I can connect to the site and can see and use the flash animation. I am using Firefox 2.0.0.5-1 (64 bit) under Fedora 7 (64 bit) which is what I call the "dull bleeding edge" of a Linux distro. I do agree with you that flash is not that open source friendly although for me it was not difficult to install and it is shareable with all the users of my laptop. In many ways we are seeing something that is overly pretentious and not really necessary but then again Microsoft has very deep pockets and can afford to hire all the web designers it needs.
Actually I liked the pdf article on how Microsoft helped Mozilla develop a plugin for MS Media player on MS Vista and how when it was released they got almost 1.5 million downloads in the first five weeks (read into that what you may). Out of the four pages the first page is one large header, the last page a Copyright notice and the middle two pages devoted to approx one and a quarter pages of "sort-off" information. What they don't tell you is that if Microsoft told the Mozilla people to "take a hike" then you would have seen a nice little court case on why Microsoft was using its Monopoly to prevent competition in the browser market.
I think you forgot to add, that if you own a business the risks are very high and you may need to put a considerable amount of your time into your business. What many people fail to realize is that a business also employs people while an entertainer rarely does although they do keep the entertainment industry profitable which in a twist can keep their shareholders happy. In the entertainment industry the entertainer is an employee and rarely has to take monetary risks unlike other business although many don't see it that way.
I know that it is very hard to be an entertainer and you still have to make sacrifices to get to the top but rarely the same as small business make. If an entertainer fails and is not stupid they can still do other work for a living but if a business venture goes stale then the owner and/or shareholders can go bankrupt requiring a considerable amount of time to recover if ever.
Personally I think 50 years is far to long since it rare that an entertainer actually writes (this can be copyright) and produces his/her own routines, in most cases they do what they are told which is not much different from that of an employee of any business, except they can get huge amounts of money and can collect up to 50 years of royalties if they were smart enough to negotiate for this.
Most FPS games I have played have a very simple story, basically "If it moves shoot it", "If it does not move shoot it anyway". If the FPS has a story it normally is that of a B grade Science Fiction movie where the Earth or some planet that humans have landed on has been invaded and you are the only one (well maybe a few friends) can save the human race or your squad or something like that.
Sounds rather silly I know but FPS's are extremely popular and IMHO are a real adrenaline rush for at least an hour or so (at least for me). Where the FPS game really comes into it's own is in on-line games where you compete against real people. Of course this does not appeal to some and that is fair enough as well.
Personally I get bored very quickly with FPS games mainly because (to me) there is little if any story, but can play a "first person perspective" (FPP) game which is different from a RTS game being normally an RPG or action adventure game with a good story for hours. I have played some real stinkers as well but not for long. My latest FPP game is "Oblivion" and I find this a very interesting and fun game because it has a good story although it can be difficult to find one at times because of the numerous side-quests which can cause you to loose track as to what is going on, still you can play it so many different ways.
For some people the RTS is the best game in town and who cares about the story. For others like me I prefer a story (preferably a good one) and to take my time in a game.
I think you as the farmer growing normal crops could sue (IANL) for cross pollination but from what I can gather genetically modified plants should not cross pollinate. I do think that the "law" would require the farmer to prove he was innocent since it very easy for the producer of the genetic strain to prove that the farmer has their strain.
On a side note, From what I can gather the patent on GM grain is from 1994 (I thought it went further back than that) so there is still 7 years to go, however there are many groups and even nations opposing GM grains and other GM products. Monsanto really comes across as a company that does not care about anything except being a monopoly that controls all the world's food supply. It has even gone so far as patenting pigs http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsa nto-pig-patent-111.
Having a laser that can "vaporise" or at least cause the target to breakup and explode is the stuff of science fiction. This is not to say it can't be done given enough money and research but this technology does not come cheap and then you have to ask "is this worth it"?
The are many solutions of hitting a speeding object some of them cheap and other prohibitively expensive and a "Star-Wars laser" is very much on the expensive side. A cheaper solution and one that has been tested with varying degrees of success is something like a a radar and laser detection and targeting system followed by a rapid firing weapon using conventional or non conventional explosive rounds.
One ruggedized weapon system that could work well with fast rapid deployment is some thing like a radar and laser detection and targeting system coupled with some thing like a "Metal-Storm" system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Storm. This type of system could quite easily be built at a fraction of the cost of a laser weapon system and would be much more reliable. Of course if you really need to destroy an incoming projectile over a much longer distance (more than 20km) then a missile system like the "Patriot Missile System" is probably the best thing.
All weapon systems have strengths and weaknesses and in a war situation it is not necessarily the best or the most innovative technology that can win, although it does help. If you look at history this has proven true time and time again.
Actually you are quite right it is not the water that causes the damage it is dissolved salts and sediment which will cause shorts. If you ever drop accidentally or otherwise any electronic equipment in water, if the device is active you can be fairly certain you have fried the electronics although this is not always the case providing you quickly switch off the power source and follow the next example. If the device is off then it is a very good idea to actually wash the device in distilled water before the original water dries (take the battery out first if it has one) and then let dry at least 24 hours in a warm dry environment, in most cases your equipment will work, although I would not recommend doing this very often.
It would be more interesting to see the purchase of MS Vista compared to sales of new computers which would normally come with some version of MS Windows Vista installed. As far as sales go do they take into account corporate sales or maintenance contracts which would make MS Windows Vista a hot seller for something that would be given out anyway. Of course we won't see that because it would most likely be too embarrassing for Microsoft.
