dontmaimyourself

It would certainly appear that the disk is to blame although you say the disk is fine, you could try it in another PS2 (a friends or something) and if the problem occurs there it is the disk. It could just be that the PS2 is getting a little old. My PS2 had a similar problem where it would tale ages to load then it stopped loading altogether (actually my PS2 would work the other way it would not load first time but then be fine after it had been running for a while), I had to get a new one. Anyway if the disk is causing the PS2 to malfunction it is best you do not use this disk. The causes are numerous for something like this it could be as simple as the lens needs cleaning, duct in the PS2, it could be more extreme PS2's do have a history of Disk read errors, it may be time for a new one.

As with most of the responses here I also feel that this is overly harsh on deviantart.com, for the main fact that is simply is not a review of the site but a review of the people that use that site. The site itself is very well designed and easily navigable (sp?) with the works clearly split into predefined (and get still flexible) categories, this is however more noticeable in the upload process. The community aspect of deviantart is perhaps one of the better I have seen on the web, if you so choose to use the community aspects. The wide selection of artwork available on deviantart also goes in its favour and to claim that the variable quality of the submissions is a bad point of the site (it is after all a site review, ok so I know content is important, but it is more important when it is not user content). I know when other sites in this vein impose quality controls it makes it difficult for newcomers to get their work showcased (and to ultimately gain feedback which will help them better there work). Deviantart.com has grown to become possible the biggest art community on the web (I've discounted Flickr, because it is solely aimed at photography) and this cannot be used against it, ok so you may not like some of the comments (by the way from my experience the comments posted there are almost always relevant and usually contain alot of feedback which is invaluable to budding artists digital or otherwise). Overall I'm going to give deviantart.com a 9 out of 10.

I would personally go for an Intel Macbook, that way you can use bootcamp to install both WindowsXP and MacOSX, and have the best of both worlds. And yeah it is often said that macs are better for media based applications, plus the OS is more secure (although this may be down to it being targeted less, due to its minority userbase), and it does come with better bundled apps than WindowsXP. The only problem that I can see is the lack of software (although it is their just not as accessible, in that its harder to find, as Windows software tends to be). I must confess I have never used a Mac so all of this is just from what I have heard. I am not sure myself if you can yet DreamwWeaver and Photoshop for Macs, but there will be (maybe better) alternative if these applications are not available. You could also consider Linux (Ubuntu is supposedly really good, aint used that though and they ship free CDs incase the iso download is too much for you) which you can also dual boot with Windows on a PC, So you can have Windows as a fall back incase it is necessery that you use Windows. Then again as you say you could always wait the two main OSes out and see whihc comes out on top (or you could try out Vista Beta 2, not recommended though). I hope I have been able to help you, and you get you dilema solved soon.(P.S I don't mean to be picky but should this really be in Technology?, I think General or Computers is perhaps more appropriate)(P.P.S dont worry about being misunderstood, your English is alot better than my French, and the English of some people I know)

Well thats not cool. Don't I feel like a complete idiot right now. Ah well at least we are saved for a little while longer. Well at least the idea for the fake was based on something a real scientist did so the idea of a brain controlling a computer is still valid, they just don't play Quake yet.

Update: This is fake, but was based on valid research carried out by an actual scientist, so the idea is still valid, p.s. yes I do feel like an idiot btw. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Kind of old so sorry if its been posted before. (search didn't show it, or I didn't search hard enough) Anyway as you may have guessed some scientists in Texas (where else?) have grown a 'brain'. The Brain, constructed from dog neurons, was wierd up to quake 3 arena where they set it against a bot. Its progress was charted in video form (available from the link) and shows the 'brain' develop to from simply jumping around randomly to collision detecting and avoidance and engaging in combat. Ok so while playing a game may not seem that important this does show that an organic 'brain' can be produced and then display learning abilities which has clear importance in robotics (and possibly computing). I must say that the development (which happened in just 9 days) is phenomenal. Granted the combat was against super easy bot, but still considering it is a mass of neurons in a petri dish controling the game then it becomes a lot more impressive. I'm not too sure I want my PC developing emotions on me but this could evenyually power a new bread of robot which will learn and develop over time (gotta keep some sort of control don't want the going all matrix / terminator on us).

