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::: Friday, May 28 ::: |
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::: Thursday, May 27 ::: |
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Inspiring: Colin Powell on Memorial Day
I'm not usually one to go for such sentiment, but these are some very stirring words from our Secretary of State. If nothing else, it serves to remind us that there is still at least one sagacious soul among the money-grubbing war mongers in our current administration.
[from Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor]
9:30 AM CST ::
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::: Wednesday, May 26 ::: |
Eh: Coca-Cola launches low-carb soda
I saw a commercial for Coca-Cola C2 last night during American Idol. I guess I really don't understand why we need yet another sub-segment of the cola market. Isn't having diet and regular good enough?
What's really crazy is Pepsi is releasing their own their "mid-calorie" alternative Pepsi Edge. So now there will be Pepsi, Pepsi Edge, Pepsi One, and Diet Pepsi. And don't even get me started on the whole flavored cola thing.
When will the madness end?
9:14 AM CST ::
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::: Tuesday, May 25 ::: |
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::: Monday, May 24 ::: |
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::: Monday, May 17 ::: |
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Eye candy: Final Fantasy XII Media Blowout
Gamerfeed has posted a few choice FFXII screenshots and other artwork. Some of it is extremely high-res, so modem users might want to give it a pass. The in-game screenshots look amazing, but they unfortunately picked some really boring scenes.
Here are a few examples:
9:47 AM CST ::
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::: Friday, May 14 ::: |
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::: Thursday, May 13 ::: |
Fore: Duffers Golf UT2004 Mod
I knew Unreal Tournament 2004 had a flexible engine, but this is amazing. I'm particularly impressed by the obvious care that has gone into the textures.
3:34 PM CST ::
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::: Wednesday, May 12 ::: |
Crap: New Legend of Zelda Details
I guess I was wrong. This article seems to suggest that the new hyper-realistic Zelda is the only version in the works and that "Wind Waker 2", as such, does not exist. The confusion might have been caused by the fact that the new Zelda runs on the Wind Waker engine, even though it is a completely different style of animation.
This, of course, leads me to wonder what other uses Nintendo has planned for what is obviously a very powerful and flexible engine.
4:27 PM CST ::
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Heh: The Infinite Cat Project
As much as I'd like to deride this guy for having too much time on his hands, I'm strangely drawn to look at his images of cats looking at cats looking at cats. I can't explain it.
10:38 AM CST ::
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::: Tuesday, May 11 ::: |
w00t: Realistic Zelda Announced
It looks like there might be two Zelda sequels this year, which is the best news I've heard in a long time. It's pretty obvious now that when Nintendo "cancelled" the more realistic GameCube Zelda they never really stopped working on it. The action shown in the movie clip bear a very striking resemblance to early screenshots of Link from several years ago.
Add to that news of a new Star Fox by the end of 2004 and I'm a happy camper.
2:58 PM CST ::
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Interesting: Electronic Arts embraces Xbox Live or Squeek! Vole backs down hole
It's interesting to note how CNet reports that EA backed down and makes no mention of Microsoft's agreement to allow EA to run their own servers. The INQ, of course, slants the news against Microsoft. Taken together the two articles give a reasonable sense of the contents of the agreement.
What neither article addresses is whether the servers in question will use EA's matchmaking software or the actual Microsoft Live code. I've never used either one myself, but I trust Gabe and he says EA's software is "Pure fucking stupidity."
So there's that to consider.
10:56 AM CST ::
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Yep: Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short
Placing a gas mileage gauge on the dashboard has made more drivers aware of their fuel efficiency, says Honda spokesman Andy Boyd, which cuts both ways. "If every car were like that, more people would be complaining (about their conventional cars)," Boyd says.
That's exactly what I've found with my new company car which is equipped with mileage gauge. Even though the window sticker listed 19/26, I have never gotten even 15 mpg. That's pretty sad considering it's a smallish six cylinder.
10:35 AM CST ::
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Hmm: Nvidia brings hardware firewall to Athlon XP rigs
This seems like an entirely reasonable solution to a difficult problem. The real question is whether you trust nVidia with something as crucial as BIOS stability. After my horrendous experiences with early Phoenix and VIA chipsets, I'm pretty careful about such things.
10:12 AM CST ::
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::: Friday, May 7 ::: |
Hmm: Can Gasoline Jump-Start Hydrogen?
While this obviously isn't the ideal end-of-line solution, it certainly seems like a logical interim step. Although it does reduce oil consumption somewhat, it might be just enough of a compromise to keep the oil magnates from fighting too much. The real question is can they make a fuel-cell car that isn't butt ugly?
11:14 AM CST ::
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::: Thursday, May 6 ::: |
Yep: MS Trusted Computing back to drawing board:
"It's worth remembering, however, that the hardware half of the project continues at a pace. An entire day-long track at Intel's February Developer Forum was devoted to chiding OEMs to get ready for TCPA. And the hardware part of the promise is substantial, involving a secure CPU, graphics card and I/O bus which are needed to plug the 'analog hole'."
Which is exactly what I meant when I said I wasn't ready to declare this announcement as the death of Palladium. The hardware end of the club just as painful as the software end.
Update: Microsoft says 'Palladium' is still alive and kicking
11:34 AM CST ::
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Damn: Merits of E-Voting, Paper Backups Debated
Congress created the commission under the 2002 Help America Vote Act ... [t]he commission has said it is woefully underfunded, with only $1.2 million of its $10 million budget appropriated. Because of the funding problems, it has not scheduled additional hearings.
I'm sensing a pattern here. Congress seems all too willing to enact laws which advocate all these wonderful things, but are categorically unwilling to pay for them. It's as if Congress orders three lobsters and several bottles of the finest wine, then when the waitress brings the check they have left their wallet in their other jacket. Somebody pays for all their excess and you can bet it won't be anyone who had a chance to vote on it.
The flip side of this argument is that if Congress votes against such bills then their restraint will be used against them in future elections by competitors. Bush is running several such ads against Kerry right now. Kerry is obviously evil because he didn't vote for a bill to fund military spending, but once you investigate further the reason he voted against that bill was because of the *source* of the funds, not their destination.
I'm beginning to wonder if the US wouldn't be better served by instituting a form of mandatory national service similar to jury duty to fill the House and Senate. Everyone's number would eventually come up and they would serve a fixed length term in Congress. Once their service is complete they would not be called again. It would certainly stop all of this campaign and fundraising nonsense.
11:03 AM CST ::
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::: Wednesday, May 5 ::: |
w00t: Microsoft Shelves NGSCB Project
I'm not ready to hail this as the "Death Of Palladium", but it's certainly a step in the right direction. I'm sure if the truth was known, Microsoft canned it because too many other venders were involved. It threatened their monopolistic nature.
2:15 PM CST ::
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Uhm: Security funds dry up
Correct me if I seem out of line here, but what good can it possible do to enact legislation (FISMA) which requires an extremely high level of information security and then deny funding for agencies to bring their systems into compliance? Does anyone in our goverment have any common sense whatsoever?
11:07 AM CST ::
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dinoneil[at]newdream[dot]net
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