As a kid discussing global warming in school, it was broght up time and again that we are entering a natural warming cycle, something like every 10,000 years the trend warms up between a cool climate and a warm climate and we are due for a warming period.
When the planet warms up, there is evidence that limestone? or come calcium rich rock breaks down and is released into the oceans which has the ultimate effect of reversing this warming trend and the earth goes into a cooling cycle.
While I am sure we are not innocent of effecting our earth's climate, I think most people don't realize how big our planet is and how we simply can't change weather patterns over a period of 5 - 10 years. Anyone believing Katrina was caused by global warming is sorely ignorant of how weather works and how we as humans can effect the weather.
We all are victims to the kind of mentality that a unusually warm winter or cold summer MUST be because we are ruining our climate, but scientist haven't even figured out a tiny fraction of everything that is involved in creating and affecting the world's climate.
Let's put it this way, when weather forecasts start nearing 100% accuracy then we can start to say for sure that we understand weather and our climate fully and can start taking stock in these doomsday predictions.
For now, I don't believe we should simply continue to pollute the environment, we should take more aggresive steps to easy our dependence on fossil fuels now rather then later. But I don't think we should start announcing that we are responsible for all the catastropic weather and we are at the point of no return.
Honestly, scientists are split as to whether an the Arctic melting would raise water levels that much. Its the Antartica ice shelf that is sitting on land and would have the most effect on water levels, not the Arctic ocean where most of the ice is already floating.
Also, Greenland is the size of Mexico, its glaciers would hardly have an impact on world water levels, but most people looking on a map see Greenland as being as large as Canada.
First, the only people that find Photoshop easy to work with are those that make a living using it. As a newby to PS, I find it counter intuitive and a lot of things just don't make sense for doing quick simple graphics, like for software development. I fight with the software more then being productive at it, and I don't want to spend 24x7 learning how to use it. I really thing that if you need a book to learn how to use software, the software has failed.
When I first tried GIMP, I found that they were trying to duplicate PS whole "floating islands" approach to applications, an approach I despise. I can't stand a bunch of floating windows covering the content I am trying to create. I prefer Windows docking tool/dialog boxes. I like ONE window that contains everything else, when you resize or move the application, everything else moves with it, not remains to clutter the desktop.
Anyways, I don't see making GIMP like PS a step in the right direction. It makes sense to appeal to the PS crowd and make it a potential alternative to the expensive CS suite of tools, but if your tring to make GIMP more mainstream and adopt newbie and amateur users, then please look more like a Corel product rather then Adobe.
Mac's already use PC video cards, only difference is a slightly different BIOS just to impose Mac only conditions on them. 90% of a Mac is a PC these days anyways, only the 10% dedicated to CPU bus is different. It made so much sense for Apple to adopt a 100% PC internal core although it will be customized enough (with BIOS and Firmware, etc) to remain "uniquely" Apple.
Only problem, I doubt very much that Apple will be getting the same CPU as available on a PC system. While they might both start from the same breed, I am sure Apple is going to require Intel to make it different enough that it can't simply be a drop in replacement for PC CPU's.
Also, Apple isn't a large enough consumer base for Intel to use as a beta site. If anything, Apple will be getting PC hand-me-downs once they have been proven in the PC world. I think Apple's first Intel based CPU will be something from Intel's current generation PC CPU's customized for Apple, nothing even from Intel's immediate roadmap. Eventually Apple will love Intel's low power chips and probably create the world's smallest and thinnest computer to replace the Mac Mini, but that is another year or two AFTER Intel has tested low power chips in the PC world.
While MS is moving more towards applications becoming web services, XAML should not be considered a web only technology, and not simply a Flash competitor. For regular desktop applictions, it is proving to be an ideal UI tool as well, taking a lot of the monotony out of UI coding for desktop applications and finally allowing more expressive and innovative UI designs. Desktop applications are finaly moving to the concept of "drawing" the UI in Photoshop or Acrylic and then adding functionality to it like when doing web pages.
Anways, you can say what you want about Longhorn/Vista the OS, but I am really excited about the next generation of web/software development tools MS is developing. If there is ONE thing MS does well, that is they develop good tools for software development. I think quite honestly that it is because of a strong development foundation that MS is the dominant OS on the market. Linux tools are still immature and klunky to code with (no solid GUI/RAD developer system), and Apple's is trying desperately to duplicate Visual Studio with XCode (but failing miserably). As a result, the software library for Windows is 2 - 10 times larger then that of Linux or Mac (not saying all this software is GOOD), it gives users more choice.
MS's new products Acrylic, Sparkle, and Quartz, while targetted as web design tools, should make application development easier, as they have finally separated the GUI front end from the back end code. In fact, it is easy to develop an application for both web and desktop at the same time and maintain consistency unlike any existing tool (except perhaps Java).
Like Pro skateboarders, BMX riders, and wrestlers should all be put on a spaceship and sent to the sun. They are an unecessary drain on our society, sucking intelligence out of our citizens and getting paid for it. Include lawyers and patent officers and our world will be a better place to live.
I mean, unless OnStar monitors your location by GPS and measures speeds and can make this information available to the authorities, I really can't see how anyone should feel threatend by this technology.
Quite personally, if my car is more capable of finding out if there is some serious problems (interesting to note that this is on a GM vehicle, none of the imports need this feature), then I am game for it.
All I fear is GM using this as an excuse to get you to come more often for tune-ups, or perform "necessary" servicing or reparis. People buying into OnStar may feel that if GM calls them up and says you need to replace the engine, then "Duh, OK!" hand me a $3000 repair bill.
I don't think we should fear technology in our cars. Some company isn't going to put a computer in our cars that might force use to crash or monitor our every move. The US is filled with people just waiting for something like this to happen and sue a company for billions of dollars. GM and other are more afraid of public backlash and legal issues then you should be of them implementing technology that violates your privacy or is a security threat.
