"If you RTFA you know that other companies were working on the same problem and didn't manage to pull it off."
I did RTFA, did you GMFP? It wasn't a "put more people on it" kind of problem. Try to imagine putting 100 software developers to write a new version of Notepad, and you'll start to see what I mean.
"Sure, having an exoskeleton that makes you stronger will continue to have utility, but will we really need bionics in, say, 20 years if new biological eyes or arms or legs can be grown using a person's own DNA?"
I don't see why not. The big distinguishing difference between bionics and biotech is interchangability. Put a 'grown eye' into somebody's head, that's it, it's not going anywhere without a lot of complicated surgery. Put a bionic eye in somebody's head, he can upgrade to a newer fancier version with bells and whistles. Some situations will call for one, some will call for another. Heck, combine the two and get the best of both worlds.
In short, I see two different customers here: Hospitals and the Military. Solutions for both.
"The enabler of the entire modern entertainment industry, the video tape recorder was was designed by only six men..."
The video recorder is neat and all, but 'only six men'... So? Yes, it was a huge challenge. But it was also a fairly simple concept. Simple concept with a huge barrier to overcome, but still a simple concept. Put signal on tape, play signal back out. If the video recorded required a good deal more steps than that, then yes, it would have been amazing that they had only done it with six men.
"Forced upgrades aren't necessarily bad things depending on what upgrade path you take."
Maybe not for all, but the software I use to make a living is not available on Linux. I'm stuck with Windows. POTENTIALLY I could go to Mac, which is an option I need to keep open.
"Something tells me that Windows Vista and future versions of Office, etc. will probably restrict their licenses somehow to prevent this."
XP already does it with its activation scheme. Heck, my dad had to call Microsoft to get XP reactivated after he upgraded a couple of components in his computer.
Okay, that's a bit harsh, maybe it won't PREVENT resale, but it sure makes it more difficult. It'll be a sad day when I'm forced to 'upgrade' from Win2k.
Actually they did a demo where they scaled up already existing apps. "Looks like Ass"? Perhaps. It won't look any more ass'ish than it looks right now. It'd certainly be preferable to using Calc.exe when it's only an inch wide.
"2) How does Aero differ from numerous attempts at 3D desktops that are already out there? Why will users really miss it?"
One of the BFD's about Aero is that apps can be rescaled etc. (Hence all the vector-based stuff going on with the video card.) The idea is that Vista will support 300DPI monitors. I read a story a couple of years ago about how Microsoft and... oh I want to say it was Viewsonic but I could be wrong... made a deal to develope a 5,000 pixel wide LCD monitor. The text and icons would still be drawn at a reasonable size, but they'd be a hell of a lot clearer. If these monitors turn into reality *and* they become wide-spread, then Aero will definitely be an important factor with Windows.
As for Aero's other graphical nicities, well it's hard to say. Everybody here claims they don't want to waste the resources etc, but everybody gets all giggly and bouncy when there's new OSX or KDE screenshots.
Re:Big Brother will know your schedule
on
Google Calendar
·
· Score: 1
"Someone has to bring this up. Do you really want the Justice Department getting court orders from Google to hand over everyones calendars so they can go on another fishing trip? Or, just think of the data mining potential for Advertisers. They are probably really wetting their chops on this one. Use a DavMod calendar on a descrete server. Other wise you are just asking for trouble."
Well I dun wanna do that because Google says they do no evil. That's right, I'm gonna stand here grabbing my ankles waving my ass at them (well, not literally. Im just handing them a ton of personal data...) until they've betrayed my trust. Even though that has the potential to be really devastating, I figure it's worth the risk because Google is just so gersh dern good!
Re:Not quite "live"
on
Google Calendar
·
· Score: 2, Informative
"If by "live" you mean "barely functioning," then you'd be right."
Ugh, no kidding. Opera isn't at ALL supported. It'll let you in, but then you get javascript errors all over the place. Weak.
"Are they? The "article" quotes no source and no statistics for this claim. How can anyone be sure?"
A couple of years ago, nobody I knew had one. Today, nearly everybody I know has one. I've spotted a number of people with these phones just walking around town. Okay, it's anecdotal and not a scientific study. Seriously, though, what's so difficult to believe about it? Despite popular belief around here, camera phones really are useful.
" As a result, they have never in their history carried games that didn't meet their current criteria."
Really? I purchased all three GTA games from Walmart. I've also purchased most of the OZ DVD collection from them. Am I misunderstanding what you mean?
