Interesting articles but I have a very basic question: Where do we get the social stigma associated with "meeting someone online"?
We're humans. We're a gregarious species. Whenever something arises that allows us to interact with people, it's usually a good thing. But tell your parents that you met someone online and you're dating them -- hell tell anyone -- that and more often than not, they'll disapprove.
Why? What causes this? Even the summary said it's amazing how much personal stuff people are willing to put online, isn't this a good thing if you're trying to get to know someone?
I've heard people say that only weird people are online and that you're taking serious risks... but I've also seen percentages that show you're just as likely to meet a deviant at a bar as on MySpace or Friendster.
The only possible explanation I can find for this is the "it's different so it's wrong" approach a lot of people take to new things. I don't know if it's an ultra conservative viewpoint or just fear of the unknown that drives this social stigma against meeting people online.
Masive multiplayer online games are third places as defined by their characteristics: neutral ground, leveler (no not that kind), conversation, accessibility, regulars, low profile, playful mood, and "home away from home".
I know this is going to sound pretty cheesy and merely anecdotal but I submit to you my experience that MMOs can function third home. I moved half way across the US two years ago. It was the only time I've ever moved in my life and the only time I've been completely out of place knowing no one. Now, at the time, I only played Star Wars Galaxies and had a large house near Coronet that many people visited frequently to buy stuff from me. I was in a tightly knit guild of 10 people with a guild hall that we spent a lot of time decorating.
When I first moved, I spent a lot of time in game talking to my old friends and generally just hanging out in game. I spent a lot of time in the house on Corellia. You might argue that it was detrimental to me meeting new people in my new surroundings and naturally adjusting but, honestly, I would have spent the time reading books if I hadn't had an SWG account. I guess that's why it was like pulling teeth when the CU hit and all my friends stopped playing. Oh well, at least I had enough time to meet new people while still having fun with old friends.
Now honestly, show of hands: who has their console (not PC!) connected to a display device capable of 1080p? Who plans on buying a device capable of 1080p?
I agree with you. Most of the time, I'm a good little consumer and prefer all the options possible on whatever I buy. A console is no different. And 1080p entices me. I'm not willing to pay two or three times more for this functionality but I would certainly enjoy knowing that if ever displays capable of this resolution drop in price, I can take advantage of them.
The primary problems is that games for consoles usually are only made for that console for about 3~4 years. So the price drop on 1080p displays has to drop in that time frame to give me a bit of time to enjoy it.
A secondary problem I see is that consoles are consoles. They're supposed to be a standardized unit in which I can assure myself that everyone is having the same playing experience. This seems to no longer be true with the different models of Xbox360 or PS3 they are planning. And, frankly, it turns me off a bit. Is it a good thing that consoles are becoming more like computers? And if it is, why aren't we just buying a special USB controller from these companies and running everything on our computers?
The real news is that this made it into the news. Not because it isn't news worthy but because it only makes sense to maintain a shroud of ignorance once you have actually cracked a channel of communication thus instilling your enemies with a false sense of security.
For instance during World War II, even after the allies had broken a German code or devised a method to figure out that day's cipher string, they would still go about their routine of acting like they didn't know what the Germans were going to do. Meaning that if a cargo ship was headed towards a line of submarines, they might find it best to sacrifice that cargo ship at the possibility of saving a warship later in the day. If they responded directly to communications, the Germans would continue to change the code or investigate ways to improve their encryption methods and upgrade Enigma. Necessity breeds innovation and you don't want your enemies feeling a strong necessity for better encryption. I'd like to cite my source but I don't believe Simon Singh's The Code Book is available online and that's where I read this.
How interesting that Hezbollah would have the shortsightedness to let this crucial knowledge publicly available. However, this can be expected when the primary morale boosting for troops and citizens is bragging about your capabilities. I highly doubt they consider the conflict over and suspect that Isreal will now heavily ramp up its encryption & security to the highest standards since I believe that's one of the few things the United States will not export to them (see Phil Zimmerman's FBI case file on exporting encryption programs to foreign soil).
As the department this summary is coming from reveals, guerilla warfare depends heavily on information like this. I'm surprised it's gone public that they had access to it.
Thankfully they got the electoral ass-kick they deserved.
Ok, first calm down. This is (supposed to be) a level headed discussion (no, I'm not new here).