Its just that the entertainment industry's creative muscle has atrophied and instead of offering new and innovative titles, we get the same formula based and derivative "sequels" and "clones" based on other successful franchises.
Most companies while earning billions of dollars don't want to waste millions developing a software title that may fail. The same is true in Television and Hollywood. The entertainment industry has resolved itself into only a few major companies that generate billions in revenue, but these companies make their billions by not taking risks.
All that is needed to save video games is to start breaking the mold and offering us something new. We don't need GTA or Quake knockoffs, just something new.
Gratuitous sex and violence isn't needed in video games, its a cheap gimmick to drive sales without investing much in innovation. But sex does sell, and as long as any movie, tv show, or game can make millions with it, it will continue to happen.
For the most part, many game formats are old time favourites, we will always love a fast paced FPS or thought provoking RPG or RTS, but rather then 90% of the market being clones of only a handful of original games, just take a risk and offer us something new!
Pay for my internet connection and get me an equivalently spec'd computer for home that I use for work, and I will work from home.
As a software developer, I don't need to be in the office much of the time, although it is handy when large issues arrise that require multiple developers to deal with.
Just don't ask me to invest thousands to setup the same environment at home as I have at work. I try to program at work, but with a much slower computer, less comfortable chair, and only 1 screen ( I use multiple monitors at work ), it is less productive and confortable.
Asside from that, while the gas prices are high, they are not really that expensive, we spend more money getting our daily coffee, donuts, cigarettes, alcohol, cola, bottled water, junk food, fast food and other extraneous "necessities", even taking public transportation is more expensive, spending $0.30/litre more for gas and filling up once every few weeks isn't outrageous, just cut back on one of your other libations and you can afford to drive to work.
Will the bias and double standards against Microsoft ever stop?
While I am no fan of MS, I get tired of the constant default criticisms aimed at MS everytime they do something.
First, look at how many versions of XP MS was forced to implement.
While MS started off with an ideal Home and Pro versions, then the OEM Media Center and Tablet Edition, they were forced by governments and the European Union to implement a stripped down version (N) version for both Home and Pro, as well as pretty much been forced to implement a stripped down version of XP for developing countries. This means there are 8 versions of XP around.
Mostly this was FORCED on MS by governments and consumer backlash.
So, MS takes the initiative to try and please ALL the special interest groups and take a pre-emptive stike against future government hassles by offering a range of products that MS are ALREADY FORCED to impelement in XP. The difference is the MS is doing this WILLINGLY!
Also, confusing the market? Every try and pick out a Linux distro? 30+ versions, multiple GUI interfaces, which Kernel to run, 2.4 or 2.6 and which subversion is stable or powerful. Countless number of GNU shareware plauging Linux with cryptic names starting with G? If MS is confusing end users, then what hope does Linux ever have of becoming a mainstream OS.
If anyone will shine above all this will be Apple. With there limited choice in hardware and 2 flavours of OSX (Server and Not Server), if anyone is confused by MS and Linux, then they will flock to the Apple platform.
Hey, I think it is dumb that there needs to be 7 versions of an OS, but the EU and consumers pretty much brought this on themselves with all the countless numbers of lawsuits and government pressure. Microsoft is just giving you what you want!
Compared to the rest of Australia, Tasmania is tiny.
Yes, you would say the tiny state of Rhode Island if you talking about states in the US, even though the Vatical City is smaller.
It would probably identify these keys easily enough, remember that it deduces the key pressed by the sound. It would be easy enough to write the algorithm to take into consideration any key pressed.
I.e.
typing password
a b c "hit backspace"
if the software knows the backspace key was pressed because the sound of it is in the suspected position of the backspace key then the algorithm would decide your left with:
a b
One way to defeat this is to tap the key without actually pressing it which mimics the sound but would be more difficult to deduce that you actually didn't complete the keystroke.
Secondly, if you don't know what keyboard the user is using, it would throw off the software. I.e. I use the natural keyboard, keys are spaced and oriented differently so their positions are not inline with most rectangular keyboards.
I find that when MS first shows new products, they usually have garish UI as to guage peoples reaction to it, but ultimately, MS usually cleans things up and implements the UI nicely.
After seeing early beta and previews of Visual Studio 2005, I was appalled at how garish and unsavoury the UI was in that application. The menus had this aweful gradient fill on them and looked out of place, and the rest of the interface was ugly and simply crap. Even the new dock window overlays were poorly implemented. A year later, and the current Beta 1 of VS2005 looks very clean and more unified.
Same goes with Longhorn where an eraly beta was just garish.
I think MS actually listens to your bitching and simply offers these previews in order to test the waters and see how people feel about them. If you don't like them, bitch loudly and it will change.
UMD movies ARE failing, which is why Sony is hoping that by bundling a game demo with them, they might sell better.
The problem is, without video out capabilities on the PSP, the UMD movie was doomed from the start.
Honestly, watching any video on a small screen, regardless of whether its the PSP or some other device, especially Cell phones is doomed. Personally I just find that it gives me a head ache after a few minutes. Having to hold a device in your hand for 2 hours and craning your neck to watch the move is not how I want to watch them. Perhaps short TV shows or clips are about all mobile devices are good for, but full length feature films will never work on very small screens.
If Sony was serious about UMD as a movie distribution format, they would have both made the PSP plug into home theater systems AND released stand alone UMD components for home theater systems to improve adoption.
As it stands, UMD movies are a failed gimmick to try and sell more PSP's, Sony will try a few more tricks before ultimately the will give up the UMD movie format.
