Yeah, and when unions in Europe strike they pretty much grind the entire nation to a halt.
I am convinced that unions have crippled the automakers, but I do also agree that management has brought this on themselves. They're constantly reacting to the market instead of innovating. And there seems to be this endless stream of poor decisions. Instead of improving the overall lineup they keep focusing on individual, flagship models they think will somehow turn everything around for them.
I think Chrysler is pretty much doomed with nothing compelling in their lineup and they seem ill-equipped to address high fuel prices. Ford has an excellent inventory of cars available overseas that they stupidly haven't imported to the US. GM is currently showing the most potential, but they've got a bloated lineup and they're still making some questionable decisions. They're still focused on the symptoms and not on the source of their problems.
The problem with unions is that they're out for their own interests and are often willing to run a company into the ground if they dont get their way. What's troubling is this push to eliminate private ballots which the democrats seem keen on supporting. Basically, union leaders would be privy to how employees have voted and could more easily pressure them into voting their way. I'm shocked this is even being seriously considered. It seems unconstitutional to me.
I don't understand why there aren't penalties for this sort of thing. The way I see it this qualifies as criminal negligence because the ramifications for an individual of having their identity stolen can be severe.
If lose of personal data is somehow attributable to negligence on the part of the company, in this case the lack of encryption and maybe not securing the laptop properly, the company should be penalized. The most obvious would be a fine; lets say $10,000 for each account.
My bank, or companies they do business with have managed to lose a significant amount of customer information, not once, but twice in the past year. They mailed out notices and provided customers with some bullshit free access to credit monitoring for 12 months, later extending it to 18 or 24 months. And that's that, it's out of their hands.
But then what the hell do politicians care? With financial institutions like Countrywide giving out extra-low interest rate VIP loans to congressmen they have no incentive whatsoever to look out for our best interest.
I think screenshot with the pseudo graffiti font that reads, "wow gayness" pretty much reflects the stupidity and immaturity motivating these guys. I guess in their minds everything needs to be "hardcore".
All I have to say is thank goodness the fans aren't designing the game. I much prefer Blizzard's more colorful, softer feel.
The last thing I need is every little gritty detail being so prominent preventing important details like enemies, items and my own character from standing out. I also don't want Diablo 3 turning into yet another drab, monotone game like most other games out there.
Those fan-altered images look like every screenshot developers release for PS3 games desperate to impress everyone with graphics when they often don't have much else to go on.
I'm surprised that with the popularity of WoW and the Wii that so many gamers apparently are still clamoring for more gritty, realistic, and in my opinion, boring and uninspired, art. No wonder most developers keep churning out crap.
This to me seems to reflect too common a pattern. An American company comes up with an interesting idea but basically does nothing to update or improve it. As far as I can tell all they did was and add a low battery warning so that people wouldn't fall on their faces. Looking at their site it seems they've also offered options car carrying cargo or golf clubs. That's pretty much it.
And now here comes a Japanese company, taking essentially the same technology, and doing something different and interesting with it.
What I'm curious to see is if the Japanese government allows these things to be used on public roads because they've classified the Segway as a motorcycle, and apparently one of 50cc to 125cc which is unfair. A bike with that kind of displacement is far faster than any Segway could ever hope to be. The conditions put on it make it so that the thing is virtually impossible to ride there. So they've essentially banned it. We'll see if Toyota's models end up suffering from the same restrictions.
The problem is that mobile phone carriers aren't competing on price at all. They're competing on gimmicks. Take a look at the cost of plans for the different carriers. Comparable plans are pretty much identical in price amongst the most carriers. And they actively promote plans which in the long term puts uninformed consumers in a situation where they're spending even more.
If Europeans are unhappy about the cost of products I'd argue they should be looking to their governments for the source of their problems.
I'm surprised that people here are actually saying Europeans are less cost-conscious than Americans. Having family in Portugal, France, England, Switzerland and I believe Luxembourg I've found the reality to be the opposite. They're very sensitive about price specifically because things are so expensive there and they earn less. That's why almost everything they buy is a more compact, economical version of what's available in the US.
I'd agree that software companies were trying to take advantage of European if it weren't for the fact that EVERYTHING is considerably more expensive in Europe. A $250 Nintendo Wii in Europe costs $400+.
I was recently looking at an Audi A3 and decided to check out the UK Audi site for comparison. The first thing that struck me was how every last detail was an option, including air conditioning cruise control of all things! But most appalling was how a car priced out to roughly $26,000 came to $51,000 in the UK, and it still didn't have all the features of the US model. The US model may not have taxes built into the price but even then it would only add a few thousand dollars.
I think there are a few causes for the high prices in Europe. The first obvious one is high taxes, but that doesn't account for everything. I think the biggest problem is over-regulation and excessive protectionism. European nations also love to impose tariffs on foreign products. For years now they've been looking to impose tariffs on Chinese-made products. And I believe they did so a few years ago as a so-called anti-dumping measure on Chinese-made clothing. They felt that the Chinese were dumping low-cost clothing in Europe and it was hurting European clothing makers. If they saw a threat it clearly means low-cost products appeal to Europeans.
