Hi Tom, I appreciate your concerns, and I hope I can address them here. It sounds like you may be in the US (the poster below is right, "ageing" is correct spelling in Canada) so I will point out a few differences as well.
Our group came into existence in 2009 and that is when we took our domain. I don't know what it was used for previous to that, but obviously it was some type of spam. In terms of being one letter off of another group, I admit, we probably didn't research it enough but we were a non-profit starting up on a volunteer basis. It fits our name, and we have also added oinweb.ca for URL shortening and to help alleviate confusion.
Yes, there is federal regulation surrounding these activities, however we do not work directly or offer any services to any immigrants or individuals. We are not involved in the settlement process, and we are not involved in any business transactions. The bulk of what we do is research, and from there come recommendations that communities are welcome to take or not. These licensing requirements do not apply to us, and I doubt that we would even be allowed to become licensed because of the nature of our work. We simply do not have any contact with any legal or business transactions.
Second, business succession may have a different meaning in the US. In Canada, the process is meant to take place while the entrepreneur is alive. Were we dealing with estates, then yes, you would be correct. This example may help to clarify:
Imagine that you were a successful business owner for 20+ years, but because of skewed demographics the bulk of your towns population is too old or too young to buy it. If you do have kids, they have likely left for a larger city like Toronto. This means that a profitable business, that could be a great opportunity for an immigrant could disappear, and potentially even trigger a domino effect (i.e. more businesses closing). We have seen this in some communities, particularly those hit by the decline in the auto industry. This doesn't mean that the towns are dying or dead, but it certainly can make things challenging.
The GIS data portion doesn't relate to this, but certainly helps us in research. Canadian census data is not as rich, un-aggregated or recent as US census data appears to be (although my experience with US data is highly limited; I know that in Canada we used to have one long form census every 5 years that was recently abolished by our government). Also, until recently, this data was highly expensive. To obtain 2006 data for Ontario used to cost approximately $6000, which is quite a bit of money for a non-profit. While GIS does not solve or replace this, it is a great analytical tool.
Third, I agree completely, that businesses will only sell for that they are worth. The issue is not value, but rather a highly skewed demographic. And again, our intended audience are those already in Canada, the majority would already have a legal status or be well on their way to obtaining it. Without at least permanent residency, I imagine that just buying the business itself would be incredibly difficult, as I can't think of a bank that would finance the deal. In terms of brain drain, we are not looking to stop, but rather bring new people in. I can't stop youth exodus, but I can try to promote rural regions as opportunities. There aren't really false bidders, but rather no bidders.
Fourth, again, we do not offer any services directly, are not funded to do so, and do not receive any type of cut from any transactions. We are not realtors, lawyers or anything similar, simply researchers offering our ideas to interested communities.
Fifth, I am not sure if you mean my name personally or my groups. This is a product of our website. If you can clarify, I can certainly look into it.
Sixth, as researchers, we can choose what tools we want to use, period. You cannot decide what we do and do not need. And many communities already use GIS, but not in this fashion. Currently, we are not charging any of them for our work, so I don't see the harm in visualizing
Hi Tom, just a bit about our group. We don't run any immigraton scams, and certainly aren't looking to have people buy dead people's businesses. We don't even deal directly with immigrants (i.e. we are not immigration consultants). Our focus is to work with rural communities that have ageing demographics and help them attract immigrants to take over businesses where an ageing owner is looking to retire but may have no clear successor. Our ideal immigrant is one that has already been in the country for a period of about 2 years.
Essentially, we are trying to stop smaller communities from suffering mass business closure, and this technology piece will play a large part. I hope that this helps to clarify.
So if I read the summary correctly (of course, like a good/.er I didn't RTFA) then if you get busted under this law no more broadband? So that means dial-up is your only option? Isn't that curel and unusual punishment?:-)
But how good is the PS3 as a Bluray player? If an HD player is $100 as part of some crazy sale and maybe normally between 150-200, I don't see the value in it because I am sure that sony will bring the price down again and I already have a PS2 so I am not worried about backwards compatibility. My parents almost bought a PS2 a few monts ago instead of a DVD player that way I'd have something to do when visit and they could watch movies. I think that me might see the PS3 in the same position in a year or two and that might be the end to this mess. Unless if MS releases a cheap 360 with HD DVD.