Implementation is poor. The ROKR is still born, I think. Without the traditional iPod controls and only storage for 100 songs, this is just some slapped together licencing agreement between Apple and Motorola without a lot of thought or effort put into it. I can't understand why it took so long to release the phone, my only guess is that it took Apple a while to develop iTunes Music Store for cell service and to wrangle the necessary deals with cell phone providers to implement the service. I doubt any effort truely went into the ROKR phone and this phone probably materialized a few weeks after the initial announcement and has been sitting on a shelf for months.
Anyways, the idea behind mobile devices and music is good, beeing able to buy and download music directly on a portable device is the next step in the right direction, although I would prefer an iPod with WiFi capability to connect to the iTMS over some poorly implemented cell phone anyday.
The Liberal dictatorship that has gripped this country for the past decade is about as corrupt as they get, all you need is to throw a little money their way and they will make any law or policy you want. Big telemarketing firms getting exceptions to the do not call list, eh? Gee, I wonder which politician(s) was made an instant millionaire from this? I know Bell is excepted as well as CIBC and other Canadian banks, these are Canada's biggest money makers and most prolific telemarketers.
The saddest thing about this is that Canada keeps voting back the Liberals into power because the other parties are sad, pathetic, and in ruins and offer no valid alternative to the mob. If Alberta separates from Canada, I hope they would, I will be packing up and moving pretty damn quickly.
They say every vote counts but this isn't the case in Canada, your votes don't mater because the huge surplus of civil servants with their kushy overpaid and mob (ahem Union) protected jobs will vote for the Liberals for fear that a regime change might find their job suddenly deprecated.
Anyways, this is off topic, but as Canadian it doesn't surprise me that the rights and wishes of the people are ignored and trumped by any government organization. Canada like the US, ha!, at least in the US, politicans are scared and mindful of the opinions of the people and aim to please them.
The biggest problem is the open nature of the OS. Too many variations on a theme, too many GUI interaces, distros, ways to install software (RPM packages and such). In the software industry, something isn't going to go mainstream if there are 20 variations.
If the Open Source Linux community comes together and decide to throw their efforts into ONE package with ONE standardized interface then they would be a real mainstream contender against Windows. But as long as everyone in this community thinks they can make a better version then others in the community Linux will never become a mainstream alternative, just a hobby/underground OS.
Think of it, you buy a new computer and you get Windows installed. Whats the alternative? 20 varations of Linux, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. Ubuntuu, RedHat, YellowDog, Debian, Mandrake etc, etc, etc. Which do you install? Which one will be around for the next 5 years considering companies are shuffling their distros around and changing names/versions like toilette paper. Different distros all have different versions of the kernel and modules, not all use the latest and the greatest, some rely on stable older kernels, some use ones compiled yesterday. Finally after all that, what UI do you use, Gnome or KDE and variants of those themes?
Some say Linux's greatest strength is its flexibilty but this is its greatest weakness. There is no standardization and no uniform front for the mainstream consumers to see. Mainstream users are Ma and Pa, noobies, anyone that decides perhaps its time to find out what all the fuss with computers is about. These people do not want infinite choice in their OS and OS components, they want to walk into a store buy a computer and buy an OS to install on it. They don't to trial 20 different Linux distro until they find the one that is right for them, even if they are all free. Mainstream users don't want to waste the time or make an effort to find the best solution for their needs, which is why Windows IS Mainstream. It may be crap in so many ways, but its ONE choice for mainstream consumers.
The Linux community needs to stop this childish in-fighting and immature idea that there SHOULD be 20 version of Linux, and if any are serious about competing with Windows then its time to partner up and create a unified front, create ONE alternative to Windows, package it up and put it in the stores next to the Windows XP boxes and sell it for $20.
This will never happen and so Linux will be a business product and never a mainstream desktop OS!!!
Face it, we are doomed. For the most part, our civilization (or at least North America) is composed of a large majority of people depending on a small minority of people to provide us with food, clothing, and shelter. Combined with a large dependence on electricity and technology, this is a formula for disaster that we have never dreamed of.
New Orleans is but a small drop in the bucket to how our society is so fragile that we could not survive a larger more widespread natural or man-made disaster. Days after the huricane and people are screaming in the street for help, angry that their various governments are not doing more to help.
What is sad is not the lack of quick response which simply cannot come quick enough in many cases, but the simple fact that these people can't survive more then a few days without external help. If the Red Cross or other government agency doesn't get there in time these people will die because they are dependent on a framework of society that only works if everything else is working. The electricity, technology, and retail and monetary supply chain. We have NO SURVIVAL SKILLS!
I won't be naive to say that the people in New Orleans should have seen this coming and prepared better. Everyone is at risk, not just those living in a flood plain, earthquake zone, or tsunami threatened area. A few years ago, power was lost to 1/4 of North America, and that is when I relealized that we are completely inadequate of surviving more then a few days of inconvenient disaster. When the power went out, I realized I did not have more then a few days worth of food that wouldn't spoil, probably a weeks worth of fresh water, and no money in my pocket to buy the things I needed once the retail supply chain adapted to having no electricity, the banks are useless without electricity. Had the power outage lasted more then a few days and/or been more widespread, I would be at a loss to be able to provide for myself for long without dependence on some external help.
So, I think the lessen to learn from all this is to gain some survival skills. Most seem to feel this is spending a few days in the woods camping and living off of nature, but try to live more the a few days in a large urban city without money, food or water!
Stock pile at least a week or two of food that will not spoil, a few large jugs of water, matches, and hide some money somewhere as well as all the other usual survival paraphenalia like batteries, radio, flashlights, candles, warm clothing, etc. Get a network of friends and family together that are as prepared as you so you can depend on and help support each other in an emergency, especially if there is property damage and someone loses their survival supplies and needs food and shelter.