I think this constant regulation has put an upwards pressure on the price of products. If the government is essentially saying product X should be set at particular price then makers of other products will inevitably want to price their good relative to product X.
Talking to my family there I sometimes can't help but wonder how they can afford things. Well, it's why they constantly have to compromise. I certainly don't think every company selling a product in Europe has decided they're going to fleece Europeans.
I'm not sure what sort of people you know, but I don't know a single person who believes the moon landings were faked. And more than that, they think its ridiculous anyone would suggest otherwise.
I've looked into LED lighting in the past and if it weren't so expensive I would have given some of these lights a try. So I look forward to the technology being more affordable.
However, a concern I have with LEDs is that the light is always too focused, even those that are supposedly less directional. This, in my opinion, makes them impractical to be used in the home. The light certainly is bright, but it's useless if it's casting only a narrow beam of light.
Perhaps reflective enclosures will address that issue. I suppose someone could cover an entire ceiling in LEDs, but I doubt that's going to fly for most people.
That reminds me of another thing... Can LED's be dimmed? As far as I've seen it's not possible. Some cars incorporate LEDs in taillights that in normal operation are dimmer than when the car is braking. However, that is achieved by flickering the lights which is far more noticeable than flickering fluorescent bulbs. Well, even CFLs have the same limitation.
Metric System: 1 millimeter = 1/1000 meter 1 centimeter = 1/100 meter 1 decimeter = 1/10 meter 1 decameter = 10 meters 1 hectometer = 100 meters 1 kilometer = 1000 meters
How can any rational adult not see that the metric system is a far simpler and inherently superior system to the English system? The English system is nothing but a hack job. And I haven't even touched on weight and volume.
And the best part is trying to take measurements in fractions of an inch. 1/3rds, 5/8ths, 7/16ths.
It's an idiotic, archaic system that should have long since been replaced. It's infuriating when stupid people claim that the metric system is confusing for no other reason than because they don't want to bother learning something new.
However, I will concede that Slashdot is a US-centric site and for that reason it's completely justifiable that the English system is used.
I like the visual style. Looking at what I guess must be a gameplay video my concern is that it feels very reminiscent of the last few Prince of Persia games.
First, I didn't like the artificial environments. The developers seem eager to depict a realistic world, but then force platforming into it. So the end result is game that is constantly reminding me I'm playing a game and completely ruining any suspension of disbelief. Either go for pure platforming and more convincing realism.
Even worse than that, however, was the timed events. They may make for dramatic camera angles, but they're frustrating and are an impediment to more fluid and entertaining gameplay. Timed events should have ended with Space Ace and Dragon's Lair.
I didn't like the goofy, generic tormented hero theme from the previous games appealing. From a visual standpoint this game seems to have potential, but unfortunately, it's looking to me like it's going to be more of the same with updated graphics.
I was wondering the other day why no one has proposed an outsourcing tax, at least not that I've heard of?
I've never liked the idea of outright banning something. I prefer the approach of incentives.
First, provide tax breaks to spur economic development. I realize it's currently a fad to want to tax the hell out of companies. However, money going to taxes means money not going to employees. High taxes have never helped anyone but the government and in the long run it hurts them too when companies go out of business or move away; look at Michigan.
However, in addition the these tax breaks institute a series of tax-based penalties for companies that violate certain conditions. One of them being outsourcing. If a company outsources jobs that could be filled by Americans they get taxed so heavily it wipes away any cost-savings they might have enjoyed.
Flagship Studios deserves going under for releasing this game. The day I heard of this game's existence, back when it was in development, I expect it to be crap. The theme was contrived and uninspired and it continued the same old theme of too many contemporary games with the dark and dreary environments. It's like they use that to obscure their lack of imagination.
Interestingly, I did actually get this game for $20 a couple of weeks ago out of curiosity. It turned out certain aspects of gameplay were entertaining but the game overall was a big disappointment.
The most striking thing was how closely the developers copied Diablo. It really shows a lack of imagination, and that is reflected in the overall feel of the game. The monsters are all completely uninspired and the same generic crap found in a dozen other games with hell spawn. The randomized environments made for a game that got tedious quickly. You'd think that having only to build templates instead of complete environments they would have offered a far larger variety of locations.
Then there were the bugs. Performance was worse in DirectX 10 than it was in DX9, however in DX9 there were all kinds of issues. The game would hang loading environments, in bases it would consistently fail to load NPC or item models. It's ridiculous that after all these time these kinds of issues still exist.
The biggest insult of all was the subscription-based model. People were paying $10 a month for essentially nothing. If the people at Flagship Studios had any shred of intelligence they would have adopted a model similar to the one used in Guild Wars.
Well, with the company going under it would be nice if they gave up that additional content as a free download.
Interestingly enough, I read this today. Remember when the big scare in the media was the hole in the ozone layer?
The more scientists learn the more they realize that the environment is far more complex than the simplistic and alarmist notion that human activity is changing the climate.
