New, from the makers of HIPPA -- Unsecured Information Fun! It's absurd to think that a "Veterans Affairs data analyst who had violated official procedures by taking the data home" caused millions of people to be at risk for ID theft or worse. It's 2006 -- he is an alleged data analyst, meaning he should know the risk of unsecured data. 1) he broke office procedure by taking the data home, 2) he left the data completely unsecured on a computer in his home. If this happened at a health-insurance-industry related company, under HIPPA the employee AND the company would both be held accountable and severely reprimanded... but because it's the government, "oh, everything's peachy, we're looking in to it" -- I haven't even heard of the employee being fired. What's worse is that there were originally "only" 50,000 people at risk from this data, now - a week later - it's been released that the number is in the millions... Go-go gadget government uh-oh. (I've been following this story for a while, note a very timely/.)
I don't think this should have an impact on any games -- I don't know of any games that take more than 1 DVD (bonus discs aside)... There are games right now that take upwards of 5 cd's: when games take multiple DVD's I will consider it a good thing to have a next-gen drive in a gaming rig.
Doing Helpdesk work for many years at a university, I've had my ninja-like malware-destruction skills strengthened -- most of the users we dealt with don't have the neccessary cd's to install off of (we can't install Windows without a valid license and cd's) so we almost always just have to tough it out and fight the infection. I've gotten quite good at tracking down and destroying complete armies of viruses/malware. I remember one virus report from BitDefender that I captured with my cellphone -- it found over 25,000 viruses (yes, a lot of them were different)... a bundle of fun! There are some infections that just CAN'T be fixed; sometimes (not often, I'd say less than 1% of the computers we dealt with) not even all the checkdisks, registry rompings, and system file checkers in the world can fix a problem and the only solution is to reformat... reformatting is nice because it's usually faster than taking out the infection, unfortunately it's just not usually an option for some places. I'm still surprised Ballmer's boys couldn't fix the problem (not saying I could, but I didn't even get a chance to try).
Instead of spending countless R&D dollars on stuff the average computer gaming enthusiast will never use (let alone the average person), can't they just improve their singular cards? I mean, come on -- two x1900's and then an "old" x1600....OLD?! I'm using an x700 -- not three, not two... just one. ATI, Nvidia -- stop screwing around with stuff that's not worth it (2 x1900 [$500 a piece] + x1600 [$150] = $1,650... cost of games that take advantage of this = $0 -- because there aren't any and I doubt there will be in the near future). Nothing needs this, not even on the highest of high settings would a game need to take advantage of this. I would expect the earliest release that could really use this would be in maybe the next 6-12 months... even then, it won't have been developed to use this, it'll be just a tacked on "feature".
Actually, I have seen HD (a flat 36"). I was impressed -- it does look nicer... but it's not like it's adding anything amazing (like going from black and white to color or mono sound to 7.1 DD) -- for my money, I'll wait until it's more mainstream (until more channels broadcast in HD). As for as HD-DVD and Blu-Ray go: yes, they look nicer (according to some other commentors, a LOT nicer... if you have a 60"+ screen [I do not]), but for the price I'll stick with DVD's. Eventually I'll get around to getting a next-gen player, but I will at least be waiting until either BR or HD-DVD wins the war, that way I don't waste my money (know anyone who get fudged over in the Beta-Max vs. VHS battle?).
Sounds pretty neat. I'd really like to see how well it lets you play with others -- if it works well it could be one heck of a collaboration tool. Go go gadget google-spreadsheet!
Of course it's better from a technical standpoint and, with a high def t.v. from, a view standpoint -- but it's not better enough in my opinion to be worth the initial cost. According to Sony, cheapest BR sounds like it'll be around $600 -- with the money I have right now, there's a lot better use of $600 (plus the cost of whatever I want to watch on it) than to squeeze out some extra picture quality (it's not like it's adding a critical feature to movies -- like sound, or in the case of VHS to DVD, track skipping). After about 3 years (hopefully) the price should fall and a winner in the war should be clear -- that's when I'll strike. I'll get a good price on the hardware and it should have all the major bugs worked out.
