Anyone with a WinMo phone will tell you one of the biggest problems with them is the difficulty in finding apps that actually work. They would have an app store for it towards the end, but by then it was too late.
My last phone was an HTC Touch Pro 2. In 2009 it was billed as an iPhone killer. Seems laughable in hindsight (and I'm not an Apple fanatic either, I'm a "M$ shill" according to some slashdotters.)
What's unfortunate about Jar Jar is that his character design was in my opinion - really fricken good. He's also the only one of his kind who acts like a damned sideshow. His character could have easily be changed to be more useful and more like the others. Perhaps he could have been an honorable but slightly clumsy warrior or something. Something perhaps more deserving of that senate seat he would get later on.
I fully expect Broder is receiving big oil payola.
Kinda like that guy on Fox who talked about how sunny Germany is compared to the US and how that's why solar power makes sense for them...
These are just big lies. I shudder to think of all the little lies we don't catch... the subtle manipulation of the populace by corrupt and powerful interests.
Also, not all porn is photographic. There's a huge art industry in porn that stands to be affected by any attempt to ban it. Is a free society really going to tell artists what they can and cannot draw?
Then I guess I don't fit your criteria to qualify for the term "geek". Oh well.
If you're worried about Microsoft locking unapproved tablet apps out, don't be. There's a lot more to a tablet app than where precisely it is run. Moi3D is a good example of a tablet app meant to run on the Desktop. And of course, you're free to run what you want there. For some reason, its developers decided way before Metro came along that the tablet interface is what they should develop their 3d modeling program around. Not very many people have pen-tablet computers or even Wacom tablets. It's useable just fine with a mouse, and dead simple to learn... but man it shines on the Surface Pro. It's a great example of what you can do with a platform like this. So don't worry about being locked out and stuff like that. The Desktop interface will be around for a long time.
If you want the desktop and only the desktop, then I guess you'll have to use something other than Windows 8. I suggest OSX. If you don't want Apple products because they are eeevil, then I suggest Ubuntu. If you don't like Ubuntu because of the Unity enhancements... well... pick any old generic Linux distro I guess. That just doesn't seem very "progressive" to me you know? To each his own I guess.
You can still buy your PC parts individually online, build your own computer, and compile your own Linux kernel... so I really don't get this hostility towards people who don't want to bother with any of that anymore. I mean yeah, this is a geek website, but we can still geek-out over new products can't we? Microsoft has made something genuinely good, and all I see here is bickering about it from people who never even tried it. Even the online reviewers are heavily biased against it for no good reason except that they don't like Microsoft.
It's really dumb, and honestly I don't want any part of "geek" anymore if this is what it means. You guys can stick your heads back in the sand if you want.
Honestly Windows 8 is perfect for the new x86/64 tablets. Be it from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Samsung, or Microsoft. I had high hopes to begin with, though the reviews kinda brought that down a bit and made me afraid that I'd regret getting it.
Since buying the Pro yesterday I have been really impressed with it. Windows 8 actually makes sense now. If you buy it, you may discover that the metro version of Internet Explorer 10 is the one you prefer using with it. You may discover a strange new desire for tablet apps to run on this "PC". You may realize that the market really is wide open for developers, and that this kind of tablet is about to become really popular.
You may also realize that while the pressure sensitive Wacom pen is cool and great for writing or drawing (try out that handwriting recognition!), it's actually really there to help you navigate the desktop. Honestly I would not consider a PC-Tablet without one of these.
In my opinion, the ARM tablets came about because it reflected what we really want, but in a package that was commercially feasible for 2008-2012. Those only completely satisfied the consumers of content. Everyone else still to buy a desktop or a laptop to produce much of anything (though there are exceptions, most people are simply out of luck or are stuck with inferior solutions). Now we're about to get what we really want, in an interface that it can really work on, with hardware that'll really handle it.
The current issue of there being a weak battery, or the weight, or the thickness is all temporary. Oh and speaking of thickness, it's exactly the same as the 2011 Asus Transformer, which was my last tablet. The issue that some reviewers have with the HD aspect ratio is really overblown too.
Now that I have this new tablet/PC hybrid, I'm selling both my Transformer and my laptop. If they make an 8 or 16gb ram version with more C-drive space and a better video chip, it may even replace my desktop. The HD4000 comes really close to my desktop's Geforce GTX460 according to my own tests and Cinebench, and the Intel i5 beats my desktop's AMD X4 by just a hair... so really that is inevitable.
I think Bo's post made sense. Maybe where it rankles a few chains is the fact that he blames Carter. If your hero is a politician I imagine you get offended a lot.
