That while few people will notice the difference between 150fps and 200fps, those numbers are more or less there to help you determine the lifespan of the card itself. While, for current games, both cards will perform extremely well, a 50fps difference means that on future games, the Nvidia card will be able to last longer and run with more graphics options enabled without bottoming out on fps.
While a select few individuals still always buy the latest and the greatest, the majority of buyers look at video cards as long term investments mainly because of the rediculously inflated prices in the GPU market. All that said, I think you have to look at the card's feature set and make a decision based on that. While, gaming wise, the Nvidia GPU may be superior, the dramatically increased transcoding times definitely make the ATI card a potentially attractive purchase to people who work a lot with video. Given the amazing rise in popularity of the Video Ipod and the existing PSP market, the number of people with interests in transcoding video is definitely on the rise, and ATI was smart in tapping that market now.
I don't know the full details as I'm not beta testing Vista, but I do know that Vista has some protections like this in it. This is in large part why MS talks about Vista being much more "secure" than past windows releases. A good example of this is is device drivers. As started in this article(a Q&A with the head of ATI's driver team):
"Vista requires a brand new driver model. It is actually called WDDM (Windows Vista Device Driver Model). Whereas before, device drivers were something called kernel mode based, they are now user mode based. This means that drivers do not directly talk to the operating system and have the ability to crash it. The end result will be greatly improved stability for devices on Vista. The amount of work to support the new driver model is tremendous. It is basically a re-write of the entire driver. However, we are very much ahead of the game, and feel good that we will have the best Vista support when it is actually released (and even sooner with our beta drops)."
Not the google/OO.o thing I mean, but efficiency in computer software/hardware design. A lot of people have talked over the years about the effects the breaking of Moore's law would have on the computer industry. As long as companies could rely on exponentially increasing computer speeds, efficiency was largely ignored for many years except, perhaps, in certain parts of the server/mega-computer arena.
Now that we are begining to aproach the end of the line for the current computer hardware technology, much much more emphasis is being placed on effeciency instead of raw speed. You can see this change in attitude reflected in everything from processor design, to modular software and operating systems.
In no small part, one of the reasons the *nix's have become so popular(other than low cost) is that they are extremely customizable. So, you can have all the features you need, but toss out everything else you don't. This allows for a much more effecient, secure, and orderly system.
I will agree that Google and Mac support just don't seem to mix well sadly. But, the "bloat" in OpenOffice is probably one of the things google is best suited to streamline. Lots of features does not have to mean lots of bloat if properly designed and implemented. That, imho, has been Microsoft's biggest failing over the years, and is largely responsible for the countless lurking bugs and security flaws.
I've cleaned this off of 3 family member's computers so far as well. Another lost their entire computer before it could be taken off their system. In all cases what happened was another family member got infected then started automatically messaging everyone on the machine's friend's list. Since the computer was often used by a younger child, the social engineering worked exceptionally well in this case and most everyone clicked the link.
Regardless, if you follow the usual procaution of being careful what you click and have virus protection, you'll be ok. Still, this is one mean little virus if it does get in your system.
They are not traditional RAM cartridges like the GBA and n64 and past console systems. The DS uses a proprietary Flash memory media that is currently capable of 256mb of space but expandable to 1gb of space. That's actually quite a lot of space and my understanding is it is relatively cheap on Nintendo's end to produce.
If the current market trends and price drops are any indication as well, Flash media or an equivilant will likely be replacing optical media like CDs, DVDs, UMDs, etc in another generation or two as the media format of choice.
Why? Outside of costs, which are dropping dramatically, Flash media has a multitude of inherant advantages including small size, no moving parts to wear out, and protective casings to prevent scratch damage. Honestly, Sony's UMD technology seems more like a step backward than forward for a portable device. It is tremendously taxing on the system's battery and much more prone to potential malfunction. I can bet you that if Sony could have found a way to make cheap 1gb+ flash catridges they would have left the UMD slot out entirely since they already have a memory stick slot on the unit.
Better to tackle the "looming energy crisis" head on and use human ingenuity to come up with a better, more environmentally friendly, solution. Simply settling for something that works but has problems is the same attitude that has gotten the world into this rediculous oil mess, all the while destroying the very planet we live on.
I'm not saying Nuclear power might not be the best answer for a short term emergency, but short term solutions tend to become long term ones when government is concerned.
