I bought a Starforce-protected game last year and it led to my decision to stop purchasing games. I still download occasionally, since the protection can be removed and zero is a much more fair price for the crap the industry is curently producing.
The games industry could reverse my decision (and maybe many others) by doing two things:
Ditch Starforce and any similarly intrusive or demanding security measures. Wakey wakey people, these measures are costing you far more in lost sales than casual piracy was!
Make games interesting again. I've been playing the same games over and over for ten years now. I'm bored and I'm not paying another penny until I see something new!
Jack puts on his "I'm a reasonable man" hat for interviews with the mainstream media (for the most part).
If you check out some of the comments he posts on various websites, his position is unclear. The most common assertion is that all gamers are stupid, lazy sociopaths, generally on drugs. He claims to only want to legislate the sale of games to minors, but has frequently been known to push for an outright ban on certain types of game.
Check out gamepolitics.com where Jack has become a frequently-posting troll. Every day brings new insults against the entire gaming demographic.
So no, I'm afraid I don't believe his most recent interview.:-)
In my area, the owners of the local shopping center (mall for you Americans) will have you removed from the premises if you enter wearing a baseball cap and hoody.
Although I have no doubt the fashion started among shoplifters, I think it has become a legitimate fashion among young teenagers. I know at least one who thinks it's cool to hide her features and she's definitely not a criminal.
* Premium and Economy cabins * Techno Wall with desk, universal port (for your i-pod or PDA) and plenty of storage
* Flat screen TV with surround sound speaker system
* Free Internet - Wired and Wi-fi
* Choice of hundreds of downloadable movies and CD's
* Air conditioning
* Double rotating beds
* Ensuite bathrooms
* Aircraft cabin mood lighting
* Luxury bathroom fittings including monsoon rain shower
* Luxury bedding
* Bespoke Toiletries
* Eat In grazing menu
* Automated Check in / out
* Web booking
I agree, I've been a Windows user since The Beginning (well, 3.0), but I see no reason whatsoever to get Vista. Sure, it's pretty but XP can be skinned if you want it to look like OSX. Most of the changes I've heard about are DRM-related, and I expect overall system performance will decline due to the eye-candy.
Is there any reason to upgrade to Vista before devs stop supporting XP?
Not sure why you were modded funny, it's a good point.
A lot of people could be using RSS without knowing that it's called RSS. If you asked the general population whether they own a cathode ray tube, I bet most of them would say no.
Alternative, and possibly more well-known names include Newsfeeds and Live Bookmarks.
Many countries have an invisible 'piracy' tax on blank discs, which goes straight to the entertainment industries. It's not optional, and I've never heard of anybody successfully avoiding it or getting a rebate. The whole thing is ridiculous and I have no idea which crooked politicians sneaked that one through.
Yes, when I see the residents here get excited about those internet tablets and smartphones, I fail to see the appeal.
We've had PDA's for many years now. I paid less than £200 for mine. It's about the same size as my wallet, and can access my home network via bluetooth. I usually read the news while listening to internet radio in the bath. I know a lot of people here would hate to run a Windows Mobile device so I should point out that although I wouldn't use anything else, many PDA's can in fact run Linux:)
Using JournalBar, it also downloads all the latest news when synchronising with the desktop, which I can read at any time. It uses the low-bandwidth pages of the BBC website, which are free of almost all graphics.
try getting PDFs to look good on your mobile device
You got that right, on my PDA it's difficult to view a PDF and it's impossible to actually read one. I'd recommend Book for electronic books on Windows Mobile, it can parse most text formats into something resembling a searchable, indexed paperback book.
I think it's worse than a non-issue. The complainant seems to almost be in the wrong, not to mention misguided.
Marcus [the podcaster] contacted Lambert to ask that his listing be removed. Lambert did so. This, however, caused Marcus' listenership to crash by some 75 percent, he claimed. Marcus then asked that his listing temporarily be reinstated on Podkeyword
and regarding "extortion"...
