text:
Americana Added to Dictionary; Lady Antebellum Goes Unplugged; Ray Price Fills in for Loretta Lynn
- Jonny Corndawg is offering a free download of "Chevy Beretta" from his upcoming album. Also be sure to check out this Corndawg-centric short film.
- Chet Flippo discusses The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams and cites Country California in his newest column.
- Country California picked their favorite songs from records released in July.
- Next year marks Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday. Check out this site for a calendar of events and release dates for various Guthrie-related albums and books.
- "Americana" music has been added to the next edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary. It's defined as "a genre of American music having roots in early folk and country music."
- Jewly Hight penned a piece on Angel Snow and Alison Krauss for the Nashville Scene.
- Loretta Lynn had to cancel her September 3 performance as she is still recovering from knee surgery. But don't get a refund, ticket holders: Ray Price is stepping in to sing.
- Singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow stopped by NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert.
- CMASongwritersSeries.com is streaming tonight's Boston performance featuring Matraca Berg, Kenny Chesney, Bob DiPiero, Craig Wiseman, Wendell Mobley, and Brett James. It starts at 8pm Eastern.
- Rapper B.o.B. told a Singapore-based newspaper that he wants to produce a country record.
- Lady Antebellum will play three unplugged shows (in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles) in September. Tickets (available exclusively through the band's website, linked above) went on sale this morning.
- Americana band Joy Kills Sorrow stopped by the Acoustic Guitar offices to play a song from their new album.
- Hank Williams Jr. came in at #13 on Billboard's Top 25 Country Artists 1985-2011 Chart.
- The Canadian government awarded over $80,000 (to be paid over three years) to help promote the New Richmond Bluegrass Festival, held annually outside Quebec.
- On September 24 Carrie Underwood will sing with Tony Bennett at one of his concerts.
- Brantley Gilbert doesn't care about the money he's getting from those Jason Aldean chart-toppers.
- Congratulations to Vincent Warner, the winner of our Supersized Bluegrass Giveaway. Vincent, keep your eyes peeled for an email.
- Bluegrass and oldtime are the chocolate and peanut butter of American music. Close Kin, an album due out November 15, is an album that combines the two styles with a lineup that includes Adam Steffey and the Snyder Family Band. There's a 15 minute video on YouTube about the project that's full of fabulous music, including a cover of Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson's "Rattlin' Bones."
- Check out Lucinda Williams' video for "Copenhagen" from her most recent album, Blessed. This is Williams' first music video.
3 Comments
Opry Alert! Tonight's Opry artists include Kip Moore, Joe Diffie, Gene Watson, Mel Tillis, and Pam Tillis. Grade B.
Thanks to the link above I'll probably be listening to the CMA Songwriters Series streaming audio instead.
That "Close Kin" project sounds fairly interesting. Guess I'll have to investigate further.
Lucinda Williams makes my skin crawl. Always has, always will…
Ummm, turns out that CMA Songwriter's Show was last night on Thursday August 25th. Oh well, the Opry now wins by default…
Apropo of nothing in particular, I saw Jon interviewing my friend Jim Lauderdale backstage at the Station Inn a couple of nights ago, via their new video stream service – well, it's new to me at least.
The stream of the whole wonderful show (featuring Jim and his crack bluegrass band) is archived here: http://livestre.am/10lVR
Current Discussion
- Paul W Dennis: I had assumed that Herndon was gay after the incident that Lucky Old Sun referenced, but bought the next Herndon …
- Jonathan Pappalardo: For anyone who wants to buy it, the Rosanne Cash 45 is available again. With 1000 copies being created, I …
- luckyoldsun: It seemed that the old morals arrest incident really did Herndon in. He was a pretty big country star before …
- CraigR.: Hopefully in the future being gay or straight won't matter at all. And then people won't have to hide their …
- Bruce: Jim has a remarkable voice for his age. Heck, for any age.
- bob: Good luck to Herndon and Gilman. I've seen Herndon in concert. While I liked his 90's material better, he's still …
- Leeann Ward: It was Brad Paisley and its on his Christmas album.
- luckyoldsun: I seem to recall hearing a recording of the Christmas song "Walking in the Winter Wonderland" where the line "In …
- Leeann Ward: For a slow new Christmas music year, the announcement of the Jamey Johnson Christmas EP and the Christmas tracks by …
- chris: That voice singing with Jim Ed is younger sister Bonnie, also a member of the Browns.


text:
Updated: August 7, 2012 6:33AM
Dear Readers: Do we have a winner? Steve of the northwest suburbs has submitted the best story so far of spacey customers for The Fixer's "turning the tables" feature, in which we hear from customer-service people, front-line retail and restaurant workers, service employees, small-business owners and others about their most memorably annoying customers.
The hope is that if any of us see ourselves in these stories, we might do our part to make life in the marketplace just a little bit nicer.
The Fixer already knew about the distracted cellphone talkers, the overly demanding restaurant patrons and the parents with wild kids, but who knew airline customers could be so goofy?
