Can we have a new -1 Smug mod, please?
And on topic - ish - I embraced Starforce so I could play Space Rangers(2) and haven't had a single problem with my DVD burner. Course my DVD burner is in another computer. (hmm. That sounded kinda smug.)
And in Bizzarro World there would still be people bitching about having to watch weird movies for a living and dying to get home so they could collate some statistics and relax.
Some people just don't like the idea of work. Or helping other people out. Or getting off their asses at all.
Some people will put up with work and others will relish whatever job you throw at them and take from it what they can.
They should have differentiated the dual core chips a while back to make them stand out from the single core Pentiums. This smacks of a last minute name change to do just that but without the benefit of marketing hype.
The UK edition of PC Gamer is virtually an Eve Online propaganda tool and some of the stories coming out of Eve are positively Machiavellian but everytime I think of going back I have flashbacks to my time spent mining asteroids. Much like my recollections of Neocron are all about sewers.
Guild Wars OTOH is a blast and because there are no subs I can just dip into as and when I feel like it and not worry that I'm wasting a subscriptions if I'm not logging 8 hours a night.
I read most of my books in bed or sprawled on my recliner. Not an ideal pace for a laptop. Oh, I also own a radio.
Even if this isn't going to be the ebook reader I buy it'll only be a matter of time before someone in China starts churning out an unrestricted reader for half the price. I see this announcement more as a signal for things to come rather than for something I'm going to run out and buy right now.
I believe it will read pdfs so DRM is as much of a problem as you want it to be. I've seen horror stories in general about trying to transfer ebooks between PDAs so personally I'll limit myself to store that'll let me download plain txt (which I can convert to PDF to suit my personal preference with OO) or native PDF. Alternatively I may take the semi-moral choice of simply downloading via P2P scanned versions of books I already own.
Having recently struggled through Johnathon Strange, The Cleric Quintet and half of the Thomas Covenant saga in massive hardback editions I am seriously looking forward to a convenient lightweight way to read these tomes.
Unfortunately with most ebook sellers pricing themselves higher than equivalent paperbacks it's going to take more than this to really liven up the market. I favour SF&F so Baen ( http://www.baen.com/library/ ) are a welcome exception. They offer DRM-free downloads and subscriptions AND offer a load of books for free download.
Somebody realised that existing nuclear reactors account for 10-15% of production in Europe and they're pretty much all due to be decommissioned within the next 15 years or so. With solar and wind power still impractical and increasing oil supply a risky prospect what else was going to happen?
Early adopters of "HD" televisions are screwed because the film studios have insisted on the HDMI interface to preserve their copy protection mechanisms. And because of the digital millenium act a HDMI to component convertor would be illegal in the US.
Look what happened with Valve. They've made a huge effort to cut out the middle man so they can sell their games direct to their fans. They didn't need a publisher for HL2 and partnered up with Activision (I think) for retail distribution as part of a contractual obligation. With their next game they'll have a much stronger bargaining position when looking for retail distribution, if they even bother with it at all.
I'm actually a big fan of Steam and think it works well.
Now they're offering other independent developers the chance at Steam distribution for games like Darwinia and Rag Doll Kung Fu. All they need to do is take the extra step of offering to fund game developement and they've completed the trinity of development publishing and distribution. Amen.
"I can't wait until robots can fly, and make decisions for us. Then I can sit around and read Slashdot all day while my Exocomp does all the unpleasant tasks I need done, like going to work every day, doing my laundry, cooking and cleaning me."
Just a small correction.
Needless to say but you seem to be confusing Suprnova with Lokitorrent. Loki pretty much took the money and ran after selling his registered users out. Suprnova never required registration to use the trackers, Lokitorrent did, so when Loki handed over his user logs the RIAA (I think it was) got there hands on the email addresses of anyone who'd used the sites. That's a LOT of hotmail addresses...
The USPTO doesn't help itself when they consider patenting storylines and other makebelieve. Originally you were meant to have a working model before you would be granted a patent but now it seems possible to patent a "concept" and hold other people to ransom with it.
"At the close of my post-show interview, I asked Aiden whether he would rather play his favorite video game by himself, or a board game with his friends. His answer - a hopeful beacon of light for the next generation - was "I'd rather play with my friends, Dad."
I'm sleepy and thought that said he wanted to play with his friend's Dad. Eek...
Cool article all the same. Would have loved my dad to take an interest in that sort of thing when I was 8.
They can let other people's governments invest in the training and then employ those people when they become economic migrants. The original government benefits in wages being sent home and increased real world experience when their wayward sons and daughters return home. The people who "lose out" are obviously the graduates left wondering why they spent all that money getting an education just to get a job flipping burgers.
And to try to steer myself back on-topic - if only caucasians have been tested and found to have the gene for high IQ there would be an outcry about racial profiling if anyone tried using it as a measure of aptitude. Nor does IQ in any way relate to industriousness - remember it's 90% perspiration.
Kudos for bringing Firefly to the party.
I'm not sure if it was your intention but you've just shown how any story would be susceptible to claims it infringed just about any broad category of plot patent.
The plot in question is fairly specific though.
However how hard would it really be to take a couple of dozen key plot elements and have a computer spit out thousands of permutations? A movie or book plot doesn't have to duplicate every element of the patent and nor does the patent have to be mirrored exactly in the offending plot. Just enough to get a decision in court. If I patent the plot for the disabled guy who goes to New York to get away from his family and find some independence and in the process discovers he has a talent for basketball - I can probably call out a movie that features Los Angeles and Netball. Otherwise all you'd do is look at the latest paptented plots and change a little here a little there and patent it yourself.
