The best/worst part of TFA (and I couldn't really keep myself reading after this pile of crap) is this:
Mr Reynolds has even begun to think of email as rude and invasive, preferring to use tools such as Twitter and Flickr. He also uses social networking sites such as Dopplr, which tracks people's travel, to find out if they are away before he contacts them, and status alerts from instant messenger or Twitter to help him decide if now is a good time to interrupt them. Other tools, such as blogs and wikis, have decreased the amount of email that he sends and receives, while RSS feeds and recommendations from friends and colleagues allow him to keep abreast of the most important news.
How the heck is checking multiple social networking sites, blogs and RSS feeds going to be any less distracting or addictive than having one place to check all your messages? Using multiple sites in such a manner means that every single message you send then becomes a mini adventure in itself, which is a surefire way to lose your train of thought. And since when was sending someone an email 'interrupting' them? Email will only interrupt you if you have a client open and set to alert you, or have been stupid enough to leave email enabled on your phone while doing whatever it is that requires you not to be interrupted.
I think I sometimes plan out what I'm going to do better out of work hours, and then forget when I get back to work and find 23 slashdot replies waiting for me - though usually I've already checked some of those replies the night before or just after I wake up. I've got a lot more work done on the days where I leave slashdot replies for after lunch:s The trouble is, you sometimes actually get articles on/. that are relevant to your job, so you feel justified in reading the comments!
Your client checking for new mail and yourself checking your client for new mail are two different things.
Any business person relying on email will most likely have their client being updated at least once a minute if they are using an Exchange with Outlook. That's how often my Outlook seems to update anyway.
Phones with DirectPUSH capability or a crackberry don't even do the once a minute thing, they just send you the message immediately.
Getting a marketing call is the worst. How the fark did they get my direct dial number? It's not just bad because it's directly distracting, it's bad because afterwards I get pissed off that I was distracted.
At least if I choose to check my email (or IM) messages it's because I want to [know if I have any replies on/.]. Also if I'm busy I can just not check my email. Since I use Outlook for my work mail I can just check the system try to see if there's a mail icon anyway (but this only works for the main inbox, not subfolders).
BTW you mean 'RTFA[rticle]', the summary doesn't mention LEO:p
I just read some of the other comments around here and someone mentions that as well as the satellites the last mile will be 3G connection, which isn't particularly good for latency either.. so these will most definitely only be useful for browsing and downloading rather than stuff like gaming and Skype.
I know that online gaming is the least of Africa's concerns at the moment, but an extra 100ms latency on top of normal internet latency levels would be pretty bad for gaming. It takes you down to 56k modem latency levels, and that's pretty bad I can assure you:p On a LAN you could expect 15-30ms latency, for an online game in the same country as you you would probably have about 50-150ms latency, but back when I was using dial-up I'd be lucky to get a 250ms ping in Counter-Strike. If the gamers were just playing against other peeps in their area without having to go through the satellite then that would be fine though.
Likewise for everything else an extra 100ms (or 200ms when you consider the traffic has to go both ways) on the response time wouldn't be that bad, especially if they'd never used broadband before.
There are already people doing that. Educating people to boost their skill levels and economies would enable them to buy their own food and learn to dig their own wells.. I know I'd rather be self sufficient than live on hand-outs all the time (though I admit it's pretty easy to say that when I'm nowhere near starving or destitute)
Useful for streaming and downloading large files perhaps, but probably a bit of a PITA if you want to do something like online gaming or some quick web browsing, because satellites=high latency. Not saying it's a bad thing though, it's a good start:)
Someone above made a comment about this just being about advertising and google's business - well sure it will benefit them in the long run, but in the short term they're not going to make much advertising money from countries who can't even afford the infrastructure in the first place. I think this is most definitely a Good thing to do, whatever the motives. People who are always trying to make out like Google are actually evil need to get a grip. Businesses exist to make a profit, but Google also is conducting business in such a way as to benefit computer users in general. Think of the large limits on GMail inboxes forcing Hotmail to provide a similar service (my inbox space jumped from 200MB to 2GB), and Google Docs creating competition for Office, etc. I still think Google is a very 'good' company as companies go.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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I think that it would be better to spend the money on a console rather than a Windows license, as you are then guaranteed hardware compatibility and so forth. My main problem with consoles before was that you couldn't download mods or patches for games, but that isn't an issue these days.