Here's Steve, with more from behind the scenes:
"I am an airline ticket gate agent. Ticket agents have an ongoing joke that passengers check their brains at the front door of the airport when they enter, but this story takes the cake!
"I was working as a gate agent for a commuter flight to Portland, Maine, with a regional jet that held 50 seats total.
"I had closed out the flight and pulled the loading bridge from the aircraft when I got a call from the control tower to put the jet bridge back up to the plane. We had not one, not two, but three of what the airline terms 'mis-boards.' This refers to people who are on the wrong flight.
"With electronic check-in and electronic boarding and security checkpoints, it is virtually impossible for this to happen. But one adult, a 16-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy had boarded a flight to Portland, Maine, when they were actually going to Portland, Oregon!
"The mistake was discovered on board the aircraft when the flight attendant said they looked like a nice family. The adult responded, "Do you know any good restaurants in Portland, Oregon?"
"That's when the flight attendant realized their mistake and alerted the pilots before departure that we had three people on the wrong aircraft.
"The computer specifically says 'Portland, Maine' when you are booking. The luggage tags for checked baggage say 'Portland, Maine.' The tickets say 'Portland, Maine.' With our boarding announcements at the gate, we specifically say 'Portland, Maine.'
"Even if the adult did not pick up on one of these triggers, isn't it safe to say that a 16-year-old would say at some point to their parent, 'Daddy, aren't we going to Portland, Oregon?' "
Felines more friendly
than some humans
Dear Fixer: As a cat sitter for the past 16 years, my human clients are, for the most part, good.
But you do have those who take advantage of you.
You confirm the dates that service is needed, and then show up at the house and find a note that they now have three cats (there originally was one), and one needs medication. Of course, the two new ones look a lot alike, so figuring out which one needs the meds is a challenge, which prompts a call to the owner, who has changed their cell phone number.
Then the cat turns into Alien Cat when you try to give it the medication and you wind up with bites and scratches. When the customer gets home they balk at paying the extra charge for more than one cat.
Then there are the customers who haven't scooped the litter box in days because "the sitter will be here." It's so full it needs to be dumped, but of course there is no litter to be found so you have to go out and buy more. The client refuses to pay for the litter because "it couldn't have been THAT bad."
My favorite is, "My friend might be dropping by to play with the kitties." That's fine. But what the customer doesn't know is the friend has moved in and is making a major mess. Again, I have to send an email, and document it with photos so I won't be blamed for any damage to the house — or the cats.
What's your story?
There's still time to tell us your tale of an especially obnoxious customer. Email it to firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Recent Updates
Overcoming Resistance to Change
26 September 2012
Resistance to change manifests itself in many ways, writes Harvard Business Review contributor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Here are the 10 instances she's found to be the most common.
Online Staffing Platform Businesses: Competitive Landscape
24 September 2012
- "Online Staffing" now a $1B industry
- High growth: revenues, new entrants
- "Technology-based play"-- low markups
Temps: Demand in Certain Segments at Historical Highs
19 September 2012
Is the demand for temps in your segment up? Find out which segments have recovered from the recession and which are lagging behind. Knowing what the supply and demand for particular skill sets are can help you plan your temporary workforce with appropriate pay structures and time-to-fill.
Multi-Country RPO Success: Well-Defined Metrics
19 September 2012
While more companies have embraced multi-country recruitment process outsourcing (MCRPO), these engagements have produced mixed success. When the right metrics are in place, employers and MCRPO providers can also build a stronger relationship that enables both sides to collaborate effectively and... More
Contract Watch: HP, Nestlé, Hertfordshire
19 September 2012
HP, Nestlé and Hertfordshire recently signed contracts for their contingent workforce management programs.
Temporary Labor Bill Rates Appear on the Rise
19 September 2012
Temporary labor bill rates appear on the rise after a period of slow growth, according to the IQNdex, an index of temporary labor bill rates produced by IQNavigator.
Freelance Workers Becoming a Fixture
19 September 2012
U.S. businesses are committed to utilizing a mix of permanent and temporary workers as a long-term business strategy, as nearly 70 percent of businesses currently use contingent workers in some capacity, according to a study by Randstad, the world's second-largest staffing provider. Read more... More
'Tis the Season
19 September 2012
Companies are beginning to ramp up their hiring of contingent workers for the holidays, with Kohl's Department Stores announcing plans to hire more than 52,700 workers, 24/7 Wall St. reports. To read the story, click here.
Why a Consultant's Motivations Matter
19 September 2012
Why are the consultants serving your business contingent? Understanding the reasons for their choice can help you and your providers attract and manage them. Read more from Staffing Industry Review magazine, here.
Luxembourg Data Sources
17 September 2012
A list of data sources for Luxembourg including:
- Academic resources, applicable government departments
- Laws and regulations, contingent workforce market data
- Trade associations and other organisations


text:
Driver in discount-bus crash guilty of reckless driving
MORE: Read more Stafford County news
The driver in the March bus crash that injured dozens on Interstate 95 near the Stafford Regional Airport pleaded guilty Friday to reckless driving.