Actually since the SNES (I have a PS1/2/3, SNES and Gamecube) I have started to just give normal TV shows a miss since I get more enjoyment, relaxation and even surprisingly a mild workout (increased heart rate and concentration) from playing a game. I don't mind watching a small amount of TV for the news and the odd TV show although I get more news via the web. So my TV from my perspective now gets used as a games display console until my wife wants to watch her favourate shows, so we have a timeshare on the set which suits us both.
The TV is not being replaced in fact HDTV is selling well (at least in Australia) but TV shows are now having to compete against games which are starting to become more popular. The so-called couch potato is still around and won't disappear anytime soon but people are starting to become aware of fun games. Actually the Nintendo NES was one of the first consoles to actually have a fitness mat althought I don't think this was that popular but at least it was a start.
Err! there is an eject symbol on the front of the PS3 so you better eject "Talladega Nights" and get down to Blockbuster fast:-)
Actually the ability to remotely eject is a feature that is actually quite useful (not essential) since it is possible to eject your game, DVD or Blu-ray disk and then just take it out rather than touch the eject symbol and wait a few seconds. After-all many HD/DVD recorders, players and even PC's have this feature and now the PS3 has it. Either way you still have to get up and replace the disk but it is a convenience that is nice and adds another professional touch to what is shaping up to be a very good system.
While waiting for native PS3 games why don't you get some PS2 games if you haven't already, the PS3 will smooth and up-scaled them to 720p, 1080i or 1080p (configurable) via HTMI or component to your HDTV (you have one don't you?) and the resulting graphical improvement makes a good PS1/2 game even better although nothing can save a bad game.
I should also point out that the PS2 is the only last generation console that actually gets new games with more to come, so while a PS2 game does not measure up graphically (NTSC or PAL) to a PS3 game (720p up) the game-play can be on par or even better. Even rumble actually works with PS1/2 games and a PS2 dualshock controller (get a wireless one with a PS3 adapter and you have nearly all the console control features of the sixaxis controller). You can also save quite a bit of money as well since there are so many games available for different tastes you may find that you can easily wait for native PS3 games.
Actually because there are so many PS1/2 games as well as a small amount (at the moment) of PS3 games as far as enjoyment goes you actually will save more money buying a PS3 than any of the the other consoles at least from my perspective of having over 80 PS1/2 games. I do have a Gamecube and still play it but but I don't have enough games to justify purchasing a Wii of which only one game is of any interest to me.
My only gripe with the PS3 is a minor inconvenience with the Bluetooth (sixaxis) controller requiring you to re-establish connection after a game starts (you are warned on-screen though). Basically you should just need to establish the controller connection on PS3 power up then you should not have to fiddle. The ability to change your controller ports and PS1/2 virtual memory cards "on the fly" is rather nice and convenient though.
I think the best rule for any console is make sure you put it in a well ventilated cabinet or on a shelf. I do find my PS3 to be a fingerprint magnet so I make sure I handle it as little as possible which is really easy to do. When the PS3 is working it runs at approx 200W (great small room heater) although when it is in standby it draws much less than 1W. Still talk to an hard-core gamer and they will think you are one of those tree-hugger's using a paltry 200W.
I don't normally reply to AC's but you are either trolling or have no idea what you are talking about. If you want a bit of education re HDTV look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_telev ision. As for the PS3 well I have to assume you don't have one. Hey I'm being a nice guy I would not want you to be called an uneducated troll.
I think you have Jesuits mixed up with Jehovah's Witnesses. Jesuits are a religious order in the Catholic Church and most Catholics as with many other religions don't have any issue with blood transfusions. Of course most people don't like the thought of having a needle in their arm or other places but will accept this if it means alleviating pain or saving their life.
Could not agree more. The Wii is selling to large numbers of casual gamers (yes there are more serious gamers) because it is cheap and it is very portable. After all who wants to take a PS3 or Xbox360 to a friends house, which is a feature not many people have thought of. The controller IMHO is the only other thing going for the Wii and it is not conducive to playing games for any length of time (RSI come to mind here), also infra red is not a good transmission medium since anyone walking in front of you (it can an does happen) will disrupt the beam.
The problem with "low end" casual gamers is they will only buy one to five games over the lifetime of a console and this will translate to low game sales. Still it remains to be seen if this will happen but if it does support for the Wii will plummet. This is not to say Nintendo is going to loose money since they make a profit on the Wii console anyway.
At the moment world wide sales of the Wii to the PS3 are approx 2.45 to 1, which does point to a runaway success for the Wii but IMHO from what I have seen of the games there are only a few (err one) I actually like although Metroid will make that two. The PS3 on the other hand has Oblivion and "Fall of Man" and the rest I don't care for but it makes up for that with old and new PS2 games which actually get smoothed and upscaled to a HDTV which actually makes the PS3 (IMHO) a very versatile machine (I actually purchased mine (Australia 60GB) for less than the low end Xbox360).
The wild card is the HDTV and it's adoption rate which in some countries is huge. The more people who have HDTV the more people will go for an Xbox360 (failures could be an issue) and the PS3 with the Wii being relegated to the kids room. people who can afford a HDTV and have a gaming console are normally people who have money to purchase games and movies. It is this market the PS3 and Xbox360 target, since over time it will be the most lucrative.
Hmm Sega Saturn working after 20 years, fantastic considering the console was first introduced in the US on 22nd Nov 1994 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn. Oh well I guess the secret time travel facility inbuilt into the console must be working or you are smoking some really good stuff.
