cloudguy

GeorgeBMac said:

I would like to get an Apple TV -- if not for myself then for my grandson.

But, there's no way I want to buy one with 4 year old processor.   That just doesn't make sense to me.

Ummm ... you should investigate the hardware that is in a Roku. Feature phone stuff. Similarly the hardware in a Fire TV or Android TV box - which cost as little as $35 or $50 - would barely run a very cheap Android phone. Ditto for smart TVs. Streaming apps don't require much CPU at all. YouTube TV is actually a PWA on some devices and people are none the wiser. There is absolutely nothing that a set top box will do that requires a modern Ax chip. Using a newer chip would just made the device more expensive and use excess power from a CPU that goes 99% unutilized while providing no benefit. Bad engineering and bad product design.

Of course if Apple is actually able to turn Apple TV into a serious gaming device then you are right. But that has to actually happen first.

Except that "Breath of the Wild" runs on cheap Android tablet hardware. Seriously it has similar internals to the Nvidia Shield line of tablets and set top boxes. Basically the same as Samsung Galaxt Tab A tablets. (The Galaxy Tab S are their more premium tablets that contain the flagship Qualcomm and Exynos SOCs). Also the original version of that game ran on the 720p Wii U.

So I have no idea why that comparison is made. Should have compared it to some of the more graphically demanding PS4 or XBox One or Steam games instead of a title that is anime style 1080p - the least demanding - instead of realistic 4K like The Last of Us 2, The Avengers, Spiderman etc.

Also, whether a truly graphically demanding 4K game can be funded with the Apple Arcade subscription model when such games have bigger budgets and longer development times than blockbuster Hollywood movies - like 5 years and $200 million easy - is very debatable. So I do not know who they are trying to convince - or fool - here but it certainly isn't serious gamers who know about actual AAA video game development lifecycles and the hardware that it requires to play it. To put it another way, the hottest game right now - Genshin Impact - looks absolutely gorgeous and plays just fine on inexpensive Android phones. Doesn't require an A12Z or A14 chip at all or anything close. It runs fine on $200 Android phones that have MediaTek and lower end Qualcomm chips. And yes, Genshin Impact is a BoW clone, to the extent that its creators recently held a press conference to describe the differences between the two games.

macmarcus said:

Xed said:

castcore said:

Only in America where you shoot a cop executing a legal warrant and you vilify the cops for shooting back.

Only in non-free country where you can get away with murdering someone after issuing a non-knock warrant in plain clothes when someone lawfully carrying a firearm and clearly afraid of their life and the lives of their loved ones fires back.

Please be factual. ... Ms. Taylor's EX-boyfriend had lived there and was a known violent drug dealer. Her new boyfriend that fired first on officers the same.

Either you are a genius at parody or are completely lacking in self-awareness.
Allow me to state that I am extremely conservative - far more than anyone you will ever meet unless you live in certain parts of the United States - and am 100% pro law enforcement. Nevertheless, the rumors and slanders concerning Kenneth Walker - the one who fired on police - that one finds on so called but not really conservative websites and blogs are an outrage. 

Kenneth Walker is not a drug dealer. He is not a criminal of any sort. Quite the contrary he is (or at least prior to this tragedy was):
1. college educated
2. has never been in trouble with the law
3. gainfully employed (meaning that he has no need for drug money to support himself or buy whatever he wants)
4. the weapon that he fired at the police was registered (which criminals never do because they don't want their firearms to be traced plus illegal guns are generally cheaper)
5. he possesses a concealed-carry license (which one needs to pass a background check to obtain and must uphold a spotless legal record to maintain in most jurisdictions ... even so much as getting into a fight at a bar can threaten your concealed-carry license, so again criminals who are in and out of our revolving door legal system don't bother)
6. related to 3. and 5. Walker had just obtained employment at a high paying job that requires one to pass a drug test and completion of a successful background check. It is almost certain that he lost this job opportunity thanks to spending several weeks incarcerated despite the recording of a terrified Walker frantically calling 911 for assistance - which the police and prosecutors were completely aware of but chose allow him to remain in jail anyway until a media and legal pressure campaign secured his release - makes it absolutely incontrovertiby certain that Walker believed that he tried (and failed) to defend himself and Taylor from criminals attempting a home invasion.

