Tom's Hardware Investigates Michael's Computers 609
cojsl writes "Tom's Hardware has an extensive article raising questions about Michael's Computers and their claims of a laptop with a "3DMark03 Average Score - 15,417"." It gets funnier as you go along.
Welcome to the internet... (Score:2, Insightful)
it's basically the best way to make money, next to taking advantage of lonely guys (pornsites, strippers) and taking advantage of lazy people (remote control, clapper)
Review doesnt go far enough (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not trying to be overly harsh on THG. I applaud them for being willing to investigate like they did, the industry can only benefit by removing fraudsters. A few bad mechanics have given most mechanics reputations that they don't deserve, and the computer industry needs to avoid this.
Review sites, remember that your job is as much about telling people what they should not buy as it is about what they should. How many people stopped respecting PC World (once upon a time highly respected) after they endorsed Windows Me?
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
If they actually have and present the evidence, there is no need to spell it out for you.
Re:Lesson to learn: (Score:-1, Insightful)
Are you saying the Brooklyn Bridge [google.com] does not exist?
Re:Review doesnt go far enough (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Welcome to the internet... (Score:5, Insightful)
Uhm, isn't the point to provide something useful for people (creating value for them)? So strippers, pornsites, remote controls, and the clapper don't take advantage of people.. they simple provide a good or service that people find valuable.
Scamming people is a whole different story.. This guy is a scammer, he doesn't appear to even have a PRODUCT.
See his clients list? (Score:5, Insightful)
How much do you want to bet that those 'clients' are his in only the loosest sense - someone that works for the USAF bought a PC, so now the whole USAF is a client. Someone from boeing bought a PC, and had it delivered to their work address - all of a sudden Boeing as a whole is now a client hehe.
Re:Sociopaths (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you (or the moderators) even read the article you linked to?
To quote your article [datawest.net]
" Although only a trained professional can make a diagnosis"
Yes, it's clear from the TomsHardware article that you do not want to buy a computer from this guy. Just as obvious, penis enlargment products do not work.
At the same time, Toms is slanting some of their article so the guy will seem even worse.
Toms discovers that Mike does NOT need a business license, and then later in the article makes a big deal that the guy does not have one. Duh!
Still, if you insist on labeling Mike with a psych. eval. based on inadequate data, perhaps you can identify with this one [borderlinepersonality.ca].
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:2, Insightful)
After all, the cost of a lawyer could really bite into their pool of money for when FX-51 3400+ really does come out.
Re:Welcome to the internet... (Score:1, Insightful)
So?
it's basically the best way to make money,
Best by whose values? I don't think the way to make the most money is automatically the best way to make money!
Re:Pulled Punches (Score:5, Insightful)
Reputable companies often send hardware to web sites to review. If you have vaporware or "scamware", why would you voluntarily send it off for review?
I read enough to realize that I would be a fool to even give him the first dime to see if his claims were even true. If I have the money (which I sadly don't), the burden of proof is on the vendor to convince me that I need to give it to him. I don't owe any vendor anything, even the benefit of the doubt. Trust is something that is earned, not given out freely.
Re:So where can I actually buy a tricked out PC? (Score:2, Insightful)
Well what do you expect. A small computer shop doesn't want to buy $500+ parts that are just going to sit on the shelves until they've lost half their value. It's simple economics: supply only what there's demand for.
Re:Review doesnt go far enough (Score:3, Insightful)
1998: Computer doesn't come with a Windows 98 CD. Product is most likely counterfeit.
Today: Computer doesn't come with a Windows XP CD. Product is most likely genuine-- but if you want the CD, you might have to swing by Kazaa and grab an ISO...
Interview skills (Score:2, Insightful)
Amazing... (Score:2, Insightful)
Not only was a blown away by the quality of the interview, but that solid interview took my sucked the air out o' my lungs.
In the future, he should consider watching the evening news to see how an interview is traditionally handled or visit the local newspaper for a fast lesson in 'getting the scoop'.