If you are the head of a research group and you have something interesting and not necessarily commercially viable at the time there is nothing like approaching the press to drum up support to get the appropriate funding or that crucial extra grant. A little bit of showmanship goes a long way, especially when that translates to funding for a pet project. Of course having commercial possibilities is also a very good selling point as well. While what I have said may appear cynical to some it does happen, however in the long-term this type of research can actually benefit the whole community.
As for "strange these days", scientific showmanship has been around since the first human decided that walking upright was a neat idea and this strange black material when hit certain way will produce a smaller stone with a very sharp edge.
- Expensive is what you can't afford.
- The PS3 runs at approx 200W but talk to any hard core gamer and power is not even an issue.
- The PS3 standby mode is very much less than 1W.
- The current PS3 game offerings are not that great from my perspective but the other console games are equally unappealing from my perspective. Of course if you don't mind playing upscaled PS2 games and there are plenty of those the PS3 has the most games.
- You can get away using a SDTV with both the Xbox360 and PS3 but a HDTV really makes the graphics from the two look fantastic.
- As I have said before the PS3 will smooth and upscale PS2 games and this makes a good PS2 great and really adds to the replay value of the game but of course no amount of graphical improvement makes a bad game better.
- You are right no rumble for PS3 games yet, but you can use the PS2 dual-shock with rumble for your PS1/2 games.
- Having BD does make the PS3 a good all-round machine but if all you want is a cheap games machine then the Wii is for you or maybe the PS2. However if the Wii is just being attached to a SDTV or small HDTV this usually means that the only people that will use it are low end casual gamers and it is going to interesting to see how game sales for this market shape up. After all game sales are what drive support for a console. Still no matter Nintendo has not lost any money.
With the new PSP it is supposed to be possible to view your game or movie via component video cables to your HDTV or even SDTV (if it takes component cables. The downside of this is you have to have a cable connecting your PSP to the TV which sort of defeats the purpose of a hand-held device. Having wireless connectivity would be the logical way to go.
My son has a PSP and he can save movies on his memory card. He can then connect up the PSP to the PS3 via a USB cable and display the movies via the PS3 and they even get up-scaled to 720p, 1080i or 1080p (depends on your HDTV). Even with the home-brew firmware he can still do this. Unfortunately you cannot do this via wireless yet (maybe sometime with newer firmware? --- hint Sony).
It is possible to make the PS3 a media center so displaying movies via the PSP to PS3 is nice but not a must have. Displaying PSP games or (cough home brew games) via the PS3 on the other hand IMHO make a PSP/PS3 combo very attractive. Having two or more gamers in the household competing for the same HDTV can be annoying so timeshare is essential.
From my own personal perspective I have found the screens in all handhelds (PSP included although IMHO it still has the largest screen) to be annoyingly small (my eyesight is good but more than an hour and I get a headache) so I don't play games on them, however being able to display via wireless to a PS3 or even cable to my HDTV makes gaming on the PSP much more viable to me.
With regard to a standard digital video transfer protocol I think you are going to be waiting a long time since all the consoles are proprietary and a "standard" (read my sig) will be what the vendor decides. None of the console makers (much less Sony) would agree to what you described unless they had full control since it would be too easy to pirate or copy content. Like it or not DRM is not going away anytime soon.
It actually is Microsoft's fault for choosing to make their document formats not backwards compatible. Most people don't look at the prompts anymore since they trust Microsoft or just want to get the job done without being nagged to much.
I can just hear "but Microsoft has the right to provide a richer experience for the user" (cough! hack! - I really hate those words from the PR department). The problem with "Microsoft Word" doc format is it does not have an open format which is great for vendor lock in so we are supposed to trust them.
For any company to give out software for evaluation without the proper means to uninstall it makes that software spy-ware or viral and would normally be viewed by the law as criminal. At least I don't have any Microsoft software on my home laptop (Fedora 7) and I won't miss it so I won't have the dubious privilege of trying out MS Office 2007 on my laptop.
In Australia the PS3 is now selling with "pack-ins", however while this effectively brings the PS3 down to approx AU$830 (US$721) including GST the pack-ins may not be what you want. The Xbox360 plus 20GB disk and Gold online subscription on the other hand sells for approx AU$650 (US$564) with Halo 3 when it comes out but if you want a 120GB disk you can't get it although a good guess on price when it comes out is approx AU$200+ (the 20GB disk sells for AU$160) although it would not surprise me if the 120GB model sells at AU$750. Get a HD-DVD drive and you are up for another AU$200, of course in Australia you are hard pressed to get HD-DVD movies (there are some but not many) compared to Blu-ray which is all that most big department stores and EB's sells.
Personally I am very pleased I jumped at the chance to pick up a PS3 for US$407 (at the time) with a trade in of a 5 year old PS3 and 10 old games. At least I was able to buy what I wanted, although I did get a free Blue-ray movie (The latest Casino Royale) four weeks later which I did not expect - nice though. At the moment 60GB is enough for me but if I want to I can put in a 160GB or larger disk for just over AU$120.
I think the AU/NZ/EU/UK people have more to complain about the price of consoles than the US since we actually pay more than you do and as far as the population goes the US has a population of 301M compared to EU/UK 720M which seems a snub to a much larger population which has a standard of living that is close and sometimes higher than that of the US. For those that are interested the Nintendo Wii sells for AU$400 (US348) so you cannot just point the finger at Sony and say they are ripping us off. Actually it is the Government and department stores that are ripping (import duty, sales tax, tariffs, GST/VAT... etc) us off.
