While it would be neat to be able to have addresses using non-latin characters I think there are some fundamental problems with this.
First of all, what happens to those unable to type non-latin characters. Windows and OS X both support such text entry, but how the hell would a non-Chinese speaker know how to type anything, assuming they know how to set it up or even choose the proper language? Automatically the vast majority of the World's population is for all intents and purposes blocked from Chinese sites. In most cases it may not matter, but the fact is that people will be indirectly denied access to some websites.
Secondly, aren't there fundamental problems interpreting non-latin characters at the OS-level? As I'm sure most people here know, non-Latin characters are formed by a string of what essentially looks like nonsense characters. If even one of those is lost for whatever reason that character goes missing. How will the browser, let alone a server know that a string of characters is an actual character and not gibberish. And what if it happens to coincide with something in some other language? Then there are other problems like Traditional Chinese versus Simplified Chinese, versus Japanese. These languages all share characters, but they don't interact meaning you can't copy a character typed in Japanese and paste it as Traditional Chinese.
Then there are all the forms of encoding which add to the problem. Forcing everyone to use UTF-8, for example, would cause huge problems in Taiwan because few people use it. And I think compared to some other forms of encoding it tends to have problems.
So are all non-Latin languages included? What about languages like Mongolian which are written vertically? I guess they could use Cyrillic, but then if they're going to do that they might as well just stick with latin.
The Chinese the writing system, and any logogram-based language, is not suited to computers. It's far too complex to be practical. At least no English-based operating system isn't. But I've yet to see anyone try to make an OS specifically designed for Chinese or Japanese. What for? They've adopted the Latin system fairly well.
Not to get into wacky conspiracy theories, but I can't help but think that this is more of a political move to undermine Western control of the internet.
I think a more practical solution would be to device a larger character set that can accommodate most major languages but mainly derived from the Latin character set, which nearly everyone already uses with no problem. Perhaps some day we'll have a universal writing system, but we're a long way off from seeing that implemented.
Of all the stores I've been to I've yet to see a Wii demo running. All I've seen are videos of some woman talking about how great the Wii is. I did notice the PS3 running as a demo machine had crashed at one store. I manage to play one elsewhere.
I played some offroad game which despite not having particularly high reviews I found to be a lot of fun. I found the damage inflicting on vehicles to be impressive and I could finally consider the console to have graphics comparable to a PC. The game certainly felt more like an offroad game than Excite Truck does. Excite Truck does have the novelty of the controller, but then again, for driving games I much prefer an actual steering wheel.
I don't have a high regard for Sony and could care less about the PS3. Nintendo always wins on gameplay. However, and I hate to say this, but 3D graphics tend to age badly. It's not like 2D graphics which can be very stylized even when originally designed for 320x200. Old 2D games still look great, they don't feel like they've aged; unless you go back too far to the Atari 2600 era I suppose. For some reason a 3D game even a few years old can feel dated to the point of interfering with it's enjoyment.
Nearly every review I've seen for Wii games has pointed out that graphics aren't great. From what I've seen of the Wii the graphics don't really look much better than those on a Gamecube or PS2 and apparently they look worse on high-definition displays, probably because of all the pixelation.
This may not be a problem in the short-term, but if the Wii is incapable of anything even approaching the Xbox360 or PS3 they're going to have problems. I tend to think, like the Gamecube the Wii is going to peak early and fade off over the next few years once the novelty of the controller wears off. It's only a matter of time before developers decide it's not worth to port games to the Wii, which is what happened with the Gamecube. Nintendo can always be counted on to produce great games, but I don't think it will be enough to keep the system afloat.
Keep in mind that Sony and Microsoft can always respond to Nintendo by producing their own unconventional controllers; look at Guitar Hero. Short of releasing a new system or a considerable upgrade there's not much Nintendo can do. The real advantage Nintendo has is price. The PS3 is too expensive and the Xbox360 is probably out of contention just because it was released first. The console that comes out first seems to always lose out in the end. Although it would be interesting to see the Xbox360 outsell the PS3. The price advantage and the fact that Nintendo does produce some great games is what will give the Wii some staying power.
I do have to add that although I don't plan on getting any console if I had to choose I'd definitely get the Wii. Not because of the unusual controller, but as I've mentioned above, Nintendo produces some great games.