Qilong Xiao entered the guilty plea in Stafford County General District Court, with the help of a Mandarin interpreter. As part of the plea agreement, Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Olsen dropped a charge of driving while disqualified.
The reckless driving charge carries a possible sentence of a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Xiao's sentencing is set for Sept. 19.
The 50-year-old Flushing, N.Y., resident was taken off the road shortly after the crash because of his language problems, according to court records. His inability to speak English also led to the driving while disqualified charge.
Xiao was driving a discount bus for Princess Tours at about 4 a.m. on March 17 when it crashed on the snowy southbound lanes of I–95 near the regional airport.
Fifty-eight passengers were taken to area hospitals. Four of the victims suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The Virginia State Police said speed was a factor in the crash, one of hundreds of incidents statewide during the St. Patrick's Day storm that dumped about 5 inches of snow in the Fredericksburg area.
"He was driving too fast for the conditions," Sgt. Les Tyler said at the time.
Passengers also told police they had warned Xiao to drive more slowly on the slushy interstate.
The bus owner, Indianapolis-based Princess Tours Inc., has been cited by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for safety violations and other transgressions in the past two years. But there are no records of other crashes involving Princess Tours, which has three buses.
According to the motor carrier administration's records, Princess Tours bus drivers have been ticketed three times for speeding in the past two years, once for traveling at least 15 mph over the speed limit. For those violations, the federal transportation authority flagged Princess Tours for potential "intervention."
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also cited the company for having another non-English-speaking driver.
Scott Shenk: 540/374-5436
Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2014/06/27/driver-in-discount-bus-crash-guilty-of-reckless-driving/


text:
Our House Renata's AllotmentColin's WritingSite Map Help
Welcome to my web site. I'm Colin Hume, best known as a Folk Dance caller and composer. You may find me appearing at Halsway Manor, Folk Camps, Folk Festivals such as Eastbourne, Chippenham, Lichfield, Sidmouth, Broadstairs, Morland, Southam and Whitby, plus Dance Weeks in the States run by the Country Dance and Song Society and the Bay Area Country Dance Society. In my spare time I'm a programmer/developer (I wrote the computer version of The Clarkson Register for Clarkson Research Services) and have built many web sites — see the Programming section for more details.
Colin's 70th Birthday Dance with ConTradition — Saturday 13th December, 7.30-11pm.
Central Methodist Church Hall, junction of Norton Way South and Pixmore Way, Letchworth, Herts, SG6 3TR. Please don't bring any presents, but please do bring some food to share.


text:
Those hankering for some Southern-fried generosity during the Second Saturday Art Walk in our urban climes can mosey over to the University of Miamis Wynwood Project Space, where artist Sean Smith will host a sensory-smacking hoedown. The artist invites the public to join him in Creativity Driven Southern Hospitality, an exhibit where spectators partake in a giant group painting.
Sat., April 9, 7 p.m., 2011


text:
Spring breeds new dining establishments
Kenyon Price offers a mysterious Isabella
Old classic reborn in new hotel
Our restaurant critic travels to China to unravel the riddle: Why can't Dallas do Chinese?
Hmmm. Is Standard, the restaurant showcasing the talents of Tim Byres, kaput, as our friends over at FrontBurner suggest? Don't know. But owner Mike Chen does. "Oh, my God," Chen says--yells, actually. "How do they get that wrong information? We don't do lunch anymore. That's all. Golly. How can the ... More >>
Byres' reborn restaurant still goes above and beyond
Are we choosing ourselves crazy?
Plus: Standard Snafu; Drink This
Tristan Simon unloads Genghis Grill
Marie Grove leaves Stolik
Plans not hot for a new Cool River
The Wharf waves goodbye
Dallas dining is largely controlled by men. Seven women are trying to change that.
Stolik operator hopes to beat the odds
Steel Restaurant operator facing lawsuit from partner


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text:
Valve uncloaks prototype Steam Machine console specs
Valve has revealed details about the hardware that powers its prototype Steam Machine gaming consoles, though it cautions that future commercial devices could have specs that vary considerably from the initial models. The games publisher announced its plans to enter the console business last week, including that it would kick …
asking for trouble
I'm not much of a gamer but the approach they seem to be taking looks like trouble from a user experience standpoint. One of the big advantages of the consoles seem to be since they are all the same the games will work the same way on all of them (or they should). Having such a varied selection of hardware seems to invite similar troubles that impact PC gaming on the Steambox platform as well, driver quality, compatibility with Linux (as a Linux desktop user for more than 15 years now I have plenty of first hand experience) etc.....
I bought every Loki game that was ever released even if I didn't play 3/4ths of them in a poor attempt to show my support. Obviously only to be burned later by Linux constantly breaking compatibility.
Add to that seems like they will be pretty reliant upon streaming games from a Windows PC anyways due to lack of good, recent, native games on Linux(even on Steam - from what I've read).