We have heard this all before and all think it is a great idea, but seldom do we take the time and make the effort to prepare for the inevitable. With terrorism and changes in the global weather, at any point our society could be pushed over the edge and plunge into a disaster we are ill-prepared to handle. To rely on government or other agencies for support, especially only a few hours or even days after a disaster is unaceptable, we should be able to survive on our own for at least several days without straining emergency agencies and allow them a chance to set up and establish a supply chain.
What has happened in New Orleans is a disaster and I urge everyone to lend a hand or donate some money to help those people out. But don't think that just because your not there that something like that won't happen where you are. I could be as simple as a power outage for your life to change, or the unimaginable could happen. If you feel that you will be taken care of by your government or by some external agency if something should happen and don't have any survival gear prepared, I feel sorry for you, but I will help you out if I can.
Every sequel is expected to be updated in terms of graphics and technology, why not just play off the strengths of the first rather then re-inventing it.
If DS2 was to have a new graphics engine, I bet we would not be seeing it for another 2 years. Rather then re-inventing the graphics engine, they simply offered us an improved gaming experience over the first one, DS2 is probably what they originally wanted DS1 to be. They also offered this sequel under 2 years from the first, meaning we get to play these fun games sooner rather then later after we have forgotten about them.
I will change my tune if DS3 is released in a year or 2 with the same graphics, but I think we can stop this trend of having to spend 5 years between sequels just to make it prettier. A fun game is a fun game regardless of the quailty of the graphics.
I mean, when you can suck 100mb off the internet in a few minutes, do we need an archiving utility?
I actually get annoyed when large files are broken into smaller zip or rar files for distribution over the web. Sure there are still many people that use dialup networking that need access to the same files (patches and such), but providers should really offer 1 large file for broadband and then lots of small files for dialup, or opt to use a download manager that can pause or restart downloads.
Also, except for text and Windows bitmaps, what really CAN be zipped these days? Most web/photo image formats are pretty much compressed as are various video and music formats. I don't know how many times I download a zip or rar archive and find out the overall compression rate on the archive is less than 5%. What am I saving by having it zipped, 100kb? The kind of large files that people are downloading and distributing are alreay very dense in their native format, zipping them offer little improvement in reducing file size.
About the ONLY reason for zip like archive utilties these days is for encryption, packaging files in protected archives for secure delivery. WinZip has been beefing up their encryption support, but I think they need to really change focus and become an encryption archiver rather then a compression archiver. Compression can always be an option, but shouldn't be the focal point of the utility. Encryption should become WinZip's priority and focus if they wish to continue developing a winning product for the future.
I think there are many people out there feeling they need to buy the most expensive equipment to get the best performance.
The Athlon FX and most expensive ATI and nVidia cards sucker these people in thinking a great gaming system costs $3000+.
For $1000 US, that would be a high end system for me. I was looking to build a system for under $1000 CDN. And the Geforce 7800 or ATI x850 does not fit into that equation, or are even necessary, along with the AMD FX chips.
The AMD 3800+ 64 is more then adequate for high end gaming and even high end business applications like software development. And you should be able to find nVidia 68xx cards or ATI sub-x800 card that will play Doom 3 or HL2 at repectable framerates at high resolutions (heck, I am getting decent performance out of my Geforce 4400 card). The CAS rating on memory have little effect on gaming performance, it has always been on the order of less then 10% and more around 2 - 5%. The RAM makers are trying to flog the idea that expensive RAM = better game performance, which isn't the case.
All this guy did was build a highly respectable gaming system, one that will be more then adequate for those people with more brains then money.
If you think Mac OSX is given away for free, then you have your head in the clouds.
OSX is as much free with a Mac as XP is with a Dell. Don't be passing around that FUD.
As for Vista, Beta 1 actually is a quite polished OS, although it really is only show casing Windows new presentation layer technology, and quite honestly, the new glass like interface is much better then the plastic interface Tiger has going for it. Tiger's UI isn't very consistent these days with different apps sporting either the brushed metal or grey plastic theme without rhyme or reason. Windows always offers a more consistent UI presentation. And don't think that Apple hasn't been piling on the eye candy with every version, Dashboard is all about the eye candy as is Tiger's CoreGraphics API, if anything Apple started the whole eye candy OS trend back when they released the first OS X.
Apple will in no way allow Windows to boot of their Mactel machines. Few realize that simply switching to Intel will not turn Apple into a PC vendor. When Mactel is released, it will be a Mac with a customized Intel based chip in it, I doubt Windows will boot without a 3rd party hack, it is of no advantage to Apple to sell a Mac that can run Windows.
Any man publishing a report that men are more intelligent then women proves men are not. I would never tell my girlfriend that I am more intelligent then her. A smart man would claim women are more intelligent then men.
After SWEP3, that ended my 30 year obsession with anything to do with the geekiest of pastimes. Now it is just tired and sad that there are people and companies that can't let go of this franchise and give it the death is sorely needs. It is time to stop the continued rape by Lucasarts of our money and lives. Find something new to fixate on.
Online games are fun, certainly a round of Unreal Tourny or Everquest gets the juices flowing, but a good well written, single player adventure never goes out of style.
I think the biggest problem is that AI is still woefully underwelming for most single player adventure/action games. While games like HL2 offer amazing AI and the enemies are definetly more difficult to pin down, nothing compares to having to fight against online opponents.
When it comes to online RPG's, the problem is that they take too long to build up decent experience, way too much trash talking, and when excitement does happen, you get squeezed out of the battle. They purposely make sure that MMORPG's take long to play so you continue to pay the subscription fees. MMORPG's are based on making the most money for whatever company is offering the product, not necessarily about making the best game possible.
While there certainly is more room in the market for connected and online games, I think the shift has happend and is definetly not as earth shattering as is implied. There isn't really anything to hype about online multiplayer games, they are hear already well established.