A "good" mobile phone doesn't only cost $400. New Motorola and Nokias can easily cost $600. Some of the more advanced phones can go for $800. And if you're looking overseas where they have phones far more sophisticated than anything currently available in the US then expect prices in the range of $1000.
The definition of "good" is fairly broad. Do you mean "good" as in average or "good" as in top-of-the-line?
Retailers should be held responsible for their disorganization and ineptitude. Any store that required a police presence should be forced to pay for those services and should be fined for causing a public disturbance. That's essentially what they've done.
They should have either forced these people to go home or they should have kept things organized. When you've got a crowd of people with such misplaced priorities waiting so long it's inevitable there will be problems. If the store manager didn't have enough sense to prepare the responsibility for whatever problems ensue falls squarely on his shoulders. The tax payers certainly shouldn't be forced to pay to restore order at these stores.
You can't add the Wiimote straight onto the GC without the internal infrastructure to use it.
And why not? Do you need to modify the internals of a PC any time you plug in a new controller, steering wheel, keyboard or mouse? Of course not; it's all software driven. Nintendo could, in theory, easily produce a Wii remote for the Gamecube.
This is not to say the $250 price is unjustified, because it almost certainly is. As much as some people decry the latest innovations in graphics once they've gotten used to a certain level of quality it's difficult to go back to something more primitive-looking. I'm the first to argue the virtues of gameplay over graphics. Some of my favorite games are 2D games, but often older 3D games have become to primitive-looking to effectively enjoy. 3D doesn't age nearly as well as 2D does.
Nintendo likely abandoned the $100 console idea because they realized that they needed a more significant upgrade if they wanted to be competitive. Hence the $250 Wii.
European nations absolutely have a problem with foreign companies being too dominant within Europe. I guarantee if Microsoft were European not only would they not have gone to court, but they would have been subsidized by the government.
There's this general resentment against American companies in general. Without getting specific. I've had a number of international clients and dealing with the European offices usually ends up being problematic. We design something for the company, the US office is pleased, but some European office isn't pleased and forces us to redo it. And mind you, these are requests coming from the head office.
Part of the problem is that for some reason people in the US office tend to be pushovers and end up doing anything the Europeans ask. They're constantly afraid to offend the foreign offices despite the fact that those overseas share no such qualms. Although, Asian offices are generally very easy to deal with and generally do whatever the head office asks.
So, back to my original point, Europeans are extremely protectionist. They're constantly violating free market principles to give their own companies unfair advantages, and they do so on a scale American companies could only wish for. I can't say I always blame them, but lets not be naive to the reality of the situation with Microsoft.
While we're on the subject of how Ubuntu works, someone should come up with a new logo for the system. It probably means something to someone but I don't think it's being effectively conveyed. Furthermore, it doesn't translate well to small sizes which is a big problem considering that's how it's going to appear often in the OS. It looks like an indistinguishable ring of colors.
The Ubuntu name also fights with the graphic. It looks like each element was designed by two different people and forced together. In fact, the Ubuntu font face is unique enough on it's own that it doesn't even need the graphic. All it might need is a more compelling graphical treatment sort of like what Apple has done with the OS X mark; I'm not saying that the glass look should be copied, mind you.
Regarding this theme, I don't see what makes this newsworthy. The theme itself is bad, but it certainly isn't anything out of this world. In fact, in my opinion, it still lacks the polish of OS X , XP or Vista. It's got some interesting features but nothing compelling or particularly unique.
The problem with these systems is that they don't have a series of rules defining how look and feel. In the end it always comes down to some guy doing something because it looks pretty and not really considering the overall experience. It's kind of like contemporary Japanese cars where designers have gotten overly fixated on these elaborate tail light designs that don't quite fit the rest of the car.
I'm all for an innovative interface, but it should be functional. This Edgy theme to me looks like someone took Vista's graphical elements and applied them to a OS X type interface.
Need for Speed was and still is EA's best driving game. In terms of driving it still is more realistic than anything EA has released since. I used to play that game incessently, on the PC not the 3DO, but it's all good.
These two companies are basically making minor modifications to existing technology and C-Net is trying to pass it off as something revolutionary. These publications are always blowing things out of proportion.
The reason why keyboards and phone keypads haven't changed much in all this time is because it's exceedingly difficult to come up with anything more practical than we have now. Touch screen displays certainly have helped to some extent, but even that is inferior to a keypad. Perhaps there's some kind of simple control device that's gesture based. The only way to successfully replace a keypad is to develop something that utilizes simpler controls but can enter text as quickly as a keyboard would.