It just seems to me they are setting themselves up for a whole lot of .....nothing (relative to PS4/XBone), purely out of fear that MS wants to build an app store for windows and force everyone to use it and give them a major cut of the revenues. So instead of customers being locked into the windows app store, they get locked into another(Steam) - sounds like a good deal to me.
Doesn't matter to me either way I play MAYBE a half dozen hours/month of games.
Re: asking for trouble
Please less of the childish xbone and p*ss4 terminology for the new consoles,
Re: asking for trouble
>they are all the same the games will work the same way on all of them
Until some COD version comes out towards the end of the generation that causes your launch fatty PS(x) to often overheat and reboot itself due pushing the graphics envelope. There are differences over time obviously even when they try to minimize them.
Re: asking for trouble
"varied selection of hardware"?
A few variations of the same CPU architecture and a few variations of the same general GPU architecture?
Even assuming you're also including the as-yet unnamed and undescribed 3rd party Steam Machines, they're most likely to use an Intel or AMD x64 CPU and an nVidia or AMD GPU.
So the variance with these machines will be much less than that that seen in the PC community. Bear in mind that the SteamOS is a customized Linux distro, meaning Valve can choose to skip Linux kernel/driver releases that aren't compatible with their hardware -- a luxury Loki didn't have. Also AMD and nVidia have both stepped up Linux driver support efforts since Loki's time.
I think you'll find that with the hardware discussed (esp. the i7 and the highest-end nVidia GPU) and with the TB of storage, the SteamMachine could store profiles of Wine/Crossover tweaked for individual Windows games and play them comparably well to an average PC gaming rig.
While that doesn't appear to be included in the initial push, I'd be very surprised if Steam weren't seriously investigating that for future expansion.
Re: asking for trouble
As others have commented, a "varied selection of hardware" never stopped people playing games on Windows, so I see no reason why it would have any impact on the relatively modest variation of standard PC equipment used in the SteamBox.
As for drivers, on both Windows and GNU/Linux, Nvidia uses the same unified driver architecture across its entire range of hardware, so pretty much any (modern) Nvidia graphics solution will Just Work®.
Also, you've got that whole "breaking compatibility" thing back to front. It's proprietary software that breaks compatibility with Free Software, by failing to keep up, not the other way around. That's just one of the many disadvantages of proprietary software. But then I expect Valve to standardise on an LTS version of Ubuntu, and only provide updates for graphics components when both xorg and Nvidia's proprietary drivers are in sync, so I don't anticipate much problem there either, especially as Valve is unlikely to push updates it hasn't tested first.
Ultimately the SteamBox is just a PC running Steam on GNU/Linux, which we already know from experience works, so there's no reason to assume it won't continue to work, especially on PCs explicitly certified by Valve as compatible.
Re: asking for trouble
So steam on linux, which has been available and running on a very large spectrum of both linux and hardware, beyond what valve supports, is suddenly going to break on a valve supported linux distribution on officially supported hardware?
Keep spreading FUD, good job. Meanwhile, I'm going to play TF2 on my custom pc running custom unsupported linux.
The world has moved on, the "incompatibilities" linux boogyman stories don't work anymore
Re: asking for trouble
Not quite accurate, Brah.
My Linux install happily plays Skyrim, Oblivion, GTA:SA, and there are reports of them managing DX:HR etc too. But it won't play, say, Bioshock2 or Infinity. Civilisation IV works for some but, sadly, not for me- something to do with XML parsing.
Also on other, more specialised, programs they will barely work or will miss huge chunks of functionality.
So the incompatibilities aren't a huge issue for most users, but they shouldn't be downplayed otherwise new users will be very disappointed if their favourite game doesn't work or if they have to dig through a hundred pages of manual to find a solution.
But like I say, most common Windows programs either can be made to work or have a close FOSS equivalent
Re: asking for trouble
Presumably you can just upgrade them to a version of warez Windows for the improved graphics performance over Linux and use this to get a cheap games optimised PC without paying the Windows tax....
Re: asking for trouble
You make an interesting and reasonable point, however one thing Valve has going for it, is a tremendous amount of experience (and real world stats) gathered from serving diverse Mac PC and Linux users via Steam. I would expect to see them handle this in the same was that PC games do, with the machines selecting variable video effects levels to give the best available rendering while maintaining frame rate.
Perhaps we'll see 'suggested' video settings by default, with the ability to tinker with video for the people who really want nice reflections at the expense of some stutter.
That seems like a lot of hot hardware to be hanging off a 450W power supply. My back-of-the-envelope calculations show that it could work, but it's pretty tight. I imagine they've thought all this through though.
yeah little tight though 20nm NVidia GPU parts and Intel 14nm should open up power envelope options by this time next year.
That, and an 80+ Gold PSU mean it will actually be capable of delivering a stable 430-440w for several hours on end, rather than a no-name PSU that will pop as soon as the 12v rails ask for more than 100w each...