Unbuntu has two different versions. One is an install CD, the other is a run CD that lets you launch linux from disc without installing anything. Now, of course, the CD version is going to be more limited, but given that you can read/write fat32 and network NTFS(and read local NTFS) you can still do a decent bit with it. It's not bad at all if you just want to give linux a whirl and see what it is all about/teach yourself how to use some aspects of linux.
They still havn't quite gotten that their Server Software is only attractive if you have absolutely no clue what you are doing. It is a pretty decent in that you can take it out of the box and just run with it.
Linux and the like require a lot of setup time first to get everything running perfect. But, once you get that out of the way, it is generally superior in the long run. What Microsoft fails to realize is that given the proliferation of the internet and the complexities of the modern day IT world, most server techs know exactly what they are doing. So, the initial linux hurdle is non-existant.
In most cases, MS only gains a foothold in organizations where they can con the higherups into thinking MS knows better or will cut them a better deal.
It's habit and name. Your average Joe doesn't like a lot of change. For the longest time MS Office was "the" way to go. So, it is easy to get latched on to the software suite because you know the name and software.
That said, more and more people are slowly switching over to OO or an equivilant, in large part because they are free versus MS's insane pricing of MS office. The trick is getting people to make the leap to try it out. But once they do they usually go "Hey, this works pretty good, and you can't beat free."
This one application doing everything philosophy. Better would be for them to take a look at the design of their Office sweet of software. The ideal media applications come in the form of hubs.
You create an intuitive and uniform interface among a suite of applications. Then, devote each application to doing its job extremely well. This makes each application bloat free and efficient. In addition, it allows you to make each component very powerful without bogging down the overall program.
A good example of this philosophy is iTunes+Quicktime. I'm certainly not saying that those two applications are perfect, they aren't. But, what makes them so attractive is both are uniform in design, very intuitive to use, feature rich, and link with each other. When iTunes needs to work with video and audio it simply acts as a hub for quicktime. Allowing quicktime, a devoted media player, to handle playback in an efficient fashion.
The added benefit of this approach is you only use up as many system resources as you need at any given moment. MS, would be well served to adopt this approach and split media player into a series of applications, then convert the media player itself into a hub to access the suite of software.
Yes, these two browsers play off each other more than they do off of IE. Why?
- IE is a horribly out of date browser, it offers little in the way of new features compared to other browsers out there.
- The primary reason IE has the lead in market share isn't because of security or features, it is because IE is already installed on windows machines.
For your average Joe who doesn't think about security and just wants to check the web from time to time, they don't want to go through the hassle of downloading and installing a new browser since they already have one.
That said, for all my friends/family, I have long since gone on their computer and switched them over to firefox. I just slap an IE theme on firefox, swap out a few shortcuts, and blam they are done. They can't tell a single difference between using FF and IE, but behind the scenes they are more secure and have a heck of a lot less spyware problems.
I think more significant isn't that Firefox is in second place, it is that it has 25%+ of the market share in an area where MS has an extreme "monopoly" advantage.
Yes, that is very true. But there is a line you draw. First, you have to remember that it *is* just a theory and not a law set in stone. You have to keep your mind open. And, I don't mean open to bad science, but open to other possibilities being researched with good science.
Second, there is an increasing tendancy to take any theory as near fact as possible. The end result is people building new theories on top of a theory that hasn't even been fully tested. Again, this happens regularly in science anyway, but there is a line between jumping to conclusions and exploring the potential of a theory.
All too often people jump to conclusions these days.
...where so many gadgets and inventions appear daily that continue to make science fiction into science fact, it is hard to motivate the younger generations to pursue the sciences. Why make a career out of a subject where you may never see the results of your work with your own eyes, when other fields have tangeble results from their work?
Other problems include:
- poor pay
- an increasing tendancy among scientists to take theory as fact
- increased outsourcing by american business
- unmotivated and/or knowledgable teachers(see poor pay as the reason for that)
- Greater competition by other countries
- The fanatical religious destruction of the scientific community.
Keep in mind ABC also owns ESPN, so you can bet if this thing takes off, up next will be sports broadcasts and other ESPN shows. Imagine the potential. Missed that game you wanted to see? No problem, for $2 you can download it and watch it whenever and whereever you want.
Is going to be a real selling point and is a brilliant idea that will likely attract a lot more stations.
