I never wanted/needed video camera, mp3 player or camera on my phone but I always wanted cheaper service and shorter term contract. I realize that iPhone has all of these things, but I'm hoping that service-discounted business model will succeed and move to other offerings, so we finally can get affordable no-frills phone and basic service for cheap.
Did you know that 75% of all statistics are made-up on a spot and remaining 25% are highly misleading when taken out of context?
Please, Canada? What about China, India or Eastern Europe where you can get movies before they released and where pirated disks openly sold on the street? Well, no, BLAME CANADA!
This is nothing more than FUD spread by *AA in effort to influence upcoming bill.
Gasoline engine is about 30% effective, electric is about 90% effective - so its not 17 tons, its about 6. It is feasible to hit gas tank equivalent under 5x weight, anything under 10x is expensive.
Leave cars to companies that specialize in cars, like Honda or Ford, that can apply your batteries to already working hybrid or electric cars with manufacturing, distribution and sales in place. If you have amazing [anything] technology - focus on that technology instead of re-inventing its applications.
I see problem with this - skill gap between people that typically play single player FPS to enjoy storyline and people that play multiplayer competitively is so huge that no armor, health boosts or anything will help.
Google just officially crossed the line and become Another Souless Corporation. Next they will be looking into putting advertising for funeral homes in hospital emergency rooms.
I don't want to pay more just to have this feature in my car, that potentially can malfunction and disable my car when I need it. That and it seems it would be easy to work around it by wearing gloves.
Cars already have computers that follow industry standards (OBD-II) and they are responsible for monitoring and controlling all car systems. These systems are predominantly ASIC (application specific integrated circuits), sometimes with upgradeable firmware and are modern equivalents of a distributor.
You also have OBC (on-board computer) that has nothing to do with controlling car operations, it is modern equivalent of a car radio. Frequently OBC is capable of showing you some car metrics, like your fuel consumption or let you know if there is a problem detected with check engine light or more detailed equivalent.
Typically if your OBC is malfunctioning your car is still operational, but now there is a trend for luxury cars to allow you change parameters, like suspension stiffness or shifting points, through OBC. Depending on particular car and way OBC fails it can disable your car but in most situations your car computer will assume default settings in case of an OBC failure.
As to 'download' from TFA - it will be tightly controlled functionality, similarly to On-Star, and nothing more than another scheme to lock you into DRM-ed 'content distribution' system, only now with your car instead of your cellphone or MP3 player.
How does safety and luxury features come into discussion about fuel economy? If 'car from that era' could be that fuel efficient we are not improving things at all, even with all technology that went into hybrids, on-the-go adjustable timing and ability to turn on and off individual cylinders.
Seems like you have leadership problems, failure to log is only one symptom of much bigger problem. Good thing - you have an easy way out of it. Hire somebody you can trust, shortly after that hold a meeting on keeping notes, have new person use 'too busy' excuse and fire him on a spot for it.
Not only this article is a dupe, it is also a fund raiser for a failed project with little redeeming qualities, be it IP or code, that is not feasible as an Open Source. Money you donate are better spent elsewhere.
I played, and tried to enjoy NWN2, but it suffers from unpolished release.
What bugged me most is inability to effectively control your party - you ether micro-manage each character in a pause-every-second while in 'AI-off' mode or enjoy tanks chasing after low-priority targets, clerics trying to melee and casters AoE your entire party. There are no formation movement from BG2 and combat is real-time, where AI, if turned on, will override your orders.
Another problem with NWN2 - camera. It is painfully inadequate and *requires* you to modify.ini files to get it to a state where game can be played.
Last but not least - NWN2 suffers from performance issues. It was choppy in some instances on my top-of-the-line system - a lot of people with slower system reported single-digit FPS and 2+ min level loading times.
Overall - I enjoyed NWN2 but kept wishing they didn't push it out unfinished with included campaign only 2/3 done.
>>>And, no, the exucse of "You're keeping us in business" is not a viable answer.
With advertising, you are the product. As a result you will not see any benefit from competition in the market. They will figure out a formula that will tell them exactly how much advertising most people will tolerate, they will apply it to maximize add exposure and will proceed to compete with other publishers by lowering costs of placing adds . Lowering price or reducing number or amount of adds shown is not even part of the equation!
[i] >>to contribute towards or add to the budget of a game [/i]
You are naive. Nothing will change and not a dollar of advertisement money will go to a good use. Just look at sorry state of TV if you need proof that adds do not mean better programming. Its all about appealing lowest common denominator.
