Yeah, unlike every other software out there, which takes months to be approved. Unless you are releasing it yourself. You are living in a dream world my friend, living in a dream world.
I've written code for both large corporate (> 50,000 employees) environments and very small companies. I've never had to sit around and wait for 2 weeks for something I wrote to be approved, with no feedback or interaction in the approval process.
For those of you who have never seen this movie (am I really that old? ) this scene involved Bill Murray's character administering shock treatments as negative reinforcement when the test subject was unable to guess what was printed on the other side of a card he held up.
He tests some poor schmoe who gets close to half of them right, but he gets shocked on every card anyway.
Then he tests a potential future girlfriend and never shocks her at all, even though she misses every card.
Shock therapy as a way to screen your dates. Interesting concept.
Velocity is a speedometer calibration application that relies upon you tapping the screen as you pass markers to determine your speed. It does not use the accelerometer, gps, etc. Just you tapping and math.
Points is an acupuncture reference library, intended for students studying for boards, and for the experienced practitioner wishing for a quick review.
I've released a few apps on the app store, and have met with some success with them. However, the single most frustrating thing is the approval process for getting an app released in the first place, and publishing updates on a continuing basis.
I recently updated one of my apps, and it took Apple 16 days to review the executable and publish it. I then updated my other app, and it took 14 days.
Seriously? 2 weeks? There is nothing more frustrating than to have users contacting me saying "when will feature xyz arrive?" and my response have to be along the