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Living Room / Re: When Kickstarters Fail

« Last post by wraith808 on November 02, 2012, 04:38 PM »

But Kickstarter isn't really involved, other than being a forum for submissions.  It's like if I posted something on DC regarding wanting funding for something- sure DC is place where I can put things, but how does the success or failure of that venture reflect on DC?  Or on any future posts?  That failure reflects on the business posting the proposition- not the forum where it's posted, other than this is a good or bad place to post my venture, right?

It's a little bit different with places like YCombinator that actually invest in the startups and groom them.  They are putting a certain amount of their own reputation and resources behind any that they accept.  But Kickstarter actively separates themselves from those that ask for funding.  The success or failure of any posting is a reflection on that business only, IMO.

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Living Room / Re: When Kickstarters Fail

« Last post by wraith808 on November 02, 2012, 01:36 PM »

That's a bit disingenuous on Kickstarter's part. And considering they may be considered in the business of publicizing and facilitating investment opportunities, they're skating on thin ice with state and federal laws and regulators.

-40hz (November 02, 2012, 01:25 PM)

Is that true though?  It's a failure of the project in terms of a failure to get funding.  That's not a consideration for investors- but rather a consideration for those listing their KS there, right?

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Living Room / When Kickstarters Fail

« Last post by wraith808 on November 02, 2012, 10:55 AM »

A great article (courtesy of MakeUseOf.com) about why Kickstarter's fail.  This isn't just about not getting funded, but also failure to deliver in a timely fashion, which is a problem of many successful kickstarters, especially the mega-successful ones, and other problems with estimation and expectations, which cause some kickstarters to under-deliver as they don't actually have the funds to deliver the entire product.

TL;DR summation from the article itself (and a great quote included before the conclusion)

These changes seem sensible, yet the title of the blog post (“Kickstarter is not a store”) misses the point. The real issue is not contributor expectations but instead the burden of success. Project creators are beginning to understand that realizing a dream is sometimes more frightening than failure, which may be why there’s been a noticeable upward trend in the funding projects are asking for. Kickstarter could solve this by implementing a funding cap that allowed creators to keep projects manageable, but that would cut in to the company’s profits.

Conclusion

In talking with Tyler, Dylan and Georgia it became clear that Kickstarter, though potentially an incredible platform, is no magic bullet. The effort required to put up a good project is substantial and many projects have no reasonable chance of success without weeks of work by the project’s creators.

Talking with these individuals has also given me a sense that Kickstarter is a force of both creation and destruction. An extremely successful project can be life-changing for its creator, but failure implies the world has found the project worthless. This chaos allows for incredible creativity and success but also can take a toll on the people involved.

As the flood of money into crowd-funding continues both contributors and creators are at risk of forgetting that this movement is about people, not products. The people we fund, the platforms we support and the rewards we demand will shape the future crowd-funding, and perhaps even our economy.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Synergy Virtual KVM

« Last post by wraith808 on November 02, 2012, 09:38 AM »

http://www.mattcutts...ynergy-in-six-steps/

This tutorial is the one that I used.  I gave up on it after I spent the time to get it set up- it worked for a week, then I took my laptop home from work and when I came back, it didn't work.  I went through this a few times, and finally found Multiplicity and ditched Synergy.

Note: I did remember why I used Synergy for as long as I did - Multiplicity isn't cross platform, but ShareMouse is.  But the problem with ShareMouse is the pricing - you pay per computer that you use.   You might want to give Synergy more of a try. 

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General Software Discussion / Re: Synergy Virtual KVM

« Last post by wraith808 on November 02, 2012, 09:14 AM »

I've gotten it to work, but it's definitely sketchy.  When it works, it's great!  But it's likely to stop, even after you spend the time to get it to work.

I'd suggest looking elsewhere (ShareMouse, Multiplicity, etc)

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Living Room / Re: Ethiopian kids hack OLPCs in 5 months with zero instruction

« Last post by wraith808 on November 02, 2012, 07:45 AM »

Just for clarification- hack is a bit sensationalist (they enabled the disabled camera).  But still impressive.

(And don't read the comments.  They're depressing.)

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Living Room / Re: Facebook's New Orwellian Censorship

« Last post by wraith808 on November 01, 2012, 03:26 PM »

Nope...I don't want less government in my life. I want less 'corporation.'

-40hz (November 01, 2012, 02:36 PM)

Actually, I want less of both.

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Living Room / Re: Hurricane Sandy Discussion Thread

« Last post by wraith808 on November 01, 2012, 02:39 PM »

Unfortunately, in our current "gimmee" culture, some people will routinely have trouble understanding the difference.

-40hz (November 01, 2012, 02:21 PM)

And that falls right into what I said about bringing out the best in some people and the worst in others.

