time and date and author of the doodle?
Anyone have a link the torrent? Oh man, I feel strange... it must be the
Did the doodles point to any new ideas in windows? Or was one of the doodles a strange on-flying bird like creature being beaten to death by office stationary (paperclips)
Who knows?
Aaah maybe they are preoccupied with 76 new games on all platforms for the release of SWIII.
You can only have so much quality...
There are some great open sourced adventure engines coming out... I would like to see an adventure game engine written in some crazy engine like GTA or Doom3... smooth camera movements, nice UI...
Perhaps the license to make sam and max 2 is inside some cute kitten somewhere, and you should jsut turn it inside out and look!
Buying a machine with 256 mb is like running windows 98 on a 16mb machine.
Running with 512 is like having 32 mb a while ago.
Just stick 1Gb in and be DONE with it.
RAM is so important for so many things. Don't spare the RAM. ok, enough with it. Just slap 1Gb in. Should be ok for a while, not much data exists that cannot be processed in a stream today that you *want* to load into memory all at once.
And learn how to use it, it is so much better than the un-geek like crossnig of arms to move cursor and use buttons...
I like to use the keyboard exclusively anyway - it annoys me when sites don't support tab properly.
(tab tab tab space)
Where is this founded?
:-) Well one is a 5200 :-( which is notably slower, even though it has double memory (256).
Here is a d/l for linux drivers, they have for about 20 of thier cards...
Are the drivers crap? Is this an urban myth? I loved my first ATI card with MPEG on board, and TV in... it was so nice! years ago now...
Then I had a matrox... damn thing, was a nice card but they supported my motherboard exactly 1 day (YES!! the next day they updated thier website!) after I ditched the card, after 13 months of unhappy marraige.
Now I just got two free nvidia 5700le's and they are nice enough
Doom3 on 5700le is definately playable on default settings.
me out.
R* games seem to revel in being the violent and edgy game company, whereas lucasarts are reknown for thier familyesque non-violence (non-human death).
Carmagedon the original sprite based version was banned in Germany, but I haven;t heard too many reports of games being banned now.
The huge ammount of FPS and RTS games being developed would make me question those stats - but I am not an advocate of violent games for children.
I realised that NO WAY in hell would I let my 11 year old nephew play GTA:SA. He plays soul blade and other fighting games, but this is different stuff.
Fighter against fighter, a match, a game, like boxing.
GTA:SA allows for free roaming and killing of innocents. I think it is hypocritical for R* to not place child models in the game, if somehow the proportional dimensions of the vertices makes a difference. They are walking a fine line. I do not see the peds in GTA:SA as innocent people, I just see them as utter bastards who would sooner steal my car as be mowed down by my gatling gun (nuttertools - cheat for nice weapons [gta:vc]).
Other adult themes (non-violent) are a little quaint in GTA:SA, and probably put in there as to say, hey, movies are violent, and movies contain sex, if we make our game contain sex, then you cannot complain about the violence.
People worry about the interactivity of violence in games, I did a small study into students attitudes, and those who thought games were too violent showed no more concern for violent games and children than those who didn't think games were too violent.
So, let games contain violent (yet fun) themes. I wouldn't particularly like a game that was violent but not fun, IMHO GTA isn't even violent, it is a depiction of violence on a non-realistic, joking scale. It isn't harmful (the other content is - I would happily let my nephew play a game where you could shoot people or accidentally run them all down!)
If you think about it, it makes sense.
There wasn't one. He showed how you stick this in together, and didn't even boot it... well if his hacksaw hack didn't kill it.
The net result: Mac had more power, the G4 at 1,25 will run apps equiv to at least a P4 at 1.5-2Ghz, and try fitting a P4 setup in the case they did!
The version he made had no CD - why have an exteral cd when you are going for size (and price!)
I see the mini-mac as a great hardware idea - price seems good, especially since you are paying for the shrinkage factor (it shrinks?).
So this wasn't a comparison, more of a 'look ma, I can use a hacksaw'. I searched for a 'next page' link, but none was found, an update would be nice. some benchmarks... run pear PC on the intelly version.
Who knows, not me, I never lost control.