Second, learn to use the <br> tags. They are your friends and do wonders for your readability.
Third, they ran and lost. That's how Democracy works. Maybe they'll do better next year, maybe they won't even be around, who knows? But one thing is for sure, when you outright say they shouldn't even exist, you're starting to hinder the goal of Democracy. Sounds like you have a pretty closed mind, my friend.
Also, thanks for writing me off as a hippie. I'm glad you took 2.5 seconds and one post to know me and I highly value your (fairly incorrect) stereotype. I was only trying to point out where they're coming from, not advocating it. You either need to do more reading or stop talking because you really don't understand the goals of this party.
Ah, I have to disagree with you here. Switzerland is landlocked while Sweden has many bountiful ports to be plundered. No way in hell you'll get me off my boat, even for watches and knives.
Besides, the only fighting tactic I know is "crossing the T." And, it just doesn't work as well on land... with the horses and the stabbing and the need for more wooden appendages.
They seemed to advocate that anyone could copy anyone elses intellectrual property without permission. Best summed up as the abolition of conventional capitalism. If they had just been honest and renamed themselves the 'communist party' they might have done a bit better. Hopefully now people will see them for the freeloading jokes that they are.
I would like to first begin by saying that nowhere have I read the Pirate Party will abolish all rights to personal property (as Socialism aims to achieve). Secondly, conventional capitalism can function fine under the engine of providing a service or a good in exchange for money.
Yes, intellectual property is free for anyone to copy but these are just ideas. Capitalism can function just fine if everyone can use anyone's idea for free -- you just suffer less incentive to come up with innovative ideas since copying someone else's is easier.
Freeloading, maybe... but not the whole way. And it's nowhere close to the extremes of socialism, only in one aspect of it. Most people on/. hate IP laws anyways, let the party run and see what happens. Stop calling them names and let Democracy take it's course!
Might I remind you that the founding politicians of America were violating many English laws and guilty of leading revolts against the British Crown... punishable by death if I'm not mistaken.
Just because a political party is advocating something currently illegal doesn't mean it's a bad idea to elect them and change that law. Especially if it's a stupid law or is detrimental to the populace.
When it comes to media, I'll take a revolution over a golden age any day.
What I mean by that is there are no new genre defining games coming out anymore. Maybe it's because we've reached hardware & software limitations or maybe it's because no one is willing to risk it with so many popularized genres out there to make a buck off of.
But at the end of the day, there are more different games out there than ever before, from the oh-so-pretty Oblivion to Guitar Hero to Dwarf Fortress.
This is true and I applaud games like Guitar Hero or even Um Jammer Lammy... although I've never played Dwarf Fortress or Oblivion, Oblivion seems like a new twist on a way too common engine. Unfortunately, the makers of Guitar Hero are already making a Guitar Hero 2. How many before they channel their resources and creativity on another concept? I think franchises stifle creativity -- yes, even our beloved franchises like Final Fantasy & Legend of Zelda.
One would think (or hope) that with internet connections for consoles and the MMORPG world conquered by World of Warcraft that we would be seeing a lot of innovation. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to see less and less innovation and a whole lot more 'safety' games. Indeed, this is a golden age... but if I visit IGN and search for Madden, it returns 115 results. Yes, I know it's been on every console and PC since the dawn of games... but, for Christ's sake, when will it die? There is a proper time to lay a game to rest. I'm very much convinced that EA relies mainly on disposable games and sequels for 95% of their profits. Golden age indeed!
The fact that you can't watch Yahoo Videos through Soapbox (as the summary mentioned).
Plus, you really don't know what's going on in the background. I mean, usually that tactic is what follows the release of the software. I'm guessing Microsoft has someone in mind to provide ads, storage, etc. The fact that it's not something you can incorporate into blog sites is also a little evidence they won't play ball with anyone.
As for playing to the lowest common denominator, I thought that was supposed to be Apple's shtick?
As a pretty avid Linux user, it's been my opinion that both MS and Apple aim to do this... just in different ways (media versus gaming). And that might change with Apple's architecture switch. This LCD-ness is what Linux lacks (Ubuntu's getting close), right now it seems (again, in my opinion) that the sheer lack of open drivers for devices and PCI cards make this damn near impossible. There's also the debate about the heart of Linux and whether or not we want it to be as simple as plug-n-play. Either way, I hope someone makes a distro where you never see the guts and it attempts to take advantage of any drivers, open or not. Not so I would use it but so that someone with less time on their hands might be able to.
