Uniqueness only really counts for how something looks, when using a computer, you just want it to work. If you want a custom looking laptop, actually the easiest way to do that with is a Mac because there's less bumps and crud molded into the design so you can easily apply decals, get it custom etched, etc.

...creative integrity. These movies stand a great chance of being awesome because the back-story has already been told. A movie spends a fair amount of time establishing context and character... they get to get straight into it, which is what helped ToyStory 2. Sequels can be great when they've been done properly with the right amount of creative integrity.

Ratatouille was just about complete and it wasn't what they were after. They brought in Brad Bird who re-wrote it and did it right. If they have the creative integrity to do things like this, then I'm fully looking forward to these movies.

Pixar really do deserve people giving their projects the benefit of the doubt at least until they make a dud. Their creativity and originality have been amazing; a step above of any other studio in the industry.

...but I can't understand how a glorified logger can be this far off. With hand-shaking and all the rest of it, it just staggers me that something this simple is so hard. If our systems or audit logging were off by more than 5k, our nuts would be in a sling, and our projects sure as heck aren't as big as these puppies.

Which will be awesome if we get to see Hepburn and Garbo with their gear off!

Unsure how well this will go, maybe it'll work just because it's google. But there was an *awesome* 3D plugin ages ago called Metastream. It was by the group that made Kai's Power Tools (the first set of photoshop plugins that really got the plugins thing moving along). What made it awesome was that you could model the one model with as much detail as you wanted and then export it for Metastream. In the webpage you could just call the server and say that you wanted a little low-res version to show as a thumbnail, but if you wanted a product detail you simply call for the same thing but with more detail. The Metastream plugin changed the geometry detail and image mapping to whatever was needed to get it done... just like progressive images, but better and more complete (would be the exact same if you could tell a progressive image you just wanted it really small).

Anyways... Metastream didn't take off, but it was certainly an example of it done really well with a lot of possibilities. Because it was so good, it makes me doubt as to whether it'll be cool when google does it. Metastream was awesome.

...and trying a little too hard to break the stereotype. And it still wont land him chix0r's

...by definition 95% of people don't know what it's like to be the top 5%. The truer version of this that does apply to most people is that you can typically find a job if you take the pay grade of someone with less experience. If you're a coder with 5 years experience, you'll always be able to find a job because if you're at the bottom of the barrel you're going to bump out any newbies trying to get a newbie wage paying job...

...the 5% will remain relatively unharmed, but the further you are from that the bigger the cut you may have to take. Point is though, if you have experience, you can trade some of that in to ensure you always have food on the table.

really?... Apple's phone was brought out in the same way they brought out the iPod, and it seems to have had a pretty good start indeed

Seems like people just want semi-instant gratification these days. Games used to be tough to get through, when you said you clocked a game it really meant you knew it because you had to get through all these "time sinks" and problems to get to the end. The upshot was that when you got to the end and beat it, you really beat it.

"Time-sinks" may not be wanted in this new wipe-my-ass world, but being punished and set back in a game is a large part of accomplishment it takes to clock the game. It's all analogous though to the people that go to the arcade with a pile of money and just continue until the game is done... they spend more money and wont have the same satisfaction of clocking it without continuing. It's a good metaphor because these "no time sink" people will spend more on games as they finish them faster.

But it's all fine as long as there are products for everyone, and that anyone looking for old-school challenges can find games like Ikaruga