Most people, especially gamers, buy power supplies that are vastly overspecced for their machine.
Part of that is because of inflationary marketing, and part of it is because a crappily made 700 watt power supply might only be able to really push 500 watts, if lucky.
With a good quality PSU, you rarely need to go over 450 watts unless you have multiple high-end video cards.
A decent quality PSU should be fine. 250W rated titan and 84W i7 leaves over 100W for RAM, hdd, board and powering peripherals.
Ive been using a (now aging) 350W enermax for my i5, SSD, 6850 and 2 HDDs for some time now. It powered other similar TDP stuff before that without issue. Sure like most components it wont be able to supply 350W after a few years but no blue screens so good to go.
That's incredibly muscular specs.
Literally incredible. If true, the steambox will utterly crush Microsofts and Nintendo's next-gen consoles. No contest.
However, it's a big "if". Those muscles come at a very hefty price.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
A very hefty price indeed. I can't see much of a market for this as it's going to cost a lot more then the next gen consoles and most hardcore PC gamers are happy to build their own PC's.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
The NVIDIA Titan is well worth paying a little extra. OK, the card alone currently costs the same as a couple of next gen consoles, but being able to always put all the settings on Ultra and know that the frame rate will still not drop below 60 fps is a very pleasant feeling. It also supports 4K.
The interesting part is that halfway through the lifetime of the PS4/XBox One the Titan will be much, much cheaper, and that will benefit any games machine( like the Steam Machine) that has an upgrade path.
Consoles however will not benefit from improved technology until the start of the next cycle.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
> The interesting part is that halfway through the lifetime of the PS4/XBox One the Titan will be much, much cheaper
Halfway? The PS4/XBone are projected to not be replaced for at least _ten years_. Although I suppose if a platform like the Steambox starts generating games which continuously push the PC hardware envelope instead of there being another development plateau like it's been for the last five years, then Nintendo and Microsoft will have to update their platforms sooner than they'd hope.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
Nah, Titan is not worth extra.
You can get factory overclocked 780s that run faster than Titan for a lot less money and heat.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
A 680 is even better value for money. 780/Titans are useful if you have to cram GPU into a box. I looked at the 770's and decided a 25% price premium for 10% performance isn't worthwhile. Since then the 680's have dropped further.
Consoles are underpowered because they are designed to a price. My 9800 GT is underpowered but mostly due to massive resolution increases. The 680 is five times as fast. If Valve are aiming at TV screens the 780 is ridiculous. The problem is the massive range of game requirements. They'll need warnings about minimum and recommended hardware.
Having said that - it makes sense to get the drivers stable at the top end rather than target the low-end which is on its way out. Steam users are mostly PC gamers and likely to be at the higher end.
I'd like to see them get some more of the old games with mid-level requirements ported to SteamOS. Defensegrid, Lara Croft, Monkey Island - that type of thing.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
im sure valve will have special deals with nvidia though. Priced cheap enough and it will clean up the game market for steamos or windows as they are damn good spec boxes.
Re: That's incredibly muscular specs.
You mean Microsoft, and Sony's system not Nintendo as last time I checked almost every single game worth playing on MS or sony systems are on Steam. Whereas none of the games people like playing on Nintendo made systems are anywhere else but on Nintendo systems ;)
That is why I've always owned a gaming PC, and a Nintendo system every console generation as I can get my 3rd party fix on the PC where I can't get my Mario/pikmin/zelda/metroid fix elsewhere ;)
Apparently I already have a Steambox - At least the spec in the article is more or less the same as my gaming PC is so I assume I should just be able to load up the Steam OS and I should be good to go.
I do run a much meatier PSU (750W) to give myself a bit of slack and water cool to keep the noise and heat down but those are luxury's rather than essentials. Come down to the bottom end of the quoted spec and you are price matching PS4 / XBone machines so your chasing the same market segment.
I wonder if they want any freelance testers just to check the games comparability on a home made rig.
It's my understanding that SteamOS will be free to download and install wherever you want.
I'm sure that they'd be delighted to have your input.
everything Gabe had said about SteamBox and SteamOS would suggests that you will be able to get the OS however you want and do with it pretty much anything
"I wonder if they want any freelance testers just to check the games comparability on a home made rig."
They already have all the data from Steam, which gathers lots of information about the PCs Steam is running on, and what's being played.
Take a shufti around the Steam statistics pages some time - fascinating* stuff.
* If you are a little bit ASD, that is.
I don't see the point. All they've done is knock out a few gaming-spec pcs. Why would I want to buy one of those when I will in all likelihood be able to find a comparable machine from another vendor for less money, or build my own beast and install steam OS myself? Ok so they've added an intriguing controller to it but isn't it a bit late in the day to be entering the PC market? If it was my company I'd forget about the hardware and concentrate on the software. And the controller.
Re: a few gaming-spec pcs
They're just testing a range of specs so they can find an optimal cost/performance ratio - I expect they'll design something interesting once they've decided what to put in the box.
Re: Why?
