How long before places like iTMS become the main source for distribution?
Places like iTMS? Could be good. iTMS itself? Hopefully never. I don't want to be locked into getting music in a low sound quality, DRM'd, format which isn't compatible with any of my players.
Example: Today, I came across an accessory that turns a car's cup holder into an iPod holder. Lame That's (a) not new - I bought one over a year ago and (b) not lame - it's extremely useful. Sure, it may not appeal to you, but guess what - you don't represent the world.
I don't necessarily disagree with you. I just have a slightly different outlook;-). I think we agree pretty much totally - don't rely on the tech, rely on talking to your kids and spending time with them. To me that also means encouraging them not to spend all day every day locked in their bedroom - if the internet is in the lounge maybe they will be a little more social:)
Also, with regard to monitoring software, as a confirmed geek myself, I'd be disappointed if any child of mine couldn't get around such blocks. Hell I'd set it as a challenge:)
Which is good. They'll use the wrong word, get marked down for it, and learn not to trust the spellchecker.
My girlfriend is a humanities teacher and she goes through this all the time with new students. They soon learn not to blindly rely on technology, and it's a very valuable lesson.
I don't know how old you are, but judging from the fact you mention DOS 5 (which I also grew up learning), then you're a similar age to me. I also had computers in my room from an early age, and I too see that as valuable. However, there's an important difference between then and now, and it's the net. I consider myself progressive and liberal, and I would have no problem with my kids using the net. But I'm not naive enough to think that everything out there is suitable for them, or that filtering software is worth anything whatsoever. Parental responsibility means knowing what your kids are doing, and for me, that means internet access happens in public - not with me watching them 24x7, just with no expectation of privacy. Maybe they can have an unwired computer in the bedroom too, but no internet connection.
Other countries of the world have accomplished this seemingly insurmountable task - why can't the US? If you answer is "we don't want to" then fine, so be it, it's not really any of my business. But saying "we'd like to but we just can't" is absurd.
Building materials -- they're made in inches and feet. So you change that. How are you going to make unit metric parts for the millions of homes that are already in units of inches and feet? You're not. You provide both for as long as needed. If I go into a hardware store in NYC I can already buy all the tools, screws, nails etc I might need in either metric or imperial. Already. See? It wasn't hard. Personally, I keep this magic thing called a "calculator" around, and convert as required. Mine does unit conversion easily and reliably (HP-48), among many other useful things. You should tell NASA, they could use some. Personally I prefer using a sensible unit system so I can easily do it all in my head.
On a personal note, the thing I find annoying about the metric system is the lack of a standard unit of measurement between centimeters and meters. Like the decimeter? Hint: There is only ONE standard unit of length in the metric system. The meter. That's it. Everything else is a fraction or multiple of that. So just use whatever prefix suits - milli, nano, centi, deci, kilo - take your pick. Each is ten times bigger (or smaller) than the last. Makes life easy, no?
Frankly, base-10 is a crappy number base and we only use it because that's what everyone knows. And that's a damn good reason to use it. Virtually every currency in the world is base 10, the only counting system 99% of the population ever use is base 10. While base 12 might be great, it's not going to happen (ever tried to teach someone non-techincal hex?). So of the two choices (base 10 or base-something-different-every-time) I'd pick metric.
Yes. We are able to use non-decimal units because, quite frankly, most applications call for non-decimal units. Which is the standard, utterly nonsensical, argument. These are only measurement systems. You can use either to express anything. However, one of them (and I'll let you figure out which) makes it MUCH easier to do conversions and allows useful equations (like e=mc^2) to actually work without inventing new units to fit. So yes, something which is an inch today may be 2.54cm, which isn't as convenient to write. But guess what, that same thing in a metric country would be 2.5cm, or maybe even 3cm. Which is 1.18110236. I'll let you work out what fraction that is....
I can only imagine the screams of pain from engineers everytime MS and Sony's marketing teams released a revised release date.