And maybe its just me, but most of the movies I want are on Bluray (I am not a sony fanboy btw, I have a wii and no HD set). It almost seems like you could buy a player based on your movie preferences and you wouldn;t really be effected by the format wars either way.
That I pre ordered this! I can't wait! I have enjoyed every Mario game I have played (yes, even Luigi's manions although it wasn't awesome) and Sunshine. I think that the graphics will also raise the bar, so that hopefully the Wii stuff doesn't look so bad in the future. I know that graphics aren't everything, but when you look at RE4 and Metroid 3, the excuse of "Its not an xbox 360 or ps3" shouldn't be an out.
I have only been running Ubuntu exclusively (no more MS crack for me) for the past year or so, but I have dabbled in linux for the past 8 years. So I'm not a total n00b but there are moments where I feel that I still don't know exactly what I'm doing. Still, I think its a great OS and I don't really feel limited - I bought a Wii for my gaming needs, and ubuntu does everything else I would expect from a PC. I can backup and view DVDs, listen to my music, use my iPod (I don't use iTunes, I like having an actual CD as a backup). With the exception of nasty X errors and my sound sometimes not wanting to work (although a reboot fixes this and I guess thats what I should expect with a crappy $300 PC)it is far better than windows. Installing was a breeze.
Now, when I fix a friends PC (and I consider myself a Windows power user) I sometimes am brought problems that boggle my mind, things that people do everyday and I can't immediately solve. So you're probably thinking a registry problem or something, right? Wrong - things like taskbar reshaped/moved to weird location, vital toolbars gone, windows retaining some weird shape. I don't think this can even happen in ubuntu - which is a good thing!
If I knew more about linux, I bet there would be no reason for me to do reinstalls. I can't say the same thing about Windows.
Hi guys, I am a little new to this stuff so bear with me on this one. If I understand the tech correctly, an SSD drive would eliminate the need for swap space under windows right? would the same hold true for Linux? Would an SSD work under the current kernel - I thought it just worked like a hard drive?
If they will give out sdk's as easy as they state then its not so bad. I know so many of my MS user friends always complain that there torrent programs are full of spyware etc...
Maybe this can shutdown some of these sketchy clients, and hopefully open alternatives can continue. Although I guess someone could just take the code from an open solution - maybe this just makes it a bit more difficult.
I thought that the only thing running on Wii was gamecube code. I haven't heard of any actual homebrew that can make use of the wiimote. Did I miss something big here? I hope so because that would be awesome!
I remeber that Square showed off a souped up remake of FF 7 at E3 - and they claim to have no plans to release it on PS3 (even though it was demoed on that hardware). Seeing as FF7 was the game that sort of broke them away from nintendo and to sony, I tihnk it would be cool if they finished it, made it possible to scale down to 480p and released it on the Wii. If it does well, then they should consider FF X3 or X4 on the Wii. hopefully the dev cost wouldnt be too bad since they are using some assets that they already have to a certain extent, although I wouldn't want to see some half assed controls either, so I guess it would require some $$$. I just think re releasing 7 and 8 the way they did FF3 on the DS (which was supposed to happen on the PSP) would be a good way to show the guys in Japan that the Wii is worth it. Not to mention that if you want to talk tradition old school FF meant it was on a Nintendo platform.
Did I read the summary wrong, or is there actually going to be RE 5 on Wii? I really hope so! Especially since Konami decided that even though it was technically possible, it didn't make sense to put Silent Hill 5 on Wii (booo Konami!)