I've never even seen an actual computer monitor (not LCD TV/monitor) that can display in full HD.
You mean unlike the iMac I have sitting at home which runs at 1920x1200? My PC is running two monitors at 2560x1024 and does so with no problem. And that's one of countless displays that support resolutions that high, if not higher.
People talk like HD is something new, but PCs have supported those resolutions for years. It's not like everything is going to jump to 1080p any time soon anyway, the focus will likely be on 720p for a while, which isn't a high resolution at all as far as PCs are concerned.
What I'd like to know is what in the hell is going on with the Aero theme that it is so absurdly demanding on the hardware.
I guess I don't understand the intricacies of what's going on because I see no reason whatsoever for a GUI to be more damanding than any contemporary PC game. The only excuse I see is sloppy and inefficient programming. It really leaves me with the impression that one of the big goals of Vista is to promote hardware sales.
I really have no tolerance whatsoever for people who wait in line or dramatically over pay to get their hands on a damn console.
There are PS3 pre-orders on Ebay going for over $1500. How pathetic does a person have to be that they can't wait a damn month or two to buy the system at retail price.
People criticize the government for investing in programs like space exploration which ultimately are beneficial to humanity. But then these people will have no problem paying an obscene amount of money for something which serves no useful purpose whatsoever.
I'm sure this will be considered flamebait, but it has to be said.
I enjoy games as much as the next guy, but I find it absolutely ridiculous how much money people are willing to spend because of impatience. Within a month or two the consoles are spilling off the shelves and potential first batch glitches will likely have been addressed.
Like waiting a few weeks or even a few months would kill anyone. I wonder if people camp out for days and overpay for something truly important.
I've used Quicksilver for a while and I do like it. However, since having discovered Spotlight I don't see much of a need for it and this way I don't need yet another application running in the background.
I do like how I can customize Quicksilver's interface and how I can put it anywhere on the screen.
Well, I've reinstalled Windows numerous times with no problems whatsoever. I've added new devices with no problems. The same goes for upgrading Windows. The upgrade to Service Pack 2 took little more than a half an hour to install and I had no problems afterwards.
Having to troubleshoot a system upgrade for several hours is not a good thing. Especially if you were doing it for a client who's paying by the hour.
Those Windows blue screens, which I've never seen in XP, are more than likely related to third party drivers than they would be to the OS anyway.
I can appreciate the advantages of Linux over Windows. And I don't doubt that it runs better than Windows when properly set up. The problem is that it has to be properly set up and your average user doesn't have the time, knowledge or skill to engage in such an exercise. They want a system that installs with minimal fuss, like Windows, or better yet Mac OS. Not that you average user would attempt a system reinstall anyway. But who, other than system administrators or enthusiasts want the sort of hassle Linux demands in installing and setting up a system?
I have yet to see a single HDTV displayed in any store in the US that effectively demonstrates the quality of those televisions over current technology. Either those ignorant hacks don't know what they're doing when they set up this equipment or they don't care. I haven't seen any quality HD content on cable television that impressed me either. It's no wonder that the average person doesn't see much of a difference between standard and HD displays.
In Taiwan, however, I have seen huge HDTVs featuring high-definition content that was amazing. Those displays are truly on a whole other level. The quality is high enough that it is immediately obvious when different cameras are used. I can only imagine the kind of difference these televisions will have on games. Those displays were so far beyond anything I've seen here that I can't imagine anyone not immediately noting the difference.
Well, I think it's fairly easy to see now. Just look at a high-resolution computer screen compared to your standard television. Better yet, get a computer with video output to television and it becomes immediately obvious how crappy the image becomes on a standard television. By the same token, high-resolution displays do show defects and short-comings in graphics quality far more easily.
Honestly, I don't really care that much about HD and the latest, cutting edge graphics. I like to know what's out there, but as far as gaming is concerned I believe that gameplay should be the most important element of any game, by far. That said, outside a small circle of friends who feel as I do, most people I know do care more about HD and those high-end graphics.
Nintendo not supporting HD may prove to be a significant short-coming in the long run. It's much easier to develop "innovative" gameplay than it is for Nintendo to bring the Wii up to the technical standards of the Xbox360 or PS3. I'd like to see Nintendo do well, but I don't expect things to be so simple.