AFAIK none of the dates have been announced yet. That aside, Microsoft have always (again, AFAIK) said "end of 2005", and that's what it looks like we're getting. Sony countered with a "H1 2006" (IIRC, from E3) and now some people are predicting that may change. I don't see either marketing dept partaking in "corporate triple-dog-dare" unless it's behind closed doors.
Why this surprise about HD DVD? The Xbox360 has NEVER been advertised as supporting HD-DVD. When the specs we out back in May it said regular DVD. So if you only just decided not to buy one, well you haven't been paying attention.
Of course the 360 launch is going to flop
No, it won't. Microsoft's marketing machine will not let that occur.
Its interesting that this comes quite soon after Bill Gates himself announced that the first next-gen Xboxes would ship with non-HD DVD drives
He did no such thing. It has ALWAYS been specified that the Xbox360 would have a regular DVD drive (see this article from May), because the next gen formats would not be available in time. What he announced recently was that in the future, they may ship new models with HD DVD drives.
Just like Nokia and Ericsson wanted Bluetooth in everything.
Seems like they're doing pretty well. My phone has bluetooth, my PDA has bluetooth, my GPS has bluetooth, my mouse has bluetooth, my laptop has bluetooth (as does my girlfriend's ibook), and then of course there's the bluetooth headset. I don't have bluetooth in my car, but plenty of people do. Bluetooth headphones for DAPs are starting to get popular now too.
It took a while to get going, but bluetooth is now (at last) getting the widespread use it deserves.
I have a 10mbit cable connection from CableVision, and I typically get around 800k/s downloads from decent servers, which isn't far off the theoretical maximum once you take into account protocol overheads. And this is right outside NYC in a heavily populated area.
I used to have DSL from a UK provider and guess what? I paid for 1mbit (a big deal back then) and got less than half that. When I complained they said it was because the available bandwidth was split amongst many users, and that 1mbit was the max I would see, and in no way guaranteed.
My cable experience has been way closer to the advertised rate than DSL. Add the fact that with VOIP I can stop doing business with the local telco (Verizon) althogether and I'm as happy as a clam.
You know, I want to build a car that only drives sideways. I know that's wrong but I just don't care. I insist that all the roads, intersections, traffic lights, driveways, parking garages, gas stations, and tollboothes be re-built to accomodate the limitations of my new design. Now, isn't that reasonable?
If 90% of drivers are using your sideways car, then yes.
(a) Blank CDs cost a lot less than $1. (b) This is South Africa. It has a lot more in common with Europe than the rest of Africa. It is not third world, it is a developed, industrial nation. (c) Why do people in the USA with broadband and easy access to BitTorrent use Linux when they could just as easily download pirated MS products? Because they prefer Linux.
All? You forgot this list of DS compatible titles. Sony, on the other hand, neglected to put back-compatibility with PS1 games in its handheld, even through a USB version of its Walkman CD player.
That wouldn't be backwards compatibility would it? It would be compatibility with a completely different system. How many games designed for a 4:3 TV screen would even be usable on a 16:9 handheld, with a different control scheme? That's totally unrealistic IMHO.
Does the DS play N64 games? Or Gamecube games? No. It plays games from their previous handhelds. Sony doesn't have any previous handhelds. I would be disappointed if any PSP2 which comes doesn't play PSP games, but that's for the future. I do think that GBA compatibility is an advantage of the DS, but as a GBA owner, it doesn't make me want to buy a DS. Unless there are good DS-only games, why should I upgrade? Even if I wasn't a GBA owner, if I wanted to play GBA games, I'd buy a GBA (they are virtually free now).
I'd be happy to make it more accurate, and I like to read constructive rebuttals. Could you please refute some of the specific points that my article makes? If I have time, I may.
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How long before places like iTMS become the main source for distribution?
Places like iTMS? Could be good. iTMS itself? Hopefully never. I don't want to be locked into getting music in a low sound quality, DRM'd, format which isn't compatible with any of my players.
Example: Today, I came across an accessory that turns a car's cup holder into an iPod holder. Lame
That's (a) not new - I bought one over a year ago and (b) not lame - it's extremely useful. Sure, it may not appeal to you, but guess what - you don't represent the world.