Exactly -- don't shoot the (yahoo!) messenger. Yahoo is just doing its job as a company -- failure to comply would get it booted from China -- something no business wants. What would happen if a similar situation happened here in the U.S. say... if the U.S. wanted information from Google (oh wait http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2006/01/18/goog les_privacy_fight_with_the_government.html hehe, sorry, I like to play devil's advocate. Telling the government "no" in the U.S. might work, but try it in China and see where it takes your business. Don't like what a company did because the government made it?... Attack the problem, not the effect.
I know, I know... it's just that, when I get called greasy I get upset... you see -- my parents were both killed in a tragic greasing accident. Yes, the Great Greasing of '93... *sniffle*
Checksum error in location my_brain. Whoopsies. I don't know where that Sony came from, but yes, the Palm Treo (well at least the one I used) wasn't nearly as nice as my BlackBerry (granted it was one of the older ones).
Prices on tech equipment always drop as demand increases and production costs decrease, but as you said -- they may price lower to be more competitive. Either way, I wouldn't want to buy a next-gen player until one of the options was out of the picture -- imagine spending $750+ on an HD-DVD player and $25 * 100 dvds ($2500) only to have the technology be killed off in 2 years.
Yes, being a huge fan of Discovery I was tempted to get a nice HD-TV (but my roommates only wanted basic cable). Once a clear winner is pronounced and the market stabilizes, prices will probably be low enough for me to jump in (but by then I also won't be a college student so I'll have a lot more money... which I'll in turn need, to rebuy all the movies I own just like when I went from VHS to DVD).
The quality difference sounds like it really stands out on larger screens (the only HD demo I saw was on a 36"). Once the prices drop (or I fall into some money and buy a huge screen), I will have to tap that new-gen player market like a frat boy to a keg on "get really drunk" night (a.k.a. every night?). Hmmm... you probably have a nice surround sound system to go with that t.v. in that case... can I come over (I'll bring popcorn).
Yeah, that's where my main focus is on the next-gen players: PC drives. I, like many, favor media center computers over dvd player + dvr + stereo + whatever... but the cost for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drives is going to be too much for me to want to pay... until the prices come down (sub $250, even considering that, it will suck having to repurchase any media I want to see in high definition) I will stick with my DVDs.
Once a clear winner of the oncoming war is pronounced, I will probably invest in some new hardware (actually, probably just before a clear winner is pronounced so I can take advantage of ultra-competitive pricing) -- one of the main factors for me is money, right now I'm finishing up college and I have many things I want to buy but limited funds with which to purchase(I suppose we all do). Hundreds of dollars to have better quality (if I had a big TV, I've just got a tiny 27") isn't worth it to me (not to mention if it meant repurchasing all the things I wanted to watch on it. It is something I will invest in in the future, but for now it is a pie-in-the-sky dream.
Agreed -- it is time for a format change. It is a daunting task (replacing every t.v. set and perhiperal) but change is neccessary for evolution. Obviously, I will eventually break down and get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, but not until a clear winner has been produced and the price of the hardware comes down (Sony expects Blu-Ray players to be over $600! Yowza!).
That's why I threw that p.s. in there, because even after hearing my own arguement, I still wanted to kill him (but I can't because I'm a gamer and then he would have revenge from beyond the grave through his followers). Wait... solution! If we held a "Jack Thompson and fan club" convention and then firebombed the whole place -- bam, no more problems.
I knew I wasn't the only one who was getting hungry reading about apples and blackberries and saltwater taffy. (note: saltwater taffy may be a figment of the author's vast and uncontrollable imagination)
Hahaha, you are funny. I am hardly greasy, I shower every day (I have to for my job) and my hair is soft and natural (and it smells good too!). Furthermore, what assumption brought you to think that I'm a gamer -- I said nothing about me playing games, just that people were focused more on "oh no sex = bad" than "gunshot bang bang"... don't you know that when you make an assumption you make and ass out of you and 'mption? A "greasy gamer" like me at least has the courtesy to not post anonymously when they attack someone. I pride myself in knowing that I'm not completely ignorant. Don't jump to conclusion off of baseless stereotypes -- think for yourself:D
p.s. yes, I had it and I wish I didn't, I thought the girl I was with was "the one" but she wasn't, so I regret it. Happy:D?
