And Those improvements have been in games for YEARS. Resizing icons to allow room for the icon a cursor is hovering over and enlarging has been around since Deus Ex and such games. None of what Apple is claiming in their patents hasn't been done before in another software application.
"Roughly, increasing the size of the icon which the mouse is over, and repositioning icons around it."
Deus Ex, a GAME, had this functionality before OSX was ever a stain in Jobs' pants.
"Roughly, a bar in a gui where the position of icons nearby the mouse is modified according to the formula given."
Once again, done in games like Deus Ex, though in this exact instance *NOT* in Deus Ex.
"Roughly, displaying the name of a program (by fading it in) when you run the mouse over the associated icon from outside the dock."
Same idea, except instead of the program name fading in, you got "Start a New Game From the Beginning" or some such thing when you hovered over game menu options. Again, WAY before OSX.
"Roughly, displaying the name of a program (by fading it in) when you run the mouse over the associated icon from another icon."
Hmm, WoW seems to have this type of functionality as I move from spell to spell and the names pop right on up.
"Roughly, a bar in a gui where the position of icons nearby the mouse is modified according to the formula given."
Yea, Too many games to point at for that one. Mostly FPS games.
"Roughly, a method whereby icons are displayed, the icon which the mouse is under is magnified, and nearby icons are repositioned in response to the increased size of the highlighted icon."
Games.
"Roughly, the same as the above, but the icon bar has to be on the edge of the screen, and nearby icons are magnified as well."
Quite a few game menus are at the edge of a screen. Unreal had the bar at the very top edge.
"Roughly, the same as the above, but claiming the medium on which the program is stored and not the method."
What, is Apple going to try stealing the patent to the optical disc, next?
Yes, no shit it's a surprise the patent office allowed this to go thru.
In the dock. Microsoft has had Magnification for the ENTIRE SCREEN since Windows Millenium, maybe 98 and 95/2, oh and it works by cursor position, too.
So patenting one area of screen magnification is BULLSHIT, especially since GAMES have had almos tthe exact same functionality as the Dock in OSX. Remember when Game options would get larger when you moused over them to select them, kinda like Deus Ex did?
Granted, I do a bit of overclocking of my video card, and the processor, but I never screw with voltages. NEVER screw with voltages. That silicon has a tolerance range, but I've learned over the years that playing with voltage (Cyrix M-II processor, anyone?) is generally a bad idea.
That life span was for older CD-RW discs that used a dye, not current-gen optical media which uses Chalcenogide glass. Not all CD-RW media were made the same.
Glass eats light. Covering a solar cell with glass reduces its efficiency. I've had to prove this time and time again in gardening forums with light meters and varying panes of glass. Even "clear" glass isn't truly clear.
I'd rather use something with more optical transparency, like Lexan.
I'd have rather seen the upgraded firmware include Skype with Video Chat. The machine's powerful enough to have it's own camera to record video and capture photos, but that's only available currently in Japan and the EU.
A few more options for connecting to wireless hotspots would be nice as well. Maybe a better browser that will use the Memory Stick for RAM (albeit slow) so you can almost fully use youtube and other sites?
Yes, optical media sucks. Ever hear of foil rot? There's actually bacteria that will eat away the foil backing of yur disc (usually starting at the inside or outside edges) and it eventually makes your disc unplayable, even if you don't touch it for years! Let's not forget that many optical drives are poorly built and will scratch a huge ring into your disc.
In my decade+ of using optical media, I've always preferred to just use an external Hard Drive. When the first USB burners came out, I bought one, ripped the drive out, threw in a hard drive, and that was that. I learned quickly that optical media is just not the way to go, regardless of how cheap it is in the long run. Until they make those discs absolutely unscratchable by normal means (to you optical disc engineers - look up the Moh's Hardness Scale and you might have a clue for once!) I've pretty much given up on optical and have done all data collection via download or sneakernet.
Guess you've never heard of OUM memory technology. Same glass substrate that's used on re-writable optical media, but instead of using a laser to flip bits you use an electrical pulse to change the state of the glass from amorphous (bit 0) to semi-crystalline (bit 1) and voila no more worry about bit flip. It also is stronger than silicon wafers and can tolerate more heat and requires less power for changing bits. Also, due to using the crystalline structure representing 1 or a 0, it's non-volatile. Access times are faster than standard flash devices today. The read/write cycles are several orders of magnitude higher as well than current flash memory.
Without time travel ability, no. "Live content" means "That movie you bought 5 years ago is showing trailers for next summer's movie lineup."
What about putting live ads on the background billboards or changing the brand of burger the hero eats? I would expect updated product placements will be the next wave of live content.