In-game adds are huge money grab by game publishers/studios. I can understand if titles were free or even reduced in price, but you are required to pay full price for the privilege of watching adds.
This being said - in advertising you are the product, as a result its no loner about making games that are entertaining, its about getting most adds shown to maximum amount of gamers. Most advertising is designed to be intrusive, distracting and is a waste of your time.
How much did your post cost to you? Perhaps you should hire me to post on slashdot for you:)
Yes, your argument is valid for someone with large disposable income or for someone with little expertise (and added chance of expensive failure). Large disposable income is not typical for younger demographic, hence typical MACs user are tend to be older as TFA suggests.
As to what my time cost? Its priceless, especially when I can use it to put together cherry-picked PC for a fraction of a cost and know it will be done right.
>>> The Mac/PC price difference may have been true 5 years ago but now definitly is bunk.
I disagree. I just finished putting together new top of the line computer and PCs are still provide vastly better bang for the buck. If you pay 'stupid tax' and actually purchase overpriced brand-name PC then difference in PC/Mac price is not that huge, but if you are putting your own rig together there is no way you will end up spending nearly to a Mac cost. I can put together comparably benchmarking PC for 30-40% less, if I'm allowed to overclock I can get it for 50-60% less.
>>Most major (ie GOOD) games come out with a version for OSX or have one coming out of the gate.
This is simply not true. Your argument should be that you can currently play most PC games due to x86 architecture allowing you to boot WinXP, but in my book this is not MAC gaming. Typically games released to work in Mac OS become available few months to a year later, if ever, and often with multilayer portion not compatible with PC version.
Lets look at recent titles that are available for PC - Oblivion, Titans Quest, Battlefield2142, Neverwinter Nights 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 5, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. What titles, if any, from this list can be played in OSX?
While I might consider your other arguments, since it looks like you are a MAC user and probably know more than I do about MACs, there is no way you can tell me that MAC is gaming-friendly platform.
>> Trust me, there isNOT a limit of pirated software on the Apple side.
Perhaps, but you also have to consider that overall a lot less software is available for MAC. For example where I can buy/pirate AutoCAD or multitude of other staple academy or professional software packages? Even if they are available for MAC they are simply not out there.
Young people use P2P, play video games and use readily available pirated software and are generally have education expenses and loans to pay with start-of-the-career budget. As a result expensive system that emphasizes aesthetics, hardly has any games, up until recently had problems with various P2P and is limited in readily available pirated software (due to lower market share) does not appeal to such demographics.
Open Source if done right can be good for projects where access to data and source code, community contributions and decisions by community consent are good things. That is clearly not the case for mmorpgs due to data security and balance decisions that clearly cannot be done by public.
Data Security: Assuming that potential cheating issues are somehow resolved, even that all mmorpgs out there use security by obscurity approach due to non-trusted client AND need to offload large chunk of computations client-side at all times, simple access to formulas will take min-maxing to the extreme and will make balancing nearly impossible.
Balance Decisions: What community of players would ever agree on balancing changes? For any mmorpg player your class/type/template is underpowered and class/type/template of anybody that beat you is overpowered by definition. Good luck getting anyone to agree how to balance the game.
As to mmorpg.com ranking - it is irrelevant and biased data. Subjectively - no way obscure vaporware like SoR can be ranked #3 when even in North America when there are more than 3 mmorpgs that are NOT going bankrupt right now. Objectively - you should look into available subscription data, mmogchart.com is a good place to start.
Ultimately this won't work due to voter indifference. Another problem with this approach is that risk-taking and unpopular but needed decisions will become nonexistent.
Patents do not have to be meaningful, or even have a remote chance of standing up in court. They are weapons in corporate world and you use them mostly to cause damage. If your public company is sued you lose money in legal fees, might lose investor confidence in a critical moment and overall end up in a loss even if you easily won it. Just look at Research In Motion if you need to see how much damage can frivolous patent deal.
If these guys are so brilliant to invent this solid state device why are they not so brilliant to see it potential uses. Let's see - portable nuclear generators since you no longer need to worry about turbines and cooling, combustion engine efficiency will skyrocket if you can recoup even portion of 60% of combustion energy wasted on heat , refrigeration and air conditioning will be trivial.
This chip, if it works = free energy for everyone, everywhere, and they work about battery life for laptops... wtf?
