How horribly misinformed. What a horribly uneducated comment. Stick with what you know, like computers or something else nerdy. Leave International Politics and Forigen Cultures to people who have at least 1 cent of an idea what they are talking about, and have spent a wee bit of time understanding what it means to be a "Communist" and what China really is today (And guess what? It aint communist)
I am currently learning Chinese, and the way that we type in the computer is called (In windows) an IME. Basically, I hit Shift+Alt, and enter the romantisization of the Chinese words (Commonly called PinYin), as well as a number for the paticular tonal mark of the sylable. I am them presented with a little bar that attempts to guess what character I am trying to type (As the same sounding word can have many different character representations, all meaning different things). I pick it by hitting 1, 2, 3, etc, press space and continue on. Sure, its definatley time consuming and there may be other ways to do it.
I know that my Chinese professor has a Wacom tablet and a program that transforms what she writes on the tablet into the paticular character. That way, she is essentially writing the characters as normal.
Can't tell you just how much I agree. Turbine just made some phenomenal quests in AC (I played from beta till about 2 years ago on Frostfell, got to 126 before the macros then got bored). To be honest, I think the best memories I have of questing were not the overly complex ones for advanced players, but the simple ones that I did in the begining (Green Mire Grave, Dagger of Tikola, etc). The lore was so well done on these quests, and it was a blast to get a couple friends together and explore these places.
Another one, though, that was just so well done was Frore. I can remember that being without a doubt the best quest I've ever done in an MMORPG. It's just such a shame that they've let AC fall the way it has. The core essence of the game was, I always thought, Zelda mixed with Baldurs Gate 2. There was the interesting lore, but the combat wasn't as "guided" as other games like EQ and the like. You always had to stay alert, and numbers were an imporant thing to keep an eye on. Plus, I've never experienced a more enjoyable spell system (Post-components and taper-searching, that is) in any other game. It made me feel like I more playing Duke Nukem and not Final Fantasy. I long for those days when 126's were not common, when macros hadn't overtaken everything, and when the community was more imporatnt than the rewards. Those were some of my best questing memories
Aww, how cute. A political science professor is trying to make an argument about the psychology of children and how they respond violence in videogames. Any highschooler could tell from a cursory readthrough of this article that the professor is merely trying to push forward his elietist views. It is obvious he sees videogames as nothing more than a barbaric fufilment of primal passions, and some sort of scourge to higher society that needs to be eliminated "for the children". This reeks of the high-society garbage that many prominent schools are trying to distance themselves from.
I can only imagine that the writer of this article would think the saga of Carl Johnson, in book form, would be a literary marvel cronicling the rise to power of a disenfranchised African-American.
Oh come on! I've never owned a tinfoil hat and think the magic bullet theory is bunk, but just rationally look at this story. Who pays IGN's bills? Gamers? I think not. This is the very website that a couple years ago sold the design rights to their main page to MCDOLANDS for cripes sake! Advertisers, primarily VIDEOGAME companies, are the ones paying this writers salary. After selling out for an exorbanent amount of money, I'm sure profits are now the primary. I do not believe it is too far of a jump to assume that maybe, just maybe, some advertisers whipsered into IGN corporates ear that they should do a story on how great getting into the industry is. Yadda Yadda, we have this:
...the next big question is going to be trying to decide if you want the gas guzzling Ferrari in yellow or red or take the low key approach and get a hybrid vehicle to show that you care for the environment and are efficient with your money. Because hippy chicks do it way better than some huge fake breasted Sunset-hopping harlot. Or, uh, so we hear.
The entire article reads like a pampflet from EA for prospective college grads. Just read the first 50 posts and you'll see from first hand anecdotal experience that workers in the gaming industry are NOT living the kind of life that this article describes. In my view, this is just useless junk from a sold out company. Welcome to the new "journalism".
While you bring up a good point, the metaphor really only applies if the "giants of the industry" were, infact, figments in the mind of the creators of the Gizmondo. In reality, they are certianly real- to dethrone Sony and Nintendo would take one hell of a device. Something, apparently, Tiger does NOT have.
I'm sure this is on ALOT of peoples minds right now who are considering the new iPod, especially those with large libraries of "home" movies.
Well, if your video clips are in divx/xvid/etc, you will have to convert them to h.264 (One of the playable codecs) in order for it to work.