Consoles are typically sold at a loss, with costs recouperated on the games. Would you buy one of these if it was 30% cheaper than building the same rig yourself?
Re: Why?
> Consoles are typically sold at a loss,
That used to be the case. I don't think that's true any more.
Re: Why?
At the risk of a million down-votes, if the steam OS machine is that cheap you could buy one as your main PC and dual boot with windows...
Re: Why?
They're doing this because they have to. They are very dependent on Microsoft right now. I don't see Valve becoming a big console vendor themselves, for them it's good enough to have a stable OS with third parties providing the boxes (a bit like google and android). The important thing is to have an alternative that isn't tied to Microsoft.
Posting anon because at work
I wouldn't mind one
If it has HDMI out, for compatibility with any future one-metre TV I may acquire, I wouldn't mind one.
Then at least I can keep my PC ideologically pure. And play games on a self-contained machine that's just for playing games on.
Re: I wouldn't mind one
HDMI has been a standard feature of video cards for a while now. They even now come with basic sound chips to make the HDMI output basically feature-complete.
Re: I wouldn't mind one
"HDMI has been a standard feature of video cards for a while now. They even now come with basic sound chips to make the HDMI output basically feature-complete."
Yes, and a bloody nuisance to get rid of when they start hogging the audio and your high spec audio card is shunted into the sidings.
I know, I had a hell of a job getting rid of the Nvidia HDMI from my audio setup.
dont get it
Well. Lets guess now. will the i5 outperform the i7? Hmm. Will 16gb ram be better than 8? Tricky one. Upgrade path...if they stick an i7 in it, you have no upgrade path for the cpu. 1155 wont be around for 2 years let alone 5. Whats the point of this? Unless they heavily subsidise it why wouldn't you just use either a) your existing pc b) dual boot existing pc with steam c) build a new pc
Re: dont get it
The point of the differences is not to find the best performing system, it is to find a sweet spot between price and performance that a typical user would accept.
Re: dont get it
And also to get real stability testing in.
Gamers play more games than game developers due to game developers running 12 hour day most of the time.
Jonny McGamer can spend all evening and all weekend playing and see how the OS/hardware hold up and report back to Valve either automatically or through public sources (blogs etc). Will an i5/670 handle a teenagers bedroom and it's complicated arrangement of heat sources and lack of ventilation? ;-)
I'm guessing Intel and Nvidia have more, and better, experience tackling Linux than AMD do, hence their hardware winning out for the betas, but I've got an A8-3870 and Radeon 7770 2gb here that I'll gladly test with when Steam OS is released.
Re: dont get it
The point of this is that they're aiming at the console market. There's no point selling this to PC gamers, they're most likely to already have Steam, and in the long term are unlikely to give Valve any more money than they already do.
The untapped marked (for Valve) is the current console owners, the ones that own an X-box/PS3/Wii for gaming, an iPad/Android tablet and a cheap laptop with integrated graphics that they bought with their groceries from Tesco. None of their platforms is a significant source of revenue for Valve, and building (or buying) a decent spec gaming PC is too scary for them to even contemplate.
Something that can be bought from a supermarket, has a decent existing library of games and is a simple plug and play setup might tempt some of these people away from giving all their gaming money to Microsoft/Sony and into the arms of a grateful Valve.
Re: dont get it
getting i7 over i5 for a gaming machine is at best a bad decision, at worst you're probably compensating for something
just because there is more powerful hardware doesn't mean that it's actually worth getting it
Re: dont get it
Eeeh....that's dependant on where the bottlenecks are, really. with an i5/i7 system, your bottleneck is likely going to be GPU or storage. If you can optimise those, the CPU can do more, and the games be driven to use the free CPU time more efficiently.
So an i7 is not necessarily a waste, if you know the system can utilise it through the game engine (or for increasing the quality of voice comms in game, etc).
Until we see the hardware and OS in the wild, it's hard to say just how much optimisation Valve have put into this - just using a different scheduler in the kernel can massively affect certain aspects of performance, and if you aren't stuck with having to run a desktop system in the background, why use a deskop-centric scheduler, when a far more aggressive one is available, etc?
Snag is,
while "testing" this "console" with a i7 4770 and a GeForce Titan and a load of other pretty much top of the line parts means it'll kick the living daylights out of any of the new consoles coming out and the average home PC as well. To sell such a machine is going to cost a grand or more which kind of defeats the object of a cheaply available console. Yes they will make slower models, but part of the reason for consoles is it's a uniform platform of a known design.
Surely the model they should be playing to is a set hardware spec which can be exceeded by the home build crowd, but that set hardware spec if what the platforms games are written for. As it stands this is nothing but a standard gaming PC with a custom linux distro on it.
Not so big a snag.
Note that ALL the CPUs are Intel-brand Core i-series and ALL the GPUs are nVidia-brand. within a generation of each other, and all using the same driver set. The spread is among those two brands, and they're all essentially compatible with each other. Some are just beefier than their brethren, which means if it runs on one of the boxes just fine, it'll run on ALL of them (some not as well, but at least it's not going to break). So in this case, Valve is looking for a reference spec they can say, "build to this and we can vouch for your experience".