"Yesterday's games, running on last week's hardware, with a wacky controller from Tomorrowland that's good for nothing more than first person (shooters/adventures/platformers/racers, in decreasing order of playability) and MARIO POINT AND CLICKFEST REVOLUTION 7. I am getting a tremendous hard-on just imagining this."
Right, because sequels to yesterday's game on tomorrow's slightly-prettier hardware with 1995's controller would be so much more fantastic.
Okay, I admit, I'm a bit of a bumpkin when it comes to understanding the scale of all this. I was just curious: Would this be visible to the naked eye?
Why do I ask? I was watching some show on Discovery or History Channel several years ago. They said that in the 1600's or so some monks prayed for a sign, then they looked up at the sky and saw the moon on... of all things... fire. There was a theory that a large meteor struck the moon and put on a light show. I was just curious if a.) Anybody knows about the story I'm referring to and can point me at the right search terms to find it and b.) if there's an off-shoot chance that Nasa's going to pull a stunt that'll result in some group of people suddenly dropping to their knees and praying.
I had a situation similar to this. My cheapo solution was to buy a couple of TV tray tables and arrange them in a form of L shape. One was in front of my chair and it held the keyboard. The other was to my right where I kept the mouse. On the plus side, they were lower to me so I could rest my elbo on the mouse tray. That made using the mouse a lot more comfy. On the minus side, my feet kept hitting the legs of the kb tray. Not an ideal solution, but it was better.
I hope I'm picturing the right type of desk, though. Am I correct in assuming it's too high? Or is there another factor in it I'm not picturing?
"But no, months ago people were saying this is what they should do, and now that they're doing it, it's not enough. Give them what they want, and you get a big "fuck you" in return."
Whining is what makes the karma go around.
In any event, I welcome this, too. I can think of a few shows off the top of my head that I'd like to see, but the repeats are mid-way through the series. What good is that? Who wants to catch Battlestar Galactica in the middle? If I could stream the show, even with commercials, for free, I'd be able to catch up. They get their ad revenue, I don't have to shell out $$$.
Here's a list of the features announced for this game:
-Game development started shortly after E3 2005. Ubisoft saw and demoed the controller before E3 2005.
-Ubisoft Paris took their idea directly to Iwata and Miyamoto, and were given the go ahead. After that meeting they were given prototype controllers. The article states that Ubisoft worked "closely" with Nintendo's engineers in Japan on the title
-Game Informer mentions that while conducting the interviews with Ubisoft, they were handed the "latest version" of the controller
-During the beginning of the game, you are encouraged to use your weapons ruthlessly, but as the game progresses you become more proficient and strategic. This gameplay idea led Ubisoft to decide to give the game a martial arts setting. "Enter the Yakuza"
-The first third of the game will be all about being "brutal by necessity"
-You will be less precise and favor more devastating weapons (machine guns)
-As you progress and become more precise, smaller guns will be used
-"The goal...is to use five bullets to kill five enemies"
-"When fighting with this level of skill, the music and sound effects will reflect it, remaining calm and peaceful"
-"When you fight brutally, the sounds around you grow increasingly more intense"
-"Audio...."
-Freeze shot: by fighting effciently you fill the Freeze Shot gauge...fighting chaotically causes to decreases
-When the gauge is filled you can hit a button to momentarily stop time, and then target specific locations on enemy bodies
-Headshots thus are tempting, but non lethal shots, such as shooting guns out of enemy hand, can be more beneficial
-By defeating high ranking leaders who command others and sparing their lives, you will be rewarded. He will offer you respect and help (guns, help, new weapons, alternate paths, etc)
-Respect plays a MAJOR part in the game
-Flailing your sword isn't a smart idea
-Specific motions with the controller will trigger combos (in the final game)
-Tracing an X in the air, for instance, will unleash a devastating attack
-You can stop these combos at any time by simply pausing your own movement. So if you do something that leaves you open to attack, you won't be screwed
-New moves will be taught to you by two mentors in the game
-One will teach you gun tactics, and another will teach sword tactics
-If you don't show the proper respect to them, they won't help you
-Friendly/respectful interaction is tied to the controller
-You signal "yes/no" answers by nodding the controller up or down or shaking it from side to side
-You show extra respect by bowing to the masters
-Ubisoft is still coming up with other interactions
-"You can act disrespectively as well: there are no cut scenes in the game - all conversations take place in game, as in Half Life 2. However unlike that game, characters wont keep prattling on if you walk away from them. They will react angrily to your imputent behavior"
-Staying in the master's good graces is key: they give you missions that can be tackled in any order
-You track down the gang leaders and try to turn them to your side. If you don't, they will join Tokai's (the main villian) gang
-You have to prove you are worthy to them by battling them and sparing their lives.
