Comment Re:I have long been annoyed by Cisco business poli (Score 1) 160
ADTRAN does not charge for updates and provides a 10year warranty and free tech support including 24x7x365 phone support
Revisiting the "Holy Trinity" of MMORPG Classes 362
A feature at Gamasutra examines one of the foundations of many MMORPGs — the idea that class roles within such a game fall into three basic categories: tank, healer, and damage dealer. The article evaluates the pros and cons of such an arrangement and takes a look at some alternatives.
"Eliminating specialized roles means that we do away with boxing a class into a single role. Without Tanks, each class would have features that would help them participate in and survive many different encounters like heavy armor, strong avoidance, or some class or magical abilities that allow them to disengage from direct combat. Without specialized DPS, all classes should be able to do damage in order to defeat enemies. Some classes might specialize in damage type, like area of effect (AoE) damage; others might be able to exploit enemy weaknesses, and some might just be good at swinging a sharpened bit of metal in the right direction at a rapid rate. This design isn't just about having each class able to fill any trinity role. MMO combat would feel more dynamic in this system. Every player would have to react to combat events and defend against attacks."
Comment Re:The trouble is the retail model of buying stuff (Score 1) 380
have you ever bought anything direct from Apple?
I've purchased 4 IPods in and a few computers and they Ship DIRECT from the Factory in China,
The only "shelf" is for the distribution markets (Retail markets - Wal-mart, BestBuy, Target, etc.) and I bet that only is 1/2 of Apple's actual sales.
and even in a retail distribution setup, Apple keeps most of that profit, the retailers only get a small % of the actual cost of the end price (look at the pricing, no one is ever less than a buck or 2 different on these products, and any incentive is in a Store Credit)
Comment Using your own modem is legal (Score 1) 658
You can use your own modem, the issue is supporting it on the plant, different modems support different parts of the DOCSIS protocol, and providers use specific portions for different things (like voice QOS or bonding for other BW tiers or redundancy) and they need to set a modem to support them.
What you are actually paying for in that rental is not just the hardware but the maintenance behind it, if your modem dies they will replace it at no cost to you. If you Bring Your Own you are responsible for it once the warranty from the manufacturer expires (if it dies you need to buy a new one)
Motorola, Cisco and others sell Cable Gateways you can go buy at your local big box store and those are supported by the cable companies but give you more features than your average dumb modem.
CNET UK Credits Claim That Apple Will Release Networked TVs 110
r2k writes "While the Apple rumours posted yesterday highlight some of the most commonly talked-about opinions, a writer for CNet UK sat down with Mahalo's Jason Calacanis, who told CNet he knew for a fact that Apple is developing fully networked LCD TV sets. As the writer points out, Apple dropped 'Computer' from its company name for a very good reason."
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