Download this program, there is a 30 day free trial included. It allows you to batch encode your videos so you can run it all night. The resulting files, depending on your encoding level (I did the lowest, as its just for the little screen), will probably take less space than the originals. That's all you need.
It isn't reading comprehension problem- it's deceptive wordplay. Apparently, DRM is not a necessity- they devoted an entire website to explain to users how to circumvent it. Logically, the ONLY other reason they would want to implement it is to make a statement to Apple- Let us license, or your users cannot listen to our CD's. Then, they create a FAQ explaining to users that it isn't their fault they wont let their CD's play on Itunes, but Apples. I'm not arguing that its Sony's fault for taking this course of action- its their CD's, they can do what they want. But to paint themselves out to be angels and Apple to be the wrongdoers, thats just scummy.
"Unfortunately, in order to directly and smoothly rip content into iTunes it requires the assistance of Apple. To date, Apple has not been willing to cooperate with our protection vendors to make ripping to iTunes and to the iPod a simple experience.
If you believe that you should be able to easily move tracks from your protected CD to your iPod then we encourage you to use the following link to contact Apple directly and tell them so. http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipod.html"
So, they are trying to convince me that the reason THEY are DRM-ing their CD's is because of Apple? Im sorry, but who do they expect will be convinced by this? We're not talking about Momma and Poppa Joe here who will be complining- this will be educated individuals from the internet generation. These people will easily be able to see right through this decieteful childsplay. This is a foolish act by Sony that makes them sound like even more of faceless evil megacorporation than they already do.
but how is this much different than a movie theatre not letting a 12 year old into an R rated movie?
This is legislation. It is an agreement amongst movie theatres that you must be accompanyed by a guardian to enter a rated R movie, not an actual federal law. That is why some theatres hastle 16 year olds while others freely let yougsters into movies. This, though, would make it a violation of state law.
What I find even more odd (If, infact, this is even true) is that the legislators would decide to let one incredably biased lawyer write legislation. It is understandable if they consulted him for ideas, but seems outrageous to ask him to write the law. The people of Florida elected their representitives to enact the best legislation on behalf of the state- nobody elected Jack Thompson. I am not positive on the precidents of other state legislatures, but it seems lazy and outrageous for them to not write the law themselves.
Message to Google from your Mother...
on
YahooTV
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· Score: 2, Funny
Why can't your media conglomerate be more like Lloyd Braun??!!
I'll tell you what, I just don't think this whole idea has much weight. I mean, nametags?!?! NAMETAGS?!?! If he can't handle Dinkins election campaign, how can he possibly spearhead YahooTV?
At this rate, we've got 15-20 more space runs before we suposedly will have our Lunar/Mars Base fully operational. Mind you, our last trip was basically a garbage run for the ISS.
Lets say the cost of making milk rose by 5$. If producers of milk want to keep the same margins (They would most likley lower them, but for simplicity lets say they keep them the same) then the burden of the new cost would be placed on the consumer. Thus, you would now have to pay 10$ for Milk. Well, if you really like cereal and love the taste, you might very well keep buying milk at 10$.
But lets say that 50% of every bottle of milk was spoiled. When it cost 5$, you accepted this fact that it might be spoiled as just par for the course- an unfortunate consequence of loving milk. But, if the price all of a sudden went to 10$, would you be nearly as willing to shell out the extra cash to get your milk fix? No, you wouldn't.
Games are the same way. Publishers are pushing their own development costs onto the consumer (Granted, im sure their margins are pretty small to begin with, but I may be mistaken), but every game isnt equally as good. Some games are much better than others. It SURE as heck isn't 50%- more like 10% of what I see on the shelves can I say is actually good, and all of them cost an even 49.99$. If I have to pay 59.99$ and the quality of the games doesn't change (Graphics make-th a game not), I am going to be much more cautious about what I buy. I won't be giving games chances. I'll buy GTAs, Half Lives, and Warcrafts.
My key has lasted me ages in my car. I've never lost it, never broken it, never had it swiped. Nothing. For me, a plain old fashioned metal spike works perfectly.