The Logitech Precision wireless are by far the best wireless controllers for the Xbox, likewise the PS2 versions.
I don't necessarily disagree with you. I just have a slightly different outlook ;-). :)
:)
I think we agree pretty much totally - don't rely on the tech, rely on talking to your kids and spending time with them. To me that also means encouraging them not to spend all day every day locked in their bedroom - if the internet is in the lounge maybe they will be a little more social
Also, with regard to monitoring software, as a confirmed geek myself, I'd be disappointed if any child of mine couldn't get around such blocks. Hell I'd set it as a challenge
Which is good. They'll use the wrong word, get marked down for it, and learn not to trust the spellchecker.
My girlfriend is a humanities teacher and she goes through this all the time with new students. They soon learn not to blindly rely on technology, and it's a very valuable lesson.
I don't know how old you are, but judging from the fact you mention DOS 5 (which I also grew up learning), then you're a similar age to me. I also had computers in my room from an early age, and I too see that as valuable. However, there's an important difference between then and now, and it's the net. I consider myself progressive and liberal, and I would have no problem with my kids using the net. But I'm not naive enough to think that everything out there is suitable for them, or that filtering software is worth anything whatsoever. Parental responsibility means knowing what your kids are doing, and for me, that means internet access happens in public - not with me watching them 24x7, just with no expectation of privacy. Maybe they can have an unwired computer in the bedroom too, but no internet connection.
Word just started up in 3 seconds for me, and this is NOT a fast computer. At home on a decent box it's more like 1 second.
Other countries of the world have accomplished this seemingly insurmountable task - why can't the US? If you answer is "we don't want to" then fine, so be it, it's not really any of my business. But saying "we'd like to but we just can't" is absurd.
Building materials -- they're made in inches and feet.
So you change that.
How are you going to make unit metric parts for the millions of homes that are already in units of inches and feet?
You're not. You provide both for as long as needed. If I go into a hardware store in NYC I can already buy all the tools, screws, nails etc I might need in either metric or imperial. Already. See? It wasn't hard.
Personally, I keep this magic thing called a "calculator" around, and convert as required. Mine does unit conversion easily and reliably (HP-48), among many other useful things.
You should tell NASA, they could use some. Personally I prefer using a sensible unit system so I can easily do it all in my head.
On a personal note, the thing I find annoying about the metric system is the lack of a standard unit of measurement between centimeters and meters.
Like the decimeter? Hint: There is only ONE standard unit of length in the metric system. The meter. That's it. Everything else is a fraction or multiple of that. So just use whatever prefix suits - milli, nano, centi, deci, kilo - take your pick. Each is ten times bigger (or smaller) than the last. Makes life easy, no?
Frankly, base-10 is a crappy number base and we only use it because that's what everyone knows.
And that's a damn good reason to use it. Virtually every currency in the world is base 10, the only counting system 99% of the population ever use is base 10. While base 12 might be great, it's not going to happen (ever tried to teach someone non-techincal hex?). So of the two choices (base 10 or base-something-different-every-time) I'd pick metric.
Yes. We are able to use non-decimal units because, quite frankly, most applications call for non-decimal units.
Which is the standard, utterly nonsensical, argument. These are only measurement systems. You can use either to express anything. However, one of them (and I'll let you figure out which) makes it MUCH easier to do conversions and allows useful equations (like e=mc^2) to actually work without inventing new units to fit. So yes, something which is an inch today may be 2.54cm, which isn't as convenient to write. But guess what, that same thing in a metric country would be 2.5cm, or maybe even 3cm. Which is 1.18110236. I'll let you work out what fraction that is....
Just to clarify, 1N is the force required to accelerate 1kg by 1m/s/s. Hence to lift an apple (approx 100g) from the ground (approx 10m/s/s).
I used to play Top Trumps 20 years ago (actually more). I think TT wins :)
I can only imagine the screams of pain from engineers everytime MS and Sony's marketing teams released a revised release date.