The basic service is ok, nothing that hasn't been done before (just this time its got that classic Google shine applied to it, hell the name alone will sell it to most people), plus that fact that Picasa itself ain't half bad will help too. I do have one big problem with it though (and a smaller one too). I'll start with the smaller one, the fact that it stretches smaller images to fit into the viewer.Now the far bigger (and I might add quite evil, if its intentional) the service appears to block Opera from viewing images. If you click a link (to view an image, the rest of the service is fine) you (well I am) are treated to a 500 internal server error, But click the same link with Opera set to mask itself as Firefox and the image loads up fine. Now I'm not accusing Google of anything its just clear that this is not a problem with the browser.Note: refreshing the error page with the ua set to Firefox returns an error message too, so it's porbably unintentional.

What do you know 3 days after me saying there was no legal way of getting a Vista Beta they go and release a public beta, get it here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ System Requirements are Here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Release Notes are Here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download You can get it via a mailed DVD (there is a charge for this, to cover shipping costs) or a 3GB ISO. And you need to sign up for an activation code. you will also receive Windows Vista RC1 when it is released later this year (which will stop working January 1st 06, when you will have to go out and buy Vista), Enjoy.

As far as I know there have been two Windows Vista Betas that have been made available to members of MSDN (Microsoft Developers Network) and to other such like MS technical partners. There are currently no legal ways for members of the general public to acquire a Beta version of Vista.Apart from the inability to get it why would you want it. XP is 6 years old (please correct if that is wrong) and MS are still issuing patches to fix the holes. a pre release version of Vista would likely be unusable. Plus to get the full fluid experience of the Aero GUI you need a fairly modern GPU with at least 512MB VRAM, and at least 1GB of main system memory, it will run on less, just not well.

Thanks for the heads up, but seriously do you need to be warned not to download any SP's or hotfixes and the like for windows from any wahere but Microsoft, I mean the MS versions are buggy at best the last thing you want is to be adding the potential for external malware to be added to this.However, I'm sure some will be in need of your warning, just wait till automatic updates tells you there is an officail 'tested' version available directly from MS. Its always nce though to see people looking after the less techniacl users who go around blindly downloading .exe's from all over the place and then wondering why their computer is acting up.P.S. I also thought theye would be going directly to Vista, but I saw something about this the other day (from an unofficial source, so naturally I was dubious). Any way when it does roll out it is supposed to be simply a collection of hotfixes and will not be including any new features (I expect it to ship with IE7 inluded though, but MS's insitance that IE is a vital OS function is a rant for another time). Anyway thanks again for the warning should save a few people anyway.

Damn you beat me to that one. any way what does it matter if the governement can read whats on your monitor any way, what is it you're hiding? Its more likely that they have cameras in your home then they are detecting the rediculously low radiation. But if it really bothers you, you can always break out the old tin foil hats. It doesn't really matter any way there are plenty of other easier ways to find out what you are doing, they probably have satalites watching you right now, for all you know your family may be spies. In short this technology may be highly unlikely but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways of spying on your computing habits, for all you know they could be intercepting your brain waves and interpereting them into thoughts..... *reaches for tinfoil hat*

Right thats it you can close the technology section down now, The perfect piece of new technology has been found. Now how long do I have to wait till I can throw away my keyboard, monitor and mouse? This is about as intuitive as it gets computer interface wise, baring mind control natch. Do you recon they have a test scheme I can get on for free, $9000 is a bit out of my students price range ah well at least the future can begin. now to get working on teleporters and I'll be all set.Seriously this coupled with voice control is probably the next step in HCI (Human Computer Interface) as it offers a simple way to navigate (just imagine the Vista flip feature but in actual 3D space, cool huh?) Ok so I won't be investing in this yet but its nice to know that it is there for when I perfect perpetual motion and become mega rich.

