I do remember something like you are talking about. Wasn't quite 30 years ago for me, closer to 20. Out of the set you could build a variety of different things based on the instructions or come up with something unique. Much like I did with legos.
I do seem to recall MS having a search engine. Much trumpeting and fan fair and all that. That they are buying 'FSAT' to get into the search engine game more doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. I'd like to see them put more effort into their core products than play with search engines. Sure search is important within their current product line, but if they are having to buy Fast because their in house stuff isn't up to snuff, I don't see them really getting into the game.
Not sure if I'm ready to call it rubbish. I'd have to sit down in front of the thing. Looking at the pictures, I'm not sure I'd like the curved screen.
I take offence to (some of) your post. I spent money on a nice HD-DVD player and honestly don't regret the investment. The purchase was just a few months a go and while it is a nearly top of the line player, I got it at what I consider a fairly reasonable price.
I knew the scales were tipping one way or another but whichever way it goes, there is still plenty of value in my purchase. When I find a deal on a BlueRay player that I can stomach, I will purchase it. And however things go I don't care, I'll be set. Besides the dust hasn't settled yet.
At the end of the day, the only annoying thing is I'll have two players to deal with when I want to watch a movie instead of just one.
I'm sure some people will be pissed. But you're only helping fool them into thinking they are losers in a guessing game instead of suggesting where they can find more value in their goods (which other posters have done so I won't stress it).
I agree with you a little more when it comes to early HD TV adopters. But that's really HD format independent issue.
All technology is a sinking ship. Pick your plank.
Sounds to me like Trent was a bit disappointed in the numbers. As he put it, they were 'disheartening'. I'm not sure what to make of that. As he states that he wasn't sure what his expectations really were.
I had not heard of this effort or the artist and the album. Now that I have I will download them and listen to them. If I like it, I will buy it. If I don't, I will delete it. Doesn't that skew the numbers? Isn't that what a large number of people will do or have done?
Please tell me you're a parent. There is nothing I hate more than some idiot spouting 'back in my day get off my lawn' bull shit. You may as well just say 'People today suck at being people'.
Maybe I misread the mod? Maybe it was supposed to read Score:5, Sarcasm?
"Kids used to watch too much TV instead of playing outside."
Ok, now I know your post was sarcasm. We all know that people who post on Slashdot don't go outside.
And just like a Mac the Linux user is free to use alternatives. So your argument says one is good as the other (Photoshop vs Gimp ect. is a different argument). So if not running Max OS leaves you at no disadvantage, why not spend hundreds less on hardware?
Actually this article made me want to buy one. All his 'negatives' really meant nothing to me. It does sound like I'll want to ditch the installed OS and go with something else though. I really prefer Xubuntu over vanilla Ubuntu though on a low end system though.
No doubt. A number of years ago I wanted to register a domain name so I did a lookup and found that it was available. I wasn't sure who I was going to use to host so I didn't register right away. Two days later a domain squatting company registered it for a year. I waited till that year was up and did another whois. The domain was available. I made the mistake of not registering it then and there. A day later, the domain was registered for the period of five years. In this six years, never has the domain been put to use. At one point I checked the company and they were asking $100 for the domain name.
Well I had really written off the idea of using that domain name but then I read this article. That five years is up in just a few months. I've set myself a reminder to check the moment that registration is up and if that company doesn't have an auto renew set up for the domain (they seem to like pissing money away though) I will register it and put up a site. If nothing else, I'm going to put up a big 'Fuck You' sign for domain squatters.
On another note, a client of mine has an on line store for their business and they bought up a number of different domains that related to their businesses. Well they somehow missed the.net one for one of the domains. I was going to register it for them and simply bill they the cost of the registration. As it turns out some random person bought up the name while I was waiting for the go ahead. That person went so far as to email my clients company and offered to sell them the domain. I explained to my client exactly what this person had done and exactly how much they stood to profit off their little scheme and how much they stood to lose if my client didn't bite. The day the squatters registration is up I will register the domain for my client (or tell their web person to get off their butt and do it). A little patience is worth saying screw you to the squatters.
Forget about the patent being obvious. If I'm standing in line, and some idiot comes into the store and gets their drink first because they ordered it with their iPhone, do you think I'm going to have anything nice to say when I have a little chat with the manager about customer service? Don't you think that type of problem is a little obvious?
They are assuming you paid $1.00 per song and an iPod Classic with 160GB of storage holds 40,000 songs according to Apple. So that's where they get their number. I guess they just gave a nice round four megs per song figure.
"I used to be a big proponent of "Great Men" history myself, but stuff like this gives me pause."