In Australia we can get 3m (approx 10 foot) HDMI cables for AU$299 (US$259) and I even got a talk how they were absolutely fantastic and well worth the money. Fortunately I am an Electrical Engineer and I politely told the sales guy off and then went and purchased a HDMI cable for AU$19 (US$16.50) at a shop just down the road. I know I can get cheaper HDMI cables by on-line purchase but you end up paying for the courier which brings the price up.
Actually the cheaper HDMI cables are normally version 1.2 or earlier but if you have a 720p HDTV which I have, this is good enough. Version 1.3 HDMI cables are best for 1080p HDTV's and of course you do pay more but you would have to have two identical HDTV sets side by side to pick the difference between version 1.2 and 1.3 HDMI.
At the moment PS2 backwards compatibility on the PS3 with emulation software is approx 80% to 90% compared to the Xbox360's 38% as per last week. To put this in perspective from the time of the EU/UK/Aust/NZ released on the 23rd of March 2007 and with firmware 1.8 (23rd May 2007) the PS3 was able to play without issues over 80% of all PS2 games was approx 2 months while for the Xbox360 to get to 38% took over two years. Read in to that what you may.
It is difficult to determine what PS2 games don't play since that to me this would be much more useful, however between 10% to 15% of games do play but they have issues varying from "artifacts" (ie. triangles, intermittent whiteouts/blackouts... etc) to CGI scenes freezing or being jerky, sometimes this is annoying to easily skipped making the game acceptably playable. From my own perspective I have over 50 PS2 games and only one does not play (Wizardry) while another two (The Bards Tale and Musashi) have artifacts. The rest play perfectly although we did have a minor issue on GT4 (skip the intro and the game plays fine).
What makes it difficult to accurately determine which game is compatible is the product code of a game since some games have two or more product codes for the same game name and on some occasions a game may play fine but a later or earlier release my not play well if at all.
Of course the whole compatibility thing is mute if the game you like does not play. Check out the following PS3 website http://faq.eu.playstation.com/bc/. Still video upscaling does make a great PS2 game even better and very much more enjoyable in replay or if you are like me a new PS2 game while you are waiting for PS3 games you would like. A bad PS2 game still sucks no matter what the graphics looks like. For anyone considering buying a PS3 or Xbox360 a HDTV should be part of your budget consideration (the bigger the better) and while a PS3 or Xbox360 do display well on a SDTV what a waste.
With regard to the 80GB model to the 60GB model, 20GB is not much now and in Australia we can get a 60GB drive for AU$55 (approx US$48) to 80GB drive for AU65 (approx US$56). Actually you are better of with the 60GB model and upgrading the disk to 160GB and keeping the 60GB disk as a potable backup or transfer device.
I have not covered the PS1 backward compatibility but I do have over 20 PS1 games and they all play without issue. Upscaling for PS1 games does make for acceptable graphics on a HDTV but like I have said before a bad game is still bad no matter what the graphics look like but a good game with improved graphics is still a treat.
I counted 383 out of approx 1000 games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games that is approx 38% backwards compatibility and it only took approx two years to get there, well done Microsoft.
Looks like the Wii is killing the market but I would be very interested in how does this translate to game sales after all if you sell a lot of consoles then providing you make a profit and Nintendo does then this is good for the console manufacturer. What really makes profits for the console manufacturer are games, merchandising and add-ons and plenty of sales, however most games successes have been in the order of only a few million. With regard to the casual gamer who seem to be the predominate ones who purchase the Wii are they people who only pay for a few party games or do they eventually convert to a more dedicated gamer? The PS3 and Xbox360 gamers are more dedicated and will most likely purchase a variety of games. For most game producers this knowledge is absolutely vital if they are to profit from their games if not then they will not produce games for a console they can not make a profit on their game sales.
But with PSP and home-brew firmware you can play Nintendo NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance games plus Sega games in-fact any emulator games as well as AVI and MP4 movie files and if you get sick of that you can also play PSP games as well. Soon you will be able to play PS1 games via legitimate (a few dollars per game) download or by ripping your PS1 disk (not sure about this one though look at the home-brew sites).
I have even seen MP4 movies ripped and scaled to the PSP having Genuine Sony firmware and played via the PS3 to a HDTV via HDMI and it actually gets upscaled to the size of the HDTV although the output was not quite as good as an upscaled DVD but it was still very watchable. I am not sure how useful this would be (possibly TV episodes) but it was interesting.
Actually you can do this and get the PC even cheaper with a refund of MS Vista, however you have to jump through hoops to get a refund.
When I got my HP laptop it came with MS Vista Ultimate and some "shovel ware", however since I wanted Linux on the Laptop I made a recovery disk and then proceeded to install Fedora 7. (I prefer the "dull bleeding edge" and Fedora 7 fits what I want perfectly). I found that nearly everything works except for the wireless which I don't need at the moment. Even the media controller which came with the laptop actually does control my media player, which was rather surprising.
Why did I create a recovery disk for MS Vista? Well I sell my laptop every year and upgrade to a new one so having the ability to put a Genuine copy of MS Vista back on allows me to sell the laptop to just about anyone. Like it or not most people have no idea what Linux is much less manage a Linux machine because "it is not like Windows!". The only thing I have never determined is what version of "Windows" the Linux window managers can't be made look like. Sad really - oh well.
