Author Topic: Third-party links?  (Read 5569 times)

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Offline Deep Toaster

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Third-party links?
« on: April 30, 2011, 10:30:15 pm »
ACagliano said earlier that according to TI, "the use of a calculator beyond math is simply absurd." I thought that was a pretty ridiculous claim at first (no offense, ACag; just my view of it), and I was about to rebut him with links to those pages on TI's site where they actually link to sites like Detached Solutions and CalcGames, which, as the name of the latter indicates, obviously provide games for calculators. These links appeared on TI's "Stuff for My Calculator" section in the area of their site they call the "Student Zone" (basically an attempt to get the attention of their younger customers). They were clearly labeled "Games and Apps," as part of a portal on resources calc owners could use to enhance their experience. Then I noticed something weird (awful?).

As of a few months ago, these links were there. Right there, easily reached with a few clicks from the main page. They came with a caption saying

Quote from: TI Student Zone
Keep on playing!

For more cool games and programs than you can count, visit the sites below. Please note these are links to outside resources, and TI is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or functionality of any non-TI site.

In other words, they actually promoted these sites as a source of games. There was that little responsibility disclaimer at the end, but it's perfectly reasonable. Third-party apps can damage your calculator. That's an accepted fact.

But now it's changed. The entire section's been "revamped," changed to a Flash (as in Macromedia) showcase of calculator capabilities, rendered in animations and cool graphics that are supposed to be directed at young calc owners. Essentially, it's an ad for all that's "great" about the Nspire and Nspire CX. And of course, the links have vanished.

Thoughts?
« Last Edit: April 30, 2011, 10:30:36 pm by Deep Thought »




Offline jnesselr

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2011, 10:33:17 pm »
Interesting.  Something must have happened with TI, because after the nSpire, they completely shifted their entire, well, TI part at least, towards the nSpire.

Offline Darl181

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2011, 10:36:11 pm »
Wow, it looks like they're even snuffing out the clickpads, looking at some pages like the comparison chart TI omits them completely.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2011, 10:44:05 pm »
Yeah it seems after 2006 they shifted towards an anti-game position. The links remained intact until maybe 2008 or 2009, but then they were gone. Now it seems they're trying to either eliminate calc gaming or at least on their newer calcs.

Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2011, 10:48:34 pm »
Side note: Right click the Flash animation and select Play. It really messes up O.O (Works in Chrome, not sure about other browsers.)




Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2011, 11:07:29 pm »
I can't find the play button ???

Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2011, 11:08:15 pm »
It's one of the menu items when I right click the Flash. Maybe not in some browsers.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2011, 11:08:26 pm by Deep Thought »




Offline Darl181

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2011, 11:09:17 pm »
It works in firefox; I played with play, loop and pressing the buttons on the bottom and got like 4 running at once XD
« Last Edit: April 30, 2011, 11:09:26 pm by Darl181 »
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Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2011, 11:09:46 pm »
Yep, that ;D




Offline Darl181

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2011, 11:12:16 pm »
Also it seems like they're snuffing out the clickpads, there's only like 5 times they appear vs. the touchpads which are everywhere.  Even in the comparison chart.
http://education.ti.com/studentzone/StudentZoneUS/calculatorzone/charts.html

EDIT: just now realized a few weeks later, I posted the same thing twice... x.x
« Last Edit: May 06, 2011, 01:59:14 am by Darl181 »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #10 on: May 02, 2011, 04:42:25 pm »
Yeah true. As for the 84+ keypad, they're still included on the Nspire pages, encouraging people to request one, but I wonder how long this will last...

Offline JosJuice

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #11 on: May 03, 2011, 08:09:34 am »
Yeah true. As for the 84+ keypad, they're still included on the Nspire pages, encouraging people to request one, but I wonder how long this will last...
It's just there to trick everyone into believing that the Nspire has 100% TI-84+ compatibility...

Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #12 on: May 07, 2011, 11:55:31 pm »




Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Third-party links?
« Reply #13 on: May 26, 2011, 02:18:18 am »
Yeah but TI had a long history of affiliation with DS before, so this is probably why they still include Puzzpack on calcs.