Well generally all of these upload sites are pretty rubbish, especially megaupload. Its a good thing then that there really is no use for them now (OK there is one main use, but the Xisto ToS won't let me talk about that). Seriously though if you have to send a file to someone you'd be a lot better off emailing it to them, trust me you'd save a hell of a lot of truoble and it would be faster, or you could always use any one of the multitude of IM clients that support file transfer.I'll admit that I don't use these sites often (hell I could only name you two of them this and rapidshare, both of whihc are terrible IMO and I avoid using them unless its absolutely nessecery) so I really don't have much in the way of knowledge as to their inner workings, I do know that the UI on each of these sites are terrible and all this 'Please wait while we waste your time doing nothing' nonsense is rubbish. I must admit though that for a free service you can't really complain I would just recommend one of the many better alternate methods (i.e. Gmail).

Well I'm with you Arigato, we simply don't need another image format, we have the JPG. As said before there are plenty of image formats out there all of which have been relative failures when compared to the JPG. Even the JP2. The one thing I will consider using this new format for is if it allows for alpha transparencies (unlike the JPG, but even if it does I will probably stick to the PNG).I will however say that if any one has the opportunity to dethrone the JPG, it would be Microsoft. I do not however base this one the quality of the format, but on Microsoft's previous behaviour, no doubt this will become the primary format in Vista, hell the may even cripple the operating systems handeling of JPG's in an attempt to reduce the use of them (but that would definately end up in an antitrust court and MS would lose). Unless this image format is something exceptional (and judging from WMA and WMV, it won't be) then I see no need for it and I expect the JPG to remain the standard, indeed if any current image format is to overtake the JPG as the standard I feel it will be PNG and not this new MS format, we shall however see what MS can do for this format in Vista, who knows this creation of a new format may make the Vista version of Paint actually good.

I agree with the main points of what you have said, the generational and the increased connectivity aspects (which has clearly already begun, albeit in a very limited manned). It is true that 'the internet' is increasngly becomming more and more common and will continue to increase in places and devices which can be used to access it (indeed this is begining too, strangely lacking in the western world though imo). The one area I do differ in your view of the future is the computers all throughout the house, my view is that their will only be one true computer in the house, this will then be used to goveren the rest of the devices in the house and they will all communicate via a universal wireless protocol (think UPnP , but better). In this house their will instead of being lots of computers be lots of access points (TV's, handheld devices, everything electrical). These central computers will also have the abilty to learn what the inhabitents like to do (propably via embedded RFID chips or the like) and will suggest activities for each individual at a time that is optimal for them. Well thats my ideal future home anyway (that and full WiFi access eveywhere, but thats slightly more extreme). Theres a long way to go yet (until this is mainstream, as this can all be done today) but technology is increasing so that one day this will be a cost effective solution. I agree that the concept of connecting to the internet will be fundametally different, it will cease to be an activity the internet will just be their like TV is now, and benches in shopping centers it will becom the expectation, the most extreme idea is that everything will be delivered via the internet as and when it is required (think video on demand but on acid). I however think that 10 years is a little soon for this to be happening (hell we may still all be using Windows XP, in 10 years if they don't hurry up with Vista, but thats for another discussion).

There are a few other technical changes too, although they won't really make that much of a differences to the average gamer, these are: Reduction from 2 HDMI outputs to 1 HDMI output. Reduction from 3 Ethernet Ports to 1. Reduction in number of USB ports. Differences/Similarities in 20GB and 60GB versions: 60GB has Compact Flash, SD, Memory Stick Pro Duo readers, 20GB does not. (can be upgraded via external drives) 60GB has WiFi, 20GB does not. (can be upgraded via an external adaptor) 20GB version has no HDMI output. (and cant be upgraded) Both will however support wireless controllers. (4 controllers and an additional 3 devices) Both versions can have the HDD upgraded (any removable laptop HDD will do) Although it doesn't really matter to me as it is, as here in the UK it appears that you will only be able get the 60GB version retailed at ?425 ($793, but unlike US price this included tax) Could be wrong but I'm fairly sure thats the official word as it stands today, please correct me if I am wrong.