Given Microsoft's position in the video sharing market (dead last), I expected a more aggressive product.
Well, this is Microsoft you are critiquing. I mean, what have they traditionally aimed for? Functionality? Cross product compliance? Not really... In fact, from what I've read and seen, Soapbox looks like some classic Microsoft action. They aim for ease of use (easy uploading and browsing) and visual "bells & whistles" while using traditional tactics to stifle/strong arm the competition.
This is very similar to their traditional software market that they have come to dominate.
This reviewer is the minority of computer users. He is a technically elite individual. There are more regular average people than there are technically elite. Microsoft is probably aiming for the market of older people who shoot home videos on their digital camera and want a site they can understand -- to hell with unneeded functionality. I think there is a large market of people out there and I think that Microsoft is attempting to enter the online video market through this demographic.
I added a 120MB digital camera video to Google Video last week and the process was way too complex for my mom. Yet, I'm sure that she and my sisters will want to share their home videos with the rest of the family for free. And they're not looking to link it to their blogs (they don't know what that word means) or turn a buck on ad revenue. Playing to the lowest common denominator will get you very far in America.
Just something to think about before you laugh at Microsoft and claim they'll always be dead last.
Since the review so heavily criticized Soapbox, what did the reviewer think Microsoft should have added to put it ahead of the competition? I mean, if you add the same functionality (say, ad revenue), you're not exactly putting yourself ahead and you're just doing what's been done. Is there anything left to be done to make your online video site "the best"?
Well, this article is kind of a dupe but the CNN article has a lot of new information.
One of tidbits is that the researchers have to dumb down the PC distributed version so that it runs on even the slowest computer. In fact, they have to play to the lowest common denominator. With the PS3, it's standardized so they can inch out every bit of performance from the chipset. On top of that, they know there will only be on GPU so they can write the renderer for that and you'll see the protein folding on your screen. It will look all science-y and you can navigate around it. People might like this as a screen saver or conversation piece. The researchers are also hoping that it attracts people to also install it on their computers to aid in this endeavor.
Oh, don't forget this article that states they were going to send out one million spam warnings to spammers. One million spammers? Here in the United States, it seems to be 9 or 10 parties that create 99% of the spam. Why is it so different in China? Is one in every thousand Chinese citizens a spammer?
Perhaps this is just another law that China will use to silence people (like I mentioned here)?
Speak out against the government and have your apartment ransacked for pirated DVDs. They find them everytime and you don't have to worry about a trial -- you were ready to distribute them! Makes the government look good and invites companies to come to China. Win-win situation for the government!
I haven't read this article. But from that last sentence of grammar stumbling, I'm not interested in this interview at all. I don't know what Xbox modding is but I'd imagine that Schmuck5000 didn't invent this 'modding' procedure. A lot of times, they just follow some process online and then run around killing people saying "1337 h4Xx00rs pwn you n00bz0rs." I consider these people much less than 'cheaters' although I don't think the names I have for them are for public display.
What about the people who write the code or make the hardware for the mods? You know, the people that actually do all the work? I want to talk to these people who probably don't even use it all that much but just consider it a challenge and then get bored after the challenge is overcome. Game Genie & Game Shark are popularized commercial versions of this but it's not online play. I wish I could talk to the people that reverse engineer the packets sent out using something like Burp or a networking tool that gives them speed hacks. These people work for it while I don't even think their end goal is really to cheat. I kind of have the feeling that they enjoy the cat and mouse game that appearantly Blizzard has won (after rounds of losing) but Xbox Live has lost.
I investigated writing a program that read the memory from video and tried to interpret it using heuristics on what to do in casewise instances. While it might work for some games (like Tetris), 3D emersion worlds like WoW or online play are much much more difficult. If people are out there and writing these 'bots' that are pretty highly sophisticated, I'd love to hear from them and ask them real questions (not "Do you have a girlfriend?").
By the way, the article has a picture of Steve Martin as "The Jerk" and it's pretty obvious they were interviewing an idiot and doing a radio talk show host job of making him look like a poser.
Is Operation Iraqi Freedom over now? I must have missed that news. Better let all those prisoners go, then. Check the price of gas when it is over, dipshit. It has already topped $3/gallon, which whiney apologists like yourself said wouldn't happen.