"He wanted me to make sure no other directory services got the information from me, but I can't tell who are directory services, because we're not submitting anything," Lambert said. "People are coming to look at our list. I have a choice: I remove it from anywhere or I [don't] remove it. You can't restrict who comes to look at your Podcast. So his request wasn't technically practical.
Podjacking is a very misleading term. Podjacking suggests that a user expecting to hear Marcus' podcast would be redirected to some other address. Doesn't seem to be the case.
With regards to the "extortion": Marcus wanted Lambert to reinstate the feed, but in a way that wasn't supported and which would require custom code. Lambert agreed to do it but said it would cost a fee, which is a perfectly reasonable position.
The article also seems to suggest that the free service was responsible for 75% of Marcus' traffic.
How is this even remotely related to hijacking?
That's where I stopped reading TFA, too. If you developed "true AI", why would you waste it on banner ads? In my experience, salesmen have very little need for intelligence, even the human ones are more like finite state machines. Customer Service reps also sacrifice their intelligence to become finite state machines. I have seen the flowcharts they use to diagnose faults with equipment they couldn't even use themselves.
I expect the first "True AI" I meet to be doing something useful ffs. Like my housework!
Slashdot Mirror
proof that there will always be some idiot will make wild assumptions re: other's musical tastes
[....]
you probably hate hip hop, but I guess that's your loss
ROFLMFAO
I stand corrected :) I've since checked out the site you mentioned, you're right. Looks like exactly the kind of outlet he'd pick a fight with.
Maybe it's just my human side, but the thought of never sleeping is quite unsettling to me.
I wonder if it would compromise your sanity? Especially in this day and age when we're constantly bombarded with stimuli.
I bought a Starforce-protected game last year and it led to my decision to stop purchasing games. I still download occasionally, since the protection can be removed and zero is a much more fair price for the crap the industry is curently producing.
The games industry could reverse my decision (and maybe many others) by doing two things:
Ditch Starforce and any similarly intrusive or demanding security measures. Wakey wakey people, these measures are costing you far more in lost sales than casual piracy was!
Make games interesting again. I've been playing the same games over and over for ten years now. I'm bored and I'm not paying another penny until I see something new!
Jack puts on his "I'm a reasonable man" hat for interviews with the mainstream media (for the most part).
:-)
If you check out some of the comments he posts on various websites, his position is unclear. The most common assertion is that all gamers are stupid, lazy sociopaths, generally on drugs. He claims to only want to legislate the sale of games to minors, but has frequently been known to push for an outright ban on certain types of game.
Check out gamepolitics.com where Jack has become a frequently-posting troll. Every day brings new insults against the entire gaming demographic.
So no, I'm afraid I don't believe his most recent interview.
In my area, the owners of the local shopping center (mall for you Americans) will have you removed from the premises if you enter wearing a baseball cap and hoody.
Although I have no doubt the fashion started among shoplifters, I think it has become a legitimate fashion among young teenagers. I know at least one who thinks it's cool to hide her features and she's definitely not a criminal.
From the link you posted:
* Premium and Economy cabins
* Techno Wall with desk, universal port (for your i-pod or PDA) and plenty of storage
* Flat screen TV with surround sound speaker system
* Free Internet - Wired and Wi-fi
* Choice of hundreds of downloadable movies and CD's
* Air conditioning
* Double rotating beds
* Ensuite bathrooms
* Aircraft cabin mood lighting
* Luxury bathroom fittings including monsoon rain shower
* Luxury bedding
* Bespoke Toiletries
* Eat In grazing menu
* Automated Check in / out
* Web booking
Sounds like a USB port.
I see no reason to get Vista anyways
I agree, I've been a Windows user since The Beginning (well, 3.0), but I see no reason whatsoever to get Vista. Sure, it's pretty but XP can be skinned if you want it to look like OSX. Most of the changes I've heard about are DRM-related, and I expect overall system performance will decline due to the eye-candy.