History is written by the victor, not the loser. The American founding fathers are not considered terrorists, but freedom fighters because they won the Revolutionary War. There is another distinction here. Their target was the British. Civilians weren't their target, they were primarily engaged in conventional warfare. Psychology is certainly one aspect of warfare, but simply because it is applied in conflict doesn't automatically make it terrorism.
Terrorism is generally a tactic used by a weaker force, arguably the losing force. The goal isn't to meet the enemy soldier in battle, but rather to specifically target the civilian population in order to instill fear. The two goals are to force the populace to bend to the will of terrorists or, especially in the case of Iraq, to decimate public support for the conflict. They create a sense of hopelessness by dragging on a conflict and blend into the civilian population in order to make it difficult for the superior force to effectively engage them. It's basically a public relations campaign conducted in the worst imaginable way. And they can only operate effectively when the superior force is forced to exercise restraint. If the US swept through Iraq with impunity the terrorists would be forced into a conventional war.
So, by that specific definition the US is not a terrorist state. It may make for potent soundbites, but it's not the truth. The US is trying to engage in conventional warfare, which is probably a losing proposition in this case. They aren't intentionally targeting them; accidental killings don't qualify as terrorism. You may not like what the US is doing, but it's a far cry from what terrorists do.
Back to my original point, if the terrorists win this conflict then they will indeed be considered freedom fighters. They will have repelled the invading "evil empire". Interestingly, they likely wouldn't refer to Americans as terrorists because it would devalue the victory. A victory over terrorists isn't particularly impressive, when that's what they themselves are.
Like I said, history is on the side of the victor. Although even that seems to be changing in the Western world, but that's another story.
If Vista ends up being anything like XP in this regard it will be a non-issue for most people. I know people who have reinstalled XP numerous times with no problem. And when it did lock up a quick call quickly unlocked it to allow for installation.
Adobe, on the other hand, is a whole other story. A couple of years ago Dreamweaver MX 2004 was installed on some machine and never used. Since then that machine has even been wiped of the application. However, a couple of weeks ago I try reinstalling it and it doesn't accept the serial number I gave it.
I call Adobe, it turns out Dreamweaver was originally installed on a PC and I'm trying to install it on a Mac now. It's a dual-platform CD, but apparently it gets locked into a specific platform once it's installed.
So I was told they'd send me a new serial number within a few days; which is a bit ridiculous to begin with. It's been three weeks now and I'm still waiting. And I've called those jerks numerous times and keep facing people who keep giving me nonsense about the case having been sent to corporate and whatnot and that I should be notified within days.
This isn't even a damn operating system. People like to complain about Microsoft, but as a designer with my own company, I see Adobe is a far more threatening monopoly with little regard for the customer. Especially since having acquired Macromedia.
I could go online and within half an hour probably find a serial number that works. I wouldn't have to deal with their bullshit. I have a legitimate copy of the software and it's only installed on a single machine. So, what incentive have they given me not to pirate? Especially when they charge hundreds of dollars for insignificant upgrades.
One thing to keep in mind is that Sony doesn't quite have the negative image in the rest of the world that it's acquired in the US. And it's not necessarily a view held by the average person, but specifically within the gaming community and even more specifically within sites like Slashdot.
I know people who still like the Sony brand and don't know or care about Sony's problems. Things like DRM mean absolutely nothing to them because as far as they're concerned it isn't going to change anything.
I also know gamers who may be curious about Nintendo but still see it as a company that produces games geared at kids. These are the kinds of people who care about HD, who are fixated on fancy graphics over unique gameplay.
So Sony's loss doesn't necessarily reflect a change in the public's perception of the company. I tend to agree that it's connected to the battery recalls.
I personally could care less about the next-generation consoles, although I do hope Nintendo does well. And I do tend to avoid anything from Sony for the numerous reasons indicated on Slashdot. On the other hand, the jury is still out on who's going to dominate when the PS3 and Wii are finally released. I certainly don't think it's quite as cut and dry as some are claiming.
Slashdot Mirror
You can't judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, internals. But the PS3 certainly looks a lot more impressive inside than the Wii.
While it would be neat to be able to have addresses using non-latin characters I think there are some fundamental problems with this.