Now, I'm not saying that it couldn't be IMPROVED upon. For isntance, maybe a key that not only has a mechanical part but also a thumb pad to make sure it's YOU using it (just throwing the idea out there). Maybe that would work better than a plain old spike. But a USB key? How does it improve? Would you build a new kind of fancy high-tech bicycle that went half as fast and was twice as hard to pedal? I don't think so. The USB key is the same- it doesn't IMPROVE anything (if anything, it allows more points of failure). Maybe allow a USB port to upload driving instructions/music, but it doesn't HAVE to be part of the key.
"just like stealing either form of music (indirectly) cuts into what the artist gets"
Based merely on the assumption that you would've bought the music had you not downloaded it. It's fodder for a million scientific articles, I know, and nobody can really effectivley argue either way. But dont forget, assumptions make an ass out of you and me.
Anybody who thinks that stealing a physcial CD is the same as stealing the intellectual property behind it is an absolutle stone cold idiot.
It is literally, literally, comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruit, both are sweet, but they look and taste COMPLETLEY different. You wouldn't call them the same thing. Those people who are comparing it to people stealing a car/CD/etc. are the same people who believe that the RIAA is telling the truth when they say they've lost "xxx Billion Dollars in Sales" from those internet pirates.
Last I checked, the U.S. has done pretty well in the global marketplace, and is continuing to do so. Apparently, our psycopaths have actually been doing OK for the country the last century.
And to be perfectly honest? I'd MUCH rather know that oppertunistic greedy businessmen without remorse are making sure US companies reign supreme than having a bunch of carebear crybabies in control.
Same in the USA. It's called the 85th percentile (Meaning that people will drive at whatever speed they feel is acceptable, and Speed Limits should be set at what 85% of the population deems acceptable). A majority of accidents occur because someone is driving 30MPH in a 30MPH zone where 85%+ of the drivers take it at 45-50. Happens all the time.
If the Govt. had our true intentions at heart, they'd set the speed limit at the 85th percentile. But isntead, they prefer the tens of millions in fines they get each year for rediculious speed traps. Plus, the insurance companies are more than willing to "donate" 4000$ laser radar systems because in many states 1 speeding ticket can be cause enough to raise rates.
In addition, many people have the false belief that everything the Government does is in the best interest of every individual, something which unfortunatley just isn't true. Sure, we could assume that the laws against marijuana are well founded, but I could give you at least 3 positive effects of of pot right off the top of my head (Hemp's use as a natural fiber in cloth and paper, the incredable nutritional value of cannibis seeds, and the pain reliving effects of THC). Just because something is deemed illegal does not automatically mean that it is "wrong".
Of course, there are those natural moral assumptions of what is wrong- you cannot really make the argument that rape and murder are acceptable. But for some laws such as speed limits (which is a multi-million dollar business for state coffiers and insurance companies alike), the criminalization of marijuana, and gay marriage legislation, the Government does NOT have your best interests at heart. That is just how things are.
I am not aruging that p2p is "right", but to portray file sharers as nothing more than common criminals says nothing of the corruption within the RIAA. Unfortunatley, lawmakers are imposing more outrageous punishments for filesharers while helping to protect the corrupt nature of the RIAA on the individual artists.
In this way, you can't label something as "wrong" just because it happens to be "illegal" without looking at the bigger picture.
Is he saying stealing from thieves (or unethical businesses) is not so bad?
Not quite. He is merely saying that if the RIAA want's to enlist the aid of colleges to combat piracy (Which is CLEARLY the intent of the RIAA's original letter), they need to clean up their act first.
Speficially, the Professors closing coment may sound like he is trying to argue that stealing from the "bad guy" is acceptable, this is a false assumption. He is merely stating that if they want HIS help, they should start holding up their end of the bargin when it comes to the recording artists, nothing more.
It happens at my college all the time- theres a 5 gb upload+download limit per 7 consecutive days, so kids run through their 5GB limit, change their mac address, re-register with the network, and start another cycle. Same thing could easily be done in this situation.