That's actually really disturbing, and shockingly plausible. Thankfully, AFAICT, Blu Ray doesn't really have the ability to do this right. But, I'm sure if there is a "3rd Generation DVD" format that follows BluRay for physical distribution, then we will surely see something much like that. They might even just include 3D tracking data and appropriate alpha channels right on the disc, so that the player just needs to keep a dozen texture maps of current sponsor logos to put on 3D objects in the scene in real time. I'm 99% sure that PS3 already has every bit of hardware it would need for doing this. It can render much more detailed 3D models than would be required, and I expect it has enough internal bandwidth to deal with HD + an alpha channel. The only real limitation is that the Blu Ray spec doesn't include an alpha channel in the video stream, so it would have to be in an additional file, which if it is on the optical disc means seeking back and forth between two files as you try to simultaneously stream the RGB and the Alpha from the same disc. That's the only part which really wouldn't work well.
Subchannels on the same disc track might be able to make it work.
I don't want a MOVIE eating up internet bandwidth. A movie is to be WATCHED, not waste my 250GB bandwidth cap on fucking ADVERTISEMENTS.
I'll bill Sony for that nonsense, and I'll charge a hefty price per KB, too. When i play a movie, thats all I expect it to do. I don't expect it to covertly download advertisements to stick in the middle of my movie - that's what SPONSORS are for, to already have the ad worked into the movie. Don't waste MY RESOURCES, it's that plain and simple.
Thankfully, I can turn all that off on my PS3, no Blu-Ray internet access. Just gimme the menu and let me hit play.
You'd only really have any problems with really high resolutions and texture/filtering settings. Yes, that 128 megs of VRAM absolutely limited your capability and performance for gaming and some graphics design, but you're still able to run just about anything.
Assassin's Creed, 1440x900 maximum everything - flawless. Crysis, 1440x900 medium-high detail and it runs decently. This laptop is a surprising powerhouse. Anything using the Source engine runs flawlessly as well. I've yet to find anything that seriously stresses this system's capabilities.
I don't know where you're going to buy your computer parts, but I can build a brand-new Crysis-spanking machine for around $450 if I recycle my case and power supply.
Umm, warranty law specifically makes reference to it being illegal for a vendor to sell a product and require a service tie-in. Just what part of the law would you really know, sir? Magnusson-Moss had lots more in it than just warranty.
Slashdot Mirror
That would be a very interesting point to try and establish in a court of law.
I wonder how one might get in touch with these protesters.
And Those improvements have been in games for YEARS. Resizing icons to allow room for the icon a cursor is hovering over and enlarging has been around since Deus Ex and such games. None of what Apple is claiming in their patents hasn't been done before in another software application.
When can we arrest the police for falsely labeling us as terrorists?
How about huge personal lawsuits?
"Roughly, increasing the size of the icon which the mouse is over, and repositioning icons around it."
Deus Ex, a GAME, had this functionality before OSX was ever a stain in Jobs' pants.
"Roughly, a bar in a gui where the position of icons nearby the mouse is modified according to the formula given."
Once again, done in games like Deus Ex, though in this exact instance *NOT* in Deus Ex.
"Roughly, displaying the name of a program (by fading it in) when you run the mouse over the associated icon from outside the dock."
Same idea, except instead of the program name fading in, you got "Start a New Game From the Beginning" or some such thing when you hovered over game menu options. Again, WAY before OSX.
"Roughly, displaying the name of a program (by fading it in) when you run the mouse over the associated icon from another icon."
Hmm, WoW seems to have this type of functionality as I move from spell to spell and the names pop right on up.
"Roughly, a bar in a gui where the position of icons nearby the mouse is modified according to the formula given."
Yea, Too many games to point at for that one. Mostly FPS games.
"Roughly, a method whereby icons are displayed, the icon which the mouse is under is magnified, and nearby icons are repositioned in response to the increased size of the highlighted icon."
Games.
"Roughly, the same as the above, but the icon bar has to be on the edge of the screen, and nearby icons are magnified as well."
Quite a few game menus are at the edge of a screen. Unreal had the bar at the very top edge.
"Roughly, the same as the above, but claiming the medium on which the program is stored and not the method."
What, is Apple going to try stealing the patent to the optical disc, next?
Yes, no shit it's a surprise the patent office allowed this to go thru.
In the dock. Microsoft has had Magnification for the ENTIRE SCREEN since Windows Millenium, maybe 98 and 95/2, oh and it works by cursor position, too.
So patenting one area of screen magnification is BULLSHIT, especially since GAMES have had almos tthe exact same functionality as the Dock in OSX. Remember when Game options would get larger when you moused over them to select them, kinda like Deus Ex did?
Give me a damned break.
Apple Invented?
That's why they copied Xerox, RIGHT?
Apple and Microsoft do the exact same thing - steal others ideas and try to patent them for themselves.
Umm, Xerox made the GUI, so I think OS 1 just got it's ass handed to it.
NeXT's patents, they had *ALMOST THE EXACT SAME THING* filed by Jobs back in the late 80s I believe. Oh, yea, HP-UX had the same features as well.
IOW, the patent ran out, Steve's trying to re-acquire it. He needs to be slapped down.
AKA "Prior Art"
So Jobs should not be allowed to re-patent this.
