Given that a lot of people seem to show up with this sort of opinion every time the multiplayer/online gaming discussion comes up,
Indeed. Seems I have heard "singleplayer is dead" (or for that matter "adventure/rpg/rts/whatever games are dead") more times than I can shake a big stick at now. First time I read that singleplayer was dead must have been back at the end of the nineties.
And "as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you’re out." while I certainly believe that there are people happy with a 25 hour singleplayer campaign I would tend towards thinking that 25 hours is so short I hesitate to pay full price for that. It would have to be as amazing as Bioshock for that to be worth it.
Its a privilege not a right. Copyright is a bad term. Ideas do not belong to the first being to hold them in their mind.
We grant the privilege of profit for a period of time as a robust method of rewarding people for their efforts in proportion to how much people like the results of their mental labor. We made this law in the hope that it would encourage more such effort.
Well written. Personally I am tending towards the idea that, at least in the case of literature, authors should retain rights to their works throughout their lives (and that this right could not be sold or transferred). And that those rights transferred, upon the authors death, to their beneficiaries for a period of thirty years. That would allow the author to provide for their children, and family, after they are gone. The rights to publish, or in anyway profit, from their work should be by license from the author.
Maybe this would be the wrong way to go about it, but it is my belief that laws and regulation should reward effort and stimulate the continued creation of new works. HOWEVER, these laws and regulation should always balance in the favor of individual authors rather than corporate entities.
There is a BBC Horizon episode up on youtube called What Happened Before the Big Bang. Interviews with several physicists about different ideas on the topic of what might have preceded our universe.
It might be safe to predefine the acceptable range of such errors though. Getting a sandwich without the pickle might be alright. However having to deal with some sort of biohazard scenario due to the manufacturing process having spun out of control, might ruin your day to a far greater degree than missing one sandwich.
From what I recall of my own education, I am a Norwegian, we often had collaborative projects, with group members randomly selected. This might be merely anecdotal, but someone told me that part of the reason was to teach students to co-operate on various tasks and to increase socialization.
The only obvious one is population growth exceeding the capacity of their world
Or possibly that their world/sun/system is about to undergo changes that will make their world uninhabitable for their type of life. And that they have enough time to construct and launch a ship before this takes place.
However many of us understand the usage of the throttle and by actually using it we don't fill the pipes to bursting.
Indeed. Though I would argue that for distributing a large amount of data through a mechanic such as torrent, or really any large amount of data that has to be moved from A to B with any regularity, what is needed is a fundamentally sound infrastructure. Some ISP's around the world seems content not upgrading their networks, but rather trying to make bandwidth artificially scare to charge more per bit and byte.
Personally I am happy that the Norwegian government is taking an active hand in ensuring broadband coverage across the entire country, and have now an increased focus on adopting fiber as the next step in increasing capacity. Maybe these goals aren't always implemented as quickly, or as well, as they should have, but at least the government have recognized the importance of such an undertaking. Reports and research referenced by the ministers seem to indicate (though no surprise that material referenced support the argument they are trying to make) that for the districts broadband is good for businesses and the local economy.
Personally the one good thing about this format is that if people LIKE the damned show they won't just cancel it because some asshat made a political move on another producer.
One example of asshatery is the story of Warren Beatty's fight for the rights to Dick Tracy. While I do not know enough of this case to make a judgement about who is in the right, the legal battle has in effect kept any film based upon the license from being made since the original film was released in 1990.
Unfortunately it is not uncommon that a studio will sit on a license, not making an effort to use it, but ensuring that no one else does either.
In LA a significant slice of the population owns equipment that can shoot 720p and has production equipment -- every other house in the Valley seems to have a garage converted into a studio of one type or another, so in some places it's definitely easier than others....
The real limiting factor, as you indicate, is the human talent, particularly in the acting and writing.
With the increased quality and affordability of equipment (how many had even a half decent camera ten-fifteen years ago compared with today?), and many setting up their own small scale home studio; the possibility of the right person walking in front of the right camera goes up. As far as a game of number goes the increased growth of material from amateurs and industry outsiders ensures that there is also an increased chance of a true talent being noticed. While also making it possible to test the market for new concepts and ideas that established studios might not want to gamble a big budget on.
Personally I hope, and expect, that donation based productions will find its niche; and with that perhaps we might get something truly good to watch that is not had its soul destroyed by a studio bureaucrat.