-app103 (November 01, 2012, 02:27 PM)

Very much so. And glad to see that you and 40 are back online and ok. 

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Living Room / Re: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars. Star Wars Ep VII due in 2015

« Last post by wraith808 on October 31, 2012, 11:52 AM »

It's probably not fair that I base it on Star Wars and one other movie but based on those I disagree. For example when he is telling Padme to not believe the lies it seems so forced and unnatural, he couldn't even pull that off in my opinion. Similarly when he left Padme to go find his mother.

-rgdot (October 31, 2012, 11:04 AM)

Both of those... Lucas?  Especially considering taking a look at the other side of that (Natalie Portman) in Star Wars vs other movies.  But don't take my word for it... check out Life as a House^w, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.  Look at Ep 4 and 6 vs. 5.  The difference?  Lucas.  Star Wars was a great (adaptation of an) idea.  But its success propelled him to a place where he could coast secure that he was better than he really is in other areas.

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Living Room / Re: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars. Star Wars Ep VII due in 2015

« Last post by wraith808 on October 31, 2012, 10:32 AM »

And speaking of missteps he personally picked Hayden Christensen, correct?

-rgdot (October 31, 2012, 10:25 AM)

Hayden Christiansen is actually a decent actor- don't take the Star Wars movies as indicative of what any of the actors can do.  Any of them that managed to bring any level of characterization to the roles did that in spite of his clunky dialog and inept direction, not because of the same.  Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson are both great actors also, and suffered from the same.

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Living Room / Re: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars. Star Wars Ep VII due in 2015

« Last post by wraith808 on October 31, 2012, 09:58 AM »

As if Lucas didn't fsck up the star wars film badly enough himself, now he's going to let Disney mess it up even further? How sad. I hope LucasArts (the games department) isn't included in the sale.

-f0dder (October 31, 2012, 07:26 AM)

It is.  Everything is, and the largest parts of the acquisition that people aren't talking about are Skywalker Sound and ILM.  Those two are the real feathers - along the lines of Disney's acquisition of Pixar.

Disney would absolutely destroy Star Wars, I feel.  Lucas just cashed out, it's not like he was able to bring the stories back to life much himself.

-superboyac (October 31, 2012, 09:43 AM)

I have more hope.  From their plans as stand, they are going to give the franchise to someone already at LucasArts, and picked for the role.  Lucas will be Executive Producer and Consultant, so might not have been purely a cash out.  I look at what's been done with the EU and the Clone Wars as an indication as to what could be done without Lucas in ultimate control, and that's what gives me hope.  The fact of the matter is that a lot of the missteps were due to the fact that Lucas was a lot like Jobs, i.e. no room to be questioned.  It's just that he wasn't as competent as Jobs.  Say what you want about the man, but he knew how to get things done (for better or worse for the industry as a whole).  Lucas really didn't, and has been coasting on the strength of what he adapted in 1977.

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Living Room / Confusing Apple Promo (Spoof)

« Last post by wraith808 on October 31, 2012, 06:52 AM »

All the banned Apple Promos on this Playlist:
http://www.youtube.c...D82&feature=plcp

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Living Room / Re: Steve Ballmer's Dilemma

« Last post by wraith808 on October 30, 2012, 09:01 PM »

Well, I figured that the waving might be the motion before he put his hands in his ears   After all, there must be a reason he has such a hard time hearing anyone other than himself...

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Living Room / Re: Steve Ballmer's Dilemma

« Last post by wraith808 on October 30, 2012, 04:49 PM »

I don't know.  I looked at it as an in media res look at this final product...



 

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Living Room / Steve Ballmer's Dilemma

« Last post by wraith808 on October 30, 2012, 03:09 PM »

A new article on Cringely (I, Cringely formerly of InfoWorld fame), hits it on the spot, with a few zingers to boot!  He doesn't always get it right, but I love his deconstruction of the industry.

One of my favorites from this article:

Like Blanche DuBois, Microsoft has relied on the kindness of strangers.

(And, just for clarification, I don't totally agree with the article.  But it has a glimmer of truth, even if just partial and perceived- especially when it comes to the consumer market.)

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DC Website Help and Extras / A Strange Discovery...

« Last post by wraith808 on October 30, 2012, 12:04 PM »

So, I have a few searches in the form of RSS feeds that I can see where I am mentioned on the internet using a few different search engines.  I've started to see my posts on DonationCoder show up.

An example: http://donation.best...u/dishonored-review/

What is that?  Does anyone know? It has no links to DonationCoder anywhere which is why I was so skeptical of it.

Also check the main site at http://donation.best1.eu/

Thoughts?

