Why yes, it can be says this nifty article from mindjack. It reiterates the same things that people like Eric Flint have been saying all along. Digital piracy promotes word of mouth and eventually makes the product even more successful than it would have been otherwise. He uses Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Who as his examples. He also throws together an different way of advertising that would allow pirated (or freely released on the i-net) shows to still have advertising and still make the producers money.

(Link for this article no longer valid) You know though, China may have had nothing to do with this. At least as far as the words “freedom” and “independence” are concerned. I would think that those two words would run contrary to their “Windows Everywhere” project and they would be willing to ban them even if they weren’t doing it for China.

Next generation consoles and how to misuse statistics. Microsoft recently released a document to various gaming organizations. Only one site I know of published it with a huge warning up front that it was direct from microsoft with no editing whatsoever and was extremely slanted. Further research shows that its slant approaches vertical. Since then I’ve noticed on many gaming sites that Microsoft fanboys have been abusing these numbers that they apparently don’t even understand and using them to tout the superiority of their choice of two systems that aren’t even OUT yet.

The games are getting slaughtered here. A week or two ago I finished off Okage. This weekend I polished off Front Mission 4, and last night I gave Dark Cloud 1 another go right before bed and finished it as well. FM4 I just purchased while Dark Cloud I’ve had for a bit over a year. Technically they’re not DONE done. FM4 still has the extra mode where you go through again starting with 800 some experience points and a good bit of extra cash.

Edit: Replaced a subscription link with a free one of the same story. Take that, registration required sites!Amd says Intel’s dual core isn’t really a dual coreAccording to what I’ve read on various hardware sites, they’re right… at least about the dual core Xeons. Intel’s Dual core Xeon chips are really just 2 Xeon dies stuck next to each other inside the same chip packaging, only connected through their frontside bus.

I posted before about unfinished games and the like. Here’s an update, not that anyone actually cares. :) I’ve finished Okage. I’ve gotten to where I consider FF11’s main storyline finished. I’ve given up on Pokemon and Metroid Fusion. I think I’m going to trade them in for credit.FFXI: RDM64 BLM32 BST31. Kazriri is up to WHM20 and BLM12. That’s about all the progress I’ve made past finishing mission 5-2.I’ve tossed Front Mission 4 and Arc the Lad 4 onto my stack of unfinished games.

Wil Wheaton recently posted a link to something called the huffington post. It appears to be a very left wing production with some rather high profile Democrats writing it. There were a couple of interesting posts like this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/irshad-manji/the-riots-in-jalalabad_1013.html and this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/seth-greenland/paxilistan_1055.html which are both a little out in center-left field, but in general it’s just way out in left field.This one especially left me agog. I mean. I stared at the final sentence for awhile thinking “who would actually suggest this!

Confirming what I already knew to be true…Deleted the urgly colors and all the stupid fonts and such. Then I deleted the table because it was utterly pointless. Your Geek Profile: General Geekiness: HighInternet Geekiness: HighMusic Geekiness: HighSciFi Geekiness: HighAcademic Geekiness: ModerateGamer Geekiness: ModerateGeekiness in Love: ModerateMovie Geekiness: NoneHow Geeky Are You?

I’ve commented on how excessive quantities of stupid laws that are unevenly enforced are a problem before. I found a song to go along with those comments! It’s pretty good once you get past the little dig at Prez Clinton and at millionares. (It was written in 96.)Hear about the president?He used to smoke potHe never broke the lawCause he never got caughtIt’s a sign of the times, it’s the ultimate crimeGuilty of being caught red handedThe roll of the dice says your gonna do timeGuilty of being caught red handedJunkie drug dealer does 50 years timeWhile millionaire murderer just pays a fineIt’s a sign of the timesIt’s the ultimate crimeGuilty of being caught red handedThe roll of the dice says you’re gonna do timeGuilty of being caught red handedI’ll pretend not to seeWhat you pretend you don’t doI’m innocent like youSo many stupid lawsGonna have to break a fewSpeed or run a red light I might tooWhen the man pulls you over like it or notYour just one of the manyOnly you got caughtIt’s a sign of the times, it’s the ultimate crimeGuilty of being caught red handedThe roll of the dice says you’re gonna do timeGuilty of being caught red handedI’ll pretend not to seeWhat you pretend you don’t doI’m innocentIt’s a sign of the times ultimate crimeGuilty of being caught red handedRoll of the dice, says you’re gonna do timeGuilty of being caught red handed

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000640041047/Sure would be nice to have a single high-density standard and not have to go over the whole vhs - betamax war again.