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As a kid discussing global warming in school, it was broght up time and again that we are entering a natural warming cycle, something like every 10,000 years the trend warms up between a cool climate and a warm climate and we are due for a warming period.
When the planet warms up, there is evidence that limestone? or come calcium rich rock breaks down and is released into the oceans which has the ultimate effect of reversing this warming trend and the earth goes into a cooling cycle.
While I am sure we are not innocent of effecting our earth's climate, I think most people don't realize how big our planet is and how we simply can't change weather patterns over a period of 5 - 10 years. Anyone believing Katrina was caused by global warming is sorely ignorant of how weather works and how we as humans can effect the weather.
We all are victims to the kind of mentality that a unusually warm winter or cold summer MUST be because we are ruining our climate, but scientist haven't even figured out a tiny fraction of everything that is involved in creating and affecting the world's climate.
Let's put it this way, when weather forecasts start nearing 100% accuracy then we can start to say for sure that we understand weather and our climate fully and can start taking stock in these doomsday predictions.
For now, I don't believe we should simply continue to pollute the environment, we should take more aggresive steps to easy our dependence on fossil fuels now rather then later. But I don't think we should start announcing that we are responsible for all the catastropic weather and we are at the point of no return.
Honestly, scientists are split as to whether an the Arctic melting would raise water levels that much. Its the Antartica ice shelf that is sitting on land and would have the most effect on water levels, not the Arctic ocean where most of the ice is already floating.
Also, Greenland is the size of Mexico, its glaciers would hardly have an impact on world water levels, but most people looking on a map see Greenland as being as large as Canada.
First, the only people that find Photoshop easy to work with are those that make a living using it. As a newby to PS, I find it counter intuitive and a lot of things just don't make sense for doing quick simple graphics, like for software development. I fight with the software more then being productive at it, and I don't want to spend 24x7 learning how to use it. I really thing that if you need a book to learn how to use software, the software has failed.
When I first tried GIMP, I found that they were trying to duplicate PS whole "floating islands" approach to applications, an approach I despise. I can't stand a bunch of floating windows covering the content I am trying to create. I prefer Windows docking tool/dialog boxes. I like ONE window that contains everything else, when you resize or move the application, everything else moves with it, not remains to clutter the desktop.
Anyways, I don't see making GIMP like PS a step in the right direction. It makes sense to appeal to the PS crowd and make it a potential alternative to the expensive CS suite of tools, but if your tring to make GIMP more mainstream and adopt newbie and amateur users, then please look more like a Corel product rather then Adobe.
Mac's already use PC video cards, only difference is a slightly different BIOS just to impose Mac only conditions on them. 90% of a Mac is a PC these days anyways, only the 10% dedicated to CPU bus is different. It made so much sense for Apple to adopt a 100% PC internal core although it will be customized enough (with BIOS and Firmware, etc) to remain "uniquely" Apple.
Only problem,
I doubt very much that Apple will be getting the same CPU as available on a PC system. While they might both start from the same breed, I am sure Apple is going to require Intel to make it different enough that it can't simply be a drop in replacement for PC CPU's.
Also, Apple isn't a large enough consumer base for Intel to use as a beta site. If anything, Apple will be getting PC hand-me-downs once they have been proven in the PC world. I think Apple's first Intel based CPU will be something from Intel's current generation PC CPU's customized for Apple, nothing even from Intel's immediate roadmap. Eventually Apple will love Intel's low power chips and probably create the world's smallest and thinnest computer to replace the Mac Mini, but that is another year or two AFTER Intel has tested low power chips in the PC world.
While MS is moving more towards applications becoming web services, XAML should not be considered a web only technology, and not simply a Flash competitor. For regular desktop applictions, it is proving to be an ideal UI tool as well, taking a lot of the monotony out of UI coding for desktop applications and finally allowing more expressive and innovative UI designs. Desktop applications are finaly moving to the concept of "drawing" the UI in Photoshop or Acrylic and then adding functionality to it like when doing web pages.
Anways, you can say what you want about Longhorn/Vista the OS, but I am really excited about the next generation of web/software development tools MS is developing. If there is ONE thing MS does well, that is they develop good tools for software development. I think quite honestly that it is because of a strong development foundation that MS is the dominant OS on the market. Linux tools are still immature and klunky to code with (no solid GUI/RAD developer system), and Apple's is trying desperately to duplicate Visual Studio with XCode (but failing miserably). As a result, the software library for Windows is 2 - 10 times larger then that of Linux or Mac (not saying all this software is GOOD), it gives users more choice.
MS's new products Acrylic, Sparkle, and Quartz, while targetted as web design tools, should make application development easier, as they have finally separated the GUI front end from the back end code. In fact, it is easy to develop an application for both web and desktop at the same time and maintain consistency unlike any existing tool (except perhaps Java).
Like Pro skateboarders, BMX riders, and wrestlers should all be put on a spaceship and sent to the sun. They are an unecessary drain on our society, sucking intelligence out of our citizens and getting paid for it. Include lawyers and patent officers and our world will be a better place to live.
I mean, unless OnStar monitors your location by GPS and measures speeds and can make this information available to the authorities, I really can't see how anyone should feel threatend by this technology.
Quite personally, if my car is more capable of finding out if there is some serious problems (interesting to note that this is on a GM vehicle, none of the imports need this feature), then I am game for it.
All I fear is GM using this as an excuse to get you to come more often for tune-ups, or perform "necessary" servicing or reparis. People buying into OnStar may feel that if GM calls them up and says you need to replace the engine, then "Duh, OK!" hand me a $3000 repair bill.
I don't think we should fear technology in our cars. Some company isn't going to put a computer in our cars that might force use to crash or monitor our every move. The US is filled with people just waiting for something like this to happen and sue a company for billions of dollars. GM and other are more afraid of public backlash and legal issues then you should be of them implementing technology that violates your privacy or is a security threat.