-You will need as many of them with you as possible to face Tokai. Without their help, you'll have a rough time when you finally face him
-You turn gang leaders to your side by besting them in battle and stopping a deadly blow miliseconds bef
"But until then, it's Bush and the cronies who are fucking you over, and so they're the ones that get all the criticism. Criticizing Clinton is, at this point, an exercise in political futility. He can't really do much damage at this point."
I think the OP's point was that GWB doesn't hold the patent on evil. This is something to be mindful of. The next guy, democrat or republican, could easily be just as evil. If you just assume "Hey, it's not Bush! Our problems have gone away!", well then you're in a wee bit o trouble.
Slashdot Mirror
"If you RTFA you know that other companies were working on the same problem and didn't manage to pull it off."
I did RTFA, did you GMFP? It wasn't a "put more people on it" kind of problem. Try to imagine putting 100 software developers to write a new version of Notepad, and you'll start to see what I mean.
"Sure, having an exoskeleton that makes you stronger will continue to have utility, but will we really need bionics in, say, 20 years if new biological eyes or arms or legs can be grown using a person's own DNA?"
I don't see why not. The big distinguishing difference between bionics and biotech is interchangability. Put a 'grown eye' into somebody's head, that's it, it's not going anywhere without a lot of complicated surgery. Put a bionic eye in somebody's head, he can upgrade to a newer fancier version with bells and whistles. Some situations will call for one, some will call for another. Heck, combine the two and get the best of both worlds.
In short, I see two different customers here: Hospitals and the Military. Solutions for both.
"The enabler of the entire modern entertainment industry, the video tape recorder was was designed by only six men..."
The video recorder is neat and all, but 'only six men'... So? Yes, it was a huge challenge. But it was also a fairly simple concept. Simple concept with a huge barrier to overcome, but still a simple concept. Put signal on tape, play signal back out. If the video recorded required a good deal more steps than that, then yes, it would have been amazing that they had only done it with six men.
Okay, I'm just feeling nitpicky tonight. Sorry.
"You seem to be confused about what "can't get on a Dell at any price" means."
You seem to be overzealous about shopping at Dell. $1,300 price difference, go to fucking Newegg.
"You can't really say whether it's worth $1300 more, because some of these features you can't get on a Dell at any price."
Oh please. Take the money you saved and get a couple of extra peripherals. BFD.
"Dell = No Bluetooth, No DVD Burner, No Gigabit Ethernet, 20GB less HD space, No built in webcam & much worse graphics."
That's not a $1,300 difference.
"Forced upgrades aren't necessarily bad things depending on what upgrade path you take."
Maybe not for all, but the software I use to make a living is not available on Linux. I'm stuck with Windows. POTENTIALLY I could go to Mac, which is an option I need to keep open.
"Something tells me that Windows Vista and future versions of Office, etc. will probably restrict their licenses somehow to prevent this."
XP already does it with its activation scheme. Heck, my dad had to call Microsoft to get XP reactivated after he upgraded a couple of components in his computer.
Okay, that's a bit harsh, maybe it won't PREVENT resale, but it sure makes it more difficult. It'll be a sad day when I'm forced to 'upgrade' from Win2k.
Actually they did a demo where they scaled up already existing apps. "Looks like Ass"? Perhaps. It won't look any more ass'ish than it looks right now. It'd certainly be preferable to using Calc.exe when it's only an inch wide.
"2) How does Aero differ from numerous attempts at 3D desktops that are already out there? Why will users really miss it?"
... oh I want to say it was Viewsonic but I could be wrong ... made a deal to develope a 5,000 pixel wide LCD monitor. The text and icons would still be drawn at a reasonable size, but they'd be a hell of a lot clearer. If these monitors turn into reality *and* they become wide-spread, then Aero will definitely be an important factor with Windows.
One of the BFD's about Aero is that apps can be rescaled etc. (Hence all the vector-based stuff going on with the video card.) The idea is that Vista will support 300DPI monitors. I read a story a couple of years ago about how Microsoft and
As for Aero's other graphical nicities, well it's hard to say. Everybody here claims they don't want to waste the resources etc, but everybody gets all giggly and bouncy when there's new OSX or KDE screenshots.
