Sounds like my current phone (Samsung SGH-365, IIRC). My first phone was an LG, one of their early models. Yeah, it was a bit clunky, but the interface was fairly reasonable.
Then, I got the Samsung. The physical phone is very aesthetically pleasing. But some of the "features" in the UI just suck ass. For example:
Having a button on the outside that triggers the camera causes many, many pictures to be taken of the inside of my pocket.
Setting an alarm (or more precisely, just arming one whose time is already set) takes 5-6 keystrokes. The LG (and every other phone I've seen) does it in one.
I can't search my phone book by number, only name.
Changing the ring volume has to be done from inside a three-level-deep menu, instead of just using the volume rocker on the outside (instead, this control keypress tone volume... who needs that?)
Sounds eerily familiar, like the space program... we get one (or a couple) good efforts going, finally start learning stuff... and then people drop it with the mentality of "all right, that's good enough."
I'm sure there's a good supply of young people who would be very willing to do out on new oceanographic research trips... but I'm betting they're either lured away by bigger research grants in other areas, or no one wants to fund them for the above-mentioned reason. And I think the public perception of the field is either of Mr. Cousteau ("a dead guy who lived on a boat") or Robert Ballard ("oh, the guy that found the Titanic"). And everyone thinks oceanography is finding old shipwrecks, and they quickly turn to thoughts of salvaging an old wreck or finding some hidden conspiracy... (or maybe that's just my lack of coffee speaking).
The above probably holds true for most areas of science... people want lots of amazing new scientific discoveries fast, thrilling, and cheap. They don't understand how science works, and write it off as boring and useless... then move on to "American Idol."
How has it become so accepted by people that we should be bombarded by advertising anywhere we go? So far, there are ways to kind of get around the stuff put into media (websites, TV, etc), but outside we're constantly hit by billboards, painted buses, etc. Where's the outrage? Come on people, let's get some giant protests going!
It's actually very useful if you need to find someone's cellphone number or (as happened once) if they're so drunk they can't remember where they live, and you need to find out so you can make sure they get home ok. Also, the photo albums are nice, because they can cross-reference who's in them.
Seeing spyware companies get away with all this made me wonder, "what if I tried this with a real store?"
Basically, let's say I own a store. Do I have the right to plant a GPS tracking bug on your car, write down your license plate and VIN and do a search on them, copy down your driver's license (if presented to go along with a sale) and search it too, then monitor wherever you drive your car? I would then sell all the data to whoever wants it, and hire people to meet you at home and in the parking lots of other places you go to try and sell more products. Oh, and all of this is protected because of the business-card-sized disclaimer I stuck on the ceiling as you walk in.
I would think most people would say no. Why, then, is a computer so different?
"Having free-look on an analog stick takes some getting used to, especially as using two analog sticks simultaneously is delicate. By contrast, the N64 titles didn't put free-look on one stick and movement on the buttons, they mixed them. So the stick would move forward/backward and look left/right."
That's precisely the reason why I love the Halo-style controls. Translation on one stick, rotation on the other. The pointing and shooting hand does one thing, the moving hand does another. It just seems to be a more logical method (grouping by function). Maybe it helps that I'm right-handed and therefore have more precise control on that side...
I could never get the hang of aiming and sidestep (strafing is airplanes hitting ground targets with guns!) on the buttons.
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Sounds like my current phone (Samsung SGH-365, IIRC). My first phone was an LG, one of their early models. Yeah, it was a bit clunky, but the interface was fairly reasonable.
Then, I got the Samsung. The physical phone is very aesthetically pleasing. But some of the "features" in the UI just suck ass. For example:
Having a button on the outside that triggers the camera causes many, many pictures to be taken of the inside of my pocket.
Setting an alarm (or more precisely, just arming one whose time is already set) takes 5-6 keystrokes. The LG (and every other phone I've seen) does it in one.
I can't search my phone book by number, only name.
Changing the ring volume has to be done from inside a three-level-deep menu, instead of just using the volume rocker on the outside (instead, this control keypress tone volume... who needs that?)
But then they'll send the space station crashing down upon your house... http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilb ert-20060513.html
Sounds eerily familiar, like the space program... we get one (or a couple) good efforts going, finally start learning stuff... and then people drop it with the mentality of "all right, that's good enough." I'm sure there's a good supply of young people who would be very willing to do out on new oceanographic research trips... but I'm betting they're either lured away by bigger research grants in other areas, or no one wants to fund them for the above-mentioned reason. And I think the public perception of the field is either of Mr. Cousteau ("a dead guy who lived on a boat") or Robert Ballard ("oh, the guy that found the Titanic"). And everyone thinks oceanography is finding old shipwrecks, and they quickly turn to thoughts of salvaging an old wreck or finding some hidden conspiracy... (or maybe that's just my lack of coffee speaking). The above probably holds true for most areas of science... people want lots of amazing new scientific discoveries fast, thrilling, and cheap. They don't understand how science works, and write it off as boring and useless... then move on to "American Idol."
Apparently, a lot of people tend to associate "disease" purely with illnesses directly caused by bacteria, virus, or protozoan...
How has it become so accepted by people that we should be bombarded by advertising anywhere we go? So far, there are ways to kind of get around the stuff put into media (websites, TV, etc), but outside we're constantly hit by billboards, painted buses, etc. Where's the outrage? Come on people, let's get some giant protests going!
It's actually very useful if you need to find someone's cellphone number or (as happened once) if they're so drunk they can't remember where they live, and you need to find out so you can make sure they get home ok. Also, the photo albums are nice, because they can cross-reference who's in them.
Seeing spyware companies get away with all this made me wonder, "what if I tried this with a real store?" Basically, let's say I own a store. Do I have the right to plant a GPS tracking bug on your car, write down your license plate and VIN and do a search on them, copy down your driver's license (if presented to go along with a sale) and search it too, then monitor wherever you drive your car? I would then sell all the data to whoever wants it, and hire people to meet you at home and in the parking lots of other places you go to try and sell more products. Oh, and all of this is protected because of the business-card-sized disclaimer I stuck on the ceiling as you walk in. I would think most people would say no. Why, then, is a computer so different?
"Having free-look on an analog stick takes some getting used to, especially as using two analog sticks simultaneously is delicate. By contrast, the N64 titles didn't put free-look on one stick and movement on the buttons, they mixed them. So the stick would move forward/backward and look left/right." That's precisely the reason why I love the Halo-style controls. Translation on one stick, rotation on the other. The pointing and shooting hand does one thing, the moving hand does another. It just seems to be a more logical method (grouping by function). Maybe it helps that I'm right-handed and therefore have more precise control on that side... I could never get the hang of aiming and sidestep (strafing is airplanes hitting ground targets with guns!) on the buttons.
"and the beam from my remote control" Hell, I've done this with my camera phone and a Kodak easyshot... kinda cool, actually.