He had plenty of time to research this guy -- why not put together a list of useful questions on that fancy yellow tablet we see at the end?
What kinds of questions would you have asked him?
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Evolution never stops being in full swing. We are always evolving, although we are selecting for different traits than we used to. "devolving" is a misonomer, although a nice sounding one... We may be getting dumber as a group, but it's still evolution!
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:4, Insightful)
One of them set themselves on fire? I mean, I know about John Lennon getting shot and all (why the FSCK couldn't they have taken out Yoko too?) Which one? Did he survive?
Oh, fire beetle. My mistake.
I am not saying evolution is wrong, but to say that it IS absolutely correct would also be inaccturate, you can show that some things have evolved, and that humans have evolved to a point, but we cannot say with absolute certainty that humans evolved from apes.
We didn't; we evolved from earlier forms of humans, who in turn evolved from even more primitive forms, who in turn came from ape-like mammals that served as a common ancestor, and this is very-well proven, through a combination of genetic testing and osteological analysis.
Lucy is a good example; we know that she was around about three million years ago, and that other than her bipedal adaptations, she was very similar to modern apes -- small brain, curved tarsal bones, and so on. Continuing on through the austrolopithecines, you see two branches (gracile and robust); the gracile branch became homo erectus, which eventually led to modern man, and the robust branch eventually evolved into the neanderthals, which died out a few hundred thousand years ago.
It's a pretty clean, unbroken record, really, and there are even a few species along the line that have died out (like the Neanderthals) -- evolutionary dead-ends. The only reason we're around is because we were better suited to survive. And, yes, I'm oversimplifying all of this for the sake of being compact. *grin*
The guy posted processors and hard drives that DON'T EXIST. He only takes pay-pal. Hmmmm you would have to have some real FAITH to buy from him
Or just be really gullible.
actually, that 3dmark2003 score is possible... (Score:3, Insightful)
It just happens to be that the "standard" 3dmark03 test is 1024x768x32 bits. You have to run at that setting to upload your score to the Futuremark online resultbrowser, which is why the highest score there is 10008 right now.
So you technically can get 17000 in 3dmark2003, just not at any reasonable resolution.
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
But then, the offspring of one animal being differant then it's parents is pretty common. Come to think of it I have never seen the offspring of one animal being identical to it's parents. I don't think anyone has ever seen to parents produce a animal identical in all ways to it down to the DNA. But childern being differant is real common, sometimes more differant thing simple looks, sometime they have differant colored parts, sometimes they have less then the normal ten fingers, sometimes more (i know a decent number of people born with 6 fingers per hand or 6 toes per foot), maybe they have the wrong number of teeth, I only was born with 22 permenant teeth. Some people i know are missing parts like spleens from birth. I'm sure thats just normal, I mean if every generation of offspring in something was just slightly differant for a few million years, i'm sure the end generation would be exactly the same as the first generation.
You need to get over it and accept evolution as a fact, it typicaly takes millions of years, but for simplier things it happens very fast, bacteria and virus's evolve all the time, year to year. Other things like fruitflies have become whole new species in short observable time spans.
It's impossible for things not to evolve, since to members of a species cannot reproduce and have an exact copy of them both in one animal, it will be differant. Only cloning can do this, and that involves only one parent, thus doesn't happen in nature. Evolution just means change, every generation is differant from the previous, in time the differances will show up. Just look at human over the last few hundred years, look at things like height, or general looks. If you took a sample of humans today, and a sample of humans from 1000 years ago and stripped them naked to remove all evidance giving away their timeframe it would be obvious who came from which time. Expand this over millions of years and out ape ancestors gradualy started to look like us.
Evolution does not mean becoming "better" it might just cause you to like sex more thus create more young. Or maybe you give birth to more offspring and thus their is more of your species then another "superior" one and they can't compete and die out. Evolution in many aspects has been haulted in the modern world. Today if you are born with 6 fingers, society shuns that and wants to see them removed. Also they probably don't help you much. But millions of years ago in a tree, it may have made you a better climber or food gatherer. That made you stronger and the chicks digged it, they matted with you, and some of your kids had six fingers, and they had an advantage, over time their were more 6 finger people because they were more sucessful. Today such things don't happen, if you are not a classic human people shun you. being born with 6 asses is not likely to help you or give you any chance at matting.