It is amazing that the same right wing types who defended Randy Weaver - who was a cause celebre' among NRA types in the 1990s despite his making and selling an illegal sawed off shotgun to federal agents and then refused for months to avail himself of the many attempts made to get him to turn himself in - are trashing Kenneth Walker. 

Now as for the police, I do agree that the warrant was valid, legal and justified and that they absolutely had the right to defend themselves upon being fired upon. However that does not change the fact that the operation was poorly planned, terribly executed and the result got an unarmed woman who at the absolute most would have spent 5 years in jail - and may have gotten only a few months in jail on misdemeanor charges as part of a plea bargain in return for testifying against the "bigger fish" that the police were after that would have ultimately been expunged from her record - killed. Just because it wasn't a crime - whether via premeditation, intent or wanton negligence - doesn't make it right. 

1. They did not know that Kenneth Walker was present that night and had no idea who he was (indicating that they did not know that he had a concealed carry license and a legally registered weapon). Had they known this, that would have changed the operation entirely from being a "soft target" to an entirely different one altogether. And since Walker does not have a criminal record and was not involved in the Taylor drug operation, they would have had to change the operation to prevent endangering an innocent third party (which they wound up doing).
2. They didn't know that Walker was there because they had no one assigned to surveil the location prior to the operation. How can you not have a raid location surveiled 24 hours prior to the raid? 
3. Because it was considered a "soft target" they did not assign anyone with experience in raiding drug locations to the operation. Instead, they assigned regular beat police officers/detectives to handle a no-knock raid of a drug trade location. 
4. Their inexperience showed. They decided not to go with no-knock when due to their inexperience that tactic is what would have minimized the danger. When they knocked and announced, they didn't announce loudly enough and they didn't have or use a bullhorn. This is why of the 13 witnesses interviewed by investigators, only 1 - the person closest - actually heard them announced. The rest didn't hear, which is why it is extremely plausible and likely that Walker and Taylor - who were away from the door and instead in a bedroom that was down a hallway - didn't hear either. It is also likely the police didn't hear Walker yell "Who is it?" several times. I repeat, multiple witnesses stated that they heard the police knock and Walker stated hearing the police knock. But only a single witness stated that they heard the police announce themselves.
5. Expanding upon 4. instead of firing at a specific target - the one who fired on them - the police blindly filled the apartment with lead. Walker - who had firearms training - was in the "crouch and fire" position so he was not hit. Taylor - who lacked such training and was standing normally - was hit several times. (Right wing bloggers who claim that Taylor used her as a human shield ... well hey they defend Randy Weaver and not Walker which tells you all that you need to know about them.)
6. After the firing - which mind you was almost all their own! -  stopped, the police did not enter the apartment and investigate for 10-15 minutes! They were supposed to enter immediately for the purpose of disabling any threats and preserving evidence. But since they were not SWAT personnel or otherwise trained to handle these incidents, they didn't. Instead, they waited until Walker called 911 for assistance and then surrendered. During this time, no aid was rendered to Taylor who bled to death. Had procedure been followed she may have been saved!

Again, don't mistake me. Policing is a very difficult job. Police are human and prone to error just like everyone else. And serving warrants like this is among the most difficult and dangerous jobs police can do. I am fully aware that I am a guy typing on a computer second-guessing the actions of police who were doing a job that I cannot do and will never do. I am 100% pro-police because all these folks who rant about "police state" don't realize that the alternative is a criminal state! Which one would you rather live in?

But one can support the police without defaming Walker, whose actions were innocent and - since he thought he was attempting to defend himself and Taylor from a home invasion - even heroic, exactly what an NRA or otherwise second amendment enthusiast who backs castle doctrines and stand your ground (as I do 100%) says that a licensed trained legal gun owner - which Walker is - should do. The only issue with Walker, then, is his choice in girlfriends. As he himself stated that he was fearful of Taylor's drug dealer ex, dating someone like that is an unnecessary risk.