I hope they just do a firmware update so that I can use a usb drive or the sd card. I doubt I will personally use the virtual console to go beyond 4gb that an sd card can give me. The only reason I would want an hdd would be if it could play movies and music. I really wish that there was a way to get some type of 5.1 sound (not pro logic II) and some DVD software. I know everyone has a dvd player but it would be nice to have just one magic little box to do everything. And a wireless nunchuk would be cool too
When I started the Wii, I really enjoyed the UI. My net at the time was slow, so the first day I had it I did an udpate, downlaoded the web browser and shut it down. Next day, I told my wife I would wait for her tot ry it, so i jsut browsed the web and made a Mii. This was pretty entertaining, and I had to fight the temptation to blow money on the virtual console. When i first started Wii sports I thought shit, I should have gotten the 360, the graphics are kind of lame. But the games are smooth, fast and a lot of fun. We still play Wii Sports. I know redsteel as gotten some bad reviews (it is easy and graphics do suck) but the controls are fun and monkey ball is awesome.
Now, Resident Evil4 on the cube is way better then anything I've seen on the Wii (I have only played 3 games to be fair though). So this tells me a few things.
1. Devs are being lazy! I remember reading an interview with someone from factor 5 saying they could blow away whats been done with the Wii so far (they made the rogue squuadron games and I thouht they looked awesome, had tons of effects graphicaly) 2. No more wiimakes - unique content should make devs make assets specifically for the Wii. 3. The controls are just way too much fun, I don't really want more power now, even though i have yet to see anything that beats the PS2/cube stuff. 4. I know this sounds odd, but it would have been really nice to have optical audio, that way if there is dvd software later it would be nice. I do own a DVD Player like everyone else, but my cube doesn't get used anymore and I havent felt the need to turn on my PS2, it would e nice to replace everything with 1 box, ut since I don't have optical out I can't - although a $100 dvd player would probably outperform a Wii using software to do so. Although maybe it could be done though a USB to Optical dongle? Can USB stream a DTS track? (I have no idea, I am asking).
what wil happen is they will make Final Fantasy XIII: Crystal Chronicles or some kind of knockoff for the Wii - I doubt they would let Nintendo have a real FF game - although it beats the hell out of me as to why not. I know that the Wii us underpowered but I don't own an HDTV so if I play FF XIII its going to be in 480p regardless of the platform.
I don't know what it's like in the U.S., but prices have gone up here. it's only $10 but still, if this thing sells so well why do they need to jack up the price?
I wish there was an upgrade path for Video Games like there used to be for software (I know MS still has them but they always cost more than an OEM full). I bought RE4 for the cube for $30 less than a year ago and now another 30 for a bit more content? I know that nobody is making me buy it, but I would like a chance to try it out. If the Wii had an HDD, I think these Wiimakes would be good on the VC - I wouldnt mind paying $15 or $20 for a game I realdy own, but it will be $30 in the states, so probably $40 in Canada. I know its not that much money but still, I think I should get some type of break on it or it should retail at $20
Does she want to sell her Wii to me? LOL I havent been able to find one and I hear all these stories that its not all that good but then I hear that it is incredible, I dont know what to believe. Anyone played Dragonball? It looked like it had potential to be fun.
I think the author meant the government of Mexico should bear these costs, not the US government. While it would be nice to have someone else foot the bill, the reality is that the Mexican government must stop its cycle of corruption and start giving a little more back. Being from Mexico myself, I have seen many problems within the country revolving around infrastructure. simple things like highways, clean water and electricity go a loooooonggggg way. This ambitious project will help maintain and grow the high level of education in Mexico's schools. While many students cannot finish their educations due to economic circumstances (ie they have to leave school and work so that they can help support their families) the standards of education are much higher, and the work is more diverse and more difficult then Canada's school system. It would be nice to add some stability to the mix.