Is there any reason to upgrade to Vista before devs stop supporting XP?
Not sure why you were modded funny, it's a good point.
A lot of people could be using RSS without knowing that it's called RSS. If you asked the general population whether they own a cathode ray tube, I bet most of them would say no.
Alternative, and possibly more well-known names include Newsfeeds and Live Bookmarks.
I guess the distinction is slightly blurred, depending whether you're speaking to a cook, scientist or farmer.
t her/banana
Bananas are herbs and tomatoes are fruits according to this website.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/abouto
They're already doing that.
+ on+blank+cd+&btnG=Search&meta=
Many countries have an invisible 'piracy' tax on blank discs, which goes straight to the entertainment industries. It's not optional, and I've never heard of anybody successfully avoiding it or getting a rebate. The whole thing is ridiculous and I have no idea which crooked politicians sneaked that one through.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=piracy+tax
So, is it time for some kind of virtual currency?
:)
I mean something simpler than the credit card, which requires too much security and is too cumbersome for making quick purchases.
We seriously need to call this new currency the "credit"
Yes, when I see the residents here get excited about those internet tablets and smartphones, I fail to see the appeal.
:)
We've had PDA's for many years now. I paid less than £200 for mine. It's about the same size as my wallet, and can access my home network via bluetooth. I usually read the news while listening to internet radio in the bath. I know a lot of people here would hate to run a Windows Mobile device so I should point out that although I wouldn't use anything else, many PDA's can in fact run Linux
Using JournalBar, it also downloads all the latest news when synchronising with the desktop, which I can read at any time. It uses the low-bandwidth pages of the BBC website, which are free of almost all graphics.
try getting PDFs to look good on your mobile device You got that right, on my PDA it's difficult to view a PDF and it's impossible to actually read one. I'd recommend Book for electronic books on Windows Mobile, it can parse most text formats into something resembling a searchable, indexed paperback book.
Yes, on reading the article again I see you're right.
The Board of Elections certified all of the companies who submitted despite their being unable or unwilling to comply with the legal requirements.
Surely the correct course of action would be to postpone the use of electronic voting until a secure, auditable system could be put in place.
No, it's because it's very poorly written.
Luckily I'm not an American but if I was, I'd be extremely angry that the government is allowing - REWARDING - these IT companies to ignore the law.
I think it's worse than a non-issue. The complainant seems to almost be in the wrong, not to mention misguided.
Marcus [the podcaster] contacted Lambert to ask that his listing be removed. Lambert did so. This, however, caused Marcus' listenership to crash by some 75 percent, he claimed. Marcus then asked that his listing temporarily be reinstated on Podkeyword
and regarding "extortion"...
"He wanted me to make sure no other directory services got the information from me, but I can't tell who are directory services, because we're not submitting anything," Lambert said. "People are coming to look at our list. I have a choice: I remove it from anywhere or I [don't] remove it. You can't restrict who comes to look at your Podcast. So his request wasn't technically practical.
Podjacking is a very misleading term. Podjacking suggests that a user expecting to hear Marcus' podcast would be redirected to some other address. Doesn't seem to be the case. With regards to the "extortion": Marcus wanted Lambert to reinstate the feed, but in a way that wasn't supported and which would require custom code. Lambert agreed to do it but said it would cost a fee, which is a perfectly reasonable position. The article also seems to suggest that the free service was responsible for 75% of Marcus' traffic. How is this even remotely related to hijacking?
That's where I stopped reading TFA, too. If you developed "true AI", why would you waste it on banner ads? In my experience, salesmen have very little need for intelligence, even the human ones are more like finite state machines.
Customer Service reps also sacrifice their intelligence to become finite state machines. I have seen the flowcharts they use to diagnose faults with equipment they couldn't even use themselves.
I expect the first "True AI" I meet to be doing something useful ffs. Like my housework!