First of all, what happens to those unable to type non-latin characters. Windows and OS X both support such text entry, but how the hell would a non-Chinese speaker know how to type anything, assuming they know how to set it up or even choose the proper language? Automatically the vast majority of the World's population is for all intents and purposes blocked from Chinese sites. In most cases it may not matter, but the fact is that people will be indirectly denied access to some websites.
Secondly, aren't there fundamental problems interpreting non-latin characters at the OS-level? As I'm sure most people here know, non-Latin characters are formed by a string of what essentially looks like nonsense characters. If even one of those is lost for whatever reason that character goes missing. How will the browser, let alone a server know that a string of characters is an actual character and not gibberish. And what if it happens to coincide with something in some other language? Then there are other problems like Traditional Chinese versus Simplified Chinese, versus Japanese. These languages all share characters, but they don't interact meaning you can't copy a character typed in Japanese and paste it as Traditional Chinese.
Then there are all the forms of encoding which add to the problem. Forcing everyone to use UTF-8, for example, would cause huge problems in Taiwan because few people use it. And I think compared to some other forms of encoding it tends to have problems.
So are all non-Latin languages included? What about languages like Mongolian which are written vertically? I guess they could use Cyrillic, but then if they're going to do that they might as well just stick with latin.
The Chinese the writing system, and any logogram-based language, is not suited to computers. It's far too complex to be practical. At least no English-based operating system isn't. But I've yet to see anyone try to make an OS specifically designed for Chinese or Japanese. What for? They've adopted the Latin system fairly well.
Not to get into wacky conspiracy theories, but I can't help but think that this is more of a political move to undermine Western control of the internet.
I think a more practical solution would be to device a larger character set that can accommodate most major languages but mainly derived from the Latin character set, which nearly everyone already uses with no problem. Perhaps some day we'll have a universal writing system, but we're a long way off from seeing that implemented.
The Playstation 3 aside, there's a neat way to structure your writing so that it's easier to read. It's called a paragraph.
I recommend you use them next time.
Of all the stores I've been to I've yet to see a Wii demo running. All I've seen are videos of some woman talking about how great the Wii is. I did notice the PS3 running as a demo machine had crashed at one store. I manage to play one elsewhere.
I played some offroad game which despite not having particularly high reviews I found to be a lot of fun. I found the damage inflicting on vehicles to be impressive and I could finally consider the console to have graphics comparable to a PC. The game certainly felt more like an offroad game than Excite Truck does. Excite Truck does have the novelty of the controller, but then again, for driving games I much prefer an actual steering wheel.
I don't have a high regard for Sony and could care less about the PS3. Nintendo always wins on gameplay. However, and I hate to say this, but 3D graphics tend to age badly. It's not like 2D graphics which can be very stylized even when originally designed for 320x200. Old 2D games still look great, they don't feel like they've aged; unless you go back too far to the Atari 2600 era I suppose. For some reason a 3D game even a few years old can feel dated to the point of interfering with it's enjoyment.
Nearly every review I've seen for Wii games has pointed out that graphics aren't great. From what I've seen of the Wii the graphics don't really look much better than those on a Gamecube or PS2 and apparently they look worse on high-definition displays, probably because of all the pixelation.
This may not be a problem in the short-term, but if the Wii is incapable of anything even approaching the Xbox360 or PS3 they're going to have problems. I tend to think, like the Gamecube the Wii is going to peak early and fade off over the next few years once the novelty of the controller wears off. It's only a matter of time before developers decide it's not worth to port games to the Wii, which is what happened with the Gamecube. Nintendo can always be counted on to produce great games, but I don't think it will be enough to keep the system afloat.
Keep in mind that Sony and Microsoft can always respond to Nintendo by producing their own unconventional controllers; look at Guitar Hero. Short of releasing a new system or a considerable upgrade there's not much Nintendo can do. The real advantage Nintendo has is price. The PS3 is too expensive and the Xbox360 is probably out of contention just because it was released first. The console that comes out first seems to always lose out in the end. Although it would be interesting to see the Xbox360 outsell the PS3. The price advantage and the fact that Nintendo does produce some great games is what will give the Wii some staying power.
I do have to add that although I don't plan on getting any console if I had to choose I'd definitely get the Wii. Not because of the unusual controller, but as I've mentioned above, Nintendo produces some great games.
A "good" mobile phone doesn't only cost $400. New Motorola and Nokias can easily cost $600. Some of the more advanced phones can go for $800. And if you're looking overseas where they have phones far more sophisticated than anything currently available in the US then expect prices in the range of $1000.