You also don't see much change in higher order land animal because we have become so much stronger and supress them. We kill them off to. As other animals have got smarter and adapted to our life we kill them off since we find them anoying, like bears living in cities living a new life from they did in the woods. Or we start seeing a change, say frogs with more legs, we set out to cure them, we asume its because of something we did. But there is a chance they are just evolving.
If darwinism was classified as supernatural then the award would have been claimed long ago, not much of a prize there then. If you didn't get the idea of it, the point is the things eligible will never win. Some of them do have a long shot chance, but arn't very likely. But things that we allready know to be true would be pretty dumb to make eligible.
Re:Mod down this liar (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not defending him at, I'm just relating one relevant personal experience. That's it.
Re:Sociopaths (Score:3, Insightful)
That's not a fact, that's an opinion. You can't say with absolute certainty that there are no psychologists that read Slashdot.
You are absolutely NOT qualified by reading a website to diagnose anyone with anything.
No, but, you can watch the interview and receive some interesting clues about Michael.
You are simply talking out of your asses.
Talking out your ass is when you don't have any material to back up your opinion. The poster you flamed stated an opinion, and provided the information that helped him arrive at that conclusion. He was not "talking out his ass".
Hey, maybe the man may simply be a self-confident baffoon who actually believes what he is saying and may not know any better.
That could very well be true. However, the parent poster felt Michael was a little too self-confident in a confrontation situation.
But, without very special training and years of actual real-world experience, no one on Slashdot is qualified to make any intelligent diagnosis about anybody.
Again, we can state an opinion. The parent poster felt that Michael was too calm during the interview not to be a sociopath. He was not trying to make an accurate diagnosis of Michael's state of mind. The poster just found it hard to believe the man was not sociopathic. There was no medical claims involved (i.e. he didn't say, "I've diagnosed Michael as a sociopath"). It was an opinion based on what was seen in the interview, nothing more. The reason that this poster's comment was modded up so high is because of the way the opinion was stated and the infomation that the poster provided to arrive at his opinion.
I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything, I just think you were being a little hard on the guy.
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Special relativity is a theory, the heliocentric solar system is just a theory. Theory to a scientist is more powerful than when used casually. A scientific theory is one that has been through testing and is supported by enough evidence that it would be perverse to deny its truth. Barring future evidence to the contrary, which is always possible.
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, it just makes me furious when I see poor or sick people having kids. How dare they pass on their faulty genes! And how dare our government let this happen! People with genetic defects should be sterilized, if not put to a merciful death. And next, if you're a Charles Murray fan, sterilize black people.
What cave did you crawl out of? Have you been smoking pot and reading Peter Singer or something?
It seems that we as a species are devolving.
On the contrary, I would argue that the modern shared social understanding that all human lives are of equal value, deserving of dignity, and entitled to maintain control of their own destiny, represents the high point of our evolution. Except in your case, of course.
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
1. Global cooling is real (1960's)
2. Global warming is real (1980's+)
3. The Atkins diet will not work
4. Ok, the Atkins diet will work
5. Eggs are bad for you... wait check that...
It is my belief that God created everything, now how he did it, I have no clue, but it did start with God. Granted this is all way off topic...
Re:Not in doubt, but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Fair enough...
>regardless of what evidence is discovered.
Oh dear. So, if (for the sake of argument) one day a crashed alien mothership is found buried in Africa that has schematics and equipment required to manufacture all creatures living or dead, and many many scientific studies are done that demonstrate that this is not a hoax... you would still believe in evolution?
I'm not suggesting that this is the real origin of man, but I'm trying to point out that you've basically said that you are 100% fanatically devoted to evolution regardless of actual data, which is kinda messed up.