Many jobs manage to be difficult and unprofitable at the same time. Often art is one of them. While I agree with the spirit of your post, I assert that art is not easy.
Self correction - 1996's Photoshop 4.0 has Layers and Adjustment Layers, so those are bad examples. Here's what he's missing though:
Editable Type
Multiple Undo
Color Management
Magnetic Lasso
ImageReady
Save for Web
Extract
Vector Shapes
Liquify filter
Layer styles
Vector based Text
Healing Brush
Camera Raw support
And that's just what's new after 4.0 to 7.0.1, the list goes on much longer than that. Some of this stuff is pretty important even for the average Photoshop user.
And about this part: "But what other applications (and, potentially, games) does this give me access to? How far can I take this?" Well, it's Windows!
When I did it, I did it because I needed the 16bit OS to run some old games I hadn't played in a while. Stuff like Chips Challenge and Klotski, but that can still be done better under emulation on an intel machine
Clearly you arn't being geeky enough. You should be running Word Perfect on DOS. It was their attempt to transition to Windows that killed them (and yes, Microsoft's usage of secretive API for Word in order to gain the upper hand).
Yes, how dare I suggest a solution in which the user could use an up to date version of Photoshop on a tablet. One with layers non-distructive filters, and with a pressure sensitive pen to boot.
Everyone else on Slashdot I guess. The other sites I frequent are more friendly toward it. Since this is super geek central I suppose I could have been more careful.
Wow... these comments make up a lot of assumptions about my character. What's with all the hostility? One guy called me a cunt! What's next, threats?
Look, you can cobble together a solution for yourself, nothing is wrong with that. I wasn't intending to make it sounds like that was a bad thing.
I'm just saying, pay attention to when you have to do it and you'll see some room for potential invention. The old tablets were a solution looking for a problem - we wern't ready for them yet, and they wern't really good enough for us yet. Now that we're getting used to tablets with the new, cheap consumer oriented models, we're looking for something with more power. We're cobling together our own solutions. I recognize the Surface Pro because I really want one (fuck me right?), it has a pressure sensitive stylus, the same HD4000 from the Mac Mini's, and a real version of Windows that can run both the new and old style of programs. I believe now is the time for just such a device, and the field is wide open on that platform as far as applications are concerned.
You guys can downvote me if you want, it doesn't bother me because I know it's a knee jerk reaction against M$ and capitalists or whatever and I wasn't even thinking about it like that.
The neat thing I remember about Paint Shop Pro 3 was that the trial didn't stop you from using the program. It was like Winzip used to be - you could keep using it. These days if an activation server goes out the company has to give you a non DRM version or you're just SOL. And even if they do it, it could still end up becoming confusing legal mess like it did for Adobe.
When someone has to hack together a solution like this it really means that there's an opening in the market for a much better solution.
Colinneagle really just needs a professional tablet. Something like a Surface Pro. The Pro will come with a pressure sensitive stylus too, but if that doesn't suit his needs, there are older pre-Windows 8 examples.
...Which serves to make the class inequality situation worse.
Additionally, with college tuition on the rise and the student debt bubble about to burst, we run the risk of losing a significant source of social mobility for the average and un-connected. We'll die with whatever lot we were given from birth, doing whatever our parents do because we can't afford training to do anything else.
Lets say you're a young parent who's poor, your kid will probably grow up in a poor neighborhood. He'll go to an underfunded and troubled grade school. Assuming he didn't get involved with gangs and drugs, he graduates. Then what, what will be the student aid and tuition situation 18 years from now? Something's gotta give soon, there's no telling what we'll have. Maybe it'll be reformed, maybe it won't. Perhaps your kid can't go. If you're a skilled worker, perhaps you can to teach him the ropes. Maybe your connections can get him a job doing something similar. Maybe if your kid is driven enough, they can teach themselves... Without a good and accessible educational system, from birth to college, we're headed for dark times.
I'm poor. My family is poor. I grew up poor, but I was able to go to college. It was expensive and I will be paying back my loans for a long time. I started a worthwhile career and I can earn more eventually, but as it stands I can't justify settling down or having kids yet. I don't trust the public schools either. I'll want them to go to a good private school. Depending on how things end up, I may never be able to find myself in a situation where I'm satisfied that I'm not propagating that Food-Stamp Family situation. I may chose to never have kids. Things are getting too rough and high-strung here in the United States. I suppose I could leave the country...
Which brings me to another face of this problem. Whether or not I am personally intellegent, I can bet that there are increasing numbers of intellegent people who are simply unable to thrive here. Maybe some of them will leave the country if they are able. So perhaps we'll have a "Brain-Drain" problem to make headlines twenty years from now. The "American Dream" could be lost for good. It'll become European, or maybe even Chinese. With the way we're going just in general, it won't be long before people stop coming here to forge a better life.