I've always liked the term 'One in a Million'. Ok, so if your idea is one in a million. Think about how many others across the globe had that idea. Not to discredit great ideas or anything. But stories like this certainly give me pause as well. Give credit where credit is due certainly. But giving credit to the person who hit the patent office first and talked to the right people is a bit stupid.
I should have been a patent lawyer so I could have helped pick the winners.
If I recall correctly, factual information had little to do with writing a research paper in highschool. What was important was writing a paper in the format requested, citing correctly and turning the paper in on time. Oh sure, I had a few teachers that might have checked my sources, but that was just to see if I used a variety of sources and not just one and made up extra citations to fill that requirement.
I suppose all those papers taught me was that the truth is irrelevant. It's all about presentation. I should have gone into politics.
Ahh. So it was meant to annoy users and provide perceived value when nothing has really changed. If it doesn't work, it means its broken. So it shouldn't be displayed.
"I'm quite confident he'd vote *against* any bill that proposed the government some how step in and regulate email of ANY kind, including spam."
That's all fine and good. It would be nice if Do-Not-Call type polices were done on the State level. With regards to Spam. Federal law has failed. Unfortunately I don't think State law would fare any better.
"I remeber hearing ages ago that Oni levels were built with architecture tools, not standard level design tools.
I read that too. It's too bad the game was a disappointment. Combat and such was cool but I recall being very bummed when I finally played the game.
I don't know. Bioshock was definitely one of the better games out this year. Not sure yet who takes the crown, Bioshock or Mass Effect (have not beat the latter) but I'd be more interested a new story as opposed to a sequel for Bioshock. There were a few letdowns after all. Notably the ending.
Well keep your eyes open and watch for wool blankets. However, without being cynical for a moment what if "Verizon Wireless won't offer the same level of customer service..." simply means they won't have support for their nickle and dime you music and movie services and the like?
Slashdot Mirror
I do remember something like you are talking about. Wasn't quite 30 years ago for me, closer to 20. Out of the set you could build a variety of different things based on the instructions or come up with something unique. Much like I did with legos.
I do seem to recall MS having a search engine. Much trumpeting and fan fair and all that. That they are buying 'FSAT' to get into the search engine game more doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. I'd like to see them put more effort into their core products than play with search engines. Sure search is important within their current product line, but if they are having to buy Fast because their in house stuff isn't up to snuff, I don't see them really getting into the game.
Does that mean my car will drive to work and read Slashdot all day while I stay home in bed?
Not sure if I'm ready to call it rubbish. I'd have to sit down in front of the thing. Looking at the pictures, I'm not sure I'd like the curved screen.
"Nobody's moved..."
Oh they were moving. Killed each other by throwing HD-DVDs around.
I take offence to (some of) your post. I spent money on a nice HD-DVD player and honestly don't regret the investment. The purchase was just a few months a go and while it is a nearly top of the line player, I got it at what I consider a fairly reasonable price.
I knew the scales were tipping one way or another but whichever way it goes, there is still plenty of value in my purchase. When I find a deal on a BlueRay player that I can stomach, I will purchase it. And however things go I don't care, I'll be set. Besides the dust hasn't settled yet.
At the end of the day, the only annoying thing is I'll have two players to deal with when I want to watch a movie instead of just one.
I'm sure some people will be pissed. But you're only helping fool them into thinking they are losers in a guessing game instead of suggesting where they can find more value in their goods (which other posters have done so I won't stress it).
I agree with you a little more when it comes to early HD TV adopters. But that's really HD format independent issue.
All technology is a sinking ship. Pick your plank.
Sounds to me like Trent was a bit disappointed in the numbers. As he put it, they were 'disheartening'. I'm not sure what to make of that. As he states that he wasn't sure what his expectations really were.
I had not heard of this effort or the artist and the album. Now that I have I will download them and listen to them. If I like it, I will buy it. If I don't, I will delete it. Doesn't that skew the numbers? Isn't that what a large number of people will do or have done?
"Today's parents just suck at parenting.
Please tell me you're a parent. There is nothing I hate more than some idiot spouting 'back in my day get off my lawn' bull shit. You may as well just say 'People today suck at being people'.
Maybe I misread the mod? Maybe it was supposed to read Score:5, Sarcasm?
"Kids used to watch too much TV instead of playing outside."
Ok, now I know your post was sarcasm. We all know that people who post on Slashdot don't go outside.
"But unlike Linux I can install Adobe Photoshop."
And just like a Mac the Linux user is free to use alternatives. So your argument says one is good as the other (Photoshop vs Gimp ect. is a different argument). So if not running Max OS leaves you at no disadvantage, why not spend hundreds less on hardware?