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I can connect to the site and can see and use the flash animation. I am using Firefox 2.0.0.5-1 (64 bit) under Fedora 7 (64 bit) which is what I call the "dull bleeding edge" of a Linux distro. I do agree with you that flash is not that open source friendly although for me it was not difficult to install and it is shareable with all the users of my laptop. In many ways we are seeing something that is overly pretentious and not really necessary but then again Microsoft has very deep pockets and can afford to hire all the web designers it needs.
Actually I liked the pdf article on how Microsoft helped Mozilla develop a plugin for MS Media player on MS Vista and how when it was released they got almost 1.5 million downloads in the first five weeks (read into that what you may). Out of the four pages the first page is one large header, the last page a Copyright notice and the middle two pages devoted to approx one and a quarter pages of "sort-off" information. What they don't tell you is that if Microsoft told the Mozilla people to "take a hike" then you would have seen a nice little court case on why Microsoft was using its Monopoly to prevent competition in the browser market.
I think you forgot to add, that if you own a business the risks are very high and you may need to put a considerable amount of your time into your business. What many people fail to realize is that a business also employs people while an entertainer rarely does although they do keep the entertainment industry profitable which in a twist can keep their shareholders happy. In the entertainment industry the entertainer is an employee and rarely has to take monetary risks unlike other business although many don't see it that way.
I know that it is very hard to be an entertainer and you still have to make sacrifices to get to the top but rarely the same as small business make. If an entertainer fails and is not stupid they can still do other work for a living but if a business venture goes stale then the owner and/or shareholders can go bankrupt requiring a considerable amount of time to recover if ever.
Personally I think 50 years is far to long since it rare that an entertainer actually writes (this can be copyright) and produces his/her own routines, in most cases they do what they are told which is not much different from that of an employee of any business, except they can get huge amounts of money and can collect up to 50 years of royalties if they were smart enough to negotiate for this.
Most FPS games I have played have a very simple story, basically "If it moves shoot it", "If it does not move shoot it anyway". If the FPS has a story it normally is that of a B grade Science Fiction movie where the Earth or some planet that humans have landed on has been invaded and you are the only one (well maybe a few friends) can save the human race or your squad or something like that.
Sounds rather silly I know but FPS's are extremely popular and IMHO are a real adrenaline rush for at least an hour or so (at least for me). Where the FPS game really comes into it's own is in on-line games where you compete against real people. Of course this does not appeal to some and that is fair enough as well.
Personally I get bored very quickly with FPS games mainly because (to me) there is little if any story, but can play a "first person perspective" (FPP) game which is different from a RTS game being normally an RPG or action adventure game with a good story for hours. I have played some real stinkers as well but not for long. My latest FPP game is "Oblivion" and I find this a very interesting and fun game because it has a good story although it can be difficult to find one at times because of the numerous side-quests which can cause you to loose track as to what is going on, still you can play it so many different ways.
For some people the RTS is the best game in town and who cares about the story. For others like me I prefer a story (preferably a good one) and to take my time in a game.
I think you as the farmer growing normal crops could sue (IANL) for cross pollination but from what I can gather genetically modified plants should not cross pollinate. I do think that the "law" would require the farmer to prove he was innocent since it very easy for the producer of the genetic strain to prove that the farmer has their strain.
a nto-pig-patent-111.
On a side note, From what I can gather the patent on GM grain is from 1994 (I thought it went further back than that) so there is still 7 years to go, however there are many groups and even nations opposing GM grains and other GM products. Monsanto really comes across as a company that does not care about anything except being a monopoly that controls all the world's food supply. It has even gone so far as patenting pigs http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/mons
Having a laser that can "vaporise" or at least cause the target to breakup and explode is the stuff of science fiction. This is not to say it can't be done given enough money and research but this technology does not come cheap and then you have to ask "is this worth it"?
The are many solutions of hitting a speeding object some of them cheap and other prohibitively expensive and a "Star-Wars laser" is very much on the expensive side. A cheaper solution and one that has been tested with varying degrees of success is something like a a radar and laser detection and targeting system followed by a rapid firing weapon using conventional or non conventional explosive rounds.
One ruggedized weapon system that could work well with fast rapid deployment is some thing like a radar and laser detection and targeting system coupled with some thing like a "Metal-Storm" system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Storm. This type of system could quite easily be built at a fraction of the cost of a laser weapon system and would be much more reliable. Of course if you really need to destroy an incoming projectile over a much longer distance (more than 20km) then a missile system like the "Patriot Missile System" is probably the best thing.
All weapon systems have strengths and weaknesses and in a war situation it is not necessarily the best or the most innovative technology that can win, although it does help. If you look at history this has proven true time and time again.
Actually you are quite right it is not the water that causes the damage it is dissolved salts and sediment which will cause shorts. If you ever drop accidentally or otherwise any electronic equipment in water, if the device is active you can be fairly certain you have fried the electronics although this is not always the case providing you quickly switch off the power source and follow the next example. If the device is off then it is a very good idea to actually wash the device in distilled water before the original water dries (take the battery out first if it has one) and then let dry at least 24 hours in a warm dry environment, in most cases your equipment will work, although I would not recommend doing this very often.
It would be more interesting to see the purchase of MS Vista compared to sales of new computers which would normally come with some version of MS Windows Vista installed. As far as sales go do they take into account corporate sales or maintenance contracts which would make MS Windows Vista a hot seller for something that would be given out anyway. Of course we won't see that because it would most likely be too embarrassing for Microsoft.