What, that they are actually aliens from another planet who have come here to displace human beings from positions of power, inject methane into the air and raid the Earth of valuable resources?
You sound bitter. Financial Aid debt sucks for sure. If you don't make enough to keep up with your loan repayments, sign up for either Income Based Repayment (if you're below the poverty line) or Income Contingent Repayment (easier to qualify). It does what it says on the tin, and as an added bonus, if you've continuously fail to make a decent wage the loan debt will be forgiven after 30 years.
Channels are regulated. Now its individual people. How soon before this is brought off-line to everyday public discussion? Will you be fined automatically by an ever present municipal computer system?
So you're saying that the belief in no god is not the same as no belief in a god.
I can agree to that.
Although the English language has it's popular definitions, and Wikipedia is a popular way to start conversations like this... the definition of words in the English language are strictly bound by the Merriam Webster dictionary. Therefore, you are correct. Atheists make the positive assertion that there is absolutely no god or gods. There is no room for debate, and I won't help fight a battle that would serve to cause yet another word to lose its meaning.
I personally believe that one does not have to assert to himself that there is no God. All one has to do is be honest with themselves and simply admit that they don't know. That's why I left Christianity, I wouldn't have left if it meant dropping one commitment for another because I grew tired of pretending I knew something I didn't. I'm not about to start acting again with yet another assertion.
In any case, you are correct. I am not an Atheist, there are no Agnostic Atheists or Dogmatic Atheists, only Agnostics and Atheists. Atheist as an identifier is not a set that can be populated with subsets. It's a clearly defined and strict classification. I will stop calling myself this. Besides, I wouldn't want people to misunderstand my position anyhow.
"Active disbelief" is atheism, the other one is agnosticism.
I think the assertion that there is absolutely no deity takes a leap of faith. It's probably a smaller leap than a deist, but it's a leap. Factually, no one really knows. They either assume with some measure of faith, or they don't assume anything.
I see two camps here, Agnostic Atheism, and Dogmatic Atheism. They're both Atheist as they both reject theology. What they do next is what makes them Agnostic or Dogmatic - "Active" as you put it.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone with a WinMo phone will tell you one of the biggest problems with them is the difficulty in finding apps that actually work. They would have an app store for it towards the end, but by then it was too late.
My last phone was an HTC Touch Pro 2. In 2009 it was billed as an iPhone killer. Seems laughable in hindsight (and I'm not an Apple fanatic either, I'm a "M$ shill" according to some slashdotters.)
What's unfortunate about Jar Jar is that his character design was in my opinion - really fricken good. He's also the only one of his kind who acts like a damned sideshow. His character could have easily be changed to be more useful and more like the others. Perhaps he could have been an honorable but slightly clumsy warrior or something. Something perhaps more deserving of that senate seat he would get later on.
I fully expect Broder is receiving big oil payola.
Kinda like that guy on Fox who talked about how sunny Germany is compared to the US and how that's why solar power makes sense for them...
These are just big lies. I shudder to think of all the little lies we don't catch... the subtle manipulation of the populace by corrupt and powerful interests.
Also, not all porn is photographic. There's a huge art industry in porn that stands to be affected by any attempt to ban it. Is a free society really going to tell artists what they can and cannot draw?
Then I guess I don't fit your criteria to qualify for the term "geek". Oh well.
If you're worried about Microsoft locking unapproved tablet apps out, don't be. There's a lot more to a tablet app than where precisely it is run. Moi3D is a good example of a tablet app meant to run on the Desktop. And of course, you're free to run what you want there. For some reason, its developers decided way before Metro came along that the tablet interface is what they should develop their 3d modeling program around. Not very many people have pen-tablet computers or even Wacom tablets. It's useable just fine with a mouse, and dead simple to learn... but man it shines on the Surface Pro. It's a great example of what you can do with a platform like this. So don't worry about being locked out and stuff like that. The Desktop interface will be around for a long time.
If you want the desktop and only the desktop, then I guess you'll have to use something other than Windows 8. I suggest OSX. If you don't want Apple products because they are eeevil, then I suggest Ubuntu. If you don't like Ubuntu because of the Unity enhancements... well... pick any old generic Linux distro I guess. That just doesn't seem very "progressive" to me you know? To each his own I guess.
You can still buy your PC parts individually online, build your own computer, and compile your own Linux kernel... so I really don't get this hostility towards people who don't want to bother with any of that anymore. I mean yeah, this is a geek website, but we can still geek-out over new products can't we? Microsoft has made something genuinely good, and all I see here is bickering about it from people who never even tried it. Even the online reviewers are heavily biased against it for no good reason except that they don't like Microsoft.