Valve is essentially doing that I'd been thinking about for some time: opening up a gaming console by essentially setting a reference design and letting other companies use that as a basis for their own Steam Machines. I'm pretty sure they won't get the designation without some compatibility testing, but Valve is getting into the console market without having to tie themselves too tightly to hardware, and since we're talking the mature PC market (a market SO mature that BOTH Microsoft AND Sony essentially chose it for their new consoles--consider THAT), problems will probably be few and far between these days.
Re: Not so big a snag.
@Charles 9
If you're licensing the design to manufacturers you're starting to smell awfuly like 3DO, and we all remember how that went. Actually most people never heard of them...
I know it's a different marketplace these days, there are far fewer console manufacturers, and Steam have a working business model and games distribution system, but licensing the design could be messy. Given the choice most potential customers would choose the Steam-branded version unless they just don't brand one themselves (like the 3DO).
Bear in mind that Trip Hawkins left the top tier of EA when they ruled the games world, so he wasn't inexperienced.
Anyway, there are probably more differences than parallels, but that's my though for the day...
Re: Not so big a snag.
Then you forgot how much a 3DO system COST in those days. THAT was what killed the 3DO and the Apple Bandai Pippin. Both were going some $500 when the original PlayStation was capped at $300, and neither one could justify the added expense (Sony could undercut because they had some vertical integration, much as Commodore did in its heyday).
But these days, barring the extreme high end, a PC costs pretty much the same for a given spec: perhaps a tad more if it's prebuilt.
They seem to be doing everything right, apart from...
...the number of machines. Starting fractured is not great. From a developer point of view it would be better to only have one or two consoles. With only one being the games target, the other a media/video/web machine.
To what spec do developer's target for maximum income? Aiming for the top spec machine won't go down well with the accountants and suits in that meeting!
So the mid range machine to be targeted by developers will probably always be crappier than the PS4.
We all know the spec heavy games will show up in Steam regardless of whether they'll work or not on your living room box. And that's pretty ugly presentation.
I would have thought the general public would prefer NOT to be confused over these weird numbered specifications, so they'll choose the XBone or PS4 instead?
Re: They seem to be doing everything right, apart from...
"Starting fractured is not great."
Except, as Steve Knox pointed out above: "A few variations of the same CPU architecture and a few variations of the same general GPU architecture?"
As someone who prefers ATI/AMD's offerings, I'd actually prefer a bit more fracturing.
Re: They seem to be doing everything right, apart from...
"As someone who prefers ATI/AMD's offerings, I'd actually prefer a bit more fracturing."
As long as the drivers work correctly and any GLSL code works logically and consistently, then it doesn't matter to me who makes bloody things.
Developers are going to target the mid-range computers for their first foray into Steam OS - which will inevitably lower the average game's visual quality. But I suppose I care a little more than I should! Oh well.
Re: They seem to be doing everything right, apart from...
That's the thing. AMD's Linux support isn't as robust as nVidia's. The fglrx driver series isn't as well-developed, and support for GPGPU and GPU-assisted rendering is a little behind the times (ex. XvBA, AMD's answer to nVidia's VDAPU for GPU-assisted video rendering, falls flat on my rig, and GL rendering is buggy as all getup). Plus, at present, TF2 doesn't run as smoothly as it did on my Windows install, so not everything's there, it seems.
Re: They seem to be doing everything right, apart from...
> "So the mid range machine to be targeted by developers will probably always be crappier than the PS4"
The lowest-end combination of parts Valve are trying out are considerably MORE powerful than the PS4 specs, so devs will have plenty of spare capacity to try out new things.
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text:
Book your room at Vintage Charm Bed and Breakfast Hotel
Waterville bed & breakfast with a complimentary breakfast
This bed & breakfast is in Waterville.
Property Features
In addition to wireless Internet access (surcharge), Vintage Charm Bed and Breakfast Hotel provides laundry facilities, barbecue grills, and a picnic area.
Room Amenities
Televisions come with cable channels. Guestrooms also feature refrigerators, microwaves, and air conditioning.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Vintage Charm Bed and Breakfast Hotel
Family Friendly Amenities
- Laundry facilities
- Refrigerator
- Microwave
Hotel Amenities
A complimentary breakfast is offered. High-speed wireless Internet access is available for a surcharge. This Waterville bed & breakfast also offers barbecue grills, a picnic area, and a fireplace in the lobby.
- Total number of rooms - 3
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Free breakfast
- Fireplace in lobby
- Wireless Internet access - surcharge
- Laundry facilities
- Picnic area
Room Amenities
- Ceiling fan
- Air conditioning
- Refrigerator
- Coffee/tea maker
- Microwave
- Private bathroom
- Hair dryer
- Iron/ironing board
- Desk
- Cable TV service
Where to Eat
Guests are offered a complimentary full breakfast.
