This is a slashdot story about an ebay auction of a discontinued crapbook that I've seen for sale in hardware and drug stores. I think it's time to just give up on this place. This is fucking terrible.
I agree with basically everything you say. But I do think there is another model for game distribution they could have in mind: partial downloads on demand. You buy the game, it downloads 10% of the game and lets you start playing, as you play through it has to download more, and if you never finish the game, it never actually downloads the whole thing. I imagine MMOs already operate this way, so it's not a novel idea or anything, but using it for every game for a console could be a new take on using the technique.
I don't think this is a good idea to do for a console right now because 10% could still easily be 500MB, which can be a daunting download on PSN, even with a good connection. But I can see that being a desired approach for the future from the standpoint of distribution and piracy. People that play 15% of the game download 15% of the game and, since you download the game a chunk at a time as you play, I would imagine there is an argument to be made for how this could prevent piracy.
I don't know if it would actually put a dent in piracy, but I can imagine people convincing execs that it will.
Atrix 4G and Atrix II can do it but I believe, as you say, they were added by Motorola. You could get a dock to make hooking USB devices up easily or just spend a little time getting them hooked up directly to the phone and then you had keyboard and mouse via USB and video via HDMI for a nice little setup.
Maybe they can make another nerdier commercial that says something like "Hey, remember IE? The first browser with XMLHttpRequest and favicons and innerHTML? It wasn't all bad, was it?"
In regards to the video cards, that just comes down to getting what you pay for. You don't have to buy a vid card every year to keep playing the newest games. If you don't update, then at some point you won't be able to set your games to max settings. If your goal is to have the best graphics possible, that's no good for you. But if you are content with console graphics, then a vid card that is 3 or 4 years old is still going to deliver better than the consoles can right now.
My vid card is about 3 years old now I think. It's a 4870 that I got for around $250. It plays Skyrim at 40-50 fps on the High preset. Very High and Ultra cause the framerate to drop too low. I think that's 4xAA, the texture quality looks beautiful and I am playing at 1080p. I could have spent the $280 on a console instead and been playing games at 720p or less and 2xAA or no AA. Graphics aren't all there is to gaming, but when it comes down to picking a vid card vs a console, the graphics are an important part of the consideration.
I've used an Android phone for personal stuff for about 2 years now and a BlackBerry for work for about 5 years. The BB is work issued, and the one I have is old, a Curve 8320. What BBs have you used with good email apps? My 8320 butchers every email. I tried a newer curve, I think a 93xx or something, a Storm, and a couple of other random ones, and they all butchered email as well. I'd consider paying for a new BB out of pocket for work use if it could actually display an email correctly.
I think the moment I realized I needed to learn more in order to do less was when a friend saw me code an enumerator class to do something that involved fetching paginated results from a local database and he replaced 90% of my code with the word yield.
I've used C# a bit for work and it's the language I pick whenever I can for personal projects. Compared to Python, there is definitely a fair amount of boilerplate. But, it never bothered me the way boilerplate bothered me in Java back when I used it. That said, I haven't used Java outside of building demo Android apps in about 7 years so it could be just as good as C# or better and I wouldn't know.
When I am coding C#, if I notice a build up of boilerplate, it is usually a sign that I am not taking advantage of something that is available to me. I could probably write code that looks almost identical to the code I wrote in Java years ago, but that'd be a fault of mine, not of C#'s. Also, I haven't used an IDE that handles generating boilerplate as nicely as Visual Studio does for the occasions when it is still necessary. I'd probably be using Python for my fun projects if I found an IDE for it that I enjoyed using as much as I enjoy using Visual Studio with C#.
IM, email and Twitter type applications are bad examples because they would probably be using push notifications instead of an app running in the background. It's the only way on iOS. It sounds like it's the only way on Windows Phone. And Google made it an option for Android when they added C2DM in Android 2.2 and I would be annoyed if an IM or email app opted for a background service instead of push notification on my Android phone.
It's like in a horror movie when a psycho killer steadily follows after a group of fleeing campers. He doesn't have to run. He knows he'll catch enough of them.