I mean think about it. Season X DVDs of TV shows are already imensely popular. At 2$ a show the TV companies are making about the same profit as they would off selling an entire DVD season, consumers get their shows right then and there, and apple makes a profit from the sales.
While I certainly agree that the Ipod is still not the ideal video display device, this is an excellent additional feature to an already well designed mp3 player. Now if we can just get support for more MP3 formats and maybe a built in FM tuner, Apple would hold all the cards over any of their competitors.
Normally stuff like this from MS makes me shudder with dread. But the lack of a standard communication IM protocal has driven me crazy for years. Trillian and other programs are ways to get around that, of course. But, having a single standard would go a long way, and this is a nice step towards that.
Compete in features you offer in your IM clients, but for heavens sake unify the networks.
For myself, and I know many others, the sound card is something you consider when building a new machine entirely. It is rare that something so good comes out that I feel compelled to upgrade the sound card. For me, when I build a new machine I get the new top of the line card then put my old one in my secondary work machine.
As others have said, a good set of speakers is really more meaningful these days than the card. Yes, definitely the card can make a huge difference. But the difference between an Audigy 2 and an X-Fi? Not significant enough to warrant a new purchase unless it is a totally new machine.
Which, by the way, I suspect that is where the majority of Creative's revenue comes from, Dell and others who buy their cards in large quantities for their higher end machines.
IPTV(or some similar implementation) is the future. Same as digital distrobution gaining ground in the music industry and gaming industry. The movie industry is already exploring their options too.
The problem is, and always has been, our sorely lacking infastructure. Not every home has broadband, and most homes that do can't afford the "super deluxe" high bandwith options. Beyond that, most ISPs offer horrendusly shoddy customer service. Frequent outages, slow speeds, etc are the norm(more so the futher you move out of densely populated regions).
Without a good infastructure in place, IPTV and the like will never be huge money making successes. This is especially the case because poor digital signal results in horrendous pixelation and audio distortion. At least with analog you just get a slightly fuzzier picture. You need strong consistant bandwidth to pull this off and most places just aren't there yet. We *are* getting there, but we've got another decade or two to go before it gets really solid.
And that's in technologically sophisticated countries. Tack on another 20 to 100 years to that figure for 3rd world countries.
Is the Video Game publishers and stores not actively enforcing their Voluntary ratings system. The government gave the industry a chance years ago to leave it in their hands.
But, as always, greed and making a buck in the short term won out and the industry ignored the potential consequences of what they were doing. The precident is already there...the movie industry is enforced already by a similar set of laws.
All that needed to be done here was simply rate the games fairly, then don't sell the games with a certain rating to someone not the appropriate age. That's it.
Yes, proper parenting is the most important thing here. Parents should be aware of what their kids are doing and take an active role in their child's life. But, all normal parents want(not the generation gap fanatics) is a rating system that gives them an idea of what they are buying, and a system that prevents children from buying stuff under their nose to make their job as parents easier so they don't have to worry about kids hiding stuff(we all know they do).
That's all, and no the government doesn't need to be enforcing this, and I wish they weren't trying. But, it still is the publisher and retail seller's fault for blowing the chance they were given.
Very true. I think the little jab at the end about the early release was uncalled for(although not surprising) but the truth of the matter is these people violated the law.
This was not a case of simple bootlegging either. For those who never saw a copy of this version, it was an extremely good rip. Once some aspect ratio issues were corrected you pretty much had a DVD quality copy with an exellent stereo sound track.
I know in my area the bootleg was rather prevelant. Seemed like ever other person had a copy. People who weren't big Star Wars fans or hated the prequels got/bought copies to see it instead of going to the theater. And star wars fans got copies so they could watch it over again in their homes instead of seeing it again in the theaters. All of which I'm sure did in fact impact sales a decent bit.
Still, this certainly isn't the sole cause of th emovie not meeting expectations, but other slashdotters have already covered that to death.
Dolphins are very good at distinguishing items underwater. Likely they are trained so that they don't shoot anyone wearing something classified that can identify them underwater. That way they leave any navy divers alone. Anyone else who enters the waters around the sub gets shot. Which is probably also why the darts just incapacitate instead of kill in case someone accidentally wanders into the area.
Slashdot Mirror
That while few people will notice the difference between 150fps and 200fps, those numbers are more or less there to help you determine the lifespan of the card itself. While, for current games, both cards will perform extremely well, a 50fps difference means that on future games, the Nvidia card will be able to last longer and run with more graphics options enabled without bottoming out on fps.