I don't have too much of a problem with the console makers only wanting you to run licensed games, though being able to run homebrew stuff is very cool if you are into that kind of thing. Just wanting rid of the DRM to play pirated copies of licensed games isn't a good excuse though.
Being able to buy the original hardware cheaply because Sony is only making money off of the games seems pretty beneficial for the customer as well - you can always wait til the games come down in price or buy pre-owned and then you get cheap hardware as well as cheap software. I think it's great that Sony included a mechanism for easily installing Linux on the PS3 as well, but it is slow as ass because of the small amount of RAM (and perhaps the built-in HD is only 5400RPM, I'm not sure).
Since when were high school students 'free thinking'? At least the ones reading wikipedia are actively searching out information rather than only learning it because they have to. Yeah, I just watched Good Will Hunting for the first time last week;) While the story is pretty exaggerated it has some truth. I didn't learn anything at university that I didn't already know, or couldn't have just learned by reading a textbook. Seriously. I was in fact much more interested in learning before I went to university, but part of that was just personal circumstances. I spent a lot of time during high school doing coding in my spare time, but since I had to start doing it for coursework/my job I just want to relax in my spare time..
If by a wikipedia whore you mean someone who will only have a cursory glance at the subject and not look into it in any further detail, then I agree though.
For something as nebulous as the definition of 'life' though, you could start in worse places than wikipedia for seeing a few different opinions. I'm seeing a lot of yahoo question and answer sessions whenever I google for info these days, and some of the answers are atrociously wrong, though presented in such a way as to try and sound like the person knows what they're talking about.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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Well, on the Wii and PS3 you don't have to subscribe to play online (I have both). It will be a sad day when I'm convinced to buy another piece of MS hardware.
To be fair I liked the original Sidewinder Force Feedback a lot (especially combined with MechWarrior!), but all the other MS hardware I've seen or heard about over the last few years has been appalling.
"The heart's desire often clouds the mind's resolve." -- me, just now.
I upgraded to XP just so that I could play Lego Star Wars!
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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They are going to come out with versions for all the consoles, just it will take a bit longer for them to be released.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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They're bringing it out on PS3/Xbox otherwise I wouldn't be asking:p The DS 'ports' of games are usually pretty pathetic. I bought a Need For Speed game on the DS, but without the free-roaming of the full game it was pretty boring and just like going back to 90s style gaming. I appreciate that handheld consoles are less powerful and have less memory, but the PSP had free roaming gameplay in GTA, and Metroid on the DS had some decent environments, so I think it's more likely that the developers are just lazy and rely on gimmicks when it comes to DS games.
It's a similar situation for the Wii - there is great potential for involving games that have depth but also make use of the innovative input system, but developers seem to either focus on either making a good game, or making good use of the control system for a more shallow game. I bought both the DS and the Wii because they seemed so innovative, but I completed/lost interest in most of the gimmicky games pretty quickly. The game I played the most on it was Need For Speed: Carbon. I also played a lot of Zelda but that was another game that focused more on the actual game than gimmicky controls (although there was the odd mini-game exception).
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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I was thinking along the lines of "would you still support this companies products that don't have this DRM system, or would you boycott the company completely just because of the PC DRM?". I suppose if the console versions are vastly more popular than the PC version, that could be a good protest against DRM, as long as people let the company know that they purposely chose the console version because of this.
Except it costs money to do that (legally), and if 2K does everything he wants, why bother? I hate when people upgrade just because there is an upgrade available, unless there is some actual benefit from upgrading. I'm happy that Vista has done as badly as it has, it shows that humanity isn't as dumb as I had previously thought:)
I haven't read TFA so I don't know or not, but for one thing they might not all be 'kids'. A 26 year old guy at work has been an avid WoW fan for years (though has now dropped it because he has a gf). A few of these gamers are bound to have experienced public education and a few science classes. So no wonder they approach things in such an organised manner. I mean, what other way is there to gather practical data than to change things and observe the results? I partly agree with the OP that it is just human nature to do this, but basic science classes would encourage this type of thinking even if the actual method isn't explained directly.
A lot of reporters (and researchers, but mostly the reporters) could do with "learning the scientific method" so that they stop ascribing causality where correlation is observed!
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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It is indeed transparent, I was just wondering if people would decide to not buy the console version as a protest against the DRM on the PC version. I saw an ad on TV and I'm pretty sure it listed PS3 and 360 logos, though those versions haven't been released yet.