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New, from the makers of HIPPA -- Unsecured Information Fun! It's absurd to think that a "Veterans Affairs data analyst who had violated official procedures by taking the data home" caused millions of people to be at risk for ID theft or worse. It's 2006 -- he is an alleged data analyst, meaning he should know the risk of unsecured data. 1) he broke office procedure by taking the data home, 2) he left the data completely unsecured on a computer in his home. If this happened at a health-insurance-industry related company, under HIPPA the employee AND the company would both be held accountable and severely reprimanded... but because it's the government, "oh, everything's peachy, we're looking in to it" -- I haven't even heard of the employee being fired. What's worse is that there were originally "only" 50,000 people at risk from this data, now - a week later - it's been released that the number is in the millions... Go-go gadget government uh-oh. /.)
(I've been following this story for a while, note a very timely
http://www.lyricstime.com/wesley-willis-al-capone- lyrics.html That's what I'm referring to -- it's what I meant by "Wesley Willis anyone?".
Look up lyrics for the song "Al Capone" by Wesley Willis, you'll see what I mean.
Or Al Capone shooting my brother with an Uzi submachine gun and stealing his hotrod (Wesley Willis anyone?).
I don't think this should have an impact on any games -- I don't know of any games that take more than 1 DVD (bonus discs aside)... There are games right now that take upwards of 5 cd's: when games take multiple DVD's I will consider it a good thing to have a next-gen drive in a gaming rig.
Doing Helpdesk work for many years at a university, I've had my ninja-like malware-destruction skills strengthened -- most of the users we dealt with don't have the neccessary cd's to install off of (we can't install Windows without a valid license and cd's) so we almost always just have to tough it out and fight the infection. I've gotten quite good at tracking down and destroying complete armies of viruses/malware. I remember one virus report from BitDefender that I captured with my cellphone -- it found over 25,000 viruses (yes, a lot of them were different)... a bundle of fun! There are some infections that just CAN'T be fixed; sometimes (not often, I'd say less than 1% of the computers we dealt with) not even all the checkdisks, registry rompings, and system file checkers in the world can fix a problem and the only solution is to reformat... reformatting is nice because it's usually faster than taking out the infection, unfortunately it's just not usually an option for some places. I'm still surprised Ballmer's boys couldn't fix the problem (not saying I could, but I didn't even get a chance to try).
Instead of spending countless R&D dollars on stuff the average computer gaming enthusiast will never use (let alone the average person), can't they just improve their singular cards? I mean, come on -- two x1900's and then an "old" x1600. ...OLD?! I'm using an x700 -- not three, not two... just one. ATI, Nvidia -- stop screwing around with stuff that's not worth it (2 x1900 [$500 a piece] + x1600 [$150] = $1,650... cost of games that take advantage of this = $0 -- because there aren't any and I doubt there will be in the near future). Nothing needs this, not even on the highest of high settings would a game need to take advantage of this. I would expect the earliest release that could really use this would be in maybe the next 6-12 months... even then, it won't have been developed to use this, it'll be just a tacked on "feature".
Actually, I have seen HD (a flat 36"). I was impressed -- it does look nicer... but it's not like it's adding anything amazing (like going from black and white to color or mono sound to 7.1 DD) -- for my money, I'll wait until it's more mainstream (until more channels broadcast in HD). As for as HD-DVD and Blu-Ray go: yes, they look nicer (according to some other commentors, a LOT nicer... if you have a 60"+ screen [I do not]), but for the price I'll stick with DVD's. Eventually I'll get around to getting a next-gen player, but I will at least be waiting until either BR or HD-DVD wins the war, that way I don't waste my money (know anyone who get fudged over in the Beta-Max vs. VHS battle?).
Sounds pretty neat. I'd really like to see how well it lets you play with others -- if it works well it could be one heck of a collaboration tool. Go go gadget google-spreadsheet!
spammers aren't people. now, soylent green -- that's another story!
if porn doesn't choke the internet, no sport ever will!
"It's not for me, it's for the uhhh... children... uh... they... they threatened to shoot me in the face if I didn't, honest!"
Of course it's better from a technical standpoint and, with a high def t.v. from, a view standpoint -- but it's not better enough in my opinion to be worth the initial cost. According to Sony, cheapest BR sounds like it'll be around $600 -- with the money I have right now, there's a lot better use of $600 (plus the cost of whatever I want to watch on it) than to squeeze out some extra picture quality (it's not like it's adding a critical feature to movies -- like sound, or in the case of VHS to DVD, track skipping). After about 3 years (hopefully) the price should fall and a winner in the war should be clear -- that's when I'll strike. I'll get a good price on the hardware and it should have all the major bugs worked out.