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General Software Discussion / Re: Valve is looking for beta-testers for Steam Linux client

« Last post by wraith808 on October 29, 2012, 05:00 PM »

While I think games and such have a right to not be free, the fact it is the most gigantic market out there at present. If they continue to be locked to Windows and Mac, you'll have a monopoly. Today, we at least have the luck of installing what we want on our Linux and Macs, but in the future the giants want it all to go through their stores.

-worstje (October 29, 2012, 04:40 PM)

There's too many large segments (and too much money) that aren't onboard with this whole thing to think that they have ultimate power.  This is one of the reasons that I'm glad for digital distribution of games - if you think they're going to just roll over, then look at live for windows.  And game center.  I really don't think they're going for that in terms of the desktop... but again, time will tell.

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General Software Discussion / Re: AdBlock Plus To Not Block All Ads

« Last post by wraith808 on October 29, 2012, 04:22 PM »

^ I found out that this is what is happening.  ABP used to block the https ads, but now it isn't, unless you block the whole domain.  I'm not sure of the reasoning behind this, but it was definitely not because of a lack of ability as they were blocked before the latest update.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Valve is looking for beta-testers for Steam Linux client

« Last post by wraith808 on October 29, 2012, 09:58 AM »

Yes, I've read the FSF's take on it, and even hammered on a few of my own points a few times, but what this means is more than just a few more registrations at the Linux counter. 

-Edvard (October 28, 2012, 11:22 PM)

Actually, I think they alienate more than a few people (including me) with their definition of "Free".  No matter what they might say on the matter, there's a whole wide range of software that is "Free", and its pretty insulting to the devs (IMO) to say that they aren't just because they can't/won't release the source.  That's why I have a hard time reading (or supporting) anything they say, unfortunately.

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DC Gamer Club / Re: Stealth-focused Computer Games

« Last post by wraith808 on October 28, 2012, 05:30 PM »

Definitely worth trying both playstyles.

-f0dder (October 28, 2012, 05:18 PM)

Actually, i've now tried a third, and it's really difficult if you put the game on hard.

Spoiler

Play the game murdering everything... make sure to get rid of the knock off elixir.  Then, Emily will greet you when you're back from a mission and ask you how many people you killed, and you'll find a letter from Callista about how disturbed Emily is.  I used this as a moment of catharsis for Corso.  But the city is already screwed, so it's hard to be a ghost from then on.  It's even hard to find a place to put unconscious bodies so they won't be eaten with all of the rats about.  The challenge is getting to Low Chaos before the end of the game.  I haven't been able to do it... it's supposed to be possible, but I don't see how, even though I was able to save her on this play-through.

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DC Gamer Club / Dishonored Review

« Last post by wraith808 on October 28, 2012, 04:21 PM »

I've just posted a review of Dishonored on my site.

The long and short of it if you don't want to read the whole thing is I'd highly recommend it.  I don't finish many games, but I finished this one.  From the voice acting (a stellar cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Carrie Fisher, John Slattery, Michael Madsen, Lena Headley, and Chloë Grace Moretz) to the mechanics, to the environment (the story is pretty predictable, but still good), to the way that your actions have unforeseen effects, I really recommend it, especially if you like stealth games.  It's not the longest game, but it definitely makes you want to replay it, and lends itself to doing so.

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DC Gamer Club / Re: Stealth-focused Computer Games

« Last post by wraith808 on October 28, 2012, 04:17 PM »

Dishonored!  I just go through playing it, and it's awesome!  I have a review on my site... if you want to buy, the affiliate links there would help... but just buy!  It was a good game, no matter where you get it from.

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General Software Discussion / Win+X Menu Editor for Windows 8

« Last post by wraith808 on October 28, 2012, 01:03 PM »

In another thread, there was talk of using shells to add the start menu functionality back into Windows 8.  I'd recently found a tool to make that unnecessary, and figured it might be good to actually make a separate thread about it.  I haven't used it (not having windows , so I'll refer you to the how-to geek article on the tool for more information.

Windows 8 includes some new shortcuts to help you get around the system.  One of these is Win+X.  It brings up a context menu that has some of the more used control panel widgets and tools in Windows.  This application helps you to edit that menu.



Download from WinAero for free.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 start button + menu: €5

« Last post by wraith808 on October 28, 2012, 12:57 PM »

Oh, and there's also Win+X for $0 also.

-wraith808 (October 27, 2012, 12:10 PM)

Such as described here?

-x16wda (October 28, 2012, 11:08 AM)

I wasn't talking about that one specifically.. thanks for the link!  Really cool information on that site!

But mine was on how-to geek.  Forgot to link it up.  It's a little bit more touchy-feely for those that are registry-impaired.

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Living Room / Re: Dungeons/Zork map - here's an image of it.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 28, 2012, 12:52 PM »

I think you had the name without knowing it!  LOL!  Was it Adventure?  As in Colossal Cave Adventure^w?  Look under the other versions section.