It's really dumb, and honestly I don't want any part of "geek" anymore if this is what it means. You guys can stick your heads back in the sand if you want.
Honestly Windows 8 is perfect for the new x86/64 tablets. Be it from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Samsung, or Microsoft. I had high hopes to begin with, though the reviews kinda brought that down a bit and made me afraid that I'd regret getting it.
Since buying the Pro yesterday I have been really impressed with it. Windows 8 actually makes sense now. If you buy it, you may discover that the metro version of Internet Explorer 10 is the one you prefer using with it. You may discover a strange new desire for tablet apps to run on this "PC". You may realize that the market really is wide open for developers, and that this kind of tablet is about to become really popular.
You may also realize that while the pressure sensitive Wacom pen is cool and great for writing or drawing (try out that handwriting recognition!), it's actually really there to help you navigate the desktop. Honestly I would not consider a PC-Tablet without one of these.
In my opinion, the ARM tablets came about because it reflected what we really want, but in a package that was commercially feasible for 2008-2012. Those only completely satisfied the consumers of content. Everyone else still to buy a desktop or a laptop to produce much of anything (though there are exceptions, most people are simply out of luck or are stuck with inferior solutions). Now we're about to get what we really want, in an interface that it can really work on, with hardware that'll really handle it.
The current issue of there being a weak battery, or the weight, or the thickness is all temporary. Oh and speaking of thickness, it's exactly the same as the 2011 Asus Transformer, which was my last tablet. The issue that some reviewers have with the HD aspect ratio is really overblown too.
Now that I have this new tablet/PC hybrid, I'm selling both my Transformer and my laptop. If they make an 8 or 16gb ram version with more C-drive space and a better video chip, it may even replace my desktop. The HD4000 comes really close to my desktop's Geforce GTX460 according to my own tests and Cinebench, and the Intel i5 beats my desktop's AMD X4 by just a hair... so really that is inevitable.
I think Bo's post made sense. Maybe where it rankles a few chains is the fact that he blames Carter. If your hero is a politician I imagine you get offended a lot.
Many jobs manage to be difficult and unprofitable at the same time. Often art is one of them. While I agree with the spirit of your post, I assert that art is not easy.
I jumped ship after version 7. Photoshop was just too good.
But yeah, look at Corel's other offerings. I always say it's where good programs go to die. Winzip is in there too, having exhausted it's useful life.
Self correction - 1996's Photoshop 4.0 has Layers and Adjustment Layers, so those are bad examples. Here's what he's missing though:
And that's just what's new after 4.0 to 7.0.1, the list goes on much longer than that. Some of this stuff is pretty important even for the average Photoshop user.
And about this part: "But what other applications (and, potentially, games) does this give me access to? How far can I take this?"
Well, it's Windows!
When I did it, I did it because I needed the 16bit OS to run some old games I hadn't played in a while. Stuff like Chips Challenge and Klotski, but that can still be done better under emulation on an intel machine
Clearly you arn't being geeky enough. You should be running Word Perfect on DOS. It was their attempt to transition to Windows that killed them (and yes, Microsoft's usage of secretive API for Word in order to gain the upper hand).
Yes, how dare I suggest a solution in which the user could use an up to date version of Photoshop on a tablet. One with layers non-distructive filters, and with a pressure sensitive pen to boot.
Everyone else on Slashdot I guess. The other sites I frequent are more friendly toward it. Since this is super geek central I suppose I could have been more careful.
Wow... these comments make up a lot of assumptions about my character. What's with all the hostility? One guy called me a cunt! What's next, threats?
Look, you can cobble together a solution for yourself, nothing is wrong with that. I wasn't intending to make it sounds like that was a bad thing.
I'm just saying, pay attention to when you have to do it and you'll see some room for potential invention. The old tablets were a solution looking for a problem - we wern't ready for them yet, and they wern't really good enough for us yet. Now that we're getting used to tablets with the new, cheap consumer oriented models, we're looking for something with more power. We're cobling together our own solutions. I recognize the Surface Pro because I really want one (fuck me right?), it has a pressure sensitive stylus, the same HD4000 from the Mac Mini's, and a real version of Windows that can run both the new and old style of programs. I believe now is the time for just such a device, and the field is wide open on that platform as far as applications are concerned.
You guys can downvote me if you want, it doesn't bother me because I know it's a knee jerk reaction against M$ and capitalists or whatever and I wasn't even thinking about it like that.