Oh it's over, alright. Didn't you get the memo? It came in the form of our leader landing on an aircraft carrior with a banner that read "Mission Accomplished." If that isn't proof that Operation Iraqi Freedom is over with massive success, I don't know what is.
I'm not a 'whiney apologist' in fact, I'm the opposite. It was a self fulfilling prophecy that gas would reach $5 a gallon so that when it jumped another dollar or two we kept our mouths shut and were thankful it never did hit $5 a gallon. I don't understand why the oil industry told us to prepare for the worst and then posted record profits. That's all my original post is about, no apologizing for anyone.
It seems that a week cannot pass without finding big news about gas prices. They're up, they're down...
They've been in the news because they've only been going up up up until very recently. They were also in the news because idiots were 'predicting' that they would hit $5 a gallon after Operation Iraq Freedom.
This article is just a very vigorous proof that you're an idiot if you spend any time at all searching for the cheapest gas. We all know that some gas stations don't follow the unspoken price rule where you don't undercut your competitors and they won't undercut you. Some people must feel very smart finding those gas stations. How much gas they waste getting to them might be interesting to compute also. Oh well, as long as it makes you feel good inside.
I remember when Exxon Mobile reported the largest profits ever received by a company in a single quarter. While they were raking in that dough, they were telling me that hurricane Katrina and the war had left them with no oil at all. They warned me gas prices were going to go up. Then why the hell did they make record profits?
What I would like to read an article about what the hell happened with the congressional hearing that was supposed to investigate Exxon Mobile? And we're subsidizing gasoline companies through preferential tax codes? Am I the only person wondering what is going on here?
Under the agreement, YouTube users will have full access to videos from Warner artists.
Wait, you mean you can put this media out there online for free and you can still turn a profit? That's insane. That goes against everything I've ever been told by the RIAA & MPAA.
I'm very happy and excited about this. I hope that this turns out to be a lucrative move for Warner and, more importantly, the artists. Sites like Youtube combined with this relatively new kind of business model could represent an alternative for distributing writing, songs & video. It's nice to see a company adapt to the fans instead of forcing it vice versa through thousands of lawsuits.
This is in contrast to how Universal is handling the situation.
Uh, yeah, Universal isn't interested in Youtube or MySpace distributing their content... but at least they're going to put it online anyway.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think you could really expect Democrats to do much better. The party has cozied up to Bush and the GOP to such an extent in recent years that they have completely lost the will to provide any real challenge to the administration beyond the occasional displeased remark, or half-hearted disagreement with a particular bill/nominee/etc.
I'd expect backwards inbred bills with either party owning majority over all three branches. I'd be bitching just as much or more with the Democrats in the same position.
My Favorite Part of the original PDF is this tastey excerpt from pages 2 & 3:
(4) Although it is essential that the President
12 have all necessary means to protect us against our
13 enemies, it is equally essential that, in doing so, the
14 President does not compromise the very civil lib
15 erties that the President seeks to safeguard. As Jus
16 tice Hugo Black observed, ''The President's power,
17 if any, to issue [an] order must stem either from an
18 Act of Congress or from the Constitution itself.''.
19 Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S.
20 579, 585 (1952) (opinion by Black, J.).
21 (5) In 2004, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ex
22 plained in her plurality opinion for the Supreme
23 Court in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld: ''We have long since
24 made clear that a state of war is not a blank check
25 for the President when it comes to the rights of the
1 Nation's citizens. Youngstown Sheet & Tube, 343
2 U.S., at 587, 72 S.Ct. 863. Whatever power the
3 United States Constitution envisions for the Execu
4 tive in its exchanges with other nations or with
5 enemy organizations in times of conflict, it most as
6 suredly envisions a role for all three branches when
7 individual liberties are at stake.''. Hamdi v. Rums
8 feld, 542 U.S. 507, 536 (2004) (citations omitted).
Of course, with Republicans owning (not by 2/3 thank god) the majority in the house, the majority in the senate and the white house, what else would you expect?
Many users take advantage of Tor and other anonymous web browsing tools, but is the amount of hassle worth the effort it takes to remain anonymous?
This is a joke, right?
If you have a few seconds, download Torpark and try it out. It shouldn't take more than half a minute and is Firefox based and pretty much automated.