For example, disney.usedcars. Unless Disney gets into the automotive business, there would be no trademark issue.
Generally it is true that it wouldn't be an issue if two companies with the same name are in different industries. However, in this case it would be a problem, because of Disney's widespread brand recognition.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2000 sued the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and successfully forced them to change their name. They had an agreement in which the wrestling federation could use the initials, but it was determined there was some violation of that agreement.
And the last time I checked the World Wildlife Fund hasn't gotten into professional wrestling.
I remember copy protection from the days of 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, back when I'd have to boot off the game disk to play. The drive would start grinding like crazy before the game finally started. I never experienced problems but I recall hearing that the copy protection was taxing on the drive and could damage it.
This prevented someone from just copying the files on the disk directly. But there was an application that just copied the image and got around that nonsense.
Things haven't really changed. I don't understand why they just don't give up. This has been repeated many times, but it's true. All they're doing is inconveniencing consumers who actually paid for the product.
If you think that's bad, a local radio station just reported on the announcement of these new iPhones.
With everything they could be reporting on you'd think there would be something more newsworthy. People come to sites like Slashdot to read about this sort of thing, but to have a news service report on a product release is a bit ridiculous.
I'm sure Apple's marketing department is ecstatic over all this free advertising. I can only imagine how daunting it must be for potential competitors of all sizes. The bigger companies have to spend a fortune to get even a fraction of the attention Apple gets. And for the small guys it's hopeless.
There are a lot of great phones out there that aren't getting the attention they deserve, although the great ones are available predominantly overseas. I'm not discounting the iPhone, it's very good, but I do think it's overrated. In the very least undeserving of all the attention its getting. You can't read a review anymore that doesn't try to compare a phone, especially smart phones, against the iPhone.
The best part is when Apple trumpets a standard feature as something new and revolutionary.
I suspect the reason Wii remote functionality has generally been limited to not much more than button presses is to maintain a level playing field.
If movements had to mirror actual movement games would have an added layer of complexity. Now games would have to be able to move more precisely, while still maintaining good timing. It's a lot like an amateur playing an FPS online and trying to be competitive. It would pretty much be hopeless, and discouraging for many people.
So Wii remote movements have been kept to simplistic shakes and waves to keep the learning curve down. There may be technological limitations, but I think the real limiting factor here is Nintendo's desire to keep the Wii approachable.
The problem isn't the resolution at all. The problem is that these devices are running OS's intended for 15" or larger displays. Interface designers and developers build these systems with the intention of trying to cram as much information on the screen as possible.
So far I see no real solution to this issue. Even developers of Smartphones and mobile phones in general do a bad job economizing content.
I don't doubt that someone will eventually come along with a good solution, but I don't think it will happen for a while, and solutions for web browsing are a longer way off if we ever even see any.
Actually, the color gamut for CMYK is generally smaller than RGB. A CMYK print out on its own looks perfectly fine, but place it beside a computer monitor or an actual photo and suddenly the colors look a bit muted and in some cases slightly off. Depending on the nature of a particular project there sometimes is a lot of work involved in getting CMYK-based colors to look right.
One limitation with current displays in reproducing true to life color is that the image is being reproduced by a light source. And RGB is still limited compared to all the colors we can perceive.
Increased color depth doesn't really address the issue of limited gamut because all it does is allow for a finer variation of colors within the gamut. What I'd say would really improve color reproduction would be to add additional color pixels. There's a precedent for it, at least in printing. Some consumer printers, in fact, have cartridges which include more vibrant versions of cyan and magenta to enhance color. Whether this would be feasible on a display, however, I really don't know.
Existing displays, even high-end televisions are a long way off from being at a point where we can't distinguish an image from real life. A human can distinguish very minute variations in colors and the smallest details. And let's not forget that pixels become quite distinct and visible on large displays even at 1080p.
I'll never understand people who insist improving a particular technology is pointless merely because they've underestimated the capabilities of the human body.
That may be... But ask mainland-Chinese, and I have, and many believe that the government engaging in these activities is a good thing. Recent news reflects that.
Chinese have organized protests against Western companies. Carrefour in particular was targeted because of rumors that a major shareholder was contributed to the Dalai Lama.
The people are upset about the reaction the West has had over Tibet. And these protests haven't just occurred in China, but in Western nations where those Chinese aren't under control of the government. In fact, in China, the government has tried to dampen some of that fervor.
This sort of attitude is prevalent. Taiwanese run into problems in China because of the Chinese belief that Taiwan belongs to China. Any time a Taiwanese official visits Japan or the US the Chinese government is up in arms. A skyscraper in China, being built by a Japanese company had to be redesigned because a prominent design feature reminded people of the rising sun flag.
So the problem does also lie, to some extent, with the Chinese people themselves. The educational system certainly has done a very effective job of indoctrinating the people with the party line. But obviously, I won't make sweeping generalizations about the Chinese, because clearly there are many who disagree with the government and wont venture to speak up for fear of what will happen to them.