"Someone has to bring this up. Do you really want the Justice Department getting court orders from Google to hand over everyones calendars so they can go on another fishing trip? Or, just think of the data mining potential for Advertisers. They are probably really wetting their chops on this one. Use a DavMod calendar on a descrete server. Other wise you are just asking for trouble."
Well I dun wanna do that because Google says they do no evil. That's right, I'm gonna stand here grabbing my ankles waving my ass at them (well, not literally. Im just handing them a ton of personal data...) until they've betrayed my trust. Even though that has the potential to be really devastating, I figure it's worth the risk because Google is just so gersh dern good!
"If by "live" you mean "barely functioning," then you'd be right."
Ugh, no kidding. Opera isn't at ALL supported. It'll let you in, but then you get javascript errors all over the place. Weak.
"... it's what happens when you sniff it."
The doctor said I wouldn't have so many nose bleeds if I kept my glue outta there.
"But how does it *taste*?"
This glue tastes like... burning.
"Isn't this what we pay our military for most of the time?"
;)
I'll give you $5 to walk up to a soldier and tell him that.
"Are they? The "article" quotes no source and no statistics for this claim. How can anyone be sure?"
A couple of years ago, nobody I knew had one. Today, nearly everybody I know has one. I've spotted a number of people with these phones just walking around town. Okay, it's anecdotal and not a scientific study. Seriously, though, what's so difficult to believe about it? Despite popular belief around here, camera phones really are useful.
" As a result, they have never in their history carried games that didn't meet their current criteria."
Really? I purchased all three GTA games from Walmart. I've also purchased most of the OZ DVD collection from them. Am I misunderstanding what you mean?
"Yesterday's games, running on last week's hardware, with a wacky controller from Tomorrowland that's good for nothing more than first person (shooters/adventures/platformers/racers, in decreasing order of playability) and MARIO POINT AND CLICKFEST REVOLUTION 7. I am getting a tremendous hard-on just imagining this."
Right, because sequels to yesterday's game on tomorrow's slightly-prettier hardware with 1995's controller would be so much more fantastic.
"Actually, it's "An aitch-pee computer", not "An haitch-pee computer". See the wikipedia. What are they teaching in schools nowadays? ."
The h is silent!!
Okay, I admit, I'm a bit of a bumpkin when it comes to understanding the scale of all this. I was just curious: Would this be visible to the naked eye?
... of all things... fire. There was a theory that a large meteor struck the moon and put on a light show. I was just curious if a.) Anybody knows about the story I'm referring to and can point me at the right search terms to find it and b.) if there's an off-shoot chance that Nasa's going to pull a stunt that'll result in some group of people suddenly dropping to their knees and praying.
Why do I ask? I was watching some show on Discovery or History Channel several years ago. They said that in the 1600's or so some monks prayed for a sign, then they looked up at the sky and saw the moon on
I had a situation similar to this. My cheapo solution was to buy a couple of TV tray tables and arrange them in a form of L shape. One was in front of my chair and it held the keyboard. The other was to my right where I kept the mouse. On the plus side, they were lower to me so I could rest my elbo on the mouse tray. That made using the mouse a lot more comfy. On the minus side, my feet kept hitting the legs of the kb tray. Not an ideal solution, but it was better.
I hope I'm picturing the right type of desk, though. Am I correct in assuming it's too high? Or is there another factor in it I'm not picturing?
"But no, months ago people were saying this is what they should do, and now that they're doing it, it's not enough. Give them what they want, and you get a big "fuck you" in return."
Whining is what makes the karma go around.
In any event, I welcome this, too. I can think of a few shows off the top of my head that I'd like to see, but the repeats are mid-way through the series. What good is that? Who wants to catch Battlestar Galactica in the middle? If I could stream the show, even with commercials, for free, I'd be able to catch up. They get their ad revenue, I don't have to shell out $$$.
" From light guns to interactive robots, to power gloves and two screen gameboys. Nintendo loves its gimmicks."
A year after the DS has proven itself, and people are STILL using the word 'gimmick'?
"But until then, it's Bush and the cronies who are fucking you over, and so they're the ones that get all the criticism. Criticizing Clinton is, at this point, an exercise in political futility. He can't really do much damage at this point."
I think the OP's point was that GWB doesn't hold the patent on evil. This is something to be mindful of. The next guy, democrat or republican, could easily be just as evil. If you just assume "Hey, it's not Bush! Our problems have gone away!", well then you're in a wee bit o trouble.