Slashdot Mirror
Hi Tom, I appreciate your concerns, and I hope I can address them here. It sounds like you may be in the US (the poster below is right, "ageing" is correct spelling in Canada) so I will point out a few differences as well. Our group came into existence in 2009 and that is when we took our domain. I don't know what it was used for previous to that, but obviously it was some type of spam. In terms of being one letter off of another group, I admit, we probably didn't research it enough but we were a non-profit starting up on a volunteer basis. It fits our name, and we have also added oinweb.ca for URL shortening and to help alleviate confusion. Yes, there is federal regulation surrounding these activities, however we do not work directly or offer any services to any immigrants or individuals. We are not involved in the settlement process, and we are not involved in any business transactions. The bulk of what we do is research, and from there come recommendations that communities are welcome to take or not. These licensing requirements do not apply to us, and I doubt that we would even be allowed to become licensed because of the nature of our work. We simply do not have any contact with any legal or business transactions. Second, business succession may have a different meaning in the US. In Canada, the process is meant to take place while the entrepreneur is alive. Were we dealing with estates, then yes, you would be correct. This example may help to clarify: Imagine that you were a successful business owner for 20+ years, but because of skewed demographics the bulk of your towns population is too old or too young to buy it. If you do have kids, they have likely left for a larger city like Toronto. This means that a profitable business, that could be a great opportunity for an immigrant could disappear, and potentially even trigger a domino effect (i.e. more businesses closing). We have seen this in some communities, particularly those hit by the decline in the auto industry. This doesn't mean that the towns are dying or dead, but it certainly can make things challenging. The GIS data portion doesn't relate to this, but certainly helps us in research. Canadian census data is not as rich, un-aggregated or recent as US census data appears to be (although my experience with US data is highly limited; I know that in Canada we used to have one long form census every 5 years that was recently abolished by our government). Also, until recently, this data was highly expensive. To obtain 2006 data for Ontario used to cost approximately $6000, which is quite a bit of money for a non-profit. While GIS does not solve or replace this, it is a great analytical tool. Third, I agree completely, that businesses will only sell for that they are worth. The issue is not value, but rather a highly skewed demographic. And again, our intended audience are those already in Canada, the majority would already have a legal status or be well on their way to obtaining it. Without at least permanent residency, I imagine that just buying the business itself would be incredibly difficult, as I can't think of a bank that would finance the deal. In terms of brain drain, we are not looking to stop, but rather bring new people in. I can't stop youth exodus, but I can try to promote rural regions as opportunities. There aren't really false bidders, but rather no bidders. Fourth, again, we do not offer any services directly, are not funded to do so, and do not receive any type of cut from any transactions. We are not realtors, lawyers or anything similar, simply researchers offering our ideas to interested communities. Fifth, I am not sure if you mean my name personally or my groups. This is a product of our website. If you can clarify, I can certainly look into it. Sixth, as researchers, we can choose what tools we want to use, period. You cannot decide what we do and do not need. And many communities already use GIS, but not in this fashion. Currently, we are not charging any of them for our work, so I don't see the harm in visualizing
Hi Tom, just a bit about our group. We don't run any immigraton scams, and certainly aren't looking to have people buy dead people's businesses. We don't even deal directly with immigrants (i.e. we are not immigration consultants). Our focus is to work with rural communities that have ageing demographics and help them attract immigrants to take over businesses where an ageing owner is looking to retire but may have no clear successor. Our ideal immigrant is one that has already been in the country for a period of about 2 years. Essentially, we are trying to stop smaller communities from suffering mass business closure, and this technology piece will play a large part. I hope that this helps to clarify.
So if I read the summary correctly (of course, like a good /.er I didn't RTFA) then if you get busted under this law no more broadband? So that means dial-up is your only option? Isn't that curel and unusual punishment? :-)
But how good is the PS3 as a Bluray player? If an HD player is $100 as part of some crazy sale and maybe normally between 150-200, I don't see the value in it because I am sure that sony will bring the price down again and I already have a PS2 so I am not worried about backwards compatibility. My parents almost bought a PS2 a few monts ago instead of a DVD player that way I'd have something to do when visit and they could watch movies. I think that me might see the PS3 in the same position in a year or two and that might be the end to this mess. Unless if MS releases a cheap 360 with HD DVD.
