The TV licensing pricing model in the UK is inherently unfair in that it is free for one group of people and not for another.
My sister is from the UK and lives in Spain most of the year. She watches British TV every day via satellite (like millions of other ex-pats.) Likewise, the BBC website is viewed by millions of people all across the world and is an excellent resource but why do people in the UK have to subsidise the service? It really pisses me off that I have to pay for something and someone else doesn't.
Despite the obvious applications for this technology, I wonder how long it will be before governments cannot resist the urge to combine this technology with RFID tagged ID cards? This could become the ultimate big brother society.
I bought HL2 last Christmas and great game by the way. I spent a couple of weeks playing it most evenings and finished the single player game. I'm not really into multiplayer as I'm not as competitive as the college students and kiddies that play these games all day every day. So, I tried to sell my game on eBay once I'd finished it but forgot/overlooked the insanity of Steam which says:
CDKeys are special serial numbers printed on retail copies of Half-Life and other games in the Half-Life family. Before Steam, this key was used as an anti-piracy measure, and became the user's unique ID code when playing the game online. With Steam, the CDKey can be used as a "proof of purchase" code that will grant your Steam account access to some of the games available through Steam.
Each CDKey may only be used with one Steam account. Once used, it is permanently bound to that account, and may not be used with another. Deleting the account will not free the CDKey to be used again.
Luckily, a buyer on eBay queried whether I would be giving my Steam account details along with the original DVD. Call me paranoid, but I don't like the sound of providing account details to a stranger that are associated with me so I looked into whether the game would still work without the Steam account.
Retail Package CD-Key Reset from Valve
If you still have your original printed CD-Key and product CD from a retail package for a Valve product to prove ownership, we can reset your CD-Key however, there is a $10.00 handling fee for this service.
This transfer will remove the CD-Key from the account that is currently using the CD-Key, and add it to your account. To do this you will need to have a working Steam account (create a new one, if you do not have one or do not have access to your current account).
No buyer is going to pay $10 on top of the auction price for a second hand game so I'm now stuck with a game that I don't want.
Thanks Valve, that's the last time I buy a game from you.
From the article: "My friends, we are fucked. We are well and truly fucked. The bar, in terms of graphics and glitz, has been raised and raised and raised until no one can any longer afford to risk anything at all. The sheer labor involved in creating a game has increased exponentially, until our only choice is permanent crunch and mandatory 80 hour weeks--at least until all our jobs are out-sourced to Asia."
Heath Robinson contraptions were over-engineered, over-elaborate gadgets made up of thousands of cogs and widgets which performed some arbitrary trivial function which could otherwise be accomplished with a tenth of the complexity.
If the money-men stepped back a little bit to look at the big picture and come up with some new concepts, they might even introduce a lot of ex-gamers back into buying their games.
It would be foolish to say it will 'never' happen, but in IMHO 'electronic ink' will not replace print in our life-time (although there will *always* be some gadget freaks.) Paper versus electronic media is more than simple technical evolution.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to read books off-line i.e. reading from print rather than from screen (one reason being that a PC is a bit inconvenient to read in bed or the bath;)
Also, if I decided to print out an electronic book from my PC for off-line consumption, for all of the paper, printer toner and *time* that I use doing this (think HP Deskjet;), I might as well buy the real thing nicely printed and bound.
The publishers needn't be as concerned as they are. A PC will never replace a book (at least not until they invent something as mobile as paper.)
[igniting Luke's saber]
Darth Vader: I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete, indeed you are powerful as the Emperor has foreseen.
Luke Flamethrower: It's the new petrol powered model. Here, give it a shot.
When I was a kid growing up in England in the 1980's we only had three channels. I now have over 500 on satellite (and more if I wanted to get one of those motorised satellite dishes that can home in on more than one satellite.)
The paradox is that the more channels I have, the less I watch it. I hardly watch at all any more, life is far more interesting than reality TV.
Slashdot Mirror
Vista to be twin-packed with Duke Nukem Forever and released in time for Christmas.
The TV licensing pricing model in the UK is inherently unfair in that it is free for one group of people and not for another.
My sister is from the UK and lives in Spain most of the year. She watches British TV every day via satellite (like millions of other ex-pats.) Likewise, the BBC website is viewed by millions of people all across the world and is an excellent resource but why do people in the UK have to subsidise the service? It really pisses me off that I have to pay for something and someone else doesn't.