The definition of "good" is fairly broad. Do you mean "good" as in average or "good" as in top-of-the-line?
Retailers should be held responsible for their disorganization and ineptitude. Any store that required a police presence should be forced to pay for those services and should be fined for causing a public disturbance. That's essentially what they've done.
They should have either forced these people to go home or they should have kept things organized. When you've got a crowd of people with such misplaced priorities waiting so long it's inevitable there will be problems. If the store manager didn't have enough sense to prepare the responsibility for whatever problems ensue falls squarely on his shoulders. The tax payers certainly shouldn't be forced to pay to restore order at these stores.
You can't add the Wiimote straight onto the GC without the internal infrastructure to use it.
And why not? Do you need to modify the internals of a PC any time you plug in a new controller, steering wheel, keyboard or mouse? Of course not; it's all software driven. Nintendo could, in theory, easily produce a Wii remote for the Gamecube.
This is not to say the $250 price is unjustified, because it almost certainly is. As much as some people decry the latest innovations in graphics once they've gotten used to a certain level of quality it's difficult to go back to something more primitive-looking. I'm the first to argue the virtues of gameplay over graphics. Some of my favorite games are 2D games, but often older 3D games have become to primitive-looking to effectively enjoy. 3D doesn't age nearly as well as 2D does.
Nintendo likely abandoned the $100 console idea because they realized that they needed a more significant upgrade if they wanted to be competitive. Hence the $250 Wii.
European nations absolutely have a problem with foreign companies being too dominant within Europe. I guarantee if Microsoft were European not only would they not have gone to court, but they would have been subsidized by the government.
There's this general resentment against American companies in general. Without getting specific. I've had a number of international clients and dealing with the European offices usually ends up being problematic. We design something for the company, the US office is pleased, but some European office isn't pleased and forces us to redo it. And mind you, these are requests coming from the head office.
Part of the problem is that for some reason people in the US office tend to be pushovers and end up doing anything the Europeans ask. They're constantly afraid to offend the foreign offices despite the fact that those overseas share no such qualms. Although, Asian offices are generally very easy to deal with and generally do whatever the head office asks.
So, back to my original point, Europeans are extremely protectionist. They're constantly violating free market principles to give their own companies unfair advantages, and they do so on a scale American companies could only wish for. I can't say I always blame them, but lets not be naive to the reality of the situation with Microsoft.
This just proves that PC gaming is superior.
While we're on the subject of how Ubuntu works, someone should come up with a new logo for the system. It probably means something to someone but I don't think it's being effectively conveyed. Furthermore, it doesn't translate well to small sizes which is a big problem considering that's how it's going to appear often in the OS. It looks like an indistinguishable ring of colors.
The Ubuntu name also fights with the graphic. It looks like each element was designed by two different people and forced together. In fact, the Ubuntu font face is unique enough on it's own that it doesn't even need the graphic. All it might need is a more compelling graphical treatment sort of like what Apple has done with the OS X mark; I'm not saying that the glass look should be copied, mind you.
Regarding this theme, I don't see what makes this newsworthy. The theme itself is bad, but it certainly isn't anything out of this world. In fact, in my opinion, it still lacks the polish of OS X , XP or Vista. It's got some interesting features but nothing compelling or particularly unique.
The problem with these systems is that they don't have a series of rules defining how look and feel. In the end it always comes down to some guy doing something because it looks pretty and not really considering the overall experience. It's kind of like contemporary Japanese cars where designers have gotten overly fixated on these elaborate tail light designs that don't quite fit the rest of the car.
I'm all for an innovative interface, but it should be functional. This Edgy theme to me looks like someone took Vista's graphical elements and applied them to a OS X type interface.
Need for Speed was and still is EA's best driving game. In terms of driving it still is more realistic than anything EA has released since. I used to play that game incessently, on the PC not the 3DO, but it's all good.
My heart swells with pride to see humanity investing so much effort in such profoundly beneficial ventures.
I love the marketing companies of this world, the true innovators! These truly are the golden years of progress.
These two companies are basically making minor modifications to existing technology and C-Net is trying to pass it off as something revolutionary. These publications are always blowing things out of proportion.