Slashdot Mirror
I never wanted/needed video camera, mp3 player or camera on my phone but I always wanted cheaper service and shorter term contract. I realize that iPhone has all of these things, but I'm hoping that service-discounted business model will succeed and move to other offerings, so we finally can get affordable no-frills phone and basic service for cheap.
Did you know that 75% of all statistics are made-up on a spot and remaining 25% are highly misleading when taken out of context?
Please, Canada? What about China, India or Eastern Europe where you can get movies before they released and where pirated disks openly sold on the street? Well, no, BLAME CANADA!
This is nothing more than FUD spread by *AA in effort to influence upcoming bill.
Gasoline engine is about 30% effective, electric is about 90% effective - so its not 17 tons, its about 6. It is feasible to hit gas tank equivalent under 5x weight, anything under 10x is expensive.
Leave cars to companies that specialize in cars, like Honda or Ford, that can apply your batteries to already working hybrid or electric cars with manufacturing, distribution and sales in place. If you have amazing [anything] technology - focus on that technology instead of re-inventing its applications.
I see problem with this - skill gap between people that typically play single player FPS to enjoy storyline and people that play multiplayer competitively is so huge that no armor, health boosts or anything will help.
Google just officially crossed the line and become Another Souless Corporation. Next they will be looking into putting advertising for funeral homes in hospital emergency rooms.
Looking at a list of clients - Apple, Cisco... iPhone name probably was settled long time ago and now its just attention PR campaign.
I don't want to pay more just to have this feature in my car, that potentially can malfunction and disable my car when I need it. That and it seems it would be easy to work around it by wearing gloves.
Cars already have computers that follow industry standards (OBD-II) and they are responsible for monitoring and controlling all car systems. These systems are predominantly ASIC (application specific integrated circuits), sometimes with upgradeable firmware and are modern equivalents of a distributor.
You also have OBC (on-board computer) that has nothing to do with controlling car operations, it is modern equivalent of a car radio. Frequently OBC is capable of showing you some car metrics, like your fuel consumption or let you know if there is a problem detected with check engine light or more detailed equivalent.
Typically if your OBC is malfunctioning your car is still operational, but now there is a trend for luxury cars to allow you change parameters, like suspension stiffness or shifting points, through OBC. Depending on particular car and way OBC fails it can disable your car but in most situations your car computer will assume default settings in case of an OBC failure.
As to 'download' from TFA - it will be tightly controlled functionality, similarly to On-Star, and nothing more than another scheme to lock you into DRM-ed 'content distribution' system, only now with your car instead of your cellphone or MP3 player.
Contract it out, anything you will bring in-house to government will be drowned by bureaucracy, hidden agendas and general incompetence.
How does safety and luxury features come into discussion about fuel economy? If 'car from that era' could be that fuel efficient we are not improving things at all, even with all technology that went into hybrids, on-the-go adjustable timing and ability to turn on and off individual cylinders.
Seems like you have leadership problems, failure to log is only one symptom of much bigger problem. Good thing - you have an easy way out of it. Hire somebody you can trust, shortly after that hold a meeting on keeping notes, have new person use 'too busy' excuse and fire him on a spot for it.
Not only this article is a dupe, it is also a fund raiser for a failed project with little redeeming qualities, be it IP or code, that is not feasible as an Open Source. Money you donate are better spent elsewhere.
I played, and tried to enjoy NWN2, but it suffers from unpolished release.
.ini files to get it to a state where game can be played.
What bugged me most is inability to effectively control your party - you ether micro-manage each character in a pause-every-second while in 'AI-off' mode or enjoy tanks chasing after low-priority targets, clerics trying to melee and casters AoE your entire party. There are no formation movement from BG2 and combat is real-time, where AI, if turned on, will override your orders.
Another problem with NWN2 - camera. It is painfully inadequate and *requires* you to modify
Last but not least - NWN2 suffers from performance issues. It was choppy in some instances on my top-of-the-line system - a lot of people with slower system reported single-digit FPS and 2+ min level loading times.
Overall - I enjoyed NWN2 but kept wishing they didn't push it out unfinished with included campaign only 2/3 done.
>>>And, no, the exucse of "You're keeping us in business" is not a viable answer. With advertising, you are the product. As a result you will not see any benefit from competition in the market. They will figure out a formula that will tell them exactly how much advertising most people will tolerate, they will apply it to maximize add exposure and will proceed to compete with other publishers by lowering costs of placing adds . Lowering price or reducing number or amount of adds shown is not even part of the equation!