Indeed, and in fact this concept plays a large role in the middle book of the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds (which I recommend that you read, if you have not).
Fixed that for you.;) And I agree, great books as far as I recall.
I am just wondering, as it is a bit late and my brain is fuzzy around the edges, if they can great that perfect artificial gravity; wouldn't it have been a good idea to have anti-gravity fields pushing out from the outside surfaces of the ship. Seems they are always crashing, or being hit by, crap.
Its a dangerous tool. In some respects, in the earlier days, its enabled me to push my personal boundaries, but if youre not careful, it can lead to reliance. Its like an addiction, with all the negatives that a narcotic might have.
First of all there are negatives that some narcotics have that internet usage does not; like actually physical dependency. But besides that; yes you can get addicted to "the internet" just like you can get addicted to anything. An unsatisfied mind looks for distraction.
However IF internet use automatically leads to procrastination is something I highly doubt. But no doubt for those without a clear idea of what they want do can easily fall into a loop of, most often, mediocre entertainment clips, games, and debates.
[quote]He could probably go for a minor raise, but the opportunity is ripe for picking up a few quality of life perks.[/quote]
What might be considered is asking for official courses in as many areas under his responsibility as possible. While it isn't as good as a raise, increased expertise and understanding would benefit the company, and at least having (recent) documentation that he really do know these things can only help when applying for future jobs.
This is false. While a company needs to make money to be successful, this is not the only reason for a company to exist.
Agreed. Though a more important question, as far as I am concerned, is whether or not something as important, and voluntarily, as computer/network/internet infrastructure should be run for profit (specifically government/utility system software/hardware). One could argue that there is a financial incentive for companies to make a good product, but time and time again it seems that companies are happy sacrificing the long term for short term profit. Even when that means taking short cuts that risk creating significant problems down the road. Thankfully my country, Norway, has decided to start shifting all software used by the state over to Open Standard alternatives.
The company was connected to the largest regional transport and buss service. 1.6 million NOK is about 230.000 dollars; not a lot, but quite a lot if you can save that expense in a year. And the higher the gas prices go the more you save. Unfortunately I couldn't find that particular story (was reported in a local paper I read when I visited my folks).
However I found a couple of other newsreports, including this one; it is in Norwegian but I'll do some rough translations.
Quote: "The reduction is diesel consumption is on average above 5%, though for some drivers the reduction is above 10%. The number of gear changes is also reduced.
However the most surprising result is that the buses are arriving faster by altering their driving styles.
"We are not talking about a dramatic speed increase, but during our various test runs the average speed improved from 48 km/h to 50 km/h." Says Mjelde (department leader for Tide in Arna, Osterøy og Nordhordland.
"About ten million NOK a year can be saved if all drivers in Tide manage to reduce their consumption to the goal set by the corporate leadership." QUOTE END
So from what I have read the drives don't take longer and the savings despite "nok isn't many $$$" is still a sum most companies (even US ones) would consider substantial.
I wanted to add that one thing that has become more popular in Norway lately is eco-driving. Or as wiki calls it "Fuel economy-maximizing behaviours". Basically by sending people (mostly from the transport sector) to eco-driving courses they cut down on fuel consumption; saving both money and the environment. One specific case I recall reading about a few months back was a company up North that saved about 1.6 million NOK a year after they sent all their drivers to such a course. So as far as companies goes; better driving = less fuel consumption = more profit.
The point is that the number of miles driven is assumed fixed. Say you drive 100 miles, then in the first case you could potentially save 10 gallons. In the second case, you can save at most 3 gallons.
That might be true, but you'd "save" the most if you compared the 50mpg with the 10mpg one. MPG might be a poor way to rate cars, but more mpg is better than less regardless of what the difference is between it and a previous model.
What should have been mentioned in the summary isn't the rather misleading and weak example, but something a bit more informative like:
"Americans can't accurately work out how to save the most gasoline. What's the solution? Simple. Measure fuel usage the way the entire rest of the world (including Canada) does: consumption over distance. There, it's mostly liters per 100 km. Here, it'd be gallons per 100 miles. ... That way, you could compare the Corolla's 3 gallons every 100 miles against the Prius's 2, calculate the extra cost, and decide if you wanted to make that Prius statement after all."
"Being a Christian REQUIRES one to believe the OT."
