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::: Wednesday, November 26 ::: |
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Uhm: High school principal calls off 'The Breakfast Club' performances
I'm not sure what the message is here. High schools can perform Grease, a play about underage sex and illegal auto racing, but they can't perform a play where kids sit in a library and talk about their problems? I'm sure this guy wouldn't let them do Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet either. I mean, think of the children!
In other news, I'm on vacation this week, hence the lack of updates. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'll be back in full swing by Monday.
[thanks to Jake for the link]
4:31 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Friday, November 21 ::: |
w00t: Shockwave Robotron
Very nice. Not so much a "port" as an emulator, but they did a good job on the interface. I'm not sure how they kept the keys from interfering with each other. Back when I thought I was going to be a game designer, I constantly fought problems where the keyboard wouldn't notice that key X was down because key Y was already being pressed.
[thanks to Mike for the link]
2:19 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Hell yeah: Zink on Anti-Bush campaigning
Wouldn't it be grand if the Democrats would actually do this? It seems like a very savvy way of bypassing Bush's popularity and getting the swing voters on the correct side of the fence. I don't often agree with Zink on political issues, but when he's right he is dead right.
1:21 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, November 17 ::: |
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Wow: Nintendo signs IBM for next-gen console
One of two things is happening here. Perhaps IBM pulled a hat trick and bagged the cpu deal for all three nextgen consoles. The other alternative, as posited in this article, is that Nintendo and Microsoft might form an unholy union to depose Sony.
That would certainly explain why Microsoft would be willing to forfeit backward compatability with the Xbox. Why fight over the scraps when they could set their own table?
3:14 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Thursday, November 13 ::: |
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::: Wednesday, November 12 ::: |
Scary: The Massachusetts Internet tax mystery
It's so simple that it never even occurred to me. If the carrier responsible for shipping goods you purchase online turns your personal information over without a second thought, then it really doesn't matter how iron-clad the privacy policy of your online reseller might be. UPS appears to have done just that in this case.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in this case is that it involves cigarettes. The non-smoking American public has developed an automatic news filter which disregards anything which disadvantages smokers. In the end this case goes beyond simple "sin taxes" and, once a legal precedent is set, could apply to *all* online purchases.
11:05 AM CST :: tell me a story
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Wow: Go Mobile and Keep Your Number
I knew that the portability laws were changing for cell phones, but I never expected them to take it this far. I am left to assume that at some point numbers will be completely portable. This would allow excess numbers from rural systems to be transferred into more densely populated areas. That might postpone the need to add more digits to the system for quite a while.
In the long term it will be a moot point anyway. My guess is that eventually all phones, whether wireless or landline, will be pure IP devices and will use a modified version of DNS for call routing.
10:47 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Friday, November 7 ::: |
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w00t: Thundercats Outtakes
They're all worth a quick listen, but I think this is my favorite. I love finding out that the guys who worked on shows like this realized the ridiculousness of the dialog while they were taping it. It adds a whole new level to the show.
[thanks to Brett for the link]
2:39 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Yessir: Costikyan on Politics
Though I can't say I've ever been a fan of Repugnicans, Greg echoes my sentiment in regard to the current crop of Democratic nominees. I will almost certainly vote for Dean in the primaries and again if he is awarded the nomination. If Dean doesn't get the nod in the spring, I can somewhat easily justify voting for Edwards or Kerry since they aren't Bush. I might even be able to vote for Clark if he can convince me to trust a cog from the military machine in the coming year.
Beyond that I'd sooner piss on my ballot than vote for any of the other so-called democrats, particularly Lieberman. If I go stark raving mad and decide I want a Repugnican in office, I'll elect one who is proud of his party of choice, not one which masquerades as a Democrat.
1:46 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Amen: Aussies Do E-Voting Right
"The only possible motive I can see for disabling some of the security mechanisms and features in their system is to be able to rig elections," Quinn said. "It is, at best, bad programming; at worst, the system has been designed to rig an election."
My thoughts exactly.
12:38 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Hmm: Toyota Prius
I guess I'll never fully understand why electric cars have to be so damn ugly. It's too bad because a hybrid gas/electric vehicle would be perfect for me. Since my daily commute is less than five miles, I would likely get by on battery power most of the time.
