Recent Comments:
Princeton to start publishing Kindle-edition textbooks {Engadget}
Jun 30th 2008 12:57PM Yeah, it will be great until people realize the draconian DRM applied. I would never pay money for a textbook in my major field of study. I still have, and use as reference material textbooks from my early days of undergraduate study. Does anyone actually think that the current DRM riddled Kindle files will still be usable in 15 years?
I wouldn't hold my breath, and I would expect to end up buying the same book at least two or three times over those years. I don't like DRM on my music or moives, but can live with it. I will absolutely not accept DRM on my books, especially vitally important books like textbooks, and those of you that do should think twice about what you are really saving.
Epic Games prez compares Wii to a "virus" {Engadget}
Apr 21st 2008 5:14PM Give me a break.
Try to remember through your violence addled brains what games all of you holier-than-thou elitist gamers played when you were just starting to game.
I bet it wasn't some FPS or super graphics intensive complex control schemed game which requires super advanced eye hand coordination. I bet it was games like Mario or Sonic. It was games just like the ones on the Wii.
Point of fact. The Wii is for kids and families and people who want social gaming. The PS3 and XBox360 are for people who want high end graphics and their ilk in gaming. The Wii is targeted at kids and older adults. The PS3 and XBox360 are targeted at males ages 14-40.
This whole arguement is idiotic. It is like the maker of a Ferrari engine bitching about a minivan not being able to do 0 to 60 in three seconds. Then having a bunch of race car drivers deriding the minivan for selling better then a formula one car being the dumbing down of racing. Catch a clue, the minivan is not targeting race car drivers and the Wii is not targeting "hard core" gamers.
Epic Games prez compares Wii to a "virus" {Engadget}
Apr 21st 2008 5:07PM I have owned a Wii for nearly four months. We had a PS2 before that, adn while we would play it every once in a while, we didn't play it a lot. Mainly because it was too hard for my daughters to play (7 and 3). We recently purchased a PS3 for the BD and media streaming. I actually have little interest in getting any games for it any time soon.
For those of you claiming that the Wii is only a gimmick, and only selling because of some viral phenomenon, and this includes Mr. Capps, realize that the "hard core" gamer is a very small percentage of the overall population. How many PS3 of XBox360s were being sold to retirement homes? How many games on PS3 or XBox360 could a 3 year old play? How many of those games are also fun for an older person to play with them? None to very few.
What many of you are flat out missing is that Nintendo was not trying to sell the Wii to the small percentage of people who are PS3 and XBox360 fans. They are selling the Wii to those people who would not have bought either console, and likely will not buy either console. My family still very much enjoys bowling and golf and all of the other sports games after several months.
Oh, and Will Wright, a real superstar in game development and programming has gone on record stating that he considers the Wii as the [b]only[/b] next generation console. Couple that with the fact that the Wii continually sells more numbers of new consoles and it is nearly impossible to find a new or used one on Ebay at MSRV then it is much more then a viral thing. Or at least I doubt Nintendo cares, as they are trouncing all of the "real" systems in sales every single month.
This all seems like childish whining from Mr. Capps. "Don't look at the Wii it is backwards. Look at my games, they have super high polycounts and look phenomenal!" Who cares that only 5% of the population gives a rat's ass about that. Nintendo is perfectly happy selling to the other 95% of the population, no matter what the elitist "hard core" gamers think.
GreenFuel Technologies signs deal to build algae fuel plant {Engadget}
Mar 18th 2008 10:43AM And here come the detractors!
With their statements of "This is worthless! There are still CO2 emissions."
I am guessing that in a couple of decades if we have Co2 emissions under control these same people will be complaining about the increase in oxygen levels produced by algae farms.
Some people will not be happy unless we are all driven back to the stone age. Of course then it will likely be that the cows are producing too much methane with their flatulence so "Ogg need find alternative to cow!"
I for one am happy that this step is being taken, no matter how small it might be.