And one can support the police while pointing out their errors in plannings and tactics. Failing to properly surveil the location that they were planning to raid was a problem. Sending Hankison, Mattingly and Cosgrove to execute the warrant was a problem. Look, actual conservatives and libertarians know that police are government - indeed big government! - just like all the rest which means that they need to be held accountable and not blindly supported just like all the rest.

22july2013 said:

chasm said:

This will absolutely be shown in the court battle with Epic to prove that they're just a bunch of whiny, greedy brats who want to use the App Store rent-free.

I'm not sure Apple would even be able to stop web-based apps from doing anything they want. And since Apple allows different web browsers on iOS, it wouldn't even be possible for iOS to even know what's going on inside a web engine. A web browser is already an alternate app store, in a way.

I think if Epic and MS want to win the battle with Apple, they need to push for more advances in HTML (if it's not already adequate) to allow more features for online gaming.

What makes you think that Microsoft is battling Apple? For goodness sakes. While Microsoft has stated that they would rather iOS be less restrictive:
1) Microsoft has consistently stated that they have no problem paying the 30% fee
2) Microsoft has consistently stated that the 30% fee is not an issue with xCloud
3) Microsoft has tons of apps (Office 365 hello?) that already comply with Apple's payment policies and has never complained about them
4) Microsoft has not sued Apple or joined any antitrust actions against them or testified against them in Congress
5) Microsoft has already all but stated that they will bring their own PWA solution for xCloud to iOS next year
6) Microsoft's not willing to support a PWA at this time on iOS is no different from that of Google or Nvidia
7) Amazon's supporting a PWA solution for iOS will force Google, Microsoft and Nvidia to come out with their own PWA solutions earlier than they intended. (Well not so much for Microsoft as they have technical limitations forcing them to focus only on mobile apps at this stage. Google and Nvidia already support browsers on other platforms so they have no good reason not to support PWAs on iOS).

Stop throwing everyone who doesn't say how high when Apple says jump into Epic's category. Epic is the only one pulling this nonsense, and lest we forget they are suing Google too and also pulled similar PR tactic nonsense against Steam back in the day. They are an unusual case and should be treated that way.

dbvapor said:

Interesting.. will MS make a web app version of Xcloud?  

Yes. Though Microsoft is charging for the service, it is actually still in beta right now. They have a limited amount of server blades dedicated to it, which is why they are only able to support 1080p streaming, which is frequently capped at 720p. So they are actually only in stage 1 of a 3 stage deployment, each of which will see more blades dedicated to it.

Phase 1: streaming only to apps. This is likely because of the 720p limitation as it looks a lot better on small screens. This is why larger screen devices like TVs and PCs are not supported. Just phones and tablets.

Phase 2: streaming to Windows PCs using the XBox GamePass Windows PC app. It will probably still be limited to 1080p at this stage as - with all due respect to the 4K gaming rigs with $1000 Nvidia and AMD graphics cards - that is what nearly all laptops and monitors support. Microsoft has stated that this will happen in early 2021.

Phase 3: streaming to the browser. It is at this point that enough blades will be deployed to provide 4K streaming on large screens as well as support for browsers on heterogenous platforms (Microsoft recently released Edge browsers for Linux for example). This means XBox and Android TV devices that support 4K on large screens. It will also mean web apps for Safari.

Microsoft has publicized this road map of theirs several times. They really did want to bring xCloud to iOS via the app. But they don't have a PWA for this yet. Amazon is taking an entirely different strategy. 

1. They are supporting PWAs and browsers during the beta stage.
2. They are providing 4K during the beta stage.
3. They aren't going to support Android apps - including on their own Kindle Fire tablets - until later.
4. They WILL support it on Fire TV devices during the beta stage.

 I am a PWA-first guy so naturally I like Amazon's implementation better from a technology standpoint. I like their lineup of games more too. I signed up for xCloud (it was only $1 for the first month) but I am going to ditch it for Amazon's soon. I have an old Fire TV device and can use that.