The question really should be does Google want to be the new Microsoft. Lets face it the core business model of each of the companies are still totally different Microsoft has its software, Google has its online services, granted Google are increasingly stepping off of the Internet and onto the desktop with its new software. From what I can see it would appear to be the other way around i.e. Will Microsoft be the New Google. Lets face it with Microsoft has been lagging in the online services and search (advertising too) areas (with the exception of MSN Messenger, even though I prefer Google Talk). It would now appear that Microsoft are developing a clear online services strategy, that will put it into more direct competition with Google, with Windows Live.This is a complex issue as both companies have their core areas (Microsoft have Windows and Google Have Search/Advertising) but the less core areas are beginning to blur as to where each company stands, and that will only get less clear as Google step into the Word Processing area with Writely and continue to build their software library with items such as Desktop and their 'recent' acquisition of SketchUp. While Microsoft continue to develop their online presence to a similar level of Google (although Gmail is still and will remain untouchable IMHO, and Google Calender looks to be the perfect compliment to Gmail).Overall I believe that Google will not (and do not want to) be the 'New Microsoft'. if anything I see Microsoft as continuing to (attempt) to become the New Google.

yeah this is so clearly a phising attempt its not funny, just delete it and forget about it, and remember this little piece of advice no-one legitimate ever uses all caps, ever.or.you could send him your bank details for a laugh and see what happens (but I really wouldn't recommend that one), more extremely phone the FBI or something (again I wouldn't really recommend that either)

yeah that article says 'haven't got their development kits', it doesn't say Sony don't have any. It says that its difficult to coordinated global development for a single platform, any thing on this large a scale is not easy. But yeah not having an SDK would be a really stupid idea. P.S. sorry if anything I said was a bit harsh, but I'm sick of people having a go at Sony and the PS3 without having any intelligent arguments to back it up, also sorry Tetraca if thats what you meant and I just misunderstood. P.P.S the SDK elements I listed came from an article in Edge magazine (so if its wrong its their fault)

I read as far as #23, you see I (and maybe this is just me) but I have a big problem with that, I know that I personally don't hate gays, I genuinly don't care (and I reckon most other guys are the same), what I do hate is overly camp people, but thats just casue loud people annoy me in general. and yeah by the way its true guys cry too.

Right, don't know what thats all about, but Sony DO have an SDK and it just happens to include arguably the two most important development tools in existence (Unreal + Havok). They even bought SN Systems, one of the largest providers of middleware, they build software that analyses load across the system (this has been used extensively by Polyphony Digital to ensure that GT has been amongst the best looking games of the past 2 generations), so I don't know where that no SDK remark comes from. And to the person who started the thread, why exactly is it you don't like the PS3, have you ever played one, no didn't think so, so exactly how is it a stupid idea. yeah a stunning next gen games console, Blu-Ray player, Linux powered entertainment centre yeah I can see how thats 'a really stupid idea', Just like the PS1 and PS2 before it yeah they failed miserably no-one liked them I mean they didn't even sell or anything (a little history lesson for you only 2 home consoles have ever sold more than 100 million units, guess which ones they are, yep thats right PS1 and PS2). Oh and before anyone starts on the whole Sony Fanboy thing, I will simply say that I intend to buy a Nintendo Wii aswell (I didn't before but their E3 press conference was so amazing it easily blew away both Microsoft and Sony). Now how many Sony fanboys do you know who openly praise Nintendo. Anyway atthe end of the day there are plenty of people me included who will be buying a PS3, and using it as a Media Centre that plays stunnig games and the most technically advanced next gen storage method (look it up Blu-Ray beats HD DVD on the two most important aspects capacity and data rate). oh and p.s. it really annoys me when people flatly put donw any product with out having some evidence, or at least some reasons why they hate said product, you know people are a lot more likely to listen to your opinions if you have some thing more inteligeble to say than thats 'really stupid' especially when the main point you make is 'I mean come on' (exactly how is that supossed to make any one give a damn abbout your opinions?)