Actually since the SNES (I have a PS1/2/3, SNES and Gamecube) I have started to just give normal TV shows a miss since I get more enjoyment, relaxation and even surprisingly a mild workout (increased heart rate and concentration) from playing a game. I don't mind watching a small amount of TV for the news and the odd TV show although I get more news via the web. So my TV from my perspective now gets used as a games display console until my wife wants to watch her favourate shows, so we have a timeshare on the set which suits us both.
The TV is not being replaced in fact HDTV is selling well (at least in Australia) but TV shows are now having to compete against games which are starting to become more popular. The so-called couch potato is still around and won't disappear anytime soon but people are starting to become aware of fun games. Actually the Nintendo NES was one of the first consoles to actually have a fitness mat althought I don't think this was that popular but at least it was a start.
Err! there is an eject symbol on the front of the PS3 so you better eject "Talladega Nights" and get down to Blockbuster fast :-)
Actually the ability to remotely eject is a feature that is actually quite useful (not essential) since it is possible to eject your game, DVD or Blu-ray disk and then just take it out rather than touch the eject symbol and wait a few seconds. After-all many HD/DVD recorders, players and even PC's have this feature and now the PS3 has it. Either way you still have to get up and replace the disk but it is a convenience that is nice and adds another professional touch to what is shaping up to be a very good system.
While waiting for native PS3 games why don't you get some PS2 games if you haven't already, the PS3 will smooth and up-scaled them to 720p, 1080i or 1080p (configurable) via HTMI or component to your HDTV (you have one don't you?) and the resulting graphical improvement makes a good PS1/2 game even better although nothing can save a bad game.
I should also point out that the PS2 is the only last generation console that actually gets new games with more to come, so while a PS2 game does not measure up graphically (NTSC or PAL) to a PS3 game (720p up) the game-play can be on par or even better. Even rumble actually works with PS1/2 games and a PS2 dualshock controller (get a wireless one with a PS3 adapter and you have nearly all the console control features of the sixaxis controller). You can also save quite a bit of money as well since there are so many games available for different tastes you may find that you can easily wait for native PS3 games.
Actually because there are so many PS1/2 games as well as a small amount (at the moment) of PS3 games as far as enjoyment goes you actually will save more money buying a PS3 than any of the the other consoles at least from my perspective of having over 80 PS1/2 games. I do have a Gamecube and still play it but but I don't have enough games to justify purchasing a Wii of which only one game is of any interest to me.
My only gripe with the PS3 is a minor inconvenience with the Bluetooth (sixaxis) controller requiring you to re-establish connection after a game starts (you are warned on-screen though). Basically you should just need to establish the controller connection on PS3 power up then you should not have to fiddle. The ability to change your controller ports and PS1/2 virtual memory cards "on the fly" is rather nice and convenient though.
I think the best rule for any console is make sure you put it in a well ventilated cabinet or on a shelf. I do find my PS3 to be a fingerprint magnet so I make sure I handle it as little as possible which is really easy to do. When the PS3 is working it runs at approx 200W (great small room heater) although when it is in standby it draws much less than 1W. Still talk to an hard-core gamer and they will think you are one of those tree-hugger's using a paltry 200W.
I don't normally reply to AC's but you are either trolling or have no idea what you are talking about. If you want a bit of education re HDTV look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_telev ision. As for the PS3 well I have to assume you don't have one. Hey I'm being a nice guy I would not want you to be called an uneducated troll.
I think you have Jesuits mixed up with Jehovah's Witnesses. Jesuits are a religious order in the Catholic Church and most Catholics as with many other religions don't have any issue with blood transfusions. Of course most people don't like the thought of having a needle in their arm or other places but will accept this if it means alleviating pain or saving their life.
Could not agree more. The Wii is selling to large numbers of casual gamers (yes there are more serious gamers) because it is cheap and it is very portable. After all who wants to take a PS3 or Xbox360 to a friends house, which is a feature not many people have thought of. The controller IMHO is the only other thing going for the Wii and it is not conducive to playing games for any length of time (RSI come to mind here), also infra red is not a good transmission medium since anyone walking in front of you (it can an does happen) will disrupt the beam.
The problem with "low end" casual gamers is they will only buy one to five games over the lifetime of a console and this will translate to low game sales. Still it remains to be seen if this will happen but if it does support for the Wii will plummet. This is not to say Nintendo is going to loose money since they make a profit on the Wii console anyway.
At the moment world wide sales of the Wii to the PS3 are approx 2.45 to 1, which does point to a runaway success for the Wii but IMHO from what I have seen of the games there are only a few (err one) I actually like although Metroid will make that two. The PS3 on the other hand has Oblivion and "Fall of Man" and the rest I don't care for but it makes up for that with old and new PS2 games which actually get smoothed and upscaled to a HDTV which actually makes the PS3 (IMHO) a very versatile machine (I actually purchased mine (Australia 60GB) for less than the low end Xbox360).
The wild card is the HDTV and it's adoption rate which in some countries is huge. The more people who have HDTV the more people will go for an Xbox360 (failures could be an issue) and the PS3 with the Wii being relegated to the kids room. people who can afford a HDTV and have a gaming console are normally people who have money to purchase games and movies. It is this market the PS3 and Xbox360 target, since over time it will be the most lucrative.
Hmm Sega Saturn working after 20 years, fantastic considering the console was first introduced in the US on 22nd Nov 1994 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn. Oh well I guess the secret time travel facility inbuilt into the console must be working or you are smoking some really good stuff.