AFAIK none of the dates have been announced yet. That aside, Microsoft have always (again, AFAIK) said "end of 2005", and that's what it looks like we're getting. Sony countered with a "H1 2006" (IIRC, from E3) and now some people are predicting that may change. I don't see either marketing dept partaking in "corporate triple-dog-dare" unless it's behind closed doors.
Why this surprise about HD DVD? The Xbox360 has NEVER been advertised as supporting HD-DVD. When the specs we out back in May it said regular DVD. So if you only just decided not to buy one, well you haven't been paying attention.
Of course the 360 launch is going to flop
No, it won't. Microsoft's marketing machine will not let that occur.
Its interesting that this comes quite soon after Bill Gates himself announced that the first next-gen Xboxes would ship with non-HD DVD drives
He did no such thing. It has ALWAYS been specified that the Xbox360 would have a regular DVD drive (see this article from May), because the next gen formats would not be available in time. What he announced recently was that in the future, they may ship new models with HD DVD drives.
Margherita is the actual, you know, italian name for pizza with just tomato and mozarella on it.
Just like Nokia and Ericsson wanted Bluetooth in everything.
Seems like they're doing pretty well. My phone has bluetooth, my PDA has bluetooth, my GPS has bluetooth, my mouse has bluetooth, my laptop has bluetooth (as does my girlfriend's ibook), and then of course there's the bluetooth headset. I don't have bluetooth in my car, but plenty of people do. Bluetooth headphones for DAPs are starting to get popular now too.
It took a while to get going, but bluetooth is now (at last) getting the widespread use it deserves.
I have a 10mbit cable connection from CableVision, and I typically get around 800k/s downloads from decent servers, which isn't far off the theoretical maximum once you take into account protocol overheads. And this is right outside NYC in a heavily populated area.
I used to have DSL from a UK provider and guess what? I paid for 1mbit (a big deal back then) and got less than half that. When I complained they said it was because the available bandwidth was split amongst many users, and that 1mbit was the max I would see, and in no way guaranteed.
My cable experience has been way closer to the advertised rate than DSL. Add the fact that with VOIP I can stop doing business with the local telco (Verizon) althogether and I'm as happy as a clam.
The explosion in consumer debt over recent years (particularly in the US) seems to suggest that people most certainly do not spend within their means.
According to microsoft it's Seagate
For me? PGR3.
You know, I want to build a car that only drives sideways. I know that's wrong but I just don't care. I insist that all the roads, intersections, traffic lights, driveways, parking garages, gas stations, and tollboothes be re-built to accomodate the limitations of my new design. Now, isn't that reasonable?
If 90% of drivers are using your sideways car, then yes.
(a) Blank CDs cost a lot less than $1.
(b) This is South Africa. It has a lot more in common with Europe than the rest of Africa. It is not third world, it is a developed, industrial nation.
(c) Why do people in the USA with broadband and easy access to BitTorrent use Linux when they could just as easily download pirated MS products? Because they prefer Linux.
All? You forgot this list of DS compatible titles. Sony, on the other hand, neglected to put back-compatibility with PS1 games in its handheld, even through a USB version of its Walkman CD player.
That wouldn't be backwards compatibility would it? It would be compatibility with a completely different system. How many games designed for a 4:3 TV screen would even be usable on a 16:9 handheld, with a different control scheme? That's totally unrealistic IMHO.
Does the DS play N64 games? Or Gamecube games? No. It plays games from their previous handhelds. Sony doesn't have any previous handhelds. I would be disappointed if any PSP2 which comes doesn't play PSP games, but that's for the future. I do think that GBA compatibility is an advantage of the DS, but as a GBA owner, it doesn't make me want to buy a DS. Unless there are good DS-only games, why should I upgrade? Even if I wasn't a GBA owner, if I wanted to play GBA games, I'd buy a GBA (they are virtually free now).
I'd be happy to make it more accurate, and I like to read constructive rebuttals. Could you please refute some of the specific points that my article makes?
If I have time, I may.