The gameplay doesn't sound too inspiring, but the graphics look pretty awesome, and the evolution idea is fun. Perhaps I'll wait a couple of years until the PS3 version comes down in price..
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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Well, unless you downloaded any virtual console games that is, they're non transferable;)
A few people are going on about the rootkit angle, but my own issues with DRM would be going beyond that to the "what if I want to play this game when their servers go down, or not have to have the CD with my laptop at all times" type angle. That's not really an issue with consoles, though it will become moreso as more console games become hard-drive installable I guess.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
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Review: Spore
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I'd been the same with consoles up until recently. I even managed to enjoy an FPS on the PS3 though. I still think the mouse is a superior input device for aiming, but if everyone is limited by the same system then it isn't so much of a big deal. I'd like to try CS:S on WINE myself, I used to play it on XP a few years ago, but now I'm running OSX with XP in a VM. Haven't tried setting up WINE yet (I did run a trial of whatever that commercial branch of WINE is - Crossover I think - but I think only used it for serious applications rather than games).
My argument was about a creature adapting to survive in space not making it any more likely that it will be suitable for life on another planet - by the sounds of it this thing is already incredibly hardy. Killing off a few less 'hardy' ones could be useful natural selection, but it could also be getting rid of the ones that are better at surviving in an atmosphere? I just like playing devil's advocate is all:)
I wasn't thinking of simple things like moving to a different island, I was thinking more of moving to a completely different planet, with different atmosphere, pressures and gravitational pull. Since this organism can survive in a vacuum that suggests that it may not matter if you put it in an atmosphere that we would find poisonous, but then again who's to say that? What if it doesn't stand up well in a highly acidic atmosphere? What if during its trip to space it changes composition in such a way that it is crushed under its own weight when it is re-introduced to a planet with significant gravity? I don't know what these water bears need to survive, but perhaps if they need sunlight, so landing for example on the dark side of a planet that doesn't change its rotation with respect to its current star would kill them off? etc.
Was just trying to point out that natural selection tends to make a creature better for a single environment, not all environments. I am not a biologist though, so meh.
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The best/worst part of TFA (and I couldn't really keep myself reading after this pile of crap) is this:
Mr Reynolds has even begun to think of email as rude and invasive, preferring to use tools such as Twitter and Flickr. He also uses social networking sites such as Dopplr, which tracks people's travel, to find out if they are away before he contacts them, and status alerts from instant messenger or Twitter to help him decide if now is a good time to interrupt them. Other tools, such as blogs and wikis, have decreased the amount of email that he sends and receives, while RSS feeds and recommendations from friends and colleagues allow him to keep abreast of the most important news.
How the heck is checking multiple social networking sites, blogs and RSS feeds going to be any less distracting or addictive than having one place to check all your messages? Using multiple sites in such a manner means that every single message you send then becomes a mini adventure in itself, which is a surefire way to lose your train of thought. And since when was sending someone an email 'interrupting' them? Email will only interrupt you if you have a client open and set to alert you, or have been stupid enough to leave email enabled on your phone while doing whatever it is that requires you not to be interrupted.
I think I sometimes plan out what I'm going to do better out of work hours, and then forget when I get back to work and find 23 slashdot replies waiting for me - though usually I've already checked some of those replies the night before or just after I wake up. I've got a lot more work done on the days where I leave slashdot replies for after lunch :s The trouble is, you sometimes actually get articles on /. that are relevant to your job, so you feel justified in reading the comments!
Your client checking for new mail and yourself checking your client for new mail are two different things.
Any business person relying on email will most likely have their client being updated at least once a minute if they are using an Exchange with Outlook. That's how often my Outlook seems to update anyway.
Phones with DirectPUSH capability or a crackberry don't even do the once a minute thing, they just send you the message immediately.
Getting a marketing call is the worst. How the fark did they get my direct dial number? It's not just bad because it's directly distracting, it's bad because afterwards I get pissed off that I was distracted.
At least if I choose to check my email (or IM) messages it's because I want to [know if I have any replies on /.]. Also if I'm busy I can just not check my email. Since I use Outlook for my work mail I can just check the system try to see if there's a mail icon anyway (but this only works for the main inbox, not subfolders).
BTW you mean 'RTFA[rticle]', the summary doesn't mention LEO :p
I just read some of the other comments around here and someone mentions that as well as the satellites the last mile will be 3G connection, which isn't particularly good for latency either.. so these will most definitely only be useful for browsing and downloading rather than stuff like gaming and Skype.
