A government with no power is as dangerous as, if not more so than, a government with too much. Dunno about you, but I like having law enforcement to protect me, ambulances to take me to hospital, and firemen to stop my house burning down.
They don't. We have no Capital Gains Tax, and the National (read: rich person's) Government refuses to consider one. Investment entities are taxed at 30% on the returns, but that's it.
Also, the top tax rate is slightly higher - it's 34.70% once you factor in the contributions to ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation), the funding agency for the aforesaid public healthcare. And 15% sales tax on every good or service (even essential goods and services). Plus a massively high cost of living (roughly $5.74 USD per US gallon for milk as an example, and $7 USD for a block of cheese) and a generally below average wage rate (intermediate software developers get paid $64k NZD - that's $52k USD, which is paltry). Compound that with very high rental prices for property and up to 7% compounding interest on mortgages (coupled with exorbitantly high house prices too) and you make for a country where if you aren't rich, you're poor, or scraping by pretending not to be.
Ah, no... Crown Law is the legal representation. The Ministry of Justice is the arm that does things, probably under direction from the Department of Internal Affairs. Despite that, the courts ordered the government to nominate a department to take the flak if the court case failed, and the Police got that dubious honour.
I think I'd prefer to stick with my existing superannuation fund. For a start, we're taxed on the value of shareholdings here not their returns - so by investing directly I'll be taxed like a mofo. Also, for every dollar I put into my fund, my employer is legally required to put in a dollar and the government another 50 cents. So every contributed dollar is actually a $2.50 contribution. There is no legal requirement for either of the above to give me money to invest in the sharemarket. (Also, once in the superannuation fund here, you cannot opt out from it - ever). And since the fund managers get paid a percentage of the total fund as payment, they tend to be very much interested in improving returns.
I have considered investing part of my remaining money into the sharemarket directly, but the minimum shareholdings make that untenable (a share worth say $100, I'd need a minimum shareholding of around $10k worth of them or the exchange would force-sell my holdings for being below minimums).
What really happens on the games is that there is no message of anything except for the game asking for a password. Unless you read page 9374 of the TOS and EULA for the game at download time, you would not know that someone was about to sock your account for anything. The game does not have to tell you that it is going to charge your account. It simply asks for a password.
You suck at investing - my superannuation fund (401k for you Americans, I guess) made $170 last month, and it only has $4k in it. Now this is part of a pool, so that return is proportionate to the return on the entire pool, but way more than your $21 on $50,000.
It takes a pretty herculean effort to get iTunes to not nuke any device it hasn't encountered before from orbit. However, Zune will also attempt a precision orbital strike on any new Windows Phones it sees too. Apple's not unique there.
We are Berne Convention signatories, but Article 13 only applies to music and only grants that a country may implement laws deeming copies sourced non-locally as infringing. Our country has chosen not to do so and since Article 16 only applies if the work is infringing in the country of import, it's not applicable here.
Of course, the US Government is pushing mandatory parallel import restrictions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement because US megacorps despise New Zealand law. Tech lobby groups are working non-stop to tank the TPPA so hopefully that thing ends up dead in the water.
Incidentally, our bans are only for obscenity grounds.
You folks have some crazy laws. Where I am, we are free to parallel import anything legally, even copyrighted stuff. The only exception is banned films/books, and that to resell a film you have to get it rated by the film and literature commission. Of course the US government is trying to write into TPPA that we have to make it illegal to parallel import copyrighted stuff.
It's not IP the US is chief exporter of, it's shitty laws.
What the hell are you talking about? Every single router I've seen has shipped with the firewall turned on. User can do whatever they want from inside the firewall but nothing unsolicited can get in anyway.
Face it, NAT is shit. It's not a security feature, it's a crappy hack that causes more problems than it solves. You folks advocating staying on IPv4 because "it's got NAT!" and "IPv6 is hard!" need to cut it out - you're holding back the internet because you're frightened of change.
Perhaps, but if that link is to "ad.doubleclick.net" or "ad.yieldmanager.net" then no conscious interaction is required, a legitimate site can infect you just as easily.