The neat thing I remember about Paint Shop Pro 3 was that the trial didn't stop you from using the program. It was like Winzip used to be - you could keep using it. These days if an activation server goes out the company has to give you a non DRM version or you're just SOL. And even if they do it, it could still end up becoming confusing legal mess like it did for Adobe.
When someone has to hack together a solution like this it really means that there's an opening in the market for a much better solution. Colinneagle really just needs a professional tablet. Something like a Surface Pro. The Pro will come with a pressure sensitive stylus too, but if that doesn't suit his needs, there are older pre-Windows 8 examples.
Really? Are we still doing this?
...Which serves to make the class inequality situation worse.
Additionally, with college tuition on the rise and the student debt bubble about to burst, we run the risk of losing a significant source of social mobility for the average and un-connected. We'll die with whatever lot we were given from birth, doing whatever our parents do because we can't afford training to do anything else.
Lets say you're a young parent who's poor, your kid will probably grow up in a poor neighborhood. He'll go to an underfunded and troubled grade school. Assuming he didn't get involved with gangs and drugs, he graduates. Then what, what will be the student aid and tuition situation 18 years from now? Something's gotta give soon, there's no telling what we'll have. Maybe it'll be reformed, maybe it won't. Perhaps your kid can't go. If you're a skilled worker, perhaps you can to teach him the ropes. Maybe your connections can get him a job doing something similar. Maybe if your kid is driven enough, they can teach themselves... Without a good and accessible educational system, from birth to college, we're headed for dark times.
I'm poor. My family is poor. I grew up poor, but I was able to go to college. It was expensive and I will be paying back my loans for a long time. I started a worthwhile career and I can earn more eventually, but as it stands I can't justify settling down or having kids yet. I don't trust the public schools either. I'll want them to go to a good private school. Depending on how things end up, I may never be able to find myself in a situation where I'm satisfied that I'm not propagating that Food-Stamp Family situation. I may chose to never have kids. Things are getting too rough and high-strung here in the United States. I suppose I could leave the country...
Which brings me to another face of this problem. Whether or not I am personally intellegent, I can bet that there are increasing numbers of intellegent people who are simply unable to thrive here. Maybe some of them will leave the country if they are able. So perhaps we'll have a "Brain-Drain" problem to make headlines twenty years from now. The "American Dream" could be lost for good. It'll become European, or maybe even Chinese. With the way we're going just in general, it won't be long before people stop coming here to forge a better life.
What, that they are actually aliens from another planet who have come here to displace human beings from positions of power, inject methane into the air and raid the Earth of valuable resources?
You sound bitter. Financial Aid debt sucks for sure. If you don't make enough to keep up with your loan repayments, sign up for either Income Based Repayment (if you're below the poverty line) or Income Contingent Repayment (easier to qualify). It does what it says on the tin, and as an added bonus, if you've continuously fail to make a decent wage the loan debt will be forgiven after 30 years.
What is the solution? Should we follow the Chinese example?
I have a Chinese made bicycle engine - its smoke is white.
Perhaps its the fuel mixture?
Channels are regulated. Now its individual people. How soon before this is brought off-line to everyday public discussion? Will you be fined automatically by an ever present municipal computer system?
So you're saying that the belief in no god is not the same as no belief in a god.
I can agree to that.
Although the English language has it's popular definitions, and Wikipedia is a popular way to start conversations like this... the definition of words in the English language are strictly bound by the Merriam Webster dictionary. Therefore, you are correct. Atheists make the positive assertion that there is absolutely no god or gods. There is no room for debate, and I won't help fight a battle that would serve to cause yet another word to lose its meaning.
I personally believe that one does not have to assert to himself that there is no God. All one has to do is be honest with themselves and simply admit that they don't know. That's why I left Christianity, I wouldn't have left if it meant dropping one commitment for another because I grew tired of pretending I knew something I didn't. I'm not about to start acting again with yet another assertion.
In any case, you are correct. I am not an Atheist, there are no Agnostic Atheists or Dogmatic Atheists, only Agnostics and Atheists. Atheist as an identifier is not a set that can be populated with subsets. It's a clearly defined and strict classification. I will stop calling myself this. Besides, I wouldn't want people to misunderstand my position anyhow.
"Active disbelief" is atheism, the other one is agnosticism.
I think the assertion that there is absolutely no deity takes a leap of faith. It's probably a smaller leap than a deist, but it's a leap. Factually, no one really knows. They either assume with some measure of faith, or they don't assume anything.
I see two camps here, Agnostic Atheism, and Dogmatic Atheism. They're both Atheist as they both reject theology. What they do next is what makes them Agnostic or Dogmatic - "Active" as you put it.