Phlogiston theory fit the definition when it was considered a scientific theory. It is now a superseded/obsolete theory meaning it is not regarded as correct. Nothing about it goes against the agreed upon definition that I mentioned.
One definition of the word theory is: a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena.
I think this whole thing comes down to a lot of people not understanding this definition of the word "theory."
If they created another league for computer-aided play, they would still be trying to eliminate cheating from the non-computer-aided play league. So that doesn't solve anything.
And, who exactly is shunning technological enhancements? How much press have human vs computer matches gotten? And how frequently do people play chess against computers?
Computers in chess is not really a new thing, and it certainly isn't shunned from chess in general. But, this is a league that is meant to test one player against another player, not one player's team and tech vs another player's team and tech. This league, and any other leagues that decide they don't want technology aiding players, have no reason to change that position if they don't want to. It's their league, they are playing a game, there is no right or wrong, there is simply what the people involved prefer. If a majority of players in the league wanted the technology, they would probably allow it.
Android and Windows Phone, since the article is only about those two. The paper is basically a sales pitch for an energy profiler. It sounds like they've only implemented it on those two platforms so far. So, we'll have to wait for the numbers on power wastes on iOS.
I remember it being announced that Chrome was dropping support for H264. I only remember because a month later Microsoft released a plugin to add support back to Chrome on Windows and I thought that was hilarious. I don't recall if they ever actually dropped support though. I mainly use Opera, which has never had H264 natively anyway so I've mostly ignored the arguments.
I'm well aware of that. Just pointing out the error in assuming PC means one company's type of PC versus the much broader category of Personal Computers.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a slashdot story about an ebay auction of a discontinued crapbook that I've seen for sale in hardware and drug stores. I think it's time to just give up on this place. This is fucking terrible.
I agree with basically everything you say. But I do think there is another model for game distribution they could have in mind: partial downloads on demand. You buy the game, it downloads 10% of the game and lets you start playing, as you play through it has to download more, and if you never finish the game, it never actually downloads the whole thing. I imagine MMOs already operate this way, so it's not a novel idea or anything, but using it for every game for a console could be a new take on using the technique.
I don't think this is a good idea to do for a console right now because 10% could still easily be 500MB, which can be a daunting download on PSN, even with a good connection. But I can see that being a desired approach for the future from the standpoint of distribution and piracy. People that play 15% of the game download 15% of the game and, since you download the game a chunk at a time as you play, I would imagine there is an argument to be made for how this could prevent piracy.
I don't know if it would actually put a dent in piracy, but I can imagine people convincing execs that it will.
Ahh, so Vista was good too since it falls under NT6 just like Windows 7 does? :-D
No true Scotsman I see.
Except that Windows 2000 was awesome.
Atrix 4G and Atrix II can do it but I believe, as you say, they were added by Motorola. You could get a dock to make hooking USB devices up easily or just spend a little time getting them hooked up directly to the phone and then you had keyboard and mouse via USB and video via HDMI for a nice little setup.
Maybe they can make another nerdier commercial that says something like "Hey, remember IE? The first browser with XMLHttpRequest and favicons and innerHTML? It wasn't all bad, was it?"
Excel has been running its numbers through an emulated version of this hardware for years.
In regards to the video cards, that just comes down to getting what you pay for. You don't have to buy a vid card every year to keep playing the newest games. If you don't update, then at some point you won't be able to set your games to max settings. If your goal is to have the best graphics possible, that's no good for you. But if you are content with console graphics, then a vid card that is 3 or 4 years old is still going to deliver better than the consoles can right now.
My vid card is about 3 years old now I think. It's a 4870 that I got for around $250. It plays Skyrim at 40-50 fps on the High preset. Very High and Ultra cause the framerate to drop too low. I think that's 4xAA, the texture quality looks beautiful and I am playing at 1080p. I could have spent the $280 on a console instead and been playing games at 720p or less and 2xAA or no AA. Graphics aren't all there is to gaming, but when it comes down to picking a vid card vs a console, the graphics are an important part of the consideration.