While a select few individuals still always buy the latest and the greatest, the majority of buyers look at video cards as long term investments mainly because of the rediculously inflated prices in the GPU market. All that said, I think you have to look at the card's feature set and make a decision based on that. While, gaming wise, the Nvidia GPU may be superior, the dramatically increased transcoding times definitely make the ATI card a potentially attractive purchase to people who work a lot with video. Given the amazing rise in popularity of the Video Ipod and the existing PSP market, the number of people with interests in transcoding video is definitely on the rise, and ATI was smart in tapping that market now.
I don't know the full details as I'm not beta testing Vista, but I do know that Vista has some protections like this in it. This is in large part why MS talks about Vista being much more "secure" than past windows releases. A good example of this is is device drivers. As started in this article(a Q&A with the head of ATI's driver team):
& file=article&sid=6
http://hardwarefanatics.com/modules.php?name=News
"Vista requires a brand new driver model. It is actually called WDDM (Windows Vista Device Driver Model). Whereas before, device drivers were something called kernel mode based, they are now user mode based. This means that drivers do not directly talk to the operating system and have the ability to crash it. The end result will be greatly improved stability for devices on Vista. The amount of work to support the new driver model is tremendous. It is basically a re-write of the entire driver. However, we are very much ahead of the game, and feel good that we will have the best Vista support when it is actually released (and even sooner with our beta drops)."
Not the google/OO.o thing I mean, but efficiency in computer software/hardware design. A lot of people have talked over the years about the effects the breaking of Moore's law would have on the computer industry. As long as companies could rely on exponentially increasing computer speeds, efficiency was largely ignored for many years except, perhaps, in certain parts of the server/mega-computer arena.
Now that we are begining to aproach the end of the line for the current computer hardware technology, much much more emphasis is being placed on effeciency instead of raw speed. You can see this change in attitude reflected in everything from processor design, to modular software and operating systems.
In no small part, one of the reasons the *nix's have become so popular(other than low cost) is that they are extremely customizable. So, you can have all the features you need, but toss out everything else you don't. This allows for a much more effecient, secure, and orderly system.
I will agree that Google and Mac support just don't seem to mix well sadly. But, the "bloat" in OpenOffice is probably one of the things google is best suited to streamline. Lots of features does not have to mean lots of bloat if properly designed and implemented. That, imho, has been Microsoft's biggest failing over the years, and is largely responsible for the countless lurking bugs and security flaws.
I've cleaned this off of 3 family member's computers so far as well. Another lost their entire computer before it could be taken off their system. In all cases what happened was another family member got infected then started automatically messaging everyone on the machine's friend's list. Since the computer was often used by a younger child, the social engineering worked exceptionally well in this case and most everyone clicked the link.
Regardless, if you follow the usual procaution of being careful what you click and have virus protection, you'll be ok. Still, this is one mean little virus if it does get in your system.
They are not traditional RAM cartridges like the GBA and n64 and past console systems. The DS uses a proprietary Flash memory media that is currently capable of 256mb of space but expandable to 1gb of space. That's actually quite a lot of space and my understanding is it is relatively cheap on Nintendo's end to produce.
If the current market trends and price drops are any indication as well, Flash media or an equivilant will likely be replacing optical media like CDs, DVDs, UMDs, etc in another generation or two as the media format of choice.
Why? Outside of costs, which are dropping dramatically, Flash media has a multitude of inherant advantages including small size, no moving parts to wear out, and protective casings to prevent scratch damage. Honestly, Sony's UMD technology seems more like a step backward than forward for a portable device. It is tremendously taxing on the system's battery and much more prone to potential malfunction. I can bet you that if Sony could have found a way to make cheap 1gb+ flash catridges they would have left the UMD slot out entirely since they already have a memory stick slot on the unit.
Better to tackle the "looming energy crisis" head on and use human ingenuity to come up with a better, more environmentally friendly, solution. Simply settling for something that works but has problems is the same attitude that has gotten the world into this rediculous oil mess, all the while destroying the very planet we live on.
I'm not saying Nuclear power might not be the best answer for a short term emergency, but short term solutions tend to become long term ones when government is concerned.