"Without some compelling proof (which he lacks) this is nothing more than a conversational topic over a bag of weed."
So...are you saying that's a good thing, or a bad thing?
Actually this article made me want to buy one. All his 'negatives' really meant nothing to me. It does sound like I'll want to ditch the installed OS and go with something else though. I really prefer Xubuntu over vanilla Ubuntu though on a low end system though.
No doubt. A number of years ago I wanted to register a domain name so I did a lookup and found that it was available. I wasn't sure who I was going to use to host so I didn't register right away. Two days later a domain squatting company registered it for a year. I waited till that year was up and did another whois. The domain was available. I made the mistake of not registering it then and there. A day later, the domain was registered for the period of five years. In this six years, never has the domain been put to use. At one point I checked the company and they were asking $100 for the domain name. Well I had really written off the idea of using that domain name but then I read this article. That five years is up in just a few months. I've set myself a reminder to check the moment that registration is up and if that company doesn't have an auto renew set up for the domain (they seem to like pissing money away though) I will register it and put up a site. If nothing else, I'm going to put up a big 'Fuck You' sign for domain squatters. On another note, a client of mine has an on line store for their business and they bought up a number of different domains that related to their businesses. Well they somehow missed the .net one for one of the domains. I was going to register it for them and simply bill they the cost of the registration. As it turns out some random person bought up the name while I was waiting for the go ahead. That person went so far as to email my clients company and offered to sell them the domain. I explained to my client exactly what this person had done and exactly how much they stood to profit off their little scheme and how much they stood to lose if my client didn't bite. The day the squatters registration is up I will register the domain for my client (or tell their web person to get off their butt and do it). A little patience is worth saying screw you to the squatters.
Forget about the patent being obvious. If I'm standing in line, and some idiot comes into the store and gets their drink first because they ordered it with their iPhone, do you think I'm going to have anything nice to say when I have a little chat with the manager about customer service? Don't you think that type of problem is a little obvious?
They are assuming you paid $1.00 per song and an iPod Classic with 160GB of storage holds 40,000 songs according to Apple. So that's where they get their number. I guess they just gave a nice round four megs per song figure.
"I used to be a big proponent of "Great Men" history myself, but stuff like this gives me pause."
I've always liked the term 'One in a Million'. Ok, so if your idea is one in a million. Think about how many others across the globe had that idea. Not to discredit great ideas or anything. But stories like this certainly give me pause as well. Give credit where credit is due certainly. But giving credit to the person who hit the patent office first and talked to the right people is a bit stupid.
I should have been a patent lawyer so I could have helped pick the winners.
If I recall correctly, factual information had little to do with writing a research paper in highschool. What was important was writing a paper in the format requested, citing correctly and turning the paper in on time. Oh sure, I had a few teachers that might have checked my sources, but that was just to see if I used a variety of sources and not just one and made up extra citations to fill that requirement.
I suppose all those papers taught me was that the truth is irrelevant. It's all about presentation. I should have gone into politics.
Ahh. So it was meant to annoy users and provide perceived value when nothing has really changed. If it doesn't work, it means its broken. So it shouldn't be displayed.
They should have mirrored the study with one using sex and one using music/art (not that Porn can't have great music and 'art'.
"I'm quite confident he'd vote *against* any bill that proposed the government some how step in and regulate email of ANY kind, including spam."
That's all fine and good. It would be nice if Do-Not-Call type polices were done on the State level. With regards to Spam. Federal law has failed. Unfortunately I don't think State law would fare any better.
"I remeber hearing ages ago that Oni levels were built with architecture tools, not standard level design tools. I read that too. It's too bad the game was a disappointment. Combat and such was cool but I recall being very bummed when I finally played the game.
No I am not a Valve Employee.
But it appears Phil Co is or was at some point. http://www.valvesoftware.com/people.html
So perhaps the book is worth a look.
Indeed. Next Gen suggests something in the future. If it's in the hands of consumers (regardless of how few) a product is no longer 'next gen'.
I don't know. Bioshock was definitely one of the better games out this year. Not sure yet who takes the crown, Bioshock or Mass Effect (have not beat the latter) but I'd be more interested a new story as opposed to a sequel for Bioshock. There were a few letdowns after all. Notably the ending.
Well keep your eyes open and watch for wool blankets. However, without being cynical for a moment what if "Verizon Wireless won't offer the same level of customer service..." simply means they won't have support for their nickle and dime you music and movie services and the like?
Well, it was going to be out of copyright in a few years anyway...