I do lament sometimes at the lack of national pride in America. Obviously too much is a very bad thing. But if Americans had a bit more of it perhaps we wouldn't be outsourcing everything to China.
I knew of Speed Racer as a kid; I can't recall how, but I did. I do remember Transformers, Thundercats, Vultron and all the others.
Looking up Speed Racer on Wikipedia I can see why I never saw the cartoon, it was on TV in America in the late 60s. I guess the producers are convinced it will strike a cord with today's kids, hence the stupid car physics and all the intense colors.
It turns out the original Japanese version was quite violent. It was banned, predictably, in Germany after 3 episodes. It would have been interesting if the movie had been based on that version.
What I'm looking forward to seeing on the road is the Chevrolet Volt. It's supposed to be more affordable than the Tesla, although apparently the estimated price has risen considerably. It was originally estimated to cost between $20,000 and $30,000. Then it rose to above the $30,000 range, and now its approaching $50,000.
This technology has to start somewhere, but people have this unrealistic expectations. Too many people seem to believe that automakers don't build these cars because of some grand conspiracy. Like they have something to lose by abandoning gasoline. What automaker wouldn't love to offer an inexpensive car than ran on something other than gasoline. What automaker wouldn't love to offer a car larger than a tiny 1-liter subcompact but more fuel efficient. That's been the appeal of hybrids. They allow someone to own a fuel efficient car that is actually reasonably practical.
I see another problem, however. There's all this talk about moving away from gasoline like suddenly we will not longer be using some kind of fuel to power our cars. Like that 100mpg Darpa challenge.
It's great, and they absolutely should spur development like that. But the fact is that we're merely replacing the fuel source with something else and it looks like the big thing right now is electricity.
Electricity isn't all that cheap. And like we've seen with ethanol and the price of food rising I shudder to think how expensive electricity rates are going to be if a significant portion of the population starts drawing from the grid to power their cars. And the irony, at least in my area, is that our electricity is generated using petroleum.
Maybe by the time electric cars are prevalent we'll have more nuclear power. Not that it would stop energy providers from charging more. At last gasoline can drop in price, and it has in the past. The last time I checked utility companies haven't dropped prices, but I do see an increase every year or two.
A race car is also exceedingly expensive in part because of that safety equipment and also because it's been designed around protecting the driver.
Passenger require a number of compromises in order to make them practical for the driver. First of all, a helmet is mandatory in a race car because if they're in an accident it's a near certainty that they'd crack their head on the roll cage without one.
A passenger car needs usable interior space, trunk space, windows that can be opened, comfortable seats in addition to various other amenities like air conditioning, spare tires and whatnot.
In addition, the race track itself is designed with safety in mind, with sand traps, open fields, barriers that dampen impacts and close monitoring by track crew. The track is meticulously maintained and racing even stopped is an accident is serious enough to warrant it.
Competing cars are reasonably similar in dimensions and weight. Drivers are extensively trained and usually follow proper etiquette or face being penalized. And lets not forget that the cars are rigorously inspected and maintained.
Racing is about as controlled an environment as can be encountered. And where the track is more unpredictable, like rally racing, the cars are sent down the track one at a time; they race the clock, not each other. And those guys crash all the time, sometimes spectacularly.
If passenger cars and the roads we drove on were regulated the same way race cars and tracks are most people wouldn't have a driver's license. Not that it would matter since cars would cost $100,000+ and who knows what the tax rate would be for keeping roads maintained at that level.
I realize there is amateur level racing. But even those guys require some level of licensing and inevitably anyone who gets involved ends up spending a surprisingly fair bit of money to be competitive.
I'd prefer it if people stopped trying to defend the game, because honestly it comes off as a bit ridiculous. The game is extremely violent and about engaging in illegal activities.
Why should we have to defend the game? I wish someone would just come out and publicly state, "Yes, the game is loaded with questionable subject matter. So what? I enjoy playing that kind of game, what right do you have to prevent me from doing so?"
To be honest, and I can't help but wonder if I'm the only person who feels this way, but I think GTA 4 has been getting far more attention than it deserves. The way reviewers describe the game I'm left with the impression this is the best game ever. Nevermind that it essentially follows the same formula as the last several GTA games. And there have been quite a few other games that have provided a more complete open-sandbox experience than has GTA4, Morrowind, Oblivion, Shenmue and most MMOs to name a few.
Reading various blogs, I feel like the reaction to GTA4 is similar to kids learning their first swear or discovering a porn magazine. Many gamers say they want mature themes in their games but then seem to react immaturely when they get it. Then there's the whole thug/gangster appeal of the game. The thug has become the anti-establishment rebel of our time, at least in American culture. Except that the thug doesn't actually stand for anything.
I'm sure this will elicit quite the zealous response from the game's fans. The game is fun, without a doubt, but I just don't think it's worthy of the praise and attention it's gotten.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, and when unions in Europe strike they pretty much grind the entire nation to a halt.