And if you're worried about having to put Torpark on every machine you use, just put it on a very small USB thumbdrive on your keychain. Plug it into whatever computer you're using and browse the thumbdrive. Double click and go -- no need to worry about leaving personal information on your friend's computer. The application itself is very tiny so it would fit on even very cheap USB drivesand there's a Thunderbird extension for it. I was at a conference once and got a free 512MB thumbdrive. I sharpied it as Torpark and now I can serf anonymously if I need to.
The only hassles I can find is that I have it set to not cache anything at all which means sites don't load as fast when I revisit them normally on my desktop. Also, the Tor servers can sometimes be slow to forward packets or the German ranged IP address it masks me with will cause a page to render in German. Oh gut, das ist wert es wohl.
Some 9,000 people were working at Bletchley Park at the height of the codebreaking efforts in January 1945, and over 10,000 worked there at some point during the war. A number were recruited for various intellectual achievements, whether they were chess champions, crossword experts, polyglots or great mathematicians. In one, now well known instance, the ability to solve The Daily Telegraph crossword in under 12 minutes was used as a recruitment test. The newspaper was asked to organise a crossword competition, after which each of the successful participants was contacted and asked if they would be prepared to undertake "a particular type of work as a contribution to the war effort". The competition itself was won by F H W Hawes of Dagenham who finished the crossword in less than eight minutes.
Solving a crossword in under 12 minutes was the entrance exam. That's interesting. I remember reading about this in Simon Singh's The Code Book in the Chapter on Alan Turing.
I think the ability to solve puzzles is tightly correlated with the skill set desired by IT. Because it takes an inquisitive and unrelenting mind to hit the hardest puzzles. If they like to do this for fun, surely they can do it well for a living.
Perhaps it's even more important than the education because of the way IT problems arise? I constantly tell my boss that I complete the crossword everyday at work without fear of repurcussions. I feel this keeps my mind nimble and prepares me for the day.
Isn't a college degree just a symbol that says, "Look, a whole bunch of people with good reputations threw a bunch of puzzles at me. Some were hard, some were easy, but overall I did well enough to pass through these puzzles. I retained some of the information and processes but that's not really important. What's important is the fact that I'm able to solve problems and paid to do it for four years."
So, in the end, I predict this will have little or no effect on the IT world at all. In fact, I think it's a better shift towards hiring the most qualified person. For financial reasons, I went to the University of Minnesota but people on the East coast imagine a backwoods podunk frozen tundra instead of an institution of learning when I mention it. If I'm a good puzzle solver, it shouldn't matter.
Sometimes when I'm dying in my cubicle at work, I open up a random page of James Joyce's Ulysses and drift away... I was hoping Google would provide the original typesetting (that Joyce was very particular about) but instead it seems I just get a preview:-(
Sadly, after the crapola that was ep's 1,2, and 3, Lucas has already failed, and failed in a very spectacular manner. So he should be used to failure by now.
I'll defend them.
I hated Episode One, I liked Episode Two and I loved Episode Three. Overall, they're a good addition to the Star Wars universe. Episode One was fluff and terrible fluff at that. But it'd be a lie to say I don't own them and I know that these are movies that will survive time and last in my movie collection.
The important thing is that I will show them to my kids, much like the IV, V & VI were shown to me. And hopefully, they'll spur imagination and entertainment for everyone that sees them. That is the point of sci-fi movies, by the way, not to satisfy everyone that views them. I think that any eight to fourteen year old kid would enjoy all the Star Wars movies thoroughly and that makes them good. I, II & III contain excellent social commentary even though some of the acting might be terrible and the plot clunky.
We expected platinum for Lucas and he gave us silver. That's not very fair. Still, I'd rather watch Episode One than 90% of the crap I see hit movie theatres these days.
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Interesting articles but I have a very basic question: Where do we get the social stigma associated with "meeting someone online"?
... but I've also seen percentages that show you're just as likely to meet a deviant at a bar as on MySpace or Friendster.
We're humans. We're a gregarious species. Whenever something arises that allows us to interact with people, it's usually a good thing. But tell your parents that you met someone online and you're dating them -- hell tell anyone -- that and more often than not, they'll disapprove.
Why? What causes this? Even the summary said it's amazing how much personal stuff people are willing to put online, isn't this a good thing if you're trying to get to know someone?