Best would be to physcially disconnect their jack from the network. Not only is it much easier, but its garunteed hackproof (Unless they can lock pick into the router room to reconnect their network connection, and if thats the case you have a whole lot more problems than viruses)
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How horribly misinformed. What a horribly uneducated comment. Stick with what you know, like computers or something else nerdy. Leave International Politics and Forigen Cultures to people who have at least 1 cent of an idea what they are talking about, and have spent a wee bit of time understanding what it means to be a "Communist" and what China really is today (And guess what? It aint communist)
I am currently learning Chinese, and the way that we type in the computer is called (In windows) an IME. Basically, I hit Shift+Alt, and enter the romantisization of the Chinese words (Commonly called PinYin), as well as a number for the paticular tonal mark of the sylable. I am them presented with a little bar that attempts to guess what character I am trying to type (As the same sounding word can have many different character representations, all meaning different things). I pick it by hitting 1, 2, 3, etc, press space and continue on. Sure, its definatley time consuming and there may be other ways to do it. I know that my Chinese professor has a Wacom tablet and a program that transforms what she writes on the tablet into the paticular character. That way, she is essentially writing the characters as normal.
Can't tell you just how much I agree. Turbine just made some phenomenal quests in AC (I played from beta till about 2 years ago on Frostfell, got to 126 before the macros then got bored). To be honest, I think the best memories I have of questing were not the overly complex ones for advanced players, but the simple ones that I did in the begining (Green Mire Grave, Dagger of Tikola, etc). The lore was so well done on these quests, and it was a blast to get a couple friends together and explore these places.
Another one, though, that was just so well done was Frore. I can remember that being without a doubt the best quest I've ever done in an MMORPG. It's just such a shame that they've let AC fall the way it has. The core essence of the game was, I always thought, Zelda mixed with Baldurs Gate 2. There was the interesting lore, but the combat wasn't as "guided" as other games like EQ and the like. You always had to stay alert, and numbers were an imporant thing to keep an eye on. Plus, I've never experienced a more enjoyable spell system (Post-components and taper-searching, that is) in any other game. It made me feel like I more playing Duke Nukem and not Final Fantasy. I long for those days when 126's were not common, when macros hadn't overtaken everything, and when the community was more imporatnt than the rewards. Those were some of my best questing memories
I can only imagine that the writer of this article would think the saga of Carl Johnson, in book form, would be a literary marvel cronicling the rise to power of a disenfranchised African-American.
The entire article reads like a pampflet from EA for prospective college grads. Just read the first 50 posts and you'll see from first hand anecdotal experience that workers in the gaming industry are NOT living the kind of life that this article describes. In my view, this is just useless junk from a sold out company. Welcome to the new "journalism".
While you bring up a good point, the metaphor really only applies if the "giants of the industry" were, infact, figments in the mind of the creators of the Gizmondo. In reality, they are certianly real- to dethrone Sony and Nintendo would take one hell of a device. Something, apparently, Tiger does NOT have.
Well, if your video clips are in divx/xvid/etc, you will have to convert them to h.264 (One of the playable codecs) in order for it to work.
Download this program, there is a 30 day free trial included. It allows you to batch encode your videos so you can run it all night. The resulting files, depending on your encoding level (I did the lowest, as its just for the little screen), will probably take less space than the originals. That's all you need.
It's mock servers of these companies, not the real thing. This isn't any "Trial by Fire". No damage can be done.
It isn't reading comprehension problem- it's deceptive wordplay. Apparently, DRM is not a necessity- they devoted an entire website to explain to users how to circumvent it. Logically, the ONLY other reason they would want to implement it is to make a statement to Apple- Let us license, or your users cannot listen to our CD's. Then, they create a FAQ explaining to users that it isn't their fault they wont let their CD's play on Itunes, but Apples. I'm not arguing that its Sony's fault for taking this course of action- its their CD's, they can do what they want. But to paint themselves out to be angels and Apple to be the wrongdoers, thats just scummy.
So, they are trying to convince me that the reason THEY are DRM-ing their CD's is because of Apple? Im sorry, but who do they expect will be convinced by this? We're not talking about Momma and Poppa Joe here who will be complining- this will be educated individuals from the internet generation. These people will easily be able to see right through this decieteful childsplay. This is a foolish act by Sony that makes them sound like even more of faceless evil megacorporation than they already do.
This is legislation. It is an agreement amongst movie theatres that you must be accompanyed by a guardian to enter a rated R movie, not an actual federal law. That is why some theatres hastle 16 year olds while others freely let yougsters into movies. This, though, would make it a violation of state law.
What I find even more odd (If, infact, this is even true) is that the legislators would decide to let one incredably biased lawyer write legislation. It is understandable if they consulted him for ideas, but seems outrageous to ask him to write the law. The people of Florida elected their representitives to enact the best legislation on behalf of the state- nobody elected Jack Thompson. I am not positive on the precidents of other state legislatures, but it seems lazy and outrageous for them to not write the law themselves.