The reason why keyboards and phone keypads haven't changed much in all this time is because it's exceedingly difficult to come up with anything more practical than we have now. Touch screen displays certainly have helped to some extent, but even that is inferior to a keypad. Perhaps there's some kind of simple control device that's gesture based. The only way to successfully replace a keypad is to develop something that utilizes simpler controls but can enter text as quickly as a keyboard would.
I've never even seen an actual computer monitor (not LCD TV/monitor) that can display in full HD.
You mean unlike the iMac I have sitting at home which runs at 1920x1200? My PC is running two monitors at 2560x1024 and does so with no problem. And that's one of countless displays that support resolutions that high, if not higher.
People talk like HD is something new, but PCs have supported those resolutions for years. It's not like everything is going to jump to 1080p any time soon anyway, the focus will likely be on 720p for a while, which isn't a high resolution at all as far as PCs are concerned.
What I'd like to know is what in the hell is going on with the Aero theme that it is so absurdly demanding on the hardware.
I guess I don't understand the intricacies of what's going on because I see no reason whatsoever for a GUI to be more damanding than any contemporary PC game. The only excuse I see is sloppy and inefficient programming. It really leaves me with the impression that one of the big goals of Vista is to promote hardware sales.
I really have no tolerance whatsoever for people who wait in line or dramatically over pay to get their hands on a damn console.
There are PS3 pre-orders on Ebay going for over $1500. How pathetic does a person have to be that they can't wait a damn month or two to buy the system at retail price.
People criticize the government for investing in programs like space exploration which ultimately are beneficial to humanity. But then these people will have no problem paying an obscene amount of money for something which serves no useful purpose whatsoever.
Some people really have no sense of priority.
I'm sure this will be considered flamebait, but it has to be said.
I enjoy games as much as the next guy, but I find it absolutely ridiculous how much money people are willing to spend because of impatience. Within a month or two the consoles are spilling off the shelves and potential first batch glitches will likely have been addressed.
Like waiting a few weeks or even a few months would kill anyone. I wonder if people camp out for days and overpay for something truly important.
I've used Quicksilver for a while and I do like it. However, since having discovered Spotlight I don't see much of a need for it and this way I don't need yet another application running in the background.
I do like how I can customize Quicksilver's interface and how I can put it anywhere on the screen.
I personally found level 3 of Space Invaders particularly compelling.
Well, I've reinstalled Windows numerous times with no problems whatsoever. I've added new devices with no problems. The same goes for upgrading Windows. The upgrade to Service Pack 2 took little more than a half an hour to install and I had no problems afterwards.
Having to troubleshoot a system upgrade for several hours is not a good thing. Especially if you were doing it for a client who's paying by the hour.
Those Windows blue screens, which I've never seen in XP, are more than likely related to third party drivers than they would be to the OS anyway.
I can appreciate the advantages of Linux over Windows. And I don't doubt that it runs better than Windows when properly set up. The problem is that it has to be properly set up and your average user doesn't have the time, knowledge or skill to engage in such an exercise. They want a system that installs with minimal fuss, like Windows, or better yet Mac OS. Not that you average user would attempt a system reinstall anyway. But who, other than system administrators or enthusiasts want the sort of hassle Linux demands in installing and setting up a system?
I have yet to see a single HDTV displayed in any store in the US that effectively demonstrates the quality of those televisions over current technology. Either those ignorant hacks don't know what they're doing when they set up this equipment or they don't care. I haven't seen any quality HD content on cable television that impressed me either. It's no wonder that the average person doesn't see much of a difference between standard and HD displays.
In Taiwan, however, I have seen huge HDTVs featuring high-definition content that was amazing. Those displays are truly on a whole other level. The quality is high enough that it is immediately obvious when different cameras are used. I can only imagine the kind of difference these televisions will have on games. Those displays were so far beyond anything I've seen here that I can't imagine anyone not immediately noting the difference.
Well, I think it's fairly easy to see now. Just look at a high-resolution computer screen compared to your standard television. Better yet, get a computer with video output to television and it becomes immediately obvious how crappy the image becomes on a standard television. By the same token, high-resolution displays do show defects and short-comings in graphics quality far more easily.
Honestly, I don't really care that much about HD and the latest, cutting edge graphics. I like to know what's out there, but as far as gaming is concerned I believe that gameplay should be the most important element of any game, by far. That said, outside a small circle of friends who feel as I do, most people I know do care more about HD and those high-end graphics.