Because Microsoft explicitly forbids it. Says it pretty plainly in the product description everywhere that sells it. So you can be sure there's no way Microsoft will tolerate a Triple-A studio like Bethesda including support in a Windows game.
The simple answer is that they cannot use Kinect for Windows because you aren't allowed to make games with it. It's for actual practical applications as it says in the product description: "this is not a consumer product" and "this is a Kinect development product for Windows, intended for commercial clients and developers". Even more blunt: "Not for Gaming Use". There is no way Microsoft would permit Kinect to be integrated into a PC game as an advertised feature.
Actually no. The Xbox 360's Kinect drivers will not work on Windows, and the code is very likely not cross-compilable. Also, Kinect for Windows is not meant for gaming, it's for actual practical applications. It even says it in the product description. It also says "this is not a consumer product" and "this is a Kinect development product for Windows, intended for commercial clients and developers". There is no way Microsoft would permit Kinect to be integrated into a game as an advertised feature.
Kinect for Windows isn't intended for games, which is part of the reason it's twice the price. It's actually meant for practical applications (natural UI, etc).
You: XBOX EQUIP FEEBLE DAGGER! XBOX EQUIP FEEBLE DAGGER! EQUIP... You God-dammit CANCEL. NO, CANCEL. FUCKING CANCEL! Friend: [Punch to the face.] You: OW!!! XBox:
On the 360, voice commands only work with Kinect. Also, it lets you put the purple Kinect bar on the box, and it gets even more marketing money from Microsoft.
Unfortunately, most Kinect implementations are mere gimmicks (Star Wars anyone?)
Slashdot Mirror
A government with no power is as dangerous as, if not more so than, a government with too much. Dunno about you, but I like having law enforcement to protect me, ambulances to take me to hospital, and firemen to stop my house burning down.
They don't. We have no Capital Gains Tax, and the National (read: rich person's) Government refuses to consider one. Investment entities are taxed at 30% on the returns, but that's it.
Also, the top tax rate is slightly higher - it's 34.70% once you factor in the contributions to ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation), the funding agency for the aforesaid public healthcare. And 15% sales tax on every good or service (even essential goods and services). Plus a massively high cost of living (roughly $5.74 USD per US gallon for milk as an example, and $7 USD for a block of cheese) and a generally below average wage rate (intermediate software developers get paid $64k NZD - that's $52k USD, which is paltry). Compound that with very high rental prices for property and up to 7% compounding interest on mortgages (coupled with exorbitantly high house prices too) and you make for a country where if you aren't rich, you're poor, or scraping by pretending not to be.
Ah, no... Crown Law is the legal representation. The Ministry of Justice is the arm that does things, probably under direction from the Department of Internal Affairs. Despite that, the courts ordered the government to nominate a department to take the flak if the court case failed, and the Police got that dubious honour.
Besides, Sovereign Immunity.
Yeah right, like the sheep will vote against him. Why, oh why, does National still have good opinion poll ratings?!?
So voting for the greater of the evils is a good idea? That's fairly odd logic.
I think I'd prefer to stick with my existing superannuation fund. For a start, we're taxed on the value of shareholdings here not their returns - so by investing directly I'll be taxed like a mofo. Also, for every dollar I put into my fund, my employer is legally required to put in a dollar and the government another 50 cents. So every contributed dollar is actually a $2.50 contribution. There is no legal requirement for either of the above to give me money to invest in the sharemarket. (Also, once in the superannuation fund here, you cannot opt out from it - ever). And since the fund managers get paid a percentage of the total fund as payment, they tend to be very much interested in improving returns.
I have considered investing part of my remaining money into the sharemarket directly, but the minimum shareholdings make that untenable (a share worth say $100, I'd need a minimum shareholding of around $10k worth of them or the exchange would force-sell my holdings for being below minimums).
What really happens on the games is that there is no message of anything except for the game asking for a password. Unless you read page 9374 of the TOS and EULA for the game at download time, you would not know that someone was about to sock your account for anything. The game does not have to tell you that it is going to charge your account. It simply asks for a password.