Exactly -- don't shoot the (yahoo!) messenger. Yahoo is just doing its job as a company -- failure to comply would get it booted from China -- something no business wants. What would happen if a similar situation happened here in the U.S. say... if the U.S. wanted information from Google (oh wait http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2006/01/18/goog les_privacy_fight_with_the_government.html hehe, sorry, I like to play devil's advocate. Telling the government "no" in the U.S. might work, but try it in China and see where it takes your business. Don't like what a company did because the government made it?... Attack the problem, not the effect.
I know, I know... it's just that, when I get called greasy I get upset... you see -- my parents were both killed in a tragic greasing accident. Yes, the Great Greasing of '93... *sniffle*
Checksum error in location my_brain. Whoopsies. I don't know where that Sony came from, but yes, the Palm Treo (well at least the one I used) wasn't nearly as nice as my BlackBerry (granted it was one of the older ones).
Prices on tech equipment always drop as demand increases and production costs decrease, but as you said -- they may price lower to be more competitive. Either way, I wouldn't want to buy a next-gen player until one of the options was out of the picture -- imagine spending $750+ on an HD-DVD player and $25 * 100 dvds ($2500) only to have the technology be killed off in 2 years.
Yes, being a huge fan of Discovery I was tempted to get a nice HD-TV (but my roommates only wanted basic cable). Once a clear winner is pronounced and the market stabilizes, prices will probably be low enough for me to jump in (but by then I also won't be a college student so I'll have a lot more money... which I'll in turn need, to rebuy all the movies I own just like when I went from VHS to DVD).
The quality difference sounds like it really stands out on larger screens (the only HD demo I saw was on a 36"). Once the prices drop (or I fall into some money and buy a huge screen), I will have to tap that new-gen player market like a frat boy to a keg on "get really drunk" night (a.k.a. every night?). Hmmm... you probably have a nice surround sound system to go with that t.v. in that case... can I come over (I'll bring popcorn).
Yeah, that's where my main focus is on the next-gen players: PC drives. I, like many, favor media center computers over dvd player + dvr + stereo + whatever... but the cost for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drives is going to be too much for me to want to pay... until the prices come down (sub $250, even considering that, it will suck having to repurchase any media I want to see in high definition) I will stick with my DVDs.
Once a clear winner of the oncoming war is pronounced, I will probably invest in some new hardware (actually, probably just before a clear winner is pronounced so I can take advantage of ultra-competitive pricing) -- one of the main factors for me is money, right now I'm finishing up college and I have many things I want to buy but limited funds with which to purchase(I suppose we all do). Hundreds of dollars to have better quality (if I had a big TV, I've just got a tiny 27") isn't worth it to me (not to mention if it meant repurchasing all the things I wanted to watch on it. It is something I will invest in in the future, but for now it is a pie-in-the-sky dream.
Agreed -- it is time for a format change. It is a daunting task (replacing every t.v. set and perhiperal) but change is neccessary for evolution. Obviously, I will eventually break down and get a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, but not until a clear winner has been produced and the price of the hardware comes down (Sony expects Blu-Ray players to be over $600! Yowza!).
That's why I threw that p.s. in there, because even after hearing my own arguement, I still wanted to kill him (but I can't because I'm a gamer and then he would have revenge from beyond the grave through his followers). Wait... solution! If we held a "Jack Thompson and fan club" convention and then firebombed the whole place -- bam, no more problems.
I knew I wasn't the only one who was getting hungry reading about apples and blackberries and saltwater taffy. (note: saltwater taffy may be a figment of the author's vast and uncontrollable imagination)
Hahaha, you are funny. I am hardly greasy, I shower every day (I have to for my job) and my hair is soft and natural (and it smells good too!). Furthermore, what assumption brought you to think that I'm a gamer -- I said nothing about me playing games, just that people were focused more on "oh no sex = bad" than "gunshot bang bang"... don't you know that when you make an assumption you make and ass out of you and 'mption? A "greasy gamer" like me at least has the courtesy to not post anonymously when they attack someone. I pride myself in knowing that I'm not completely ignorant. Don't jump to conclusion off of baseless stereotypes -- think for yourself :D
:D?
p.s. yes, I had it and I wish I didn't, I thought the girl I was with was "the one" but she wasn't, so I regret it. Happy