Unbuntu has two different versions. One is an install CD, the other is a run CD that lets you launch linux from disc without installing anything. Now, of course, the CD version is going to be more limited, but given that you can read/write fat32 and network NTFS(and read local NTFS) you can still do a decent bit with it. It's not bad at all if you just want to give linux a whirl and see what it is all about/teach yourself how to use some aspects of linux.
They still havn't quite gotten that their Server Software is only attractive if you have absolutely no clue what you are doing. It is a pretty decent in that you can take it out of the box and just run with it.
Linux and the like require a lot of setup time first to get everything running perfect. But, once you get that out of the way, it is generally superior in the long run. What Microsoft fails to realize is that given the proliferation of the internet and the complexities of the modern day IT world, most server techs know exactly what they are doing. So, the initial linux hurdle is non-existant.
In most cases, MS only gains a foothold in organizations where they can con the higherups into thinking MS knows better or will cut them a better deal.
It's habit and name. Your average Joe doesn't like a lot of change. For the longest time MS Office was "the" way to go. So, it is easy to get latched on to the software suite because you know the name and software.
That said, more and more people are slowly switching over to OO or an equivilant, in large part because they are free versus MS's insane pricing of MS office. The trick is getting people to make the leap to try it out. But once they do they usually go "Hey, this works pretty good, and you can't beat free."
This one application doing everything philosophy. Better would be for them to take a look at the design of their Office sweet of software. The ideal media applications come in the form of hubs.
You create an intuitive and uniform interface among a suite of applications. Then, devote each application to doing its job extremely well. This makes each application bloat free and efficient. In addition, it allows you to make each component very powerful without bogging down the overall program.
A good example of this philosophy is iTunes+Quicktime. I'm certainly not saying that those two applications are perfect, they aren't. But, what makes them so attractive is both are uniform in design, very intuitive to use, feature rich, and link with each other. When iTunes needs to work with video and audio it simply acts as a hub for quicktime. Allowing quicktime, a devoted media player, to handle playback in an efficient fashion.
The added benefit of this approach is you only use up as many system resources as you need at any given moment. MS, would be well served to adopt this approach and split media player into a series of applications, then convert the media player itself into a hub to access the suite of software.
Yes, these two browsers play off each other more than they do off of IE. Why?
- IE is a horribly out of date browser, it offers little in the way of new features compared to other browsers out there.
- The primary reason IE has the lead in market share isn't because of security or features, it is because IE is already installed on windows machines.
For your average Joe who doesn't think about security and just wants to check the web from time to time, they don't want to go through the hassle of downloading and installing a new browser since they already have one.
That said, for all my friends/family, I have long since gone on their computer and switched them over to firefox. I just slap an IE theme on firefox, swap out a few shortcuts, and blam they are done. They can't tell a single difference between using FF and IE, but behind the scenes they are more secure and have a heck of a lot less spyware problems.
I think more significant isn't that Firefox is in second place, it is that it has 25%+ of the market share in an area where MS has an extreme "monopoly" advantage.
Yes, that is very true. But there is a line you draw. First, you have to remember that it *is* just a theory and not a law set in stone. You have to keep your mind open. And, I don't mean open to bad science, but open to other possibilities being researched with good science.
Second, there is an increasing tendancy to take any theory as near fact as possible. The end result is people building new theories on top of a theory that hasn't even been fully tested. Again, this happens regularly in science anyway, but there is a line between jumping to conclusions and exploring the potential of a theory.
All too often people jump to conclusions these days.
...where so many gadgets and inventions appear daily that continue to make science fiction into science fact, it is hard to motivate the younger generations to pursue the sciences. Why make a career out of a subject where you may never see the results of your work with your own eyes, when other fields have tangeble results from their work?
Other problems include:
- poor pay
- an increasing tendancy among scientists to take theory as fact
- increased outsourcing by american business
- unmotivated and/or knowledgable teachers(see poor pay as the reason for that)
- Greater competition by other countries
- The fanatical religious destruction of the scientific community.
It's a tough job shielding those astronaughts between my attempts to destroy the worlds electronics.
Keep in mind ABC also owns ESPN, so you can bet if this thing takes off, up next will be sports broadcasts and other ESPN shows. Imagine the potential. Missed that game you wanted to see? No problem, for $2 you can download it and watch it whenever and whereever you want.
Is going to be a real selling point and is a brilliant idea that will likely attract a lot more stations.