Its just that the entertainment industry's creative muscle has atrophied and instead of offering new and innovative titles, we get the same formula based and derivative "sequels" and "clones" based on other successful franchises.
Most companies while earning billions of dollars don't want to waste millions developing a software title that may fail. The same is true in Television and Hollywood. The entertainment industry has resolved itself into only a few major companies that generate billions in revenue, but these companies make their billions by not taking risks.
All that is needed to save video games is to start breaking the mold and offering us something new. We don't need GTA or Quake knockoffs, just something new.
Gratuitous sex and violence isn't needed in video games, its a cheap gimmick to drive sales without investing much in innovation. But sex does sell, and as long as any movie, tv show, or game can make millions with it, it will continue to happen.
For the most part, many game formats are old time favourites, we will always love a fast paced FPS or thought provoking RPG or RTS, but rather then 90% of the market being clones of only a handful of original games, just take a risk and offer us something new!
Pay for my internet connection and get me an equivalently spec'd computer for home that I use for work, and I will work from home.
As a software developer, I don't need to be in the office much of the time, although it is handy when large issues arrise that require multiple developers to deal with.
Just don't ask me to invest thousands to setup the same environment at home as I have at work. I try to program at work, but with a much slower computer, less comfortable chair, and only 1 screen ( I use multiple monitors at work ), it is less productive and confortable.
Asside from that, while the gas prices are high, they are not really that expensive, we spend more money getting our daily coffee, donuts, cigarettes, alcohol, cola, bottled water, junk food, fast food and other extraneous "necessities", even taking public transportation is more expensive, spending $0.30/litre more for gas and filling up once every few weeks isn't outrageous, just cut back on one of your other libations and you can afford to drive to work.
Will the bias and double standards against Microsoft ever stop?
While I am no fan of MS, I get tired of the constant default criticisms aimed at MS everytime they do something.
First, look at how many versions of XP MS was forced to implement.
While MS started off with an ideal Home and Pro versions, then the OEM Media Center and Tablet Edition, they were forced by governments and the European Union to implement a stripped down version (N) version for both Home and Pro, as well as pretty much been forced to implement a stripped down version of XP for developing countries. This means there are 8 versions of XP around.
Mostly this was FORCED on MS by governments and consumer backlash.
So, MS takes the initiative to try and please ALL the special interest groups and take a pre-emptive stike against future government hassles by offering a range of products that MS are ALREADY FORCED to impelement in XP. The difference is the MS is doing this WILLINGLY!
Also, confusing the market? Every try and pick out a Linux distro? 30+ versions, multiple GUI interfaces, which Kernel to run, 2.4 or 2.6 and which subversion is stable or powerful. Countless number of GNU shareware plauging Linux with cryptic names starting with G? If MS is confusing end users, then what hope does Linux ever have of becoming a mainstream OS.
If anyone will shine above all this will be Apple. With there limited choice in hardware and 2 flavours of OSX (Server and Not Server), if anyone is confused by MS and Linux, then they will flock to the Apple platform.
Hey, I think it is dumb that there needs to be 7 versions of an OS, but the EU and consumers pretty much brought this on themselves with all the countless numbers of lawsuits and government pressure. Microsoft is just giving you what you want!
Compared to the rest of Australia, Tasmania is tiny. Yes, you would say the tiny state of Rhode Island if you talking about states in the US, even though the Vatical City is smaller.
It would probably identify these keys easily enough, remember that it deduces the key pressed by the sound. It would be easy enough to write the algorithm to take into consideration any key pressed.
I.e.
typing password
a b c "hit backspace"
if the software knows the backspace key was pressed because the sound of it is in the suspected position of the backspace key then the algorithm would decide your left with:
a b
One way to defeat this is to tap the key without actually pressing it which mimics the sound but would be more difficult to deduce that you actually didn't complete the keystroke.
Secondly, if you don't know what keyboard the user is using, it would throw off the software. I.e. I use the natural keyboard, keys are spaced and oriented differently so their positions are not inline with most rectangular keyboards.
I find that when MS first shows new products, they usually have garish UI as to guage peoples reaction to it, but ultimately, MS usually cleans things up and implements the UI nicely.
After seeing early beta and previews of Visual Studio 2005, I was appalled at how garish and unsavoury the UI was in that application. The menus had this aweful gradient fill on them and looked out of place, and the rest of the interface was ugly and simply crap. Even the new dock window overlays were poorly implemented. A year later, and the current Beta 1 of VS2005 looks very clean and more unified.
Same goes with Longhorn where an eraly beta was just garish.
I think MS actually listens to your bitching and simply offers these previews in order to test the waters and see how people feel about them. If you don't like them, bitch loudly and it will change.
UMD movies ARE failing, which is why Sony is hoping that by bundling a game demo with them, they might sell better.
The problem is, without video out capabilities on the PSP, the UMD movie was doomed from the start.
Honestly, watching any video on a small screen, regardless of whether its the PSP or some other device, especially Cell phones is doomed. Personally I just find that it gives me a head ache after a few minutes. Having to hold a device in your hand for 2 hours and craning your neck to watch the move is not how I want to watch them. Perhaps short TV shows or clips are about all mobile devices are good for, but full length feature films will never work on very small screens.
If Sony was serious about UMD as a movie distribution format, they would have both made the PSP plug into home theater systems AND released stand alone UMD components for home theater systems to improve adoption.
As it stands, UMD movies are a failed gimmick to try and sell more PSP's, Sony will try a few more tricks before ultimately the will give up the UMD movie format.