I am convinced that unions have crippled the automakers, but I do also agree that management has brought this on themselves. They're constantly reacting to the market instead of innovating. And there seems to be this endless stream of poor decisions. Instead of improving the overall lineup they keep focusing on individual, flagship models they think will somehow turn everything around for them.
I think Chrysler is pretty much doomed with nothing compelling in their lineup and they seem ill-equipped to address high fuel prices. Ford has an excellent inventory of cars available overseas that they stupidly haven't imported to the US. GM is currently showing the most potential, but they've got a bloated lineup and they're still making some questionable decisions. They're still focused on the symptoms and not on the source of their problems.
The problem with unions is that they're out for their own interests and are often willing to run a company into the ground if they dont get their way. What's troubling is this push to eliminate private ballots which the democrats seem keen on supporting. Basically, union leaders would be privy to how employees have voted and could more easily pressure them into voting their way. I'm shocked this is even being seriously considered. It seems unconstitutional to me.
I don't understand why there aren't penalties for this sort of thing. The way I see it this qualifies as criminal negligence because the ramifications for an individual of having their identity stolen can be severe.
If lose of personal data is somehow attributable to negligence on the part of the company, in this case the lack of encryption and maybe not securing the laptop properly, the company should be penalized. The most obvious would be a fine; lets say $10,000 for each account.
My bank, or companies they do business with have managed to lose a significant amount of customer information, not once, but twice in the past year. They mailed out notices and provided customers with some bullshit free access to credit monitoring for 12 months, later extending it to 18 or 24 months. And that's that, it's out of their hands.
But then what the hell do politicians care? With financial institutions like Countrywide giving out extra-low interest rate VIP loans to congressmen they have no incentive whatsoever to look out for our best interest.
I think screenshot with the pseudo graffiti font that reads, "wow gayness" pretty much reflects the stupidity and immaturity motivating these guys. I guess in their minds everything needs to be "hardcore".
All I have to say is thank goodness the fans aren't designing the game. I much prefer Blizzard's more colorful, softer feel.
The last thing I need is every little gritty detail being so prominent preventing important details like enemies, items and my own character from standing out. I also don't want Diablo 3 turning into yet another drab, monotone game like most other games out there.
Those fan-altered images look like every screenshot developers release for PS3 games desperate to impress everyone with graphics when they often don't have much else to go on.
I'm surprised that with the popularity of WoW and the Wii that so many gamers apparently are still clamoring for more gritty, realistic, and in my opinion, boring and uninspired, art. No wonder most developers keep churning out crap.
This to me seems to reflect too common a pattern. An American company comes up with an interesting idea but basically does nothing to update or improve it. As far as I can tell all they did was and add a low battery warning so that people wouldn't fall on their faces. Looking at their site it seems they've also offered options car carrying cargo or golf clubs. That's pretty much it.
And now here comes a Japanese company, taking essentially the same technology, and doing something different and interesting with it.
What I'm curious to see is if the Japanese government allows these things to be used on public roads because they've classified the Segway as a motorcycle, and apparently one of 50cc to 125cc which is unfair. A bike with that kind of displacement is far faster than any Segway could ever hope to be. The conditions put on it make it so that the thing is virtually impossible to ride there. So they've essentially banned it. We'll see if Toyota's models end up suffering from the same restrictions.
The problem is that mobile phone carriers aren't competing on price at all. They're competing on gimmicks. Take a look at the cost of plans for the different carriers. Comparable plans are pretty much identical in price amongst the most carriers. And they actively promote plans which in the long term puts uninformed consumers in a situation where they're spending even more.
If Europeans are unhappy about the cost of products I'd argue they should be looking to their governments for the source of their problems.
I'm surprised that people here are actually saying Europeans are less cost-conscious than Americans. Having family in Portugal, France, England, Switzerland and I believe Luxembourg I've found the reality to be the opposite. They're very sensitive about price specifically because things are so expensive there and they earn less. That's why almost everything they buy is a more compact, economical version of what's available in the US.
I'd agree that software companies were trying to take advantage of European if it weren't for the fact that EVERYTHING is considerably more expensive in Europe. A $250 Nintendo Wii in Europe costs $400+.
I was recently looking at an Audi A3 and decided to check out the UK Audi site for comparison. The first thing that struck me was how every last detail was an option, including air conditioning cruise control of all things! But most appalling was how a car priced out to roughly $26,000 came to $51,000 in the UK, and it still didn't have all the features of the US model. The US model may not have taxes built into the price but even then it would only add a few thousand dollars.
I think there are a few causes for the high prices in Europe. The first obvious one is high taxes, but that doesn't account for everything. I think the biggest problem is over-regulation and excessive protectionism. European nations also love to impose tariffs on foreign products. For years now they've been looking to impose tariffs on Chinese-made products. And I believe they did so a few years ago as a so-called anti-dumping measure on Chinese-made clothing. They felt that the Chinese were dumping low-cost clothing in Europe and it was hurting European clothing makers. If they saw a threat it clearly means low-cost products appeal to Europeans.