11:43 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Thursday, November 6 ::: |
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Sigh: Are PCs next in Hollywood piracy battle?
It's amazing, but it appears that in one fell swoop the FCC has outlawed tv-tuner cards for pcs, killed most of TiVo's best features, and made archiving tv shows nearly impossible. TiVo users, and by extension all PVR users, will no longer be able to skip commercials or pause live tv. In fact, some shows will not even be recordable at all. If the TiVo unit records a blocked program, when the user attempts view the program it will not be available.
What's even worse, in my opinion, is that this was a 3-2 decision. Meaning that there are five (!) individuals responsible for deciding whether we have free access to digital television feeds. Five people to decide the fate of companies like Hauppauge and TiVo.
The upside is that this battle is far from over. The downside is that Congress may get involved and they are even easier to influence than the FCC. Regardless, it's a dark day for freedom.
1:42 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Wednesday, November 5 ::: |
Uh-oh: Wal-Mart to hold ID tag meeting
"Analysts always have to come up with something," Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams said.
It invariably signals trouble when a company spokesman uses the "what's good for us is good for America" logic. With implementation costs of between 13 and 23 million, I'd want a little more for my investment than warm fuzzies from Wal-mart. I'd want exclusive contracts, open ended credit lines, and hefty cancellation fees should Wal-mart decide it doesn't like the color of my trucks anymore.
1:56 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Hmm: Xbox2 vies with PS3 technology
This is odd. Although Wired reported yesterday that the PowerPC would be the processor for Xbox2, this article from The INQ claims that no such final proclamation has been made. In fact, they think that Microsoft may end up getting access to Sony's cell processor technology through their deal with IBM.
One thing is for sure, it's way too early to be predicting what any of this might mean for gamers.
1:26 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Eh: Nintendo Provides Full GCN Zelda Bundle Details
Well, this could have turned out worse I suppose. Nintendo could have only offered the Zelda bonus disc to those who purchased a new 'cube. As it stands, I'll have to buy Double Dash and Mario Party 5 and register them to get the bonus disc. I intended to purchase both of those games this Christmas anyway, so it's no big deal.
It is kind of a shame though because I would have willingly paid full price for the bonus disc. Now I have to jump through hoops and allow Nintendo to sell my name, address, and email to everyone on the planet in order to bathe in the sweet, velvetly Zeldaness.
11:29 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Tuesday, November 4 ::: |
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Wow: Xbox to Switch to PowerPC
Wired confirms and fleshes out the announcement from yesterday. The biggest casualty of this is likely to be backward compatibility. I doubt there will be any feasible way to run the current crop of Xbox titles on the new gear. Since Sony has already announced that the PS3 will have this feature and Nintendo has hinted at it for their next console, Microsoft could be left in a very tough position.
That said, Microsoft has always been very supportive of its developer community and developers have already gone on record saying that nobody has any idea how to write software for the PS3's "cell processor". Backward compatibility could end up being a red herring.
5:16 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Hmm: Novell bags SuSE for $210m
Following as it does on the heels of their Ximian buyout, this move seems to set Novell on very firm ground. If they are able to demonstrate the same level of programming prowess as they did in the late-80's and early-90's, they could end up being a serious contender all the way down to the desktop level. This is certainly one to watch over the next few years as Microsoft struggles to remake itself in Longhorn's image.
5:09 PM CST :: tell me a story
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w00t: GameCube Price Drop Continues to Spur Sales
The Nintendo loyalist in me really wants to see this as a turning point which will draw developers back to the 'Cube. However, with only two holiday seasons left it seems a bit late for that. I'm mostly hoping that this jump in market share will transfer some developer interest over to the next Nintendo console.
5:04 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, November 3 ::: |
Interesting: Microsoft picks IBM as Xbox 2 processor partner
This announcement is quite puzzling. I can't see Microsoft validating Nintendo's decisions on the Gamecube, even if those very decisions were responsible for allow them to sell the 'Cube at $99. Regardless, it is pretty clear that Redmond can't continue to retail a x86-based console for half of what the parts cost forever. Something has to give.
2:41 PM CST :: tell me a story
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dinoneil[at]newdream[dot]net
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