And maybe its just me, but most of the movies I want are on Bluray (I am not a sony fanboy btw, I have a wii and no HD set). It almost seems like you could buy a player based on your movie preferences and you wouldn;t really be effected by the format wars either way.
That I pre ordered this! I can't wait! I have enjoyed every Mario game I have played (yes, even Luigi's manions although it wasn't awesome) and Sunshine. I think that the graphics will also raise the bar, so that hopefully the Wii stuff doesn't look so bad in the future. I know that graphics aren't everything, but when you look at RE4 and Metroid 3, the excuse of "Its not an xbox 360 or ps3" shouldn't be an out.
I hope Luigi is playable too!
I have only been running Ubuntu exclusively (no more MS crack for me) for the past year or so, but I have dabbled in linux for the past 8 years. So I'm not a total n00b but there are moments where I feel that I still don't know exactly what I'm doing. Still, I think its a great OS and I don't really feel limited - I bought a Wii for my gaming needs, and ubuntu does everything else I would expect from a PC. I can backup and view DVDs, listen to my music, use my iPod (I don't use iTunes, I like having an actual CD as a backup). With the exception of nasty X errors and my sound sometimes not wanting to work (although a reboot fixes this and I guess thats what I should expect with a crappy $300 PC)it is far better than windows. Installing was a breeze.
Now, when I fix a friends PC (and I consider myself a Windows power user) I sometimes am brought problems that boggle my mind, things that people do everyday and I can't immediately solve. So you're probably thinking a registry problem or something, right? Wrong - things like taskbar reshaped/moved to weird location, vital toolbars gone, windows retaining some weird shape. I don't think this can even happen in ubuntu - which is a good thing!
If I knew more about linux, I bet there would be no reason for me to do reinstalls. I can't say the same thing about Windows.
The part where Sylar eats his brain and takes his powers!
Hi guys, I am a little new to this stuff so bear with me on this one. If I understand the tech correctly, an SSD drive would eliminate the need for swap space under windows right? would the same hold true for Linux? Would an SSD work under the current kernel - I thought it just worked like a hard drive?
If they will give out sdk's as easy as they state then its not so bad. I know so many of my MS user friends always complain that there torrent programs are full of spyware etc...
Maybe this can shutdown some of these sketchy clients, and hopefully open alternatives can continue. Although I guess someone could just take the code from an open solution - maybe this just makes it a bit more difficult.
Ever try catching those stupid fish in Zelda? took me forver - way harder then anything else I've played!
I thought that the only thing running on Wii was gamecube code. I haven't heard of any actual homebrew that can make use of the wiimote. Did I miss something big here? I hope so because that would be awesome!
I remeber that Square showed off a souped up remake of FF 7 at E3 - and they claim to have no plans to release it on PS3 (even though it was demoed on that hardware). Seeing as FF7 was the game that sort of broke them away from nintendo and to sony, I tihnk it would be cool if they finished it, made it possible to scale down to 480p and released it on the Wii. If it does well, then they should consider FF X3 or X4 on the Wii. hopefully the dev cost wouldnt be too bad since they are using some assets that they already have to a certain extent, although I wouldn't want to see some half assed controls either, so I guess it would require some $$$. I just think re releasing 7 and 8 the way they did FF3 on the DS (which was supposed to happen on the PSP) would be a good way to show the guys in Japan that the Wii is worth it. Not to mention that if you want to talk tradition old school FF meant it was on a Nintendo platform.
Did I read the summary wrong, or is there actually going to be RE 5 on Wii? I really hope so! Especially since Konami decided that even though it was technically possible, it didn't make sense to put Silent Hill 5 on Wii (booo Konami!)