I think this constant regulation has put an upwards pressure on the price of products. If the government is essentially saying product X should be set at particular price then makers of other products will inevitably want to price their good relative to product X.
Talking to my family there I sometimes can't help but wonder how they can afford things. Well, it's why they constantly have to compromise. I certainly don't think every company selling a product in Europe has decided they're going to fleece Europeans.
I guess it would only be a noteworthy improvement if somebody other than Microsoft had been responsible for it.
The way I see it, LCDs are going to be around for quite a while. Any improvement in efficiency is a good one.
I'm not sure what sort of people you know, but I don't know a single person who believes the moon landings were faked. And more than that, they think its ridiculous anyone would suggest otherwise.
I've looked into LED lighting in the past and if it weren't so expensive I would have given some of these lights a try. So I look forward to the technology being more affordable.
However, a concern I have with LEDs is that the light is always too focused, even those that are supposedly less directional. This, in my opinion, makes them impractical to be used in the home. The light certainly is bright, but it's useless if it's casting only a narrow beam of light.
Perhaps reflective enclosures will address that issue. I suppose someone could cover an entire ceiling in LEDs, but I doubt that's going to fly for most people.
That reminds me of another thing... Can LED's be dimmed? As far as I've seen it's not possible. Some cars incorporate LEDs in taillights that in normal operation are dimmer than when the car is braking. However, that is achieved by flickering the lights which is far more noticeable than flickering fluorescent bulbs. Well, even CFLs have the same limitation.
English System:
3 barleycorn = 1 inch
12 inches = 1 foot
18 inches = 1 cubit
3 feet = 1 yard
6 feet = 1 fathom
660 feet = 1 furlong
5280 feet (1760 yards) = 1 mile
3 miles = 1 league (usually)
Metric System:
1 millimeter = 1/1000 meter
1 centimeter = 1/100 meter
1 decimeter = 1/10 meter
1 decameter = 10 meters
1 hectometer = 100 meters
1 kilometer = 1000 meters
How can any rational adult not see that the metric system is a far simpler and inherently superior system to the English system? The English system is nothing but a hack job. And I haven't even touched on weight and volume.
And the best part is trying to take measurements in fractions of an inch. 1/3rds, 5/8ths, 7/16ths.
It's an idiotic, archaic system that should have long since been replaced. It's infuriating when stupid people claim that the metric system is confusing for no other reason than because they don't want to bother learning something new.
However, I will concede that Slashdot is a US-centric site and for that reason it's completely justifiable that the English system is used.
I like the visual style. Looking at what I guess must be a gameplay video my concern is that it feels very reminiscent of the last few Prince of Persia games.
First, I didn't like the artificial environments. The developers seem eager to depict a realistic world, but then force platforming into it. So the end result is game that is constantly reminding me I'm playing a game and completely ruining any suspension of disbelief. Either go for pure platforming and more convincing realism.
Even worse than that, however, was the timed events. They may make for dramatic camera angles, but they're frustrating and are an impediment to more fluid and entertaining gameplay. Timed events should have ended with Space Ace and Dragon's Lair.
I didn't like the goofy, generic tormented hero theme from the previous games appealing. From a visual standpoint this game seems to have potential, but unfortunately, it's looking to me like it's going to be more of the same with updated graphics.
I was wondering the other day why no one has proposed an outsourcing tax, at least not that I've heard of?
I've never liked the idea of outright banning something. I prefer the approach of incentives.
First, provide tax breaks to spur economic development. I realize it's currently a fad to want to tax the hell out of companies. However, money going to taxes means money not going to employees. High taxes have never helped anyone but the government and in the long run it hurts them too when companies go out of business or move away; look at Michigan.
However, in addition the these tax breaks institute a series of tax-based penalties for companies that violate certain conditions. One of them being outsourcing. If a company outsources jobs that could be filled by Americans they get taxed so heavily it wipes away any cost-savings they might have enjoyed.
Flagship Studios deserves going under for releasing this game. The day I heard of this game's existence, back when it was in development, I expect it to be crap. The theme was contrived and uninspired and it continued the same old theme of too many contemporary games with the dark and dreary environments. It's like they use that to obscure their lack of imagination.
Interestingly, I did actually get this game for $20 a couple of weeks ago out of curiosity. It turned out certain aspects of gameplay were entertaining but the game overall was a big disappointment.
The most striking thing was how closely the developers copied Diablo. It really shows a lack of imagination, and that is reflected in the overall feel of the game. The monsters are all completely uninspired and the same generic crap found in a dozen other games with hell spawn. The randomized environments made for a game that got tedious quickly. You'd think that having only to build templates instead of complete environments they would have offered a far larger variety of locations.
Then there were the bugs. Performance was worse in DirectX 10 than it was in DX9, however in DX9 there were all kinds of issues. The game would hang loading environments, in bases it would consistently fail to load NPC or item models. It's ridiculous that after all these time these kinds of issues still exist.
The biggest insult of all was the subscription-based model. People were paying $10 a month for essentially nothing. If the people at Flagship Studios had any shred of intelligence they would have adopted a model similar to the one used in Guild Wars.
