From what I had read somewhere, possibly in Maxim, was that the film's makers purposely went back and re-edited / re-shot scenes to add sex scenes and profanity to get the film rated R instead of PG-13 (something about doing it for the fans - whatever). IIRC, films that are rated R will typically make less money than films rated PG-13 or G simply because the younger movie-goers aren't able to see the film.
So, essentially, they shot themselves in the foot.
By mentioning Nintendo only once as a competitor (in the last paragraph) and not mentioning the DS at all, it shows to me that both the reporter and Sony don't understand what the problem with the PSP is: people want a handheld game system and Nintendo has delivered on that front far better than Sony has... and worrying about Apple and Microsoft before figuring out how to compete against the DS will only hurt Sony even more.
And as for the PSP's non-gaming functionalities... You could cut UMD movie prices in half for all I care and there will still be an overflowing stack of unsold discs at the videogame store... and no ammount of add-on peripherals like GPS receivers will save the PSP, since the same devices can be easily developed for any other handheld.
Is it so hard to abide by the rule of Keep It Simple Stupid?
Probably not. I'm fairly certain that Taco and a few other of the editors own Apple notebooks... only because that's what I saw them use at LinuxWorld.
How long will it be before the games I buy require Vista? Seeing that I only boot into XP when I want to play certain games, I have absolutely no desire to install Vista.
Then WinFS was stripped out of Windows Vista because the performance was so horrible. WinFS will supposedly ship around the same time as Windows Vista now, as an add-on. Or maybe it will be later than that. Maybe it will never ship. Who the heck knows? Who cares anymore?
When you have a problem with software being packaged and sold by a company, you typically interact with support and sales people to figure out the problem. These people are trained to interact with users. The engineers might not be.
Now with many free software projects, you're not going to get that support layer to "deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to". Is that a knock against free software? I don't know, but I do know that's where companies like IBM, Redhat, Novell, etc. come in.
You could probably attach a serial-to-bluetooth adapter, along with a MAX232 (if necessary), to the Roomba's SCI port. That should allow the NXT to talk to the Roomba. In fact, now I'm tempted to try this out...
I was playing around with the SCI before it was officially released, and here are a few of problems I've had with it:
1) You can send the Roomba direct commands for driving, controlling cleaning motors, and polling internal and external sensors, but you can't reprogram it. If you want to add any real intelligence, you're going to have to mount a small computer or PIC on top of the Roomba or keep it tethered to a desktop.
2) You can't control the left and right drive wheels with independent power values. Instead, they've provided a higher-level system where you have to specify a value for foward/reverse velocity and a value for turning radius in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
3) The serial port is a not-so-common 7-pin mini-DIN connector, so you're probably going to be splicing your own mini-DIN-to-DB9 cables. Also, the Roomba's serial interface communicates at plus and minus 5 volts, while PCs talk at plus and minus 10 volts. This means that if you're going to use a PC to control the Roomba, you're going to use a MAX232 chip.
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Aye, why do Me suddenly feel the need t' pirate some mo'ies?
Because tis' Talk Like a Pirate Day. Gar, Where can I find a bottle o'rum?
Imagine a world where Apple is pushing more boxes then Dell
Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
Motorola never really made any money supplying CPUs for Apple, and neither will Intel.
From what I had read somewhere, possibly in Maxim, was that the film's makers purposely went back and re-edited / re-shot scenes to add sex scenes and profanity to get the film rated R instead of PG-13 (something about doing it for the fans - whatever). IIRC, films that are rated R will typically make less money than films rated PG-13 or G simply because the younger movie-goers aren't able to see the film.
So, essentially, they shot themselves in the foot.
it's about your desire.
By mentioning Nintendo only once as a competitor (in the last paragraph) and not mentioning the DS at all, it shows to me that both the reporter and Sony don't understand what the problem with the PSP is: people want a handheld game system and Nintendo has delivered on that front far better than Sony has... and worrying about Apple and Microsoft before figuring out how to compete against the DS will only hurt Sony even more.
And as for the PSP's non-gaming functionalities... You could cut UMD movie prices in half for all I care and there will still be an overflowing stack of unsold discs at the videogame store... and no ammount of add-on peripherals like GPS receivers will save the PSP, since the same devices can be easily developed for any other handheld.
Is it so hard to abide by the rule of Keep It Simple Stupid?
a first post filter for konqueror
will we have a Nao robot head-butting its opponents?
For those who don't get the reference:
Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Don't hate on other Unix systems, it's bad karma, man.
Unless it's SCO UNIX.
They'd have to completely stop doing in business with US firms to avoid a lawsuit like this. I don't see that happening.
Q) How do you get people to read your lame business articles?
A) Say something inflammatory about Slashdot so that it gets posted on Slashdot!
Probably not. I'm fairly certain that Taco and a few other of the editors own Apple notebooks... only because that's what I saw them use at LinuxWorld.
I find the title of your comment to be offensive :)
How long will it be before the games I buy require Vista? Seeing that I only boot into XP when I want to play certain games, I have absolutely no desire to install Vista.
I'll give you 5,000 wrappages of yamok sauce for the bolts.
it's time to queue the Uwe Boll jokes.
I don't have a problem with a new trek movie... I have a problem with Berman not being fired, and is it so hard to bring back Nicholas Meyer?
Then WinFS was stripped out of Windows Vista because the performance was so horrible. WinFS will supposedly ship around the same time as Windows Vista now, as an add-on. Or maybe it will be later than that. Maybe it will never ship. Who the heck knows? Who cares anymore?
it's funny because it's true
When you have a problem with software being packaged and sold by a company, you typically interact with support and sales people to figure out the problem. These people are trained to interact with users. The engineers might not be.
Now with many free software projects, you're not going to get that support layer to "deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to". Is that a knock against free software? I don't know, but I do know that's where companies like IBM, Redhat, Novell, etc. come in.
Some conference organizer was running around screaming, "Where's the fire extinguisher?!"
Priceless.
It burns my eyes!
I'm with you on this. It's simply easier with knoppmyth.
Seems like they have a work-around.
You could probably attach a serial-to-bluetooth adapter, along with a MAX232 (if necessary), to the Roomba's SCI port. That should allow the NXT to talk to the Roomba. In fact, now I'm tempted to try this out...
I was playing around with the SCI before it was officially released, and here are a few of problems I've had with it:
1) You can send the Roomba direct commands for driving, controlling cleaning motors, and polling internal and external sensors, but you can't reprogram it. If you want to add any real intelligence, you're going to have to mount a small computer or PIC on top of the Roomba or keep it tethered to a desktop.
2) You can't control the left and right drive wheels with independent power values. Instead, they've provided a higher-level system where you have to specify a value for foward/reverse velocity and a value for turning radius in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
3) The serial port is a not-so-common 7-pin mini-DIN connector, so you're probably going to be splicing your own mini-DIN-to-DB9 cables. Also, the Roomba's serial interface communicates at plus and minus 5 volts, while PCs talk at plus and minus 10 volts. This means that if you're going to use a PC to control the Roomba, you're going to use a MAX232 chip.