Nintendo not supporting HD may prove to be a significant short-coming in the long run. It's much easier to develop "innovative" gameplay than it is for Nintendo to bring the Wii up to the technical standards of the Xbox360 or PS3. I'd like to see Nintendo do well, but I don't expect things to be so simple.
Pointing out that the PS3, given what's inside, is more power hungry than a PS2 is like pointing out that the sun is hot.
History is written by the victor, not the loser. The American founding fathers are not considered terrorists, but freedom fighters because they won the Revolutionary War. There is another distinction here. Their target was the British. Civilians weren't their target, they were primarily engaged in conventional warfare. Psychology is certainly one aspect of warfare, but simply because it is applied in conflict doesn't automatically make it terrorism.
Terrorism is generally a tactic used by a weaker force, arguably the losing force. The goal isn't to meet the enemy soldier in battle, but rather to specifically target the civilian population in order to instill fear. The two goals are to force the populace to bend to the will of terrorists or, especially in the case of Iraq, to decimate public support for the conflict. They create a sense of hopelessness by dragging on a conflict and blend into the civilian population in order to make it difficult for the superior force to effectively engage them. It's basically a public relations campaign conducted in the worst imaginable way. And they can only operate effectively when the superior force is forced to exercise restraint. If the US swept through Iraq with impunity the terrorists would be forced into a conventional war.
So, by that specific definition the US is not a terrorist state. It may make for potent soundbites, but it's not the truth. The US is trying to engage in conventional warfare, which is probably a losing proposition in this case. They aren't intentionally targeting them; accidental killings don't qualify as terrorism. You may not like what the US is doing, but it's a far cry from what terrorists do.
Back to my original point, if the terrorists win this conflict then they will indeed be considered freedom fighters. They will have repelled the invading "evil empire". Interestingly, they likely wouldn't refer to Americans as terrorists because it would devalue the victory. A victory over terrorists isn't particularly impressive, when that's what they themselves are.
Like I said, history is on the side of the victor. Although even that seems to be changing in the Western world, but that's another story.
If Vista ends up being anything like XP in this regard it will be a non-issue for most people. I know people who have reinstalled XP numerous times with no problem. And when it did lock up a quick call quickly unlocked it to allow for installation.
Adobe, on the other hand, is a whole other story. A couple of years ago Dreamweaver MX 2004 was installed on some machine and never used. Since then that machine has even been wiped of the application. However, a couple of weeks ago I try reinstalling it and it doesn't accept the serial number I gave it.
I call Adobe, it turns out Dreamweaver was originally installed on a PC and I'm trying to install it on a Mac now. It's a dual-platform CD, but apparently it gets locked into a specific platform once it's installed.
So I was told they'd send me a new serial number within a few days; which is a bit ridiculous to begin with. It's been three weeks now and I'm still waiting. And I've called those jerks numerous times and keep facing people who keep giving me nonsense about the case having been sent to corporate and whatnot and that I should be notified within days.
This isn't even a damn operating system. People like to complain about Microsoft, but as a designer with my own company, I see Adobe is a far more threatening monopoly with little regard for the customer. Especially since having acquired Macromedia.
I could go online and within half an hour probably find a serial number that works. I wouldn't have to deal with their bullshit. I have a legitimate copy of the software and it's only installed on a single machine. So, what incentive have they given me not to pirate? Especially when they charge hundreds of dollars for insignificant upgrades.
One thing to keep in mind is that Sony doesn't quite have the negative image in the rest of the world that it's acquired in the US. And it's not necessarily a view held by the average person, but specifically within the gaming community and even more specifically within sites like Slashdot.
I know people who still like the Sony brand and don't know or care about Sony's problems. Things like DRM mean absolutely nothing to them because as far as they're concerned it isn't going to change anything.
I also know gamers who may be curious about Nintendo but still see it as a company that produces games geared at kids. These are the kinds of people who care about HD, who are fixated on fancy graphics over unique gameplay.
So Sony's loss doesn't necessarily reflect a change in the public's perception of the company. I tend to agree that it's connected to the battery recalls.
I personally could care less about the next-generation consoles, although I do hope Nintendo does well. And I do tend to avoid anything from Sony for the numerous reasons indicated on Slashdot. On the other hand, the jury is still out on who's going to dominate when the PS3 and Wii are finally released. I certainly don't think it's quite as cut and dry as some are claiming.