I mean think about it. Season X DVDs of TV shows are already imensely popular. At 2$ a show the TV companies are making about the same profit as they would off selling an entire DVD season, consumers get their shows right then and there, and apple makes a profit from the sales.
While I certainly agree that the Ipod is still not the ideal video display device, this is an excellent additional feature to an already well designed mp3 player. Now if we can just get support for more MP3 formats and maybe a built in FM tuner, Apple would hold all the cards over any of their competitors.
Normally stuff like this from MS makes me shudder with dread. But the lack of a standard communication IM protocal has driven me crazy for years. Trillian and other programs are ways to get around that, of course. But, having a single standard would go a long way, and this is a nice step towards that.
Compete in features you offer in your IM clients, but for heavens sake unify the networks.
For myself, and I know many others, the sound card is something you consider when building a new machine entirely. It is rare that something so good comes out that I feel compelled to upgrade the sound card. For me, when I build a new machine I get the new top of the line card then put my old one in my secondary work machine.
As others have said, a good set of speakers is really more meaningful these days than the card. Yes, definitely the card can make a huge difference. But the difference between an Audigy 2 and an X-Fi? Not significant enough to warrant a new purchase unless it is a totally new machine.
Which, by the way, I suspect that is where the majority of Creative's revenue comes from, Dell and others who buy their cards in large quantities for their higher end machines.
IPTV(or some similar implementation) is the future. Same as digital distrobution gaining ground in the music industry and gaming industry. The movie industry is already exploring their options too.
The problem is, and always has been, our sorely lacking infastructure. Not every home has broadband, and most homes that do can't afford the "super deluxe" high bandwith options. Beyond that, most ISPs offer horrendusly shoddy customer service. Frequent outages, slow speeds, etc are the norm(more so the futher you move out of densely populated regions).
Without a good infastructure in place, IPTV and the like will never be huge money making successes. This is especially the case because poor digital signal results in horrendous pixelation and audio distortion. At least with analog you just get a slightly fuzzier picture. You need strong consistant bandwidth to pull this off and most places just aren't there yet. We *are* getting there, but we've got another decade or two to go before it gets really solid.
And that's in technologically sophisticated countries. Tack on another 20 to 100 years to that figure for 3rd world countries.
Is the Video Game publishers and stores not actively enforcing their Voluntary ratings system. The government gave the industry a chance years ago to leave it in their hands.
But, as always, greed and making a buck in the short term won out and the industry ignored the potential consequences of what they were doing. The precident is already there...the movie industry is enforced already by a similar set of laws.
All that needed to be done here was simply rate the games fairly, then don't sell the games with a certain rating to someone not the appropriate age. That's it.
Yes, proper parenting is the most important thing here. Parents should be aware of what their kids are doing and take an active role in their child's life. But, all normal parents want(not the generation gap fanatics) is a rating system that gives them an idea of what they are buying, and a system that prevents children from buying stuff under their nose to make their job as parents easier so they don't have to worry about kids hiding stuff(we all know they do).
That's all, and no the government doesn't need to be enforcing this, and I wish they weren't trying. But, it still is the publisher and retail seller's fault for blowing the chance they were given.
Very true. I think the little jab at the end about the early release was uncalled for(although not surprising) but the truth of the matter is these people violated the law.
This was not a case of simple bootlegging either. For those who never saw a copy of this version, it was an extremely good rip. Once some aspect ratio issues were corrected you pretty much had a DVD quality copy with an exellent stereo sound track.
I know in my area the bootleg was rather prevelant. Seemed like ever other person had a copy. People who weren't big Star Wars fans or hated the prequels got/bought copies to see it instead of going to the theater. And star wars fans got copies so they could watch it over again in their homes instead of seeing it again in the theaters. All of which I'm sure did in fact impact sales a decent bit.
Still, this certainly isn't the sole cause of th emovie not meeting expectations, but other slashdotters have already covered that to death.
We can just send in a squad of Toxic Dart Dolphins.
Create a program that does all the downgrading and re-upgrading behind the scenes to allow full homebrew use but keep it all transparant to the user.
Dolphins are very good at distinguishing items underwater. Likely they are trained so that they don't shoot anyone wearing something classified that can identify them underwater. That way they leave any navy divers alone. Anyone else who enters the waters around the sub gets shot. Which is probably also why the darts just incapacitate instead of kill in case someone accidentally wanders into the area.