I know that online gaming is the least of Africa's concerns at the moment, but an extra 100ms latency on top of normal internet latency levels would be pretty bad for gaming. It takes you down to 56k modem latency levels, and that's pretty bad I can assure you :p On a LAN you could expect 15-30ms latency, for an online game in the same country as you you would probably have about 50-150ms latency, but back when I was using dial-up I'd be lucky to get a 250ms ping in Counter-Strike. If the gamers were just playing against other peeps in their area without having to go through the satellite then that would be fine though.
Likewise for everything else an extra 100ms (or 200ms when you consider the traffic has to go both ways) on the response time wouldn't be that bad, especially if they'd never used broadband before.
There are already people doing that. Educating people to boost their skill levels and economies would enable them to buy their own food and learn to dig their own wells.. I know I'd rather be self sufficient than live on hand-outs all the time (though I admit it's pretty easy to say that when I'm nowhere near starving or destitute)
Useful for streaming and downloading large files perhaps, but probably a bit of a PITA if you want to do something like online gaming or some quick web browsing, because satellites=high latency. Not saying it's a bad thing though, it's a good start :)
Someone above made a comment about this just being about advertising and google's business - well sure it will benefit them in the long run, but in the short term they're not going to make much advertising money from countries who can't even afford the infrastructure in the first place. I think this is most definitely a Good thing to do, whatever the motives. People who are always trying to make out like Google are actually evil need to get a grip. Businesses exist to make a profit, but Google also is conducting business in such a way as to benefit computer users in general. Think of the large limits on GMail inboxes forcing Hotmail to provide a similar service (my inbox space jumped from 200MB to 2GB), and Google Docs creating competition for Office, etc. I still think Google is a very 'good' company as companies go.
I think that it would be better to spend the money on a console rather than a Windows license, as you are then guaranteed hardware compatibility and so forth. My main problem with consoles before was that you couldn't download mods or patches for games, but that isn't an issue these days.
I don't have too much of a problem with the console makers only wanting you to run licensed games, though being able to run homebrew stuff is very cool if you are into that kind of thing. Just wanting rid of the DRM to play pirated copies of licensed games isn't a good excuse though.
Being able to buy the original hardware cheaply because Sony is only making money off of the games seems pretty beneficial for the customer as well - you can always wait til the games come down in price or buy pre-owned and then you get cheap hardware as well as cheap software. I think it's great that Sony included a mechanism for easily installing Linux on the PS3 as well, but it is slow as ass because of the small amount of RAM (and perhaps the built-in HD is only 5400RPM, I'm not sure).
Since when were high school students 'free thinking'? At least the ones reading wikipedia are actively searching out information rather than only learning it because they have to. Yeah, I just watched Good Will Hunting for the first time last week ;) While the story is pretty exaggerated it has some truth. I didn't learn anything at university that I didn't already know, or couldn't have just learned by reading a textbook. Seriously. I was in fact much more interested in learning before I went to university, but part of that was just personal circumstances. I spent a lot of time during high school doing coding in my spare time, but since I had to start doing it for coursework/my job I just want to relax in my spare time..
If by a wikipedia whore you mean someone who will only have a cursory glance at the subject and not look into it in any further detail, then I agree though.
For something as nebulous as the definition of 'life' though, you could start in worse places than wikipedia for seeing a few different opinions. I'm seeing a lot of yahoo question and answer sessions whenever I google for info these days, and some of the answers are atrociously wrong, though presented in such a way as to try and sound like the person knows what they're talking about.
Well, on the Wii and PS3 you don't have to subscribe to play online (I have both). It will be a sad day when I'm convinced to buy another piece of MS hardware.
To be fair I liked the original Sidewinder Force Feedback a lot (especially combined with MechWarrior!), but all the other MS hardware I've seen or heard about over the last few years has been appalling.
"The heart's desire often clouds the mind's resolve." -- me, just now.
I upgraded to XP just so that I could play Lego Star Wars!
They are going to come out with versions for all the consoles, just it will take a bit longer for them to be released.
They're bringing it out on PS3/Xbox otherwise I wouldn't be asking :p The DS 'ports' of games are usually pretty pathetic. I bought a Need For Speed game on the DS, but without the free-roaming of the full game it was pretty boring and just like going back to 90s style gaming. I appreciate that handheld consoles are less powerful and have less memory, but the PSP had free roaming gameplay in GTA, and Metroid on the DS had some decent environments, so I think it's more likely that the developers are just lazy and rely on gimmicks when it comes to DS games.