[i] >>to contribute towards or add to the budget of a game [/i]
You are naive. Nothing will change and not a dollar of advertisement money will go to a good use. Just look at sorry state of TV if you need proof that adds do not mean better programming. Its all about appealing lowest common denominator.
In-game adds are huge money grab by game publishers/studios. I can understand if titles were free or even reduced in price, but you are required to pay full price for the privilege of watching adds.
This being said - in advertising you are the product, as a result its no loner about making games that are entertaining, its about getting most adds shown to maximum amount of gamers. Most advertising is designed to be intrusive, distracting and is a waste of your time.
How much did your post cost to you? Perhaps you should hire me to post on slashdot for you :)
Yes, your argument is valid for someone with large disposable income or for someone with little expertise (and added chance of expensive failure). Large disposable income is not typical for younger demographic, hence typical MACs user are tend to be older as TFA suggests.
As to what my time cost? Its priceless, especially when I can use it to put together cherry-picked PC for a fraction of a cost and know it will be done right.
>>> The Mac/PC price difference may have been true 5 years ago but now definitly is bunk.
I disagree. I just finished putting together new top of the line computer and PCs are still provide vastly better bang for the buck. If you pay 'stupid tax' and actually purchase overpriced brand-name PC then difference in PC/Mac price is not that huge, but if you are putting your own rig together there is no way you will end up spending nearly to a Mac cost. I can put together comparably benchmarking PC for 30-40% less, if I'm allowed to overclock I can get it for 50-60% less.
>>Most major (ie GOOD) games come out with a version for OSX or have one coming out of the gate.
This is simply not true. Your argument should be that you can currently play most PC games due to x86 architecture allowing you to boot WinXP, but in my book this is not MAC gaming. Typically games released to work in Mac OS become available few months to a year later, if ever, and often with multilayer portion not compatible with PC version.
Lets look at recent titles that are available for PC - Oblivion, Titans Quest, Battlefield2142, Neverwinter Nights 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 5, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. What titles, if any, from this list can be played in OSX?
While I might consider your other arguments, since it looks like you are a MAC user and probably know more than I do about MACs, there is no way you can tell me that MAC is gaming-friendly platform.
>> Trust me, there isNOT a limit of pirated software on the Apple side.
Perhaps, but you also have to consider that overall a lot less software is available for MAC. For example where I can buy/pirate AutoCAD or multitude of other staple academy or professional software packages? Even if they are available for MAC they are simply not out there.
Young people use P2P, play video games and use readily available pirated software and are generally have education expenses and loans to pay with start-of-the-career budget. As a result expensive system that emphasizes aesthetics, hardly has any games, up until recently had problems with various P2P and is limited in readily available pirated software (due to lower market share) does not appeal to such demographics.
Open Source if done right can be good for projects where access to data and source code, community contributions and decisions by community consent are good things. That is clearly not the case for mmorpgs due to data security and balance decisions that clearly cannot be done by public.
Data Security: Assuming that potential cheating issues are somehow resolved, even that all mmorpgs out there use security by obscurity approach due to non-trusted client AND need to offload large chunk of computations client-side at all times, simple access to formulas will take min-maxing to the extreme and will make balancing nearly impossible.
Balance Decisions: What community of players would ever agree on balancing changes? For any mmorpg player your class/type/template is underpowered and class/type/template of anybody that beat you is overpowered by definition. Good luck getting anyone to agree how to balance the game.
As to mmorpg.com ranking - it is irrelevant and biased data. Subjectively - no way obscure vaporware like SoR can be ranked #3 when even in North America when there are more than 3 mmorpgs that are NOT going bankrupt right now. Objectively - you should look into available subscription data, mmogchart.com is a good place to start.
Ultimately this won't work due to voter indifference. Another problem with this approach is that risk-taking and unpopular but needed decisions will become nonexistent.
Patents do not have to be meaningful, or even have a remote chance of standing up in court. They are weapons in corporate world and you use them mostly to cause damage. If your public company is sued you lose money in legal fees, might lose investor confidence in a critical moment and overall end up in a loss even if you easily won it. Just look at Research In Motion if you need to see how much damage can frivolous patent deal.
If these guys are so brilliant to invent this solid state device why are they not so brilliant to see it potential uses. Let's see - portable nuclear generators since you no longer need to worry about turbines and cooling, combustion engine efficiency will skyrocket if you can recoup even portion of 60% of combustion energy wasted on heat , refrigeration and air conditioning will be trivial.
This chip, if it works = free energy for everyone, everywhere, and they work about battery life for laptops... wtf?