If you are the head of a research group and you have something interesting and not necessarily commercially viable at the time there is nothing like approaching the press to drum up support to get the appropriate funding or that crucial extra grant. A little bit of showmanship goes a long way, especially when that translates to funding for a pet project. Of course having commercial possibilities is also a very good selling point as well. While what I have said may appear cynical to some it does happen, however in the long-term this type of research can actually benefit the whole community.
As for "strange these days", scientific showmanship has been around since the first human decided that walking upright was a neat idea and this strange black material when hit certain way will produce a smaller stone with a very sharp edge.
- Expensive is what you can't afford.
- The PS3 runs at approx 200W but talk to any hard core gamer and power is not even an issue.
- The PS3 standby mode is very much less than 1W.
- The current PS3 game offerings are not that great from my perspective but the other console games are equally unappealing from my perspective. Of course if you don't mind playing upscaled PS2 games and there are plenty of those the PS3 has the most games.
- You can get away using a SDTV with both the Xbox360 and PS3 but a HDTV really makes the graphics from the two look fantastic.
- As I have said before the PS3 will smooth and upscale PS2 games and this makes a good PS2 great and really adds to the replay value of the game but of course no amount of graphical improvement makes a bad game better.
- You are right no rumble for PS3 games yet, but you can use the PS2 dual-shock with rumble for your PS1/2 games.
- Having BD does make the PS3 a good all-round machine but if all you want is a cheap games machine then the Wii is for you or maybe the PS2. However if the Wii is just being attached to a SDTV or small HDTV this usually means that the only people that will use it are low end casual gamers and it is going to interesting to see how game sales for this market shape up. After all game sales are what drive support for a console. Still no matter Nintendo has not lost any money.
With the new PSP it is supposed to be possible to view your game or movie via component video cables to your HDTV or even SDTV (if it takes component cables. The downside of this is you have to have a cable connecting your PSP to the TV which sort of defeats the purpose of a hand-held device. Having wireless connectivity would be the logical way to go.
My son has a PSP and he can save movies on his memory card. He can then connect up the PSP to the PS3 via a USB cable and display the movies via the PS3 and they even get up-scaled to 720p, 1080i or 1080p (depends on your HDTV). Even with the home-brew firmware he can still do this. Unfortunately you cannot do this via wireless yet (maybe sometime with newer firmware? --- hint Sony).
It is possible to make the PS3 a media center so displaying movies via the PSP to PS3 is nice but not a must have. Displaying PSP games or (cough home brew games) via the PS3 on the other hand IMHO make a PSP/PS3 combo very attractive. Having two or more gamers in the household competing for the same HDTV can be annoying so timeshare is essential.
From my own personal perspective I have found the screens in all handhelds (PSP included although IMHO it still has the largest screen) to be annoyingly small (my eyesight is good but more than an hour and I get a headache) so I don't play games on them, however being able to display via wireless to a PS3 or even cable to my HDTV makes gaming on the PSP much more viable to me.
With regard to a standard digital video transfer protocol I think you are going to be waiting a long time since all the consoles are proprietary and a "standard" (read my sig) will be what the vendor decides. None of the console makers (much less Sony) would agree to what you described unless they had full control since it would be too easy to pirate or copy content. Like it or not DRM is not going away anytime soon.
It actually is Microsoft's fault for choosing to make their document formats not backwards compatible. Most people don't look at the prompts anymore since they trust Microsoft or just want to get the job done without being nagged to much.
I can just hear "but Microsoft has the right to provide a richer experience for the user" (cough! hack! - I really hate those words from the PR department). The problem with "Microsoft Word" doc format is it does not have an open format which is great for vendor lock in so we are supposed to trust them.
For any company to give out software for evaluation without the proper means to uninstall it makes that software spy-ware or viral and would normally be viewed by the law as criminal. At least I don't have any Microsoft software on my home laptop (Fedora 7) and I won't miss it so I won't have the dubious privilege of trying out MS Office 2007 on my laptop.
In Australia the PS3 is now selling with "pack-ins", however while this effectively brings the PS3 down to approx AU$830 (US$721) including GST the pack-ins may not be what you want. The Xbox360 plus 20GB disk and Gold online subscription on the other hand sells for approx AU$650 (US$564) with Halo 3 when it comes out but if you want a 120GB disk you can't get it although a good guess on price when it comes out is approx AU$200+ (the 20GB disk sells for AU$160) although it would not surprise me if the 120GB model sells at AU$750. Get a HD-DVD drive and you are up for another AU$200, of course in Australia you are hard pressed to get HD-DVD movies (there are some but not many) compared to Blu-ray which is all that most big department stores and EB's sells.
... etc) us off.
Personally I am very pleased I jumped at the chance to pick up a PS3 for US$407 (at the time) with a trade in of a 5 year old PS3 and 10 old games. At least I was able to buy what I wanted, although I did get a free Blue-ray movie (The latest Casino Royale) four weeks later which I did not expect - nice though. At the moment 60GB is enough for me but if I want to I can put in a 160GB or larger disk for just over AU$120.
I think the AU/NZ/EU/UK people have more to complain about the price of consoles than the US since we actually pay more than you do and as far as the population goes the US has a population of 301M compared to EU/UK 720M which seems a snub to a much larger population which has a standard of living that is close and sometimes higher than that of the US. For those that are interested the Nintendo Wii sells for AU$400 (US348) so you cannot just point the finger at Sony and say they are ripping us off. Actually it is the Government and department stores that are ripping (import duty, sales tax, tariffs, GST/VAT
In Australia we can get 3m (approx 10 foot) HDMI cables for AU$299 (US$259) and I even got a talk how they were absolutely fantastic and well worth the money. Fortunately I am an Electrical Engineer and I politely told the sales guy off and then went and purchased a HDMI cable for AU$19 (US$16.50) at a shop just down the road. I know I can get cheaper HDMI cables by on-line purchase but you end up paying for the courier which brings the price up.