It's a similar situation for the Wii - there is great potential for involving games that have depth but also make use of the innovative input system, but developers seem to either focus on either making a good game, or making good use of the control system for a more shallow game. I bought both the DS and the Wii because they seemed so innovative, but I completed/lost interest in most of the gimmicky games pretty quickly. The game I played the most on it was Need For Speed: Carbon. I also played a lot of Zelda but that was another game that focused more on the actual game than gimmicky controls (although there was the odd mini-game exception).
I was thinking along the lines of "would you still support this companies products that don't have this DRM system, or would you boycott the company completely just because of the PC DRM?". I suppose if the console versions are vastly more popular than the PC version, that could be a good protest against DRM, as long as people let the company know that they purposely chose the console version because of this.
Except it costs money to do that (legally), and if 2K does everything he wants, why bother? I hate when people upgrade just because there is an upgrade available, unless there is some actual benefit from upgrading. I'm happy that Vista has done as badly as it has, it shows that humanity isn't as dumb as I had previously thought :)
I haven't read TFA so I don't know or not, but for one thing they might not all be 'kids'. A 26 year old guy at work has been an avid WoW fan for years (though has now dropped it because he has a gf). A few of these gamers are bound to have experienced public education and a few science classes. So no wonder they approach things in such an organised manner. I mean, what other way is there to gather practical data than to change things and observe the results? I partly agree with the OP that it is just human nature to do this, but basic science classes would encourage this type of thinking even if the actual method isn't explained directly.
A lot of reporters (and researchers, but mostly the reporters) could do with "learning the scientific method" so that they stop ascribing causality where correlation is observed!
It is indeed transparent, I was just wondering if people would decide to not buy the console version as a protest against the DRM on the PC version. I saw an ad on TV and I'm pretty sure it listed PS3 and 360 logos, though those versions haven't been released yet.
The gameplay doesn't sound too inspiring, but the graphics look pretty awesome, and the evolution idea is fun. Perhaps I'll wait a couple of years until the PS3 version comes down in price..
Well, unless you downloaded any virtual console games that is, they're non transferable ;)
A few people are going on about the rootkit angle, but my own issues with DRM would be going beyond that to the "what if I want to play this game when their servers go down, or not have to have the CD with my laptop at all times" type angle. That's not really an issue with consoles, though it will become moreso as more console games become hard-drive installable I guess.
I'd been the same with consoles up until recently. I even managed to enjoy an FPS on the PS3 though. I still think the mouse is a superior input device for aiming, but if everyone is limited by the same system then it isn't so much of a big deal. I'd like to try CS:S on WINE myself, I used to play it on XP a few years ago, but now I'm running OSX with XP in a VM. Haven't tried setting up WINE yet (I did run a trial of whatever that commercial branch of WINE is - Crossover I think - but I think only used it for serious applications rather than games).
Reader WillRobinson notes.. 450 GeV (0.45 TeV) .. Zurich .. live webcasts ..
Someone should inform him of the DANGER!
I'm interested - do you guys complaining about the DRM (and I don't like it either) have an issue with buying the console versions?
My argument was about a creature adapting to survive in space not making it any more likely that it will be suitable for life on another planet - by the sounds of it this thing is already incredibly hardy. Killing off a few less 'hardy' ones could be useful natural selection, but it could also be getting rid of the ones that are better at surviving in an atmosphere? I just like playing devil's advocate is all :)
it is my understanding that many political activists are already being watched
Isn't the technical term actually 'terrorists'? I'm not even sure whether I'm kidding anymore.
I wasn't thinking of simple things like moving to a different island, I was thinking more of moving to a completely different planet, with different atmosphere, pressures and gravitational pull. Since this organism can survive in a vacuum that suggests that it may not matter if you put it in an atmosphere that we would find poisonous, but then again who's to say that? What if it doesn't stand up well in a highly acidic atmosphere? What if during its trip to space it changes composition in such a way that it is crushed under its own weight when it is re-introduced to a planet with significant gravity? I don't know what these water bears need to survive, but perhaps if they need sunlight, so landing for example on the dark side of a planet that doesn't change its rotation with respect to its current star would kill them off? etc.
Was just trying to point out that natural selection tends to make a creature better for a single environment, not all environments. I am not a biologist though, so meh.