I hope they just do a firmware update so that I can use a usb drive or the sd card. I doubt I will personally use the virtual console to go beyond 4gb that an sd card can give me. The only reason I would want an hdd would be if it could play movies and music. I really wish that there was a way to get some type of 5.1 sound (not pro logic II) and some DVD software. I know everyone has a dvd player but it would be nice to have just one magic little box to do everything. And a wireless nunchuk would be cool too
When I started the Wii, I really enjoyed the UI. My net at the time was slow, so the first day I had it I did an udpate, downlaoded the web browser and shut it down. Next day, I told my wife I would wait for her tot ry it, so i jsut browsed the web and made a Mii. This was pretty entertaining, and I had to fight the temptation to blow money on the virtual console.
When i first started Wii sports I thought shit, I should have gotten the 360, the graphics are kind of lame. But the games are smooth, fast and a lot of fun. We still play Wii Sports. I know redsteel as gotten some bad reviews (it is easy and graphics do suck) but the controls are fun and monkey ball is awesome.
Now, Resident Evil4 on the cube is way better then anything I've seen on the Wii (I have only played 3 games to be fair though). So this tells me a few things.
1. Devs are being lazy! I remember reading an interview with someone from factor 5 saying they could blow away whats been done with the Wii so far (they made the rogue squuadron games and I thouht they looked awesome, had tons of effects graphicaly)
2. No more wiimakes - unique content should make devs make assets specifically for the Wii.
3. The controls are just way too much fun, I don't really want more power now, even though i have yet to see anything that beats the PS2/cube stuff.
4. I know this sounds odd, but it would have been really nice to have optical audio, that way if there is dvd software later it would be nice. I do own a DVD Player like everyone else, but my cube doesn't get used anymore and I havent felt the need to turn on my PS2, it would e nice to replace everything with 1 box, ut since I don't have optical out I can't - although a $100 dvd player would probably outperform a Wii using software to do so. Although maybe it could be done though a USB to Optical dongle? Can USB stream a DTS track? (I have no idea, I am asking).
Its just like the War of The Worlds, only sending it to our potential enemies. This way, Earth shoots first ;-)
Or just add a touchscreen to this
http://www.gp2x.com/
Dual cpus, runs linux, 64mb ram, takes sd and works with pal and ntsc
Soviet Venezuela, airship flies you! (?)
what wil happen is they will make Final Fantasy XIII: Crystal Chronicles or some kind of knockoff for the Wii - I doubt they would let Nintendo have a real FF game - although it beats the hell out of me as to why not. I know that the Wii us underpowered but I don't own an HDTV so if I play FF XIII its going to be in 480p regardless of the platform.
ha ha! Those 244 people must feel pretty dumb right now!
Thats true, I do get what you are saying. Maybe they will raise it enough that I can find one LOL
I don't know what it's like in the U.S., but prices have gone up here. it's only $10 but still, if this thing sells so well why do they need to jack up the price?
I wish there was an upgrade path for Video Games like there used to be for software (I know MS still has them but they always cost more than an OEM full). I bought RE4 for the cube for $30 less than a year ago and now another 30 for a bit more content? I know that nobody is making me buy it, but I would like a chance to try it out. If the Wii had an HDD, I think these Wiimakes would be good on the VC - I wouldnt mind paying $15 or $20 for a game I realdy own, but it will be $30 in the states, so probably $40 in Canada. I know its not that much money but still, I think I should get some type of break on it or it should retail at $20
Does she want to sell her Wii to me? LOL
I havent been able to find one and I hear all these stories that its not all that good but then I hear that it is incredible, I dont know what to believe. Anyone played Dragonball? It looked like it had potential to be fun.
I think the author meant the government of Mexico should bear these costs, not the US government. While it would be nice to have someone else foot the bill, the reality is that the Mexican government must stop its cycle of corruption and start giving a little more back. Being from Mexico myself, I have seen many problems within the country revolving around infrastructure. simple things like highways, clean water and electricity go a loooooonggggg way. This ambitious project will help maintain and grow the high level of education in Mexico's schools. While many students cannot finish their educations due to economic circumstances (ie they have to leave school and work so that they can help support their families) the standards of education are much higher, and the work is more diverse and more difficult then Canada's school system. It would be nice to add some stability to the mix.