You personally might not be affected by advertising, be it web-based or traditional, but in one way or another the majority of consumers are. Be it due to hectic lifestyles, demand for the immediate satifaction of owning a product they just "KNOW" suits their every need, or sheer ignorance, people by the bucketload are more then willing to let their purchasing decisions be swayed by the advertisments they see everyday.
Even those who pay no attention to advertising themselves are at least indirectly affected. Word of mouth is a powerful influence in buying decisions, but without an initial userbase built upon at least some degree of advertising, this is not possible.
At the end of the day, advertising exists because it is effective. And we all know, in this capitalist society of ours, if something isn't effective it generally doesn't last long (not without a good advertising campaign anyway!)
This is probably the reason Australia is second largest downloader of TV programmes from the web at 15.6% ahead of the UK(18.5%) and the US(7.3%), according to figures from the linked article. Rather astounding considering our relatively small population.
Am I the only one wondering just how exactly one would achieve continious rotation in, say, an FPS game? With a mouse you just pick it up, move it back and keep turning, and it's obviously not a problem with an analoge stick. But how in heck could it be possible with this new controller? I certainly don't like the idea of pressing a button to "disable" the controller input so that I can move my hand back to a comfortable position, then continue turning around.
I wouldn't put it past Sony or Microsoft to make a snap decision to include a similar device with their consoles ready for launch.Unlikely as that case may be, I can just imagine Sony and MS exectuives sitting in their offices wondering "why didn't we think of that."
Oh, and the PS1 dual analoge controllers were pretty much a standard not too long after the N64 launched, so it's not like Sony hasn't taken Nintendo's innovation for their own in the past.
I've always considered an honour system could be a perfect way for bands to still see monetary reward from filesharing.
The basic concept is whenever you download songs from a band that you find particulary good, instead of buying the CD and giving a majority cut of the purchase to various middle men and record companies, you donate to an (non-profit?) organisation that then distributes it directly to the band. If the system was set up correctly, meaning you can access almost any band from the one website and one could be assured that the money would indeed go to the band/artist, I believe many people would use such an option rather then buy the CD's of bands they like.
Slashdot Mirror
2km of heavy metals. That would be at least as bad as the KT impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.
That's nothing! I once went on a roadtrip with a Slipknot fan. After 500km of heavy metal, I was praying for a meteor to strike me down.
You personally might not be affected by advertising, be it web-based or traditional, but in one way or another the majority of consumers are. Be it due to hectic lifestyles, demand for the immediate satifaction of owning a product they just "KNOW" suits their every need, or sheer ignorance, people by the bucketload are more then willing to let their purchasing decisions be swayed by the advertisments they see everyday.
Even those who pay no attention to advertising themselves are at least indirectly affected. Word of mouth is a powerful influence in buying decisions, but without an initial userbase built upon at least some degree of advertising, this is not possible.
At the end of the day, advertising exists because it is effective. And we all know, in this capitalist society of ours, if something isn't effective it generally doesn't last long (not without a good advertising campaign anyway!)
This is probably the reason Australia is second largest downloader of TV programmes from the web at 15.6% ahead of the UK(18.5%) and the US(7.3%), according to figures from the linked article. Rather astounding considering our relatively small population.
Now that sounds like a show worth watching!
Am I the only one wondering just how exactly one would achieve continious rotation in, say, an FPS game? With a mouse you just pick it up, move it back and keep turning, and it's obviously not a problem with an analoge stick. But how in heck could it be possible with this new controller? I certainly don't like the idea of pressing a button to "disable" the controller input so that I can move my hand back to a comfortable position, then continue turning around.
I wouldn't put it past Sony or Microsoft to make a snap decision to include a similar device with their consoles ready for launch.Unlikely as that case may be, I can just imagine Sony and MS exectuives sitting in their offices wondering "why didn't we think of that."
Oh, and the PS1 dual analoge controllers were pretty much a standard not too long after the N64 launched, so it's not like Sony hasn't taken Nintendo's innovation for their own in the past.
I've always considered an honour system could be a perfect way for bands to still see monetary reward from filesharing.
The basic concept is whenever you download songs from a band that you find particulary good, instead of buying the CD and giving a majority cut of the purchase to various middle men and record companies, you donate to an (non-profit?) organisation that then distributes it directly to the band. If the system was set up correctly, meaning you can access almost any band from the one website and one could be assured that the money would indeed go to the band/artist, I believe many people would use such an option rather then buy the CD's of bands they like.