Well, with the company going under it would be nice if they gave up that additional content as a free download.
Interestingly enough, I read this today. Remember when the big scare in the media was the hole in the ozone layer?
The more scientists learn the more they realize that the environment is far more complex than the simplistic and alarmist notion that human activity is changing the climate.
Generally it is true that it wouldn't be an issue if two companies with the same name are in different industries. However, in this case it would be a problem, because of Disney's widespread brand recognition.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2000 sued the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and successfully forced them to change their name. They had an agreement in which the wrestling federation could use the initials, but it was determined there was some violation of that agreement.
And the last time I checked the World Wildlife Fund hasn't gotten into professional wrestling.
I remember copy protection from the days of 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, back when I'd have to boot off the game disk to play. The drive would start grinding like crazy before the game finally started. I never experienced problems but I recall hearing that the copy protection was taxing on the drive and could damage it.
This prevented someone from just copying the files on the disk directly. But there was an application that just copied the image and got around that nonsense.
Things haven't really changed. I don't understand why they just don't give up. This has been repeated many times, but it's true. All they're doing is inconveniencing consumers who actually paid for the product.
If you think that's bad, a local radio station just reported on the announcement of these new iPhones.
With everything they could be reporting on you'd think there would be something more newsworthy. People come to sites like Slashdot to read about this sort of thing, but to have a news service report on a product release is a bit ridiculous.
I'm sure Apple's marketing department is ecstatic over all this free advertising. I can only imagine how daunting it must be for potential competitors of all sizes. The bigger companies have to spend a fortune to get even a fraction of the attention Apple gets. And for the small guys it's hopeless.
There are a lot of great phones out there that aren't getting the attention they deserve, although the great ones are available predominantly overseas. I'm not discounting the iPhone, it's very good, but I do think it's overrated. In the very least undeserving of all the attention its getting. You can't read a review anymore that doesn't try to compare a phone, especially smart phones, against the iPhone.
The best part is when Apple trumpets a standard feature as something new and revolutionary.
I suspect the reason Wii remote functionality has generally been limited to not much more than button presses is to maintain a level playing field.
If movements had to mirror actual movement games would have an added layer of complexity. Now games would have to be able to move more precisely, while still maintaining good timing. It's a lot like an amateur playing an FPS online and trying to be competitive. It would pretty much be hopeless, and discouraging for many people.
So Wii remote movements have been kept to simplistic shakes and waves to keep the learning curve down. There may be technological limitations, but I think the real limiting factor here is Nintendo's desire to keep the Wii approachable.
The problem isn't the resolution at all. The problem is that these devices are running OS's intended for 15" or larger displays. Interface designers and developers build these systems with the intention of trying to cram as much information on the screen as possible.
So far I see no real solution to this issue. Even developers of Smartphones and mobile phones in general do a bad job economizing content.
I don't doubt that someone will eventually come along with a good solution, but I don't think it will happen for a while, and solutions for web browsing are a longer way off if we ever even see any.
Actually, the color gamut for CMYK is generally smaller than RGB. A CMYK print out on its own looks perfectly fine, but place it beside a computer monitor or an actual photo and suddenly the colors look a bit muted and in some cases slightly off. Depending on the nature of a particular project there sometimes is a lot of work involved in getting CMYK-based colors to look right.
One limitation with current displays in reproducing true to life color is that the image is being reproduced by a light source. And RGB is still limited compared to all the colors we can perceive.
Increased color depth doesn't really address the issue of limited gamut because all it does is allow for a finer variation of colors within the gamut. What I'd say would really improve color reproduction would be to add additional color pixels. There's a precedent for it, at least in printing. Some consumer printers, in fact, have cartridges which include more vibrant versions of cyan and magenta to enhance color. Whether this would be feasible on a display, however, I really don't know.
Existing displays, even high-end televisions are a long way off from being at a point where we can't distinguish an image from real life. A human can distinguish very minute variations in colors and the smallest details. And let's not forget that pixels become quite distinct and visible on large displays even at 1080p.
I'll never understand people who insist improving a particular technology is pointless merely because they've underestimated the capabilities of the human body.
That may be... But ask mainland-Chinese, and I have, and many believe that the government engaging in these activities is a good thing. Recent news reflects that.
Chinese have organized protests against Western companies. Carrefour in particular was targeted because of rumors that a major shareholder was contributed to the Dalai Lama.
The people are upset about the reaction the West has had over Tibet. And these protests haven't just occurred in China, but in Western nations where those Chinese aren't under control of the government. In fact, in China, the government has tried to dampen some of that fervor.
This sort of attitude is prevalent. Taiwanese run into problems in China because of the Chinese belief that Taiwan belongs to China. Any time a Taiwanese official visits Japan or the US the Chinese government is up in arms. A skyscraper in China, being built by a Japanese company had to be redesigned because a prominent design feature reminded people of the rising sun flag.