Implementation is poor. The ROKR is still born, I think. Without the traditional iPod controls and only storage for 100 songs, this is just some slapped together licencing agreement between Apple and Motorola without a lot of thought or effort put into it. I can't understand why it took so long to release the phone, my only guess is that it took Apple a while to develop iTunes Music Store for cell service and to wrangle the necessary deals with cell phone providers to implement the service. I doubt any effort truely went into the ROKR phone and this phone probably materialized a few weeks after the initial announcement and has been sitting on a shelf for months.
Anyways, the idea behind mobile devices and music is good, beeing able to buy and download music directly on a portable device is the next step in the right direction, although I would prefer an iPod with WiFi capability to connect to the iTMS over some poorly implemented cell phone anyday.
The Liberal dictatorship that has gripped this country for the past decade is about as corrupt as they get, all you need is to throw a little money their way and they will make any law or policy you want. Big telemarketing firms getting exceptions to the do not call list, eh? Gee, I wonder which politician(s) was made an instant millionaire from this? I know Bell is excepted as well as CIBC and other Canadian banks, these are Canada's biggest money makers and most prolific telemarketers.
The saddest thing about this is that Canada keeps voting back the Liberals into power because the other parties are sad, pathetic, and in ruins and offer no valid alternative to the mob. If Alberta separates from Canada, I hope they would, I will be packing up and moving pretty damn quickly.
They say every vote counts but this isn't the case in Canada, your votes don't mater because the huge surplus of civil servants with their kushy overpaid and mob (ahem Union) protected jobs will vote for the Liberals for fear that a regime change might find their job suddenly deprecated.
Anyways, this is off topic, but as Canadian it doesn't surprise me that the rights and wishes of the people are ignored and trumped by any government organization. Canada like the US, ha!, at least in the US, politicans are scared and mindful of the opinions of the people and aim to please them.
Honestly, I doubt Linux will ever go mainstream.
The biggest problem is the open nature of the OS. Too many variations on a theme, too many GUI interaces, distros, ways to install software (RPM packages and such). In the software industry, something isn't going to go mainstream if there are 20 variations.
If the Open Source Linux community comes together and decide to throw their efforts into ONE package with ONE standardized interface then they would be a real mainstream contender against Windows. But as long as everyone in this community thinks they can make a better version then others in the community Linux will never become a mainstream alternative, just a hobby/underground OS.
Think of it, you buy a new computer and you get Windows installed. Whats the alternative? 20 varations of Linux, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. Ubuntuu, RedHat, YellowDog, Debian, Mandrake etc, etc, etc. Which do you install? Which one will be around for the next 5 years considering companies are shuffling their distros around and changing names/versions like toilette paper. Different distros all have different versions of the kernel and modules, not all use the latest and the greatest, some rely on stable older kernels, some use ones compiled yesterday. Finally after all that, what UI do you use, Gnome or KDE and variants of those themes?
Some say Linux's greatest strength is its flexibilty but this is its greatest weakness. There is no standardization and no uniform front for the mainstream consumers to see. Mainstream users are Ma and Pa, noobies, anyone that decides perhaps its time to find out what all the fuss with computers is about. These people do not want infinite choice in their OS and OS components, they want to walk into a store buy a computer and buy an OS to install on it. They don't to trial 20 different Linux distro until they find the one that is right for them, even if they are all free. Mainstream users don't want to waste the time or make an effort to find the best solution for their needs, which is why Windows IS Mainstream. It may be crap in so many ways, but its ONE choice for mainstream consumers.
The Linux community needs to stop this childish in-fighting and immature idea that there SHOULD be 20 version of Linux, and if any are serious about competing with Windows then its time to partner up and create a unified front, create ONE alternative to Windows, package it up and put it in the stores next to the Windows XP boxes and sell it for $20.
This will never happen and so Linux will be a business product and never a mainstream desktop OS!!!
Face it, we are doomed. For the most part, our civilization (or at least North America) is composed of a large majority of people depending on a small minority of people to provide us with food, clothing, and shelter. Combined with a large dependence on electricity and technology, this is a formula for disaster that we have never dreamed of.
New Orleans is but a small drop in the bucket to how our society is so fragile that we could not survive a larger more widespread natural or man-made disaster. Days after the huricane and people are screaming in the street for help, angry that their various governments are not doing more to help.
What is sad is not the lack of quick response which simply cannot come quick enough in many cases, but the simple fact that these people can't survive more then a few days without external help. If the Red Cross or other government agency doesn't get there in time these people will die because they are dependent on a framework of society that only works if everything else is working. The electricity, technology, and retail and monetary supply chain. We have NO SURVIVAL SKILLS!
I won't be naive to say that the people in New Orleans should have seen this coming and prepared better. Everyone is at risk, not just those living in a flood plain, earthquake zone, or tsunami threatened area. A few years ago, power was lost to 1/4 of North America, and that is when I relealized that we are completely inadequate of surviving more then a few days of inconvenient disaster. When the power went out, I realized I did not have more then a few days worth of food that wouldn't spoil, probably a weeks worth of fresh water, and no money in my pocket to buy the things I needed once the retail supply chain adapted to having no electricity, the banks are useless without electricity. Had the power outage lasted more then a few days and/or been more widespread, I would be at a loss to be able to provide for myself for long without dependence on some external help.
So, I think the lessen to learn from all this is to gain some survival skills. Most seem to feel this is spending a few days in the woods camping and living off of nature, but try to live more the a few days in a large urban city without money, food or water!
Stock pile at least a week or two of food that will not spoil, a few large jugs of water, matches, and hide some money somewhere as well as all the other usual survival paraphenalia like batteries, radio, flashlights, candles, warm clothing, etc. Get a network of friends and family together that are as prepared as you so you can depend on and help support each other in an emergency, especially if there is property damage and someone loses their survival supplies and needs food and shelter.
