Posted 11/20/2009 at 01:21:52am

This isn't surprising at all to me, from recent experience(s) I've had with the xbox360 & xboxlive.  360 titles seem to go to "abandonware" 5-10x faster.

It's a terrible shame that Publishers & game design studios continue to have trouble.  (Guess what ---except for bankers, surgeons, lawyers, & insurance --everyone else is having trouble, too.)

I continue to believe that the software industry's problem is the quality of their product & their conception of their audience --not piracy.   (kinda like the 2008 American auto industry)

 I also think the publishers' executives work on a similar over-the-top pay/compensation & promotion models as Music Publishers and other Media companies...

As far as I'm concerned, these last two are why WW is massively over-priced, for what I get from the game.  I just can't figure why the first price-point "plateau," in on-line gaming --after Free-- is $10/month...   

I could be absolutely, totally wrong here... but the $50/title I'm NOT paying for software that I'm NOT playing, stealing, pirating, NOR illegally distributing ---it's just not bothering me.  

Not selling me stuff is a growth industry.

Posted 11/13/2009 at 11:28:24pm

Gee ---Who would'n thunk it?  

 A program that runs automatically, eats my bandwidth, running video or slideshows, for which I cannot save My preferred ttings  ---because they dump them, every time they load up a new AD.  Basically, assuming that I've got broadband...

What could possibly go wrong? 

I went to Firefox, because it could block pop-ups and annoying ADs.  Pop-ups are less intrusive than Flash.  

I know Security "experts" haven't taken 3-4 years to figure this out.  (It does seem really odd, that this is the first time I've seen it mentioned, any where.) 

 I also gave up on Acrobat ---as all I use it for is reading PDFs.  Foxit does the same thing --just fine.

Posted 11/07/2009 at 02:18:43pm

I guess someone else decided there was a problem with "Intel's Insides..." It's not THAT funny, but I think that Intel & (even more so) Microsoft, are so dominant that they need to hold even more closely to ethics & standards. I'm basically saying that they Deserve to be roasted on their shoddier habits & practices. I'd say the same thing, if there was a similar charge that could be made against both nVidia AND ATI, at the same time. IMHO, it's about how much of the market share they have, and how many short-cuts & dirty tricks they've pulled to keep/grow that Share... but most especially the things that they won't Freely admit to doing; and/or put so much Spin on --that it comes out as Double-talk. The site is funny enough, so I have no problem with it, as long as it's not libelous... A website like this ---run by nVidia, is pretty ironic to me. I've heard NO mention of this kind of practice BY nVidia ----but I don't think We'd be too surprised, if it came out that They did this sort of thing too [or had done, at some time in the Past]. Nothing against nVidia ---as I still think the nForce2 chipset in my last motherboard was just about the best Ever! I'm also still using an nVidia vid-card, and I'm thrilled that they still have drivers for the old TNT series cards that various members of my family still use.

Posted 11/06/2009 at 12:39:21am

I'm still holding onto my dream of a Vector computer system (with x86 or x64 compatibility mode?) It would be wicked cool, especially if you could have an nVidia board and use ATI or other brand cards for the actual video card(s). I'd be surprised if nVidia can afford to pull that miracle off, though ---as a regular consumer machine (not deep enough pockets). I'd just like to see more of the Genuine Innovation that things like the Atom chip show can work and sell...

Posted 11/06/2009 at 12:10:09am

I still love/use my GDX 5.1's, in spite of MPC's review of them... I love that I have one SPDIF, instead of 6 wires going into the back of my PC (and my xbox360)... but the nest of wires coming out of the woofer IS a drag. Every time I see something about wireless audio, I wonder what happened to all optical cabling? I'd much rather have the ability to have 100+ feet of cabling (so it's all hidden in the walls), with Zero worries about interference or attenuation. The interference my digital television picks up from the Neighbor kid's CB and my other neighbor's lawnmower, has pretty much shown me that interference is a Real Bitch --and all around me. Plus, what's the point of 'wireless,' if each speaker still needs a power jack or battery? (I would burn through bushels of batteries...)

Posted 11/02/2009 at 05:57:42pm

Newspaper columnists should have the same kind/quality of rights as movie or music makers... I'm not a fan of blogs. I'm able to write long, meandering statement & opinions --myself, I'm not interested in too many other people's similar work. Newpapers should have been way ahead on this stuff, and had the earliest on-line distribution models. I'm sure at start-up, web publishing would cost more ---but a lot of papers had huge audiences to reach. Those people are still out there --and frequently a "local" classified AD is still better than eBay. The 'papers just need to figure out how the sell it --and remember that they can't ask for $5/month from someone who won't even see 1/4 of what they release. They're right, about needing the protection of Copyrights. I'm just not sure about the "don't summarize us..." thing. Are they going to start copyrighting sentences? (Will O.J.'s Fan get the Rights to "Absolutely, 100% not-guilty..."?) Too many Newpapers got used to being "the only game in town," for a long time. Welcome to Free Market Capitalism.

Posted 11/02/2009 at 05:38:24pm

I didn't think there'd be any Pro texting comments... (live & learn, I guess.) We shouldn't need a Law, to require that any driver pay attention to what their moving vehicle is doing. I'm in favor of Laws on using a cell phone, because they draw too much attention, for too long. For those who quite naturally say "oh no, it doesn't..." Do you STOP, then, if/when You drop your phone --while using it?? I think most of us will go 'groping around,' blindly (or worse --take a look) to avoid stepping on something like that. "Hand's free," is better ---but a lot of people will still end up groping for some button or another, when it's not making them a better driver.

Posted 10/26/2009 at 11:39:22am

The GS gives "computer repair" a bad name. I can't figure out if they just radically over-charge, prefer to sell people a new machine, have massive insurance, or their estimates are based on the dire worst-case. I live in a small town, fix computers, and I'm delighted to have them for a competitor though. I expect much the same from Walmart... but if/when Walmart has quality people working, they run a very fine operation. The best I've seen, have always been the small stores, however --mostly in rural towns, in Missouri and across the South. --That's going back years, though; to before every store had to be a "super" Walmart. (BB, on the whole, used to be better too, maybe for similar reasons.) It's just my guess, but I believe that how well the management makes the people you see feel "valued" makes a huge difference. (It gets really bad, in large markets, where there's a Walmart every 15 miles.) The bit about Service Plans, makes me think they will continue their tradition of Bigger + Crappier = Better...

Posted 10/18/2009 at 11:32:55pm

I think Google needs to take the Bing ADs to heart, give us a logic tree to narrow "matches" down; and not tell me there are 500k matches ---only to stop me viewing more than 15-18 pages of them. Maybe they should buy the US Postal Service contractor, and start laying a grid of fiber optic cable across the country --while they're at it. (Ooops, I think I just proposed Bankruptcy...)

Posted 10/09/2009 at 10:28:23pm

1. Since the price of "factory repair," on notebooks has been sky-high for a long time, a lot of independent repair people won't crack open a notebook ---or only if it's to replace the LCD or keyboard; Low profit margins on these machines makes a lot of sense to me. (Relatively, they're kind of "disposable" PCs.) 2. If they were/are willing to sell netbooks on such narrow margins, it kinda sounds to me like the manufacturers --maybe-- can afford to sell all their "portable" products on similar margins. Maybe they could have, quite some time ago --they've just preferred to maximize profit. I read this as Capitalist "market forces." It's not like they could stock-pile the components for these, instead of selling off stock, and expect to get a bigger profit in 6-12 months. (It's possible they could, but I certainly wouldn't put MY money on that.) It's nice, that the consumer is benefiting from these things, for once...