2006? Wasn't that around the time a rogue wave was recorded on The Deadliest Catch?
I've used an Android phone for personal stuff for about 2 years now and a BlackBerry for work for about 5 years. The BB is work issued, and the one I have is old, a Curve 8320. What BBs have you used with good email apps? My 8320 butchers every email. I tried a newer curve, I think a 93xx or something, a Storm, and a couple of other random ones, and they all butchered email as well. I'd consider paying for a new BB out of pocket for work use if it could actually display an email correctly.
I think the moment I realized I needed to learn more in order to do less was when a friend saw me code an enumerator class to do something that involved fetching paginated results from a local database and he replaced 90% of my code with the word yield.
I've used C# a bit for work and it's the language I pick whenever I can for personal projects. Compared to Python, there is definitely a fair amount of boilerplate. But, it never bothered me the way boilerplate bothered me in Java back when I used it. That said, I haven't used Java outside of building demo Android apps in about 7 years so it could be just as good as C# or better and I wouldn't know.
When I am coding C#, if I notice a build up of boilerplate, it is usually a sign that I am not taking advantage of something that is available to me. I could probably write code that looks almost identical to the code I wrote in Java years ago, but that'd be a fault of mine, not of C#'s. Also, I haven't used an IDE that handles generating boilerplate as nicely as Visual Studio does for the occasions when it is still necessary. I'd probably be using Python for my fun projects if I found an IDE for it that I enjoyed using as much as I enjoy using Visual Studio with C#.
IM, email and Twitter type applications are bad examples because they would probably be using push notifications instead of an app running in the background. It's the only way on iOS. It sounds like it's the only way on Windows Phone. And Google made it an option for Android when they added C2DM in Android 2.2 and I would be annoyed if an IM or email app opted for a background service instead of push notification on my Android phone.
It's like in a horror movie when a psycho killer steadily follows after a group of fleeing campers. He doesn't have to run. He knows he'll catch enough of them.
Phlogiston theory fit the definition when it was considered a scientific theory. It is now a superseded/obsolete theory meaning it is not regarded as correct. Nothing about it goes against the agreed upon definition that I mentioned.
Take a look at some of the games that work on Linux thanks to Wine.
One definition of the word theory is: a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena.
I think this whole thing comes down to a lot of people not understanding this definition of the word "theory."
My guess is they don't want to give up because they enjoy playing chess against other people.
If they created another league for computer-aided play, they would still be trying to eliminate cheating from the non-computer-aided play league. So that doesn't solve anything.
And, who exactly is shunning technological enhancements? How much press have human vs computer matches gotten? And how frequently do people play chess against computers?
Computers in chess is not really a new thing, and it certainly isn't shunned from chess in general. But, this is a league that is meant to test one player against another player, not one player's team and tech vs another player's team and tech. This league, and any other leagues that decide they don't want technology aiding players, have no reason to change that position if they don't want to. It's their league, they are playing a game, there is no right or wrong, there is simply what the people involved prefer. If a majority of players in the league wanted the technology, they would probably allow it.
Android and Windows Phone, since the article is only about those two. The paper is basically a sales pitch for an energy profiler. It sounds like they've only implemented it on those two platforms so far. So, we'll have to wait for the numbers on power wastes on iOS.
I remember it being announced that Chrome was dropping support for H264. I only remember because a month later Microsoft released a plugin to add support back to Chrome on Windows and I thought that was hilarious. I don't recall if they ever actually dropped support though. I mainly use Opera, which has never had H264 natively anyway so I've mostly ignored the arguments.
It has been quite a while since I have seen the phrase "IBM PC-contemptibles." Those were simpler times. Yet, they were no less frustrating.
I'm well aware of that. Just pointing out the error in assuming PC means one company's type of PC versus the much broader category of Personal Computers.
PC stands for Personal Computer. Amiga and some of the Ataris were also Personal Computers. It isn't IBM-PCmag.