We have heard this all before and all think it is a great idea, but seldom do we take the time and make the effort to prepare for the inevitable. With terrorism and changes in the global weather, at any point our society could be pushed over the edge and plunge into a disaster we are ill-prepared to handle. To rely on government or other agencies for support, especially only a few hours or even days after a disaster is unaceptable, we should be able to survive on our own for at least several days without straining emergency agencies and allow them a chance to set up and establish a supply chain.
What has happened in New Orleans is a disaster and I urge everyone to lend a hand or donate some money to help those people out. But don't think that just because your not there that something like that won't happen where you are. I could be as simple as a power outage for your life to change, or the unimaginable could happen. If you feel that you will be taken care of by your government or by some external agency if something should happen and don't have any survival gear prepared, I feel sorry for you, but I will help you out if I can.
Thats the problem these days.
Every sequel is expected to be updated in terms of graphics and technology, why not just play off the strengths of the first rather then re-inventing it.
If DS2 was to have a new graphics engine, I bet we would not be seeing it for another 2 years. Rather then re-inventing the graphics engine, they simply offered us an improved gaming experience over the first one, DS2 is probably what they originally wanted DS1 to be. They also offered this sequel under 2 years from the first, meaning we get to play these fun games sooner rather then later after we have forgotten about them.
I will change my tune if DS3 is released in a year or 2 with the same graphics, but I think we can stop this trend of having to spend 5 years between sequels just to make it prettier. A fun game is a fun game regardless of the quailty of the graphics.
I mean, when you can suck 100mb off the internet in a few minutes, do we need an archiving utility?
I actually get annoyed when large files are broken into smaller zip or rar files for distribution over the web. Sure there are still many people that use dialup networking that need access to the same files (patches and such), but providers should really offer 1 large file for broadband and then lots of small files for dialup, or opt to use a download manager that can pause or restart downloads.
Also, except for text and Windows bitmaps, what really CAN be zipped these days? Most web/photo image formats are pretty much compressed as are various video and music formats. I don't know how many times I download a zip or rar archive and find out the overall compression rate on the archive is less than 5%. What am I saving by having it zipped, 100kb? The kind of large files that people are downloading and distributing are alreay very dense in their native format, zipping them offer little improvement in reducing file size.
About the ONLY reason for zip like archive utilties these days is for encryption, packaging files in protected archives for secure delivery. WinZip has been beefing up their encryption support, but I think they need to really change focus and become an encryption archiver rather then a compression archiver. Compression can always be an option, but shouldn't be the focal point of the utility. Encryption should become WinZip's priority and focus if they wish to continue developing a winning product for the future.
I think there are many people out there feeling they need to buy the most expensive equipment to get the best performance.
The Athlon FX and most expensive ATI and nVidia cards sucker these people in thinking a great gaming system costs $3000+.
For $1000 US, that would be a high end system for me. I was looking to build a system for under $1000 CDN. And the Geforce 7800 or ATI x850 does not fit into that equation, or are even necessary, along with the AMD FX chips.
The AMD 3800+ 64 is more then adequate for high end gaming and even high end business applications like software development. And you should be able to find nVidia 68xx cards or ATI sub-x800 card that will play Doom 3 or HL2 at repectable framerates at high resolutions (heck, I am getting decent performance out of my Geforce 4400 card). The CAS rating on memory have little effect on gaming performance, it has always been on the order of less then 10% and more around 2 - 5%. The RAM makers are trying to flog the idea that expensive RAM = better game performance, which isn't the case.
All this guy did was build a highly respectable gaming system, one that will be more then adequate for those people with more brains then money.
If you think Mac OSX is given away for free, then you have your head in the clouds.
OSX is as much free with a Mac as XP is with a Dell. Don't be passing around that FUD.
As for Vista, Beta 1 actually is a quite polished OS, although it really is only show casing Windows new presentation layer technology, and quite honestly, the new glass like interface is much better then the plastic interface Tiger has going for it. Tiger's UI isn't very consistent these days with different apps sporting either the brushed metal or grey plastic theme without rhyme or reason. Windows always offers a more consistent UI presentation. And don't think that Apple hasn't been piling on the eye candy with every version, Dashboard is all about the eye candy as is Tiger's CoreGraphics API, if anything Apple started the whole eye candy OS trend back when they released the first OS X.
Apple will in no way allow Windows to boot of their Mactel machines. Few realize that simply switching to Intel will not turn Apple into a PC vendor. When Mactel is released, it will be a Mac with a customized Intel based chip in it, I doubt Windows will boot without a 3rd party hack, it is of no advantage to Apple to sell a Mac that can run Windows.
Any man publishing a report that men are more intelligent then women proves men are not. I would never tell my girlfriend that I am more intelligent then her. A smart man would claim women are more intelligent then men.
After SWEP3, that ended my 30 year obsession with anything to do with the geekiest of pastimes. Now it is just tired and sad that there are people and companies that can't let go of this franchise and give it the death is sorely needs. It is time to stop the continued rape by Lucasarts of our money and lives. Find something new to fixate on.
Online games are fun, certainly a round of Unreal Tourny or Everquest gets the juices flowing, but a good well written, single player adventure never goes out of style.
I think the biggest problem is that AI is still woefully underwelming for most single player adventure/action games. While games like HL2 offer amazing AI and the enemies are definetly more difficult to pin down, nothing compares to having to fight against online opponents.
When it comes to online RPG's, the problem is that they take too long to build up decent experience, way too much trash talking, and when excitement does happen, you get squeezed out of the battle. They purposely make sure that MMORPG's take long to play so you continue to pay the subscription fees. MMORPG's are based on making the most money for whatever company is offering the product, not necessarily about making the best game possible.
While there certainly is more room in the market for connected and online games, I think the shift has happend and is definetly not as earth shattering as is implied. There isn't really anything to hype about online multiplayer games, they are hear already well established.