Dell's rugged Latitude XFR D630 wants a piece of your Toughbook {Engadget}
Mar 4th 2008 4:29PM Hi I'm Bill Gates!
If I had an MS in Mechanical Engineering, would that qualify me to build a circuit board or a processor? No.
So how many vibrations classes did you take for your CS from your Ivy League school? How many thermodynamic classes did you take (well that one you probably did have a few)? How many strength of materials or machine design courses did you take?
No offense, but just because you have a masters in CS doesn't mean you know jack about building a rugged computer. Most of the requirements for doing this are pretty squarely in the ME field. The components are generally just off the shelf crap. It is all in how you design the case, not just the materials. It is all in how you dampen the vibrations, not just as simple as putting it on rubber bumpers (of course maybe it is, but what type of rubber and what shape?).
If you are actually what you say you are then I am ashamed, because you should know better then to shoot off at the mouth about how simple it is to design anything. Every moron thinks they can do something better, it is the real engineers who have any clue what it actually takes to make those seemingly simple things work correctly.
This of course is assuming you actually are any of the things you state that you are and not just some engineer wannabe with Google.
Microsoft announces new strategy of interoperability, jumps on the "open" bandwagon {Engadget}
Feb 21st 2008 12:42PM All that popped into my head was that scene in "Mars Attacks!" where the Martian is carrying the translator which is looping, "Don't run! We are your friends!" as they are killing everyone in sight.
Microsoft is going to have to do more then say they are committed to openness for many people to believe them. Years of proprietary totalitarianism and the recent snafu they are pulling with IE8, because of their disdain for standards, have left people wary.
Trust is not easily earned.
Apple store down, again {Engadget}
Feb 19th 2008 8:49AM I have been waiting for Aperture 2 with a lot more anticipation then I have yet another increase in storage size on an iPod/iTouch/iPhone (talk about mundane).
Seriously, why is it exciting that chip manufacturer X managed to increase storage capacity so Apple swapped out memory chip Z with memory chip Q.
Yeah, lackey #12 replaced the spindle with 1GB chips with a spindle holding 2GB chips. How exciting!!! (You can tell it is a big deal because it has three whole exclamation points at the end.)
Man arrested at gunpoint for using MP3 player {Engadget}
Feb 13th 2008 11:23AM Wait a minute! He had a bootleg copy of music and they didn't lock the savage criminal up in a dank, dark hole for the rest of his natural life?
Hasn't anyone in UK law enforcement heard that the IIPA and RIAA released a report that IP crime is more significant then burglary, murder, bank robbery, terrorism, necrophilia, and speeding? This animal should have been simply shot on sight for having pirated music. He is obviously the root of all evil on the planet.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I feel sorry for the bloke, but still what do people expect when CCTV is used to determine innocence or guilt?
Apple releases Aperture 2, no MacBook Pro updates in sight {Engadget}
Feb 12th 2008 11:10AM Yeah, buy Photoshop.
New price $649
Upgrade price $199
So what do you get for that additional $450 price? Thousands of features that most photographers will never need.
I have nothing against Photoshop, but it is not the be all end all of everything. Although it tries to be. For less then a third of the price I can do everything that I need to do with my digital photos in a much more user friendly environment.
Now, if I was doing photo compositing or something major like that then, yeah Photoshop is your tool. But if you are simply wanting to organize and edit your photos Photoshop is way too much money and in some ways is less useful.
It is like buying a F1 formula car for your daily commute. It will work, but it will cost you more then you needed to spend and doesn't have a blinker.
The right tool for the right job is a more logical solution.
Three undersea cables expected to be repaired by this weekend {Engadget}
Feb 8th 2008 1:14PM It's called misdirection.
They aren't tapping the four lines leading into Iran that they cut. They are tapping the one line left running. Think about it. For a while now they haven't had to monitor all of the lines just one and everybody thinks they are messing with the four they just dropped boat anchors on.
BRILLIANT!
And people say military intelligence is an oxymoron.