So the problem does also lie, to some extent, with the Chinese people themselves. The educational system certainly has done a very effective job of indoctrinating the people with the party line. But obviously, I won't make sweeping generalizations about the Chinese, because clearly there are many who disagree with the government and wont venture to speak up for fear of what will happen to them.
I do lament sometimes at the lack of national pride in America. Obviously too much is a very bad thing. But if Americans had a bit more of it perhaps we wouldn't be outsourcing everything to China.
I knew of Speed Racer as a kid; I can't recall how, but I did. I do remember Transformers, Thundercats, Vultron and all the others.
Looking up Speed Racer on Wikipedia I can see why I never saw the cartoon, it was on TV in America in the late 60s. I guess the producers are convinced it will strike a cord with today's kids, hence the stupid car physics and all the intense colors.
It turns out the original Japanese version was quite violent. It was banned, predictably, in Germany after 3 episodes. It would have been interesting if the movie had been based on that version.
What I'm looking forward to seeing on the road is the Chevrolet Volt. It's supposed to be more affordable than the Tesla, although apparently the estimated price has risen considerably. It was originally estimated to cost between $20,000 and $30,000. Then it rose to above the $30,000 range, and now its approaching $50,000.
This technology has to start somewhere, but people have this unrealistic expectations. Too many people seem to believe that automakers don't build these cars because of some grand conspiracy. Like they have something to lose by abandoning gasoline. What automaker wouldn't love to offer an inexpensive car than ran on something other than gasoline. What automaker wouldn't love to offer a car larger than a tiny 1-liter subcompact but more fuel efficient. That's been the appeal of hybrids. They allow someone to own a fuel efficient car that is actually reasonably practical.
I see another problem, however. There's all this talk about moving away from gasoline like suddenly we will not longer be using some kind of fuel to power our cars. Like that 100mpg Darpa challenge.
It's great, and they absolutely should spur development like that. But the fact is that we're merely replacing the fuel source with something else and it looks like the big thing right now is electricity.
Electricity isn't all that cheap. And like we've seen with ethanol and the price of food rising I shudder to think how expensive electricity rates are going to be if a significant portion of the population starts drawing from the grid to power their cars. And the irony, at least in my area, is that our electricity is generated using petroleum.
Maybe by the time electric cars are prevalent we'll have more nuclear power. Not that it would stop energy providers from charging more. At last gasoline can drop in price, and it has in the past. The last time I checked utility companies haven't dropped prices, but I do see an increase every year or two.
A race car is also exceedingly expensive in part because of that safety equipment and also because it's been designed around protecting the driver.
Passenger require a number of compromises in order to make them practical for the driver. First of all, a helmet is mandatory in a race car because if they're in an accident it's a near certainty that they'd crack their head on the roll cage without one.
A passenger car needs usable interior space, trunk space, windows that can be opened, comfortable seats in addition to various other amenities like air conditioning, spare tires and whatnot.
In addition, the race track itself is designed with safety in mind, with sand traps, open fields, barriers that dampen impacts and close monitoring by track crew. The track is meticulously maintained and racing even stopped is an accident is serious enough to warrant it.
Competing cars are reasonably similar in dimensions and weight. Drivers are extensively trained and usually follow proper etiquette or face being penalized. And lets not forget that the cars are rigorously inspected and maintained.
Racing is about as controlled an environment as can be encountered. And where the track is more unpredictable, like rally racing, the cars are sent down the track one at a time; they race the clock, not each other. And those guys crash all the time, sometimes spectacularly.
If passenger cars and the roads we drove on were regulated the same way race cars and tracks are most people wouldn't have a driver's license. Not that it would matter since cars would cost $100,000+ and who knows what the tax rate would be for keeping roads maintained at that level.
I realize there is amateur level racing. But even those guys require some level of licensing and inevitably anyone who gets involved ends up spending a surprisingly fair bit of money to be competitive.
I'd prefer it if people stopped trying to defend the game, because honestly it comes off as a bit ridiculous. The game is extremely violent and about engaging in illegal activities.
Why should we have to defend the game? I wish someone would just come out and publicly state, "Yes, the game is loaded with questionable subject matter. So what? I enjoy playing that kind of game, what right do you have to prevent me from doing so?"
To be honest, and I can't help but wonder if I'm the only person who feels this way, but I think GTA 4 has been getting far more attention than it deserves. The way reviewers describe the game I'm left with the impression this is the best game ever. Nevermind that it essentially follows the same formula as the last several GTA games. And there have been quite a few other games that have provided a more complete open-sandbox experience than has GTA4, Morrowind, Oblivion, Shenmue and most MMOs to name a few.
Reading various blogs, I feel like the reaction to GTA4 is similar to kids learning their first swear or discovering a porn magazine. Many gamers say they want mature themes in their games but then seem to react immaturely when they get it. Then there's the whole thug/gangster appeal of the game. The thug has become the anti-establishment rebel of our time, at least in American culture. Except that the thug doesn't actually stand for anything.
I'm sure this will elicit quite the zealous response from the game's fans. The game is fun, without a doubt, but I just don't think it's worthy of the praise and attention it's gotten.