Granted, I do a bit of overclocking of my video card, and the processor, but I never screw with voltages. NEVER screw with voltages. That silicon has a tolerance range, but I've learned over the years that playing with voltage (Cyrix M-II processor, anyone?) is generally a bad idea.
That life span was for older CD-RW discs that used a dye, not current-gen optical media which uses Chalcenogide glass. Not all CD-RW media were made the same.
Glass eats light. Covering a solar cell with glass reduces its efficiency. I've had to prove this time and time again in gardening forums with light meters and varying panes of glass. Even "clear" glass isn't truly clear.
I'd rather use something with more optical transparency, like Lexan.
See if he can use An Nox to cure space sickness and the inevitable food poisoning!
Asteroid impact coming? Grav Por, baby!
Lights go out on the ISS? Vas Lor FTW!
I'd have rather seen the upgraded firmware include Skype with Video Chat. The machine's powerful enough to have it's own camera to record video and capture photos, but that's only available currently in Japan and the EU.
A few more options for connecting to wireless hotspots would be nice as well. Maybe a better browser that will use the Memory Stick for RAM (albeit slow) so you can almost fully use youtube and other sites?
Yes, optical media sucks. Ever hear of foil rot? There's actually bacteria that will eat away the foil backing of yur disc (usually starting at the inside or outside edges) and it eventually makes your disc unplayable, even if you don't touch it for years! Let's not forget that many optical drives are poorly built and will scratch a huge ring into your disc.
In my decade+ of using optical media, I've always preferred to just use an external Hard Drive. When the first USB burners came out, I bought one, ripped the drive out, threw in a hard drive, and that was that. I learned quickly that optical media is just not the way to go, regardless of how cheap it is in the long run. Until they make those discs absolutely unscratchable by normal means (to you optical disc engineers - look up the Moh's Hardness Scale and you might have a clue for once!) I've pretty much given up on optical and have done all data collection via download or sneakernet.
Guess you've never heard of OUM memory technology. Same glass substrate that's used on re-writable optical media, but instead of using a laser to flip bits you use an electrical pulse to change the state of the glass from amorphous (bit 0) to semi-crystalline (bit 1) and voila no more worry about bit flip. It also is stronger than silicon wafers and can tolerate more heat and requires less power for changing bits. Also, due to using the crystalline structure representing 1 or a 0, it's non-volatile. Access times are faster than standard flash devices today. The read/write cycles are several orders of magnitude higher as well than current flash memory.
The optical naysayers are right. A few PS3 games are already showing degradation of the foil backing, making them absolutely unplayable now.
That's actually really disturbing, and shockingly plausible. Thankfully, AFAICT, Blu Ray doesn't really have the ability to do this right. But, I'm sure if there is a "3rd Generation DVD" format that follows BluRay for physical distribution, then we will surely see something much like that. They might even just include 3D tracking data and appropriate alpha channels right on the disc, so that the player just needs to keep a dozen texture maps of current sponsor logos to put on 3D objects in the scene in real time. I'm 99% sure that PS3 already has every bit of hardware it would need for doing this. It can render much more detailed 3D models than would be required, and I expect it has enough internal bandwidth to deal with HD + an alpha channel. The only real limitation is that the Blu Ray spec doesn't include an alpha channel in the video stream, so it would have to be in an additional file, which if it is on the optical disc means seeking back and forth between two files as you try to simultaneously stream the RGB and the Alpha from the same disc. That's the only part which really wouldn't work well.
Subchannels on the same disc track might be able to make it work.
I don't want a MOVIE eating up internet bandwidth. A movie is to be WATCHED, not waste my 250GB bandwidth cap on fucking ADVERTISEMENTS.
I'll bill Sony for that nonsense, and I'll charge a hefty price per KB, too. When i play a movie, thats all I expect it to do. I don't expect it to covertly download advertisements to stick in the middle of my movie - that's what SPONSORS are for, to already have the ad worked into the movie. Don't waste MY RESOURCES, it's that plain and simple.
Thankfully, I can turn all that off on my PS3, no Blu-Ray internet access. Just gimme the menu and let me hit play.
You'd only really have any problems with really high resolutions and texture/filtering settings. Yes, that 128 megs of VRAM absolutely limited your capability and performance for gaming and some graphics design, but you're still able to run just about anything.
Assassin's Creed, 1440x900 maximum everything - flawless. Crysis, 1440x900 medium-high detail and it runs decently. This laptop is a surprising powerhouse. Anything using the Source engine runs flawlessly as well. I've yet to find anything that seriously stresses this system's capabilities.
there are those of us in SL that do things like make virtual sandbox FPS games and stuff in it.
I don't know where you're going to buy your computer parts, but I can build a brand-new Crysis-spanking machine for around $450 if I recycle my case and power supply.
8600M GS, 2 GB RAM (512 dedicated 1.5GB shared out of system's 4 GB)
Umm, warranty law specifically makes reference to it being illegal for a vendor to sell a product and require a service tie-in. Just what part of the law would you really know, sir? Magnusson-Moss had lots more in it than just warranty.