Uh, yes - they do.
You suck at investing - my superannuation fund (401k for you Americans, I guess) made $170 last month, and it only has $4k in it. Now this is part of a pool, so that return is proportionate to the return on the entire pool, but way more than your $21 on $50,000.
It takes a pretty herculean effort to get iTunes to not nuke any device it hasn't encountered before from orbit. However, Zune will also attempt a precision orbital strike on any new Windows Phones it sees too. Apple's not unique there.
Well that's true. It sort of kills their argument about us paying "internationally competitive prices" though.
We are Berne Convention signatories, but Article 13 only applies to music and only grants that a country may implement laws deeming copies sourced non-locally as infringing. Our country has chosen not to do so and since Article 16 only applies if the work is infringing in the country of import, it's not applicable here.
Of course, the US Government is pushing mandatory parallel import restrictions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement because US megacorps despise New Zealand law. Tech lobby groups are working non-stop to tank the TPPA so hopefully that thing ends up dead in the water.
Incidentally, our bans are only for obscenity grounds.
You folks have some crazy laws. Where I am, we are free to parallel import anything legally, even copyrighted stuff. The only exception is banned films/books, and that to resell a film you have to get it rated by the film and literature commission. Of course the US government is trying to write into TPPA that we have to make it illegal to parallel import copyrighted stuff.
It's not IP the US is chief exporter of, it's shitty laws.
Here in NZ, we pay $5.74 (usd/gallon - nz $3.50 per 2 litre bottle) so you have nothing to complain about.
What the hell are you talking about? Every single router I've seen has shipped with the firewall turned on. User can do whatever they want from inside the firewall but nothing unsolicited can get in anyway.
Face it, NAT is shit. It's not a security feature, it's a crappy hack that causes more problems than it solves. You folks advocating staying on IPv4 because "it's got NAT!" and "IPv6 is hard!" need to cut it out - you're holding back the internet because you're frightened of change.
NAT is not a security feature. That's what SPI Firewalls are for. And every router I've ever seen has one.
Perhaps, but if that link is to "ad.doubleclick.net" or "ad.yieldmanager.net" then no conscious interaction is required, a legitimate site can infect you just as easily.
Because Microsoft explicitly forbids it. Says it pretty plainly in the product description everywhere that sells it. So you can be sure there's no way Microsoft will tolerate a Triple-A studio like Bethesda including support in a Windows game.
Slashdot's a tech site. Try the HTML entity...
£ © ® €
It's surprising just how many characters work fine if you insert them the correct way...
but I worked for what was an ethical company
No you didn't. An ethical company wouldn't be reading customers' emails.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't mangle £
(Of course, it could still do so in order to piss me off).
The simple answer is that they cannot use Kinect for Windows because you aren't allowed to make games with it. It's for actual practical applications as it says in the product description: "this is not a consumer product" and "this is a Kinect development product for Windows, intended for commercial clients and developers". Even more blunt: "Not for Gaming Use". There is no way Microsoft would permit Kinect to be integrated into a PC game as an advertised feature.
Actually no. The Xbox 360's Kinect drivers will not work on Windows, and the code is very likely not cross-compilable. Also, Kinect for Windows is not meant for gaming, it's for actual practical applications. It even says it in the product description. It also says "this is not a consumer product" and "this is a Kinect development product for Windows, intended for commercial clients and developers". There is no way Microsoft would permit Kinect to be integrated into a game as an advertised feature.
Kinect for Windows isn't intended for games, which is part of the reason it's twice the price. It's actually meant for practical applications (natural UI, etc).
Slight amendment to that:
You: XBOX EQUIP FEEBLE DAGGER! XBOX EQUIP FEEBLE DAGGER! EQUIP...
You God-dammit CANCEL. NO, CANCEL. FUCKING CANCEL!
Friend: [Punch to the face.]
You: OW!!!
XBox:
On the 360, voice commands only work with Kinect. Also, it lets you put the purple Kinect bar on the box, and it gets even more marketing money from Microsoft.
Unfortunately, most Kinect implementations are mere gimmicks (Star Wars anyone?)