Despite the obvious applications for this technology, I wonder how long it will be before governments cannot resist the urge to combine this technology with RFID tagged ID cards? This could become the ultimate big brother society.
... and their search engine optimisation budget seems to know no bounds:
I bought HL2 last Christmas and great game by the way. I spent a couple of weeks playing it most evenings and finished the single player game. I'm not really into multiplayer as I'm not as competitive as the college students and kiddies that play these games all day every day. So, I tried to sell my game on eBay once I'd finished it but forgot/overlooked the insanity of Steam which says:
CDKeys are special serial numbers printed on retail copies of Half-Life and other games in the Half-Life family. Before Steam, this key was used as an anti-piracy measure, and became the user's unique ID code when playing the game online. With Steam, the CDKey can be used as a "proof of purchase" code that will grant your Steam account access to some of the games available through Steam.
Each CDKey may only be used with one Steam account. Once used, it is permanently bound to that account, and may not be used with another. Deleting the account will not free the CDKey to be used again.
Luckily, a buyer on eBay queried whether I would be giving my Steam account details along with the original DVD. Call me paranoid, but I don't like the sound of providing account details to a stranger that are associated with me so I looked into whether the game would still work without the Steam account.
Retail Package CD-Key Reset from Valve
If you still have your original printed CD-Key and product CD from a retail package for a Valve product to prove ownership, we can reset your CD-Key however, there is a $10.00 handling fee for this service.
This transfer will remove the CD-Key from the account that is currently using the CD-Key, and add it to your account. To do this you will need to have a working Steam account (create a new one, if you do not have one or do not have access to your current account).
No buyer is going to pay $10 on top of the auction price for a second hand game so I'm now stuck with a game that I don't want.
Thanks Valve, that's the last time I buy a game from you.
This isn't the game you're looking for. Move along.
From the article: "My friends, we are fucked. We are well and truly fucked. The bar, in terms of graphics and glitz, has been raised and raised and raised until no one can any longer afford to risk anything at all. The sheer labor involved in creating a game has increased exponentially, until our only choice is permanent crunch and mandatory 80 hour weeks--at least until all our jobs are out-sourced to Asia."
Heath Robinson contraptions were over-engineered, over-elaborate gadgets made up of thousands of cogs and widgets which performed some arbitrary trivial function which could otherwise be accomplished with a tenth of the complexity.
If the money-men stepped back a little bit to look at the big picture and come up with some new concepts, they might even introduce a lot of ex-gamers back into buying their games.
Give us something new. I'm bored. Please.
There are some guys that just don't get the art v science debate ...
http://thc.org/root/phun/unmaintain.html
OK, maybe slightly off-topic but please forgive me ;p (and not my web site BTW)
I agree, spelling and grammar cheques are really grate.
... That'll be called a pencil and a bit of paper.
It would be foolish to say it will 'never' happen, but in IMHO 'electronic ink' will not replace print in our life-time (although there will *always* be some gadget freaks.) Paper versus electronic media is more than simple technical evolution.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to read books off-line i.e. reading from print rather than from screen (one reason being that a PC is a bit inconvenient to read in bed or the bath ;)
Also, if I decided to print out an electronic book from my PC for off-line consumption, for all of the paper, printer toner and *time* that I use doing this (think HP Deskjet;), I might as well buy the real thing nicely printed and bound.
The publishers needn't be as concerned as they are. A PC will never replace a book (at least not until they invent something as mobile as paper.)
[igniting Luke's saber]
Darth Vader: I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete, indeed you are powerful as the Emperor has foreseen.
Luke Flamethrower: It's the new petrol powered model. Here, give it a shot.
*whoosh*
..... that should take George W Bush all of 2 seconds on a 28K modem.
When I was a kid growing up in England in the 1980's we only had three channels. I now have over 500 on satellite (and more if I wanted to get one of those motorised satellite dishes that can home in on more than one satellite.) The paradox is that the more channels I have, the less I watch it. I hardly watch at all any more, life is far more interesting than reality TV.
If parts 1,2 & 3 had been made first (before 4,5 & 6), do you think parts 4,5 & 6 would ever have been made?
Do you think the 'series' would have reached past Part 1? Who the hell would have wanted to see Part 2 if 4,5,6 did not exist?
Don't get me wrong, I loved the original set of movies but IMHO the prequels take the gloss off a classic series.
Try typing a "zip code" for "personalised" movies/weather/etc if you live outside the US!