Why can't your media conglomerate be more like Lloyd Braun??!!
I'll tell you what, I just don't think this whole idea has much weight. I mean, nametags?!?! NAMETAGS?!?! If he can't handle Dinkins election campaign, how can he possibly spearhead YahooTV?
You're right, who cares about the 30 Grandmas and Grandpas that they just found dead in their nursing homes. /obvious sarcasm
SpaceShipThree, PLEASE SAVE US.
But lets say that 50% of every bottle of milk was spoiled. When it cost 5$, you accepted this fact that it might be spoiled as just par for the course- an unfortunate consequence of loving milk. But, if the price all of a sudden went to 10$, would you be nearly as willing to shell out the extra cash to get your milk fix? No, you wouldn't.
Games are the same way. Publishers are pushing their own development costs onto the consumer (Granted, im sure their margins are pretty small to begin with, but I may be mistaken), but every game isnt equally as good. Some games are much better than others. It SURE as heck isn't 50%- more like 10% of what I see on the shelves can I say is actually good, and all of them cost an even 49.99$. If I have to pay 59.99$ and the quality of the games doesn't change (Graphics make-th a game not), I am going to be much more cautious about what I buy. I won't be giving games chances. I'll buy GTAs, Half Lives, and Warcrafts.
Now, I'm not saying that it couldn't be IMPROVED upon. For isntance, maybe a key that not only has a mechanical part but also a thumb pad to make sure it's YOU using it (just throwing the idea out there). Maybe that would work better than a plain old spike. But a USB key? How does it improve? Would you build a new kind of fancy high-tech bicycle that went half as fast and was twice as hard to pedal? I don't think so. The USB key is the same- it doesn't IMPROVE anything (if anything, it allows more points of failure). Maybe allow a USB port to upload driving instructions/music, but it doesn't HAVE to be part of the key.
Based merely on the assumption that you would've bought the music had you not downloaded it. It's fodder for a million scientific articles, I know, and nobody can really effectivley argue either way. But dont forget, assumptions make an ass out of you and me.
It is literally, literally, comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruit, both are sweet, but they look and taste COMPLETLEY different. You wouldn't call them the same thing. Those people who are comparing it to people stealing a car/CD/etc. are the same people who believe that the RIAA is telling the truth when they say they've lost "xxx Billion Dollars in Sales" from those internet pirates.
I'm sure the VCR was just another gimmick, too.
And to be perfectly honest? I'd MUCH rather know that oppertunistic greedy businessmen without remorse are making sure US companies reign supreme than having a bunch of carebear crybabies in control.
If the Govt. had our true intentions at heart, they'd set the speed limit at the 85th percentile. But isntead, they prefer the tens of millions in fines they get each year for rediculious speed traps. Plus, the insurance companies are more than willing to "donate" 4000$ laser radar systems because in many states 1 speeding ticket can be cause enough to raise rates.
Of course, there are those natural moral assumptions of what is wrong- you cannot really make the argument that rape and murder are acceptable. But for some laws such as speed limits (which is a multi-million dollar business for state coffiers and insurance companies alike), the criminalization of marijuana, and gay marriage legislation, the Government does NOT have your best interests at heart. That is just how things are.
I am not aruging that p2p is "right", but to portray file sharers as nothing more than common criminals says nothing of the corruption within the RIAA. Unfortunatley, lawmakers are imposing more outrageous punishments for filesharers while helping to protect the corrupt nature of the RIAA on the individual artists.
In this way, you can't label something as "wrong" just because it happens to be "illegal" without looking at the bigger picture.
Not quite. He is merely saying that if the RIAA want's to enlist the aid of colleges to combat piracy (Which is CLEARLY the intent of the RIAA's original letter), they need to clean up their act first.
Speficially, the Professors closing coment may sound like he is trying to argue that stealing from the "bad guy" is acceptable, this is a false assumption. He is merely stating that if they want HIS help, they should start holding up their end of the bargin when it comes to the recording artists, nothing more.
Best would be to physcially disconnect their jack from the network. Not only is it much easier, but its garunteed hackproof (Unless they can lock pick into the router room to reconnect their network connection, and if thats the case you have a whole lot more problems than viruses)
Whos DNA is it?