Hotel Policies
Special check-in instructions:
Special Instructions: Please contact the property ahead of time to make arrangements for check-in.
Pets allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.


text:
ITEMS of NOTE:
Save the date:
Polonaise Ball, Sat. Nov. 8, 2014
Walter M. Golaski Historical Marker
Chopin Concert - 2014 Report
Officers photograph
Marie Hejnosz - President
645 Renz Street
Philadelphia, PA 19128-1420
tel: (215) 487-0221
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Felicia Malinowski - Vice President
Debbie Majka - Treasurer
Diana Blichasz - Recording Secretary
Teresa Wojcik - Corresponding Secretary
Richard Janaszek - Membership Secretary
Krystyna Cimoch
Jim Malinowski
Irene Musman
Peter Obst
Walter Wojcik
Joseph Zazyczny
Communications Director:
Jean Joka, tel: 215-483-0193
e-mail: email@example.com
To apply for membership contact:
Richard Janaszek
458 Springhouse Rd.
King of Prussia, PA 19406
Phone: 610-337-2979
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Membership Categories:
Student $10
Individual $20
Family $30
News of Polish Heritage Society
... Annual Polonaise Ball and Awards Dinner
Honoring the Marcella Kochanski Sembrich Choir
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Location: Polish Home, 9150 Academy Road, Phila., PA
Time: 6:00 pm Cocktail Hour --- 7:00 pm Dinner
Cash bar begins with Dinner
Live dance music provided by the Dennis Ostopowicz Band
Musical entertainment by the Kochanski Sembrich Choir
Chinese Auction throughout the evening
Tickets $75.00 per person (details ...)
Contact Jean Joka 215-483-0193 or Tiffany Loomis 215-292-4931
... Walter M. Golaski Historical Marker
dedication on Saturday, May 17, 2014
took place at 12:00 noon
on the Drexel University Campus
at the corner of Lancaster Avenue and 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA
photos from the ceremony - (see more...)
... A concert in honor of Fryderyk Chopin
Magdalena Baczewska
Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 2:00 pm
was a splendid success
Holy Family University
Education and Technology Center
9801 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19114
... Last year's Polonaise Ball honored
Edward Turzanski
Medals from the Polish government
were awarded by Consul Mateusz Stasiek
Officers Cross of the Order of Merit - Joseph Zazyczny
Long Marital Life Medals - Melania and Bonifacy Obst
Saturday, November 16, 2013
at the Torresdale-Frankford Country Club
Scholarships Awarded for 2013
Scholarship Recipients: (l. to r.) Abigail Sydnes, Paula Kwasniewski (represented her brother Jakub - not in photo), Monika Swietlik (not in photo), Monika Juzwiak, Lisa Abramski, Marie Hejnosz, President of PHS, Victoria and Grant Opiatowski, Dr. Stephen Medvec, Scholarship chair (see more...)
... A concert in honor of
Fryderyk Chopin
Krystian Tkaczewski
Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 2:00 pm
followed by a light reception
Holy Family University
Education and Technology Center
9801 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19114 (see more...)
Polish Heritage Society honors 4 of its own at Poloniase Ball 2012
(l. to r.) Poloniase Ball 2012 awardees: Teresa N. Wojcik, Joseph Zazyczny (presenter), Peter J. Obst, Marie Hejnosz (missing from picture: Stephen Medvec) (see more...)
Founders of the Polish Heritage Society of Philadelphia
Mr. and Mrs. Mieczyslaw Chwalinski
Mrs. Wanda Kulpinska Dezwol
Mr. Edward Pinkowski
Mr. Walter J. Wadas
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Wnukowski
Mr. and Mrs. John Wojciechowicz
Mr. Joseph L. Zazyczny
Go to: Main Menu American Council for Polish Culture (ACPC) Website
Updated: March 24, 2014


text:
7 Bad Habits that Hurt Your Skin
Nix these surprising complexion killers to get a healthy and youthful glow.
By Holly Corbett
Habit: Overdoing it on the exfoliating
There's no need to rough it. "Many women think they must scrub their faces or do harsh peels," says Bannon. Although exfoliation is important for skin cell turnover, which contributes to a perky complexion, it is possible to go too far. "Overstimulation can trigger irritation and breakouts," adds Bannon.


text:
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Blacktip Reef Shark Rongelap Island Marshall Islands Stock Photo EB4953-001Marshall Islands,Animal,Animal Themes,Animals In The Wild,Blacktip Reef Shark,Color Image,Danger,Day,Island,No People,Ocean Floor,Photography,Reef Shark,Rongelap Atoll,Sea,Sea Life,Shark,Tropical Climate,Tropical Fish,Turquoise Colored,Two Animals,Undersea,Underwater,Vertical,WildlifePhotographer Mike SevernsCollection: The Image Bank Latin name: Carcharhinus melanopterus. Blacktip reef sharks are most common sharks in lagoons and coral reefs of tropical Pacific and Indian oceans. Grow to 1.8m, and are potentially dangerous.