Some people are just like that, they like to show off how great they are, and that they can do it. Others do it to hit back at big business, Microsoft is the classic example of this, although recently Apples Mac OSX has come under increasing fire from virus writers.It used to be, and this is way back when, that virus writers would exploit flaws in operating systems and programs, with the intention of getting a job (securing flaws was the most common) at the company who they were exploiting, however now they just sue the person.nowadays however, trogans are increasingly used for financial gain, this and phishing can be an easy and reletively low risk way of fruedulantly gaining someone elses money.It depends really some will do it to go against 'the man', others are simply just bored little geeks with nothing better to do, these often however use other peoples 'work' to exploit applications (hence the name 'script kiddies' which is often attributed to them). Then again some people are just wrong and do it for fun.

It sure does look sweet, and hopefully it will contain some answeres (you know to questions the unfeasibly confusing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty opened up). Hopefully it will be longer than 2 aswell.And yeah the gameplay and the story will be awsome Metal Gear Solid always is. Well I expect to see lots of rather rediculous thoeries as to what this trailer means cropping up on th einternet, hey they'll be lots of beliveable things too. I see this as being one of the mian selling point of the PS3, I know I will get one to play this game, after all the game can't really fail gudging by the quality of the previous 3 (I just hope four has more in common with one and three than it does with two)

I personally have no experience with such a problem as this, admittedly I was never one of the cool people at school (wouldn't want to be either) so I have some experience with the whole looks thing, the thing with me is I tend to look 'normal' but really I'm not in to all of that. Some of my friends get called though (they at least look like what most would call skaters). Anyway the way I see it is that you can either just ignore them (the smart thing to do) or you can fight back (which kind of gives them a reason to think Goths are 'evil'). Anyway I know this cliched but the most important thing is what you think about your self, and how those who know you view you, at the end of the day if some random guy (who is probably alot more likely to cause trouble than yoursef) has a problem then its his problem. Oh and by the way I would like to back up your statement that Goths can be among the nicest people you could meet (although I think that about anyone until they have proven otherwise regardless of the social group they fall into)

Having not used MSN Desktop Search extensively this may not be a fair comparision. My favourite of the two is Google Desktop Search, this choice is based pretty much solely on the 'Quick Results' feature, which I know MSN has an equivelant, its just more clutterd and less intuitive than the Google offering. That and the sidebar any way. I also thought that from using the two of them that Google Desktop Search seems to be noticably faster in returing results (although I have read reports that Coppernic Desktop Search is faster, but lacks a similarly intuitive 'Quick Results'). Then again I do pretty much choose the Google option for all available applications (apart from online Bookmarks, they pale when compared to the mighty del.icio.us; any way thats off topic so just ignore it.)

Just to clear this up OK (because there seems to bit a little bit of confusion) The PlayStation 3 will definately inlcuded the built in abiltity to play Blu Ray discs (both games and movies). While I do have to say that 50GB for a disc is impressive (and in most catagories the Blu Ray is superior to the HDDVD, data transfer which is perhaps the second most important factor after capacity is included in this superiority over HDDVD) and at least for the PlayStation 3 Blu Rays will have to survive otherwise as it is the main medium for games on that system (its the main reason for the November dealay).However it is important to look at both sides of the argument, Blu Rays are undoubtably technically superior, however due to their main developer being Sony, the Blu Ray is built around DRM and as such Blu Ray players are alot more restrictive as to what can be played on them than HDDVD, and when taking in to account the price differences and delays in getting the Blu Ray format up and running this Blu Ray - HDDVD format war may not be won on technical merits.P.S. I forgot to mention this (probably the most important part of this post) my prefered next gen disc format is currently Blu Ray as the technical benefits outweigh the DRM restrictions, and price of standalone players and delays to the finalising of the specs of the disc.