Actually the cheaper HDMI cables are normally version 1.2 or earlier but if you have a 720p HDTV which I have, this is good enough. Version 1.3 HDMI cables are best for 1080p HDTV's and of course you do pay more but you would have to have two identical HDTV sets side by side to pick the difference between version 1.2 and 1.3 HDMI.
At the moment PS2 backwards compatibility on the PS3 with emulation software is approx 80% to 90% compared to the Xbox360's 38% as per last week. To put this in perspective from the time of the EU/UK/Aust/NZ released on the 23rd of March 2007 and with firmware 1.8 (23rd May 2007) the PS3 was able to play without issues over 80% of all PS2 games was approx 2 months while for the Xbox360 to get to 38% took over two years. Read in to that what you may.
... etc) to CGI scenes freezing or being jerky, sometimes this is annoying to easily skipped making the game acceptably playable. From my own perspective I have over 50 PS2 games and only one does not play (Wizardry) while another two (The Bards Tale and Musashi) have artifacts. The rest play perfectly although we did have a minor issue on GT4 (skip the intro and the game plays fine).
It is difficult to determine what PS2 games don't play since that to me this would be much more useful, however between 10% to 15% of games do play but they have issues varying from "artifacts" (ie. triangles, intermittent whiteouts/blackouts
What makes it difficult to accurately determine which game is compatible is the product code of a game since some games have two or more product codes for the same game name and on some occasions a game may play fine but a later or earlier release my not play well if at all.
Of course the whole compatibility thing is mute if the game you like does not play. Check out the following PS3 website http://faq.eu.playstation.com/bc/. Still video upscaling does make a great PS2 game even better and very much more enjoyable in replay or if you are like me a new PS2 game while you are waiting for PS3 games you would like. A bad PS2 game still sucks no matter what the graphics looks like. For anyone considering buying a PS3 or Xbox360 a HDTV should be part of your budget consideration (the bigger the better) and while a PS3 or Xbox360 do display well on a SDTV what a waste.
With regard to the 80GB model to the 60GB model, 20GB is not much now and in Australia we can get a 60GB drive for AU$55 (approx US$48) to 80GB drive for AU65 (approx US$56). Actually you are better of with the 60GB model and upgrading the disk to 160GB and keeping the 60GB disk as a potable backup or transfer device.
I have not covered the PS1 backward compatibility but I do have over 20 PS1 games and they all play without issue. Upscaling for PS1 games does make for acceptable graphics on a HDTV but like I have said before a bad game is still bad no matter what the graphics look like but a good game with improved graphics is still a treat.
I counted 383 out of approx 1000 games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games that is approx 38% backwards compatibility and it only took approx two years to get there, well done Microsoft.
If you would like to compare the next gen game machines relative to each other look at the following: http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=X360®1=Al l&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=Wii®3=All&align=1. In case you are not interested the PS3 and Xbox360 actually match up in sales while the Nintendo Wii is 2.5 times higher.
Looks like the Wii is killing the market but I would be very interested in how does this translate to game sales after all if you sell a lot of consoles then providing you make a profit and Nintendo does then this is good for the console manufacturer. What really makes profits for the console manufacturer are games, merchandising and add-ons and plenty of sales, however most games successes have been in the order of only a few million. With regard to the casual gamer who seem to be the predominate ones who purchase the Wii are they people who only pay for a few party games or do they eventually convert to a more dedicated gamer? The PS3 and Xbox360 gamers are more dedicated and will most likely purchase a variety of games. For most game producers this knowledge is absolutely vital if they are to profit from their games if not then they will not produce games for a console they can not make a profit on their game sales.
But with PSP and home-brew firmware you can play Nintendo NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance games plus Sega games in-fact any emulator games as well as AVI and MP4 movie files and if you get sick of that you can also play PSP games as well. Soon you will be able to play PS1 games via legitimate (a few dollars per game) download or by ripping your PS1 disk (not sure about this one though look at the home-brew sites).
I have even seen MP4 movies ripped and scaled to the PSP having Genuine Sony firmware and played via the PS3 to a HDTV via HDMI and it actually gets upscaled to the size of the HDTV although the output was not quite as good as an upscaled DVD but it was still very watchable. I am not sure how useful this would be (possibly TV episodes) but it was interesting.
Actually you can do this and get the PC even cheaper with a refund of MS Vista, however you have to jump through hoops to get a refund.
When I got my HP laptop it came with MS Vista Ultimate and some "shovel ware", however since I wanted Linux on the Laptop I made a recovery disk and then proceeded to install Fedora 7. (I prefer the "dull bleeding edge" and Fedora 7 fits what I want perfectly). I found that nearly everything works except for the wireless which I don't need at the moment. Even the media controller which came with the laptop actually does control my media player, which was rather surprising.
Why did I create a recovery disk for MS Vista? Well I sell my laptop every year and upgrade to a new one so having the ability to put a Genuine copy of MS Vista back on allows me to sell the laptop to just about anyone. Like it or not most people have no idea what Linux is much less manage a Linux machine because "it is not like Windows!". The only thing I have never determined is what version of "Windows" the Linux window managers can't be made look like. Sad really - oh well.