Not necessarily, there are groups within Christianity that considers anything "before the word of Christ" to be insignificant. Their bible being basically only the new testament. There is no "right" definition of what it or isn't a christian, what is or isn't required. Thought here are certainly a lot of groups and individual that want you to believe that their definition is the "right one".
or perhaps that's why your employer, your publisher and your industry are fighting the final format solution.
Perhaps it be better to call it a final distribution solution (though I am not a big fan of the word final). Online distribution methods can easily replace one format for another, and they can list all your purchases and make them available for downloading at your convenient (not saying that online distributors do this but that is not a limitation inherited in the technology). One of the things feared by the old establishment is that someone buys a product and then have, or expect to have, infinite access to that product with no chance of losing it or wearing it out; or re-selling for that matter. That and the costs of storage and distribution is significantly lower, in many regards, to printing and shipping physical media, and thus offers less chances for the distributor to legally leech money from other peoples artistic and/or entertainment products.
While talk is cheap and action speak louder than words, I will maintain that it is perfectly fine to criticize (preferably in a rational manner) despite ones previous accomplishments or lack thereof. Debate in various forms is by nature an engagement using words and arguments. Trying to invalidate someone's opinions and arguments by attacking their related or unrelated personal achievements seems sidetracking from the relevant topics in question. Of course sometimes criticism is so inane that the fiery curse of the nerdrage starts taking hold, but I feel that someone as experienced as mister Jobs should know better than to lash out.
I don't think he belongs between myself, or my children, and content of any type.
Precisely. Steve Jobs should refrain from trying to enforce his own moral codex upon the technology. I understand that it is "his product" to do with as he will, but I prefer to get my hardware and software without a lecture about what I should or shouldn't read, watch and/or play. A service mechanic that helped making adult material only available to adults is fine, but outright censorship because he "feels it is wrong" I do not agree with.
While the current "PC world" might slip away with time, as everything does inevitably, there is little doubt that computers in various ways and forms will be with us for the predictable future. They might not all be PCs as we understand them today, but neither do I think it will all be apple products.
The game's main focus is on exploration and classic adventure game object interaction: examining and collecting objects and using them to solve puzzles.
Slashdot Mirror
To hell with Hawking! When can I use this to play Battlefield?!
Or One Time Pads.
Given that a lot of people seem to show up with this sort of opinion every time the multiplayer/online gaming discussion comes up,
Indeed. Seems I have heard "singleplayer is dead" (or for that matter "adventure/rpg/rts/whatever games are dead") more times than I can shake a big stick at now. First time I read that singleplayer was dead must have been back at the end of the nineties.
And "as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you’re out." while I certainly believe that there are people happy with a 25 hour singleplayer campaign I would tend towards thinking that 25 hours is so short I hesitate to pay full price for that. It would have to be as amazing as Bioshock for that to be worth it.
Its a privilege not a right. Copyright is a bad term. Ideas do not belong to the first being to hold them in their mind.
We grant the privilege of profit for a period of time as a robust method of rewarding people for their efforts in proportion to how much people like the results of their mental labor. We made this law in the hope that it would encourage more such effort.
Well written. Personally I am tending towards the idea that, at least in the case of literature, authors should retain rights to their works throughout their lives (and that this right could not be sold or transferred). And that those rights transferred, upon the authors death, to their beneficiaries for a period of thirty years. That would allow the author to provide for their children, and family, after they are gone. The rights to publish, or in anyway profit, from their work should be by license from the author.
Maybe this would be the wrong way to go about it, but it is my belief that laws and regulation should reward effort and stimulate the continued creation of new works. HOWEVER, these laws and regulation should always balance in the favor of individual authors rather than corporate entities.
There is a BBC Horizon episode up on youtube called What Happened Before the Big Bang. Interviews with several physicists about different ideas on the topic of what might have preceded our universe.
It might be safe to predefine the acceptable range of such errors though. Getting a sandwich without the pickle might be alright. However having to deal with some sort of biohazard scenario due to the manufacturing process having spun out of control, might ruin your day to a far greater degree than missing one sandwich.
Alien Dust acquired; check.
Scientists analyzing it in labs; check.
Cue horrific mutating space monsters.
From what I recall of my own education, I am a Norwegian, we often had collaborative projects, with group members randomly selected. This might be merely anecdotal, but someone told me that part of the reason was to teach students to co-operate on various tasks and to increase socialization.