I just don't see this working.
Slashdot Mirror
I mean she's NEVER used a computer?
Can we have a new -1 Smug mod, please? And on topic - ish - I embraced Starforce so I could play Space Rangers(2) and haven't had a single problem with my DVD burner. Course my DVD burner is in another computer. (hmm. That sounded kinda smug.)
Some people just don't like the idea of work. Or helping other people out. Or getting off their asses at all.
Some people will put up with work and others will relish whatever job you throw at them and take from it what they can.
Ultimately it's about the people, not the jobs.
...through an EMU-lator.
Could do with a really big dose of this to blot out the last decade or so.
They should have differentiated the dual core chips a while back to make them stand out from the single core Pentiums. This smacks of a last minute name change to do just that but without the benefit of marketing hype.
Guild Wars OTOH is a blast and because there are no subs I can just dip into as and when I feel like it and not worry that I'm wasting a subscriptions if I'm not logging 8 hours a night.
you get old when you stop playing games.
I think that is an excellent idea. Quality rather than quantity.
Even if this isn't going to be the ebook reader I buy it'll only be a matter of time before someone in China starts churning out an unrestricted reader for half the price. I see this announcement more as a signal for things to come rather than for something I'm going to run out and buy right now.
I believe it will read pdfs so DRM is as much of a problem as you want it to be. I've seen horror stories in general about trying to transfer ebooks between PDAs so personally I'll limit myself to store that'll let me download plain txt (which I can convert to PDF to suit my personal preference with OO) or native PDF. Alternatively I may take the semi-moral choice of simply downloading via P2P scanned versions of books I already own.
Unfortunately with most ebook sellers pricing themselves higher than equivalent paperbacks it's going to take more than this to really liven up the market. I favour SF&F so Baen ( http://www.baen.com/library/ ) are a welcome exception. They offer DRM-free downloads and subscriptions AND offer a load of books for free download.
Somebody realised that existing nuclear reactors account for 10-15% of production in Europe and they're pretty much all due to be decommissioned within the next 15 years or so. With solar and wind power still impractical and increasing oil supply a risky prospect what else was going to happen?
Early adopters of "HD" televisions are screwed because the film studios have insisted on the HDMI interface to preserve their copy protection mechanisms. And because of the digital millenium act a HDMI to component convertor would be illegal in the US.
I'm actually a big fan of Steam and think it works well.
Now they're offering other independent developers the chance at Steam distribution for games like Darwinia and Rag Doll Kung Fu. All they need to do is take the extra step of offering to fund game developement and they've completed the trinity of development publishing and distribution. Amen.
They both got them from Orwell.
Out of that list 4 out of 10 aren't directly based on previous movies or books AFAIK. To be honest that's more than I would have expected.
"I can't wait until robots can fly, and make decisions for us. Then I can sit around and read Slashdot all day while my Exocomp does all the unpleasant tasks I need done, like going to work every day, doing my laundry, cooking and cleaning me." Just a small correction.
Needless to say but you seem to be confusing Suprnova with Lokitorrent. Loki pretty much took the money and ran after selling his registered users out. Suprnova never required registration to use the trackers, Lokitorrent did, so when Loki handed over his user logs the RIAA (I think it was) got there hands on the email addresses of anyone who'd used the sites. That's a LOT of hotmail addresses...
The USPTO doesn't help itself when they consider patenting storylines and other makebelieve. Originally you were meant to have a working model before you would be granted a patent but now it seems possible to patent a "concept" and hold other people to ransom with it.
"At the close of my post-show interview, I asked Aiden whether he would rather play his favorite video game by himself, or a board game with his friends. His answer - a hopeful beacon of light for the next generation - was "I'd rather play with my friends, Dad." I'm sleepy and thought that said he wanted to play with his friend's Dad. Eek... Cool article all the same. Would have loved my dad to take an interest in that sort of thing when I was 8.
They can let other people's governments invest in the training and then employ those people when they become economic migrants. The original government benefits in wages being sent home and increased real world experience when their wayward sons and daughters return home. The people who "lose out" are obviously the graduates left wondering why they spent all that money getting an education just to get a job flipping burgers. And to try to steer myself back on-topic - if only caucasians have been tested and found to have the gene for high IQ there would be an outcry about racial profiling if anyone tried using it as a measure of aptitude. Nor does IQ in any way relate to industriousness - remember it's 90% perspiration.
Ssshhhhh.... you're drawing attention to him....
Windows: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Kudos for bringing Firefly to the party. I'm not sure if it was your intention but you've just shown how any story would be susceptible to claims it infringed just about any broad category of plot patent. The plot in question is fairly specific though. However how hard would it really be to take a couple of dozen key plot elements and have a computer spit out thousands of permutations? A movie or book plot doesn't have to duplicate every element of the patent and nor does the patent have to be mirrored exactly in the offending plot. Just enough to get a decision in court. If I patent the plot for the disabled guy who goes to New York to get away from his family and find some independence and in the process discovers he has a talent for basketball - I can probably call out a movie that features Los Angeles and Netball. Otherwise all you'd do is look at the latest paptented plots and change a little here a little there and patent it yourself. I just don't see this working.