I've heard people say that only weird people are online and that you're taking serious risks
The only possible explanation I can find for this is the "it's different so it's wrong" approach a lot of people take to new things. I don't know if it's an ultra conservative viewpoint or just fear of the unknown that drives this social stigma against meeting people online.
When I first moved, I spent a lot of time in game talking to my old friends and generally just hanging out in game. I spent a lot of time in the house on Corellia. You might argue that it was detrimental to me meeting new people in my new surroundings and naturally adjusting but, honestly, I would have spent the time reading books if I hadn't had an SWG account. I guess that's why it was like pulling teeth when the CU hit and all my friends stopped playing. Oh well, at least I had enough time to meet new people while still having fun with old friends.
The primary problems is that games for consoles usually are only made for that console for about 3~4 years. So the price drop on 1080p displays has to drop in that time frame to give me a bit of time to enjoy it.
A secondary problem I see is that consoles are consoles. They're supposed to be a standardized unit in which I can assure myself that everyone is having the same playing experience. This seems to no longer be true with the different models of Xbox360 or PS3 they are planning. And, frankly, it turns me off a bit. Is it a good thing that consoles are becoming more like computers? And if it is, why aren't we just buying a special USB controller from these companies and running everything on our computers?
The real news is that this made it into the news. Not because it isn't news worthy but because it only makes sense to maintain a shroud of ignorance once you have actually cracked a channel of communication thus instilling your enemies with a false sense of security.
For instance during World War II, even after the allies had broken a German code or devised a method to figure out that day's cipher string, they would still go about their routine of acting like they didn't know what the Germans were going to do. Meaning that if a cargo ship was headed towards a line of submarines, they might find it best to sacrifice that cargo ship at the possibility of saving a warship later in the day. If they responded directly to communications, the Germans would continue to change the code or investigate ways to improve their encryption methods and upgrade Enigma. Necessity breeds innovation and you don't want your enemies feeling a strong necessity for better encryption. I'd like to cite my source but I don't believe Simon Singh's The Code Book is available online and that's where I read this.
How interesting that Hezbollah would have the shortsightedness to let this crucial knowledge publicly available. However, this can be expected when the primary morale boosting for troops and citizens is bragging about your capabilities. I highly doubt they consider the conflict over and suspect that Isreal will now heavily ramp up its encryption & security to the highest standards since I believe that's one of the few things the United States will not export to them (see Phil Zimmerman's FBI case file on exporting encryption programs to foreign soil).
As the department this summary is coming from reveals, guerilla warfare depends heavily on information like this. I'm surprised it's gone public that they had access to it.
Fixed the banner.
Second, learn to use the <br> tags. They are your friends and do wonders for your readability.
Third, they ran and lost. That's how Democracy works. Maybe they'll do better next year, maybe they won't even be around, who knows? But one thing is for sure, when you outright say they shouldn't even exist, you're starting to hinder the goal of Democracy. Sounds like you have a pretty closed mind, my friend.
Also, thanks for writing me off as a hippie. I'm glad you took 2.5 seconds and one post to know me and I highly value your (fairly incorrect) stereotype. I was only trying to point out where they're coming from, not advocating it. You either need to do more reading or stop talking because you really don't understand the goals of this party.
Besides, the only fighting tactic I know is "crossing the T." And, it just doesn't work as well on land
Yes, intellectual property is free for anyone to copy but these are just ideas. Capitalism can function just fine if everyone can use anyone's idea for free -- you just suffer less incentive to come up with innovative ideas since copying someone else's is easier.
Freeloading, maybe
Just because a political party is advocating something currently illegal doesn't mean it's a bad idea to elect them and change that law. Especially if it's a stupid law or is detrimental to the populace.
Let the people vote.
What I mean by that is there are no new genre defining games coming out anymore. Maybe it's because we've reached hardware & software limitations or maybe it's because no one is willing to risk it with so many popularized genres out there to make a buck off of.
This is true and I applaud games like Guitar Hero or even Um Jammer Lammy
One would think (or hope) that with internet connections for consoles and the MMORPG world conquered by World of Warcraft that we would be seeing a lot of innovation. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to see less and less innovation and a whole lot more 'safety' games. Indeed, this is a golden age
Plus, you really don't know what's going on in the background. I mean, usually that tactic is what follows the release of the software. I'm guessing Microsoft has someone in mind to provide ads, storage, etc. The fact that it's not something you can incorporate into blog sites is also a little evidence they won't play ball with anyone.
As a pretty avid Linux user, it's been my opinion that both MS and Apple aim to do this
This is very similar to their traditional software market that they have come to dominate.
This reviewer is the minority of computer users. He is a technically elite individual. There are more regular average people than there are technically elite. Microsoft is probably aiming for the market of older people who shoot home videos on their digital camera and want a site they can understand -- to hell with unneeded functionality. I think there is a large market of people out there and I think that Microsoft is attempting to enter the online video market through this demographic.
I added a 120MB digital camera video to Google Video last week and the process was way too complex for my mom. Yet, I'm sure that she and my sisters will want to share their home videos with the rest of the family for free. And they're not looking to link it to their blogs (they don't know what that word means) or turn a buck on ad revenue. Playing to the lowest common denominator will get you very far in America.
Just something to think about before you laugh at Microsoft and claim they'll always be dead last.
Since the review so heavily criticized Soapbox, what did the reviewer think Microsoft should have added to put it ahead of the competition? I mean, if you add the same functionality (say, ad revenue), you're not exactly putting yourself ahead and you're just doing what's been done. Is there anything left to be done to make your online video site "the best"?
Well, this article is kind of a dupe but the CNN article has a lot of new information.
One of tidbits is that the researchers have to dumb down the PC distributed version so that it runs on even the slowest computer. In fact, they have to play to the lowest common denominator. With the PS3, it's standardized so they can inch out every bit of performance from the chipset. On top of that, they know there will only be on GPU so they can write the renderer for that and you'll see the protein folding on your screen. It will look all science-y and you can navigate around it. People might like this as a screen saver or conversation piece. The researchers are also hoping that it attracts people to also install it on their computers to aid in this endeavor.
Yeah, where will I find my copy of Star War The Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West? Enjoy screen shots here.
Oh, don't forget this article that states they were going to send out one million spam warnings to spammers. One million spammers? Here in the United States, it seems to be 9 or 10 parties that create 99% of the spam. Why is it so different in China? Is one in every thousand Chinese citizens a spammer?
Perhaps this is just another law that China will use to silence people (like I mentioned here)?
Speak out against the government and have your apartment ransacked for pirated DVDs. They find them everytime and you don't have to worry about a trial -- you were ready to distribute them! Makes the government look good and invites companies to come to China. Win-win situation for the government!
I haven't read this article. But from that last sentence of grammar stumbling, I'm not interested in this interview at all. I don't know what Xbox modding is but I'd imagine that Schmuck5000 didn't invent this 'modding' procedure. A lot of times, they just follow some process online and then run around killing people saying "1337 h4Xx00rs pwn you n00bz0rs." I consider these people much less than 'cheaters' although I don't think the names I have for them are for public display.
What about the people who write the code or make the hardware for the mods? You know, the people that actually do all the work? I want to talk to these people who probably don't even use it all that much but just consider it a challenge and then get bored after the challenge is overcome. Game Genie & Game Shark are popularized commercial versions of this but it's not online play. I wish I could talk to the people that reverse engineer the packets sent out using something like Burp or a networking tool that gives them speed hacks. These people work for it while I don't even think their end goal is really to cheat. I kind of have the feeling that they enjoy the cat and mouse game that appearantly Blizzard has won (after rounds of losing) but Xbox Live has lost.
I investigated writing a program that read the memory from video and tried to interpret it using heuristics on what to do in casewise instances. While it might work for some games (like Tetris), 3D emersion worlds like WoW or online play are much much more difficult. If people are out there and writing these 'bots' that are pretty highly sophisticated, I'd love to hear from them and ask them real questions (not "Do you have a girlfriend?").
By the way, the article has a picture of Steve Martin as "The Jerk" and it's pretty obvious they were interviewing an idiot and doing a radio talk show host job of making him look like a poser.
I'm not a 'whiney apologist' in fact, I'm the opposite. It was a self fulfilling prophecy that gas would reach $5 a gallon so that when it jumped another dollar or two we kept our mouths shut and were thankful it never did hit $5 a gallon. I don't understand why the oil industry told us to prepare for the worst and then posted record profits. That's all my original post is about, no apologizing for anyone.
This article is just a very vigorous proof that you're an idiot if you spend any time at all searching for the cheapest gas. We all know that some gas stations don't follow the unspoken price rule where you don't undercut your competitors and they won't undercut you. Some people must feel very smart finding those gas stations. How much gas they waste getting to them might be interesting to compute also. Oh well, as long as it makes you feel good inside.
I remember when Exxon Mobile reported the largest profits ever received by a company in a single quarter. While they were raking in that dough, they were telling me that hurricane Katrina and the war had left them with no oil at all. They warned me gas prices were going to go up. Then why the hell did they make record profits?
What I would like to read an article about what the hell happened with the congressional hearing that was supposed to investigate Exxon Mobile? And we're subsidizing gasoline companies through preferential tax codes? Am I the only person wondering what is going on here?
Wait, you mean you can put this media out there online for free and you can still turn a profit? That's insane. That goes against everything I've ever been told by the RIAA & MPAA.
I'm very happy and excited about this. I hope that this turns out to be a lucrative move for Warner and, more importantly, the artists. Sites like Youtube combined with this relatively new kind of business model could represent an alternative for distributing writing, songs & video. It's nice to see a company adapt to the fans instead of forcing it vice versa through thousands of lawsuits.
Uh, yeah, Universal isn't interested in Youtube or MySpace distributing their content
It's the checks and balances we're now missing.
Goodbye checks and balances! Hello fascism!
If you have a few seconds, download Torpark and try it out. It shouldn't take more than half a minute and is Firefox based and pretty much automated.
And if you're worried about having to put Torpark on every machine you use, just put it on a very small USB thumbdrive on your keychain. Plug it into whatever computer you're using and browse the thumbdrive. Double click and go -- no need to worry about leaving personal information on your friend's computer. The application itself is very tiny so it would fit on even very cheap USB drives and there's a Thunderbird extension for it. I was at a conference once and got a free 512MB thumbdrive. I sharpied it as Torpark and now I can serf anonymously if I need to.
The only hassles I can find is that I have it set to not cache anything at all which means sites don't load as fast when I revisit them normally on my desktop. Also, the Tor servers can sometimes be slow to forward packets or the German ranged IP address it masks me with will cause a page to render in German. Oh gut, das ist wert es wohl.
I think the ability to solve puzzles is tightly correlated with the skill set desired by IT. Because it takes an inquisitive and unrelenting mind to hit the hardest puzzles. If they like to do this for fun, surely they can do it well for a living.
Perhaps it's even more important than the education because of the way IT problems arise? I constantly tell my boss that I complete the crossword everyday at work without fear of repurcussions. I feel this keeps my mind nimble and prepares me for the day.
Isn't a college degree just a symbol that says, "Look, a whole bunch of people with good reputations threw a bunch of puzzles at me. Some were hard, some were easy, but overall I did well enough to pass through these puzzles. I retained some of the information and processes but that's not really important. What's important is the fact that I'm able to solve problems and paid to do it for four years."
So, in the end, I predict this will have little or no effect on the IT world at all. In fact, I think it's a better shift towards hiring the most qualified person. For financial reasons, I went to the University of Minnesota but people on the East coast imagine a backwoods podunk frozen tundra instead of an institution of learning when I mention it. If I'm a good puzzle solver, it shouldn't matter.
You're right. They're not publishing these, just making the searchable by all ... er most (pending China's great firewall).
... I was hoping Google would provide the original typesetting (that Joyce was very particular about) but instead it seems I just get a preview :-(
A lot of these I have seen on Project Gutenberg.
Sometimes when I'm dying in my cubicle at work, I open up a random page of James Joyce's Ulysses and drift away
I hated Episode One, I liked Episode Two and I loved Episode Three. Overall, they're a good addition to the Star Wars universe. Episode One was fluff and terrible fluff at that. But it'd be a lie to say I don't own them and I know that these are movies that will survive time and last in my movie collection.
The important thing is that I will show them to my kids, much like the IV, V & VI were shown to me. And hopefully, they'll spur imagination and entertainment for everyone that sees them. That is the point of sci-fi movies, by the way, not to satisfy everyone that views them. I think that any eight to fourteen year old kid would enjoy all the Star Wars movies thoroughly and that makes them good. I, II & III contain excellent social commentary even though some of the acting might be terrible and the plot clunky.
We expected platinum for Lucas and he gave us silver. That's not very fair. Still, I'd rather watch Episode One than 90% of the crap I see hit movie theatres these days.