The only obvious one is population growth exceeding the capacity of their world
Or possibly that their world/sun/system is about to undergo changes that will make their world uninhabitable for their type of life. And that they have enough time to construct and launch a ship before this takes place.
However many of us understand the usage of the throttle and by actually using it we don't fill the pipes to bursting.
Indeed. Though I would argue that for distributing a large amount of data through a mechanic such as torrent, or really any large amount of data that has to be moved from A to B with any regularity, what is needed is a fundamentally sound infrastructure. Some ISP's around the world seems content not upgrading their networks, but rather trying to make bandwidth artificially scare to charge more per bit and byte.
Personally I am happy that the Norwegian government is taking an active hand in ensuring broadband coverage across the entire country, and have now an increased focus on adopting fiber as the next step in increasing capacity. Maybe these goals aren't always implemented as quickly, or as well, as they should have, but at least the government have recognized the importance of such an undertaking. Reports and research referenced by the ministers seem to indicate (though no surprise that material referenced support the argument they are trying to make) that for the districts broadband is good for businesses and the local economy.
Personally the one good thing about this format is that if people LIKE the damned show they won't just cancel it because some asshat made a political move on another producer.
One example of asshatery is the story of Warren Beatty's fight for the rights to Dick Tracy. While I do not know enough of this case to make a judgement about who is in the right, the legal battle has in effect kept any film based upon the license from being made since the original film was released in 1990.
Unfortunately it is not uncommon that a studio will sit on a license, not making an effort to use it, but ensuring that no one else does either.
In LA a significant slice of the population owns equipment that can shoot 720p and has production equipment -- every other house in the Valley seems to have a garage converted into a studio of one type or another, so in some places it's definitely easier than others. ...
The real limiting factor, as you indicate, is the human talent, particularly in the acting and writing.
With the increased quality and affordability of equipment (how many had even a half decent camera ten-fifteen years ago compared with today?), and many setting up their own small scale home studio; the possibility of the right person walking in front of the right camera goes up. As far as a game of number goes the increased growth of material from amateurs and industry outsiders ensures that there is also an increased chance of a true talent being noticed. While also making it possible to test the market for new concepts and ideas that established studios might not want to gamble a big budget on.
Personally I hope, and expect, that donation based productions will find its niche; and with that perhaps we might get something truly good to watch that is not had its soul destroyed by a studio bureaucrat.
Indeed, and in fact this concept plays a large role in the middle book of the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds (which I recommend that you read, if you have not).
Fixed that for you. ;)
And I agree, great books as far as I recall.
I am just wondering, as it is a bit late and my brain is fuzzy around the edges, if they can great that perfect artificial gravity; wouldn't it have been a good idea to have anti-gravity fields pushing out from the outside surfaces of the ship. Seems they are always crashing, or being hit by, crap.
Its a dangerous tool. In some respects, in the earlier days, its enabled me to push my personal boundaries, but if youre not careful, it can lead to reliance. Its like an addiction, with all the negatives that a narcotic might have.
First of all there are negatives that some narcotics have that internet usage does not; like actually physical dependency. But besides that; yes you can get addicted to "the internet" just like you can get addicted to anything. An unsatisfied mind looks for distraction.
However IF internet use automatically leads to procrastination is something I highly doubt. But no doubt for those without a clear idea of what they want do can easily fall into a loop of, most often, mediocre entertainment clips, games, and debates.
[quote]He could probably go for a minor raise, but the opportunity is ripe for picking up a few quality of life perks.[/quote] What might be considered is asking for official courses in as many areas under his responsibility as possible. While it isn't as good as a raise, increased expertise and understanding would benefit the company, and at least having (recent) documentation that he really do know these things can only help when applying for future jobs.
This is false. While a company needs to make money to be successful, this is not the only reason for a company to exist.
Agreed. Though a more important question, as far as I am concerned, is whether or not something as important, and voluntarily, as computer/network/internet infrastructure should be run for profit (specifically government/utility system software/hardware). One could argue that there is a financial incentive for companies to make a good product, but time and time again it seems that companies are happy sacrificing the long term for short term profit. Even when that means taking short cuts that risk creating significant problems down the road. Thankfully my country, Norway, has decided to start shifting all software used by the state over to Open Standard alternatives.
The company was connected to the largest regional transport and buss service. 1.6 million NOK is about 230.000 dollars; not a lot, but quite a lot if you can save that expense in a year. And the higher the gas prices go the more you save. Unfortunately I couldn't find that particular story (was reported in a local paper I read when I visited my folks).
However I found a couple of other newsreports, including this one; it is in Norwegian but I'll do some rough translations.
Quote:
"The reduction is diesel consumption is on average above 5%, though for some drivers the reduction is above 10%. The number of gear changes is also reduced.
However the most surprising result is that the buses are arriving faster by altering their driving styles.
"We are not talking about a dramatic speed increase, but during our various test runs the average speed improved from 48 km/h to 50 km/h." Says Mjelde (department leader for Tide in Arna, Osterøy og Nordhordland.
"About ten million NOK a year can be saved if all drivers in Tide manage to reduce their consumption to the goal set by the corporate leadership."
QUOTE END
So from what I have read the drives don't take longer and the savings despite "nok isn't many $$$" is still a sum most companies (even US ones) would consider substantial.
I wanted to add that one thing that has become more popular in Norway lately is eco-driving. Or as wiki calls it "Fuel economy-maximizing behaviours". Basically by sending people (mostly from the transport sector) to eco-driving courses they cut down on fuel consumption; saving both money and the environment. One specific case I recall reading about a few months back was a company up North that saved about 1.6 million NOK a year after they sent all their drivers to such a course. So as far as companies goes; better driving = less fuel consumption = more profit.
The point is that the number of miles driven is assumed fixed. Say you drive 100 miles, then in the first case you could potentially save 10 gallons. In the second case, you can save at most 3 gallons.
That might be true, but you'd "save" the most if you compared the 50mpg with the 10mpg one. MPG might be a poor way to rate cars, but more mpg is better than less regardless of what the difference is between it and a previous model.
What should have been mentioned in the summary isn't the rather misleading and weak example, but something a bit more informative like:
"Americans can't accurately work out how to save the most gasoline. What's the solution? Simple. Measure fuel usage the way the entire rest of the world (including Canada) does: consumption over distance. There, it's mostly liters per 100 km. Here, it'd be gallons per 100 miles.
...
That way, you could compare the Corolla's 3 gallons every 100 miles against the Prius's 2, calculate the extra cost, and decide if you wanted to make that Prius statement after all."
"Being a Christian REQUIRES one to believe the OT."
Not necessarily, there are groups within Christianity that considers anything "before the word of Christ" to be insignificant. Their bible being basically only the new testament. There is no "right" definition of what it or isn't a christian, what is or isn't required. Thought here are certainly a lot of groups and individual that want you to believe that their definition is the "right one".
or perhaps that's why your employer, your publisher and your industry are fighting the final format solution.
Perhaps it be better to call it a final distribution solution (though I am not a big fan of the word final). Online distribution methods can easily replace one format for another, and they can list all your purchases and make them available for downloading at your convenient (not saying that online distributors do this but that is not a limitation inherited in the technology). One of the things feared by the old establishment is that someone buys a product and then have, or expect to have, infinite access to that product with no chance of losing it or wearing it out; or re-selling for that matter. That and the costs of storage and distribution is significantly lower, in many regards, to printing and shipping physical media, and thus offers less chances for the distributor to legally leech money from other peoples artistic and/or entertainment products.
While talk is cheap and action speak louder than words, I will maintain that it is perfectly fine to criticize (preferably in a rational manner) despite ones previous accomplishments or lack thereof. Debate in various forms is by nature an engagement using words and arguments. Trying to invalidate someone's opinions and arguments by attacking their related or unrelated personal achievements seems sidetracking from the relevant topics in question. Of course sometimes criticism is so inane that the fiery curse of the nerdrage starts taking hold, but I feel that someone as experienced as mister Jobs should know better than to lash out.
I don't think he belongs between myself, or my children, and content of any type.
Precisely. Steve Jobs should refrain from trying to enforce his own moral codex upon the technology. I understand that it is "his product" to do with as he will, but I prefer to get my hardware and software without a lecture about what I should or shouldn't read, watch and/or play. A service mechanic that helped making adult material only available to adults is fine, but outright censorship because he "feels it is wrong" I do not agree with.
While the current "PC world" might slip away with time, as everything does inevitably, there is little doubt that computers in various ways and forms will be with us for the predictable future. They might not all be PCs as we understand them today, but neither do I think it will all be apple products.
Penumbra Wiki Quote from wikipedia:
The game's main focus is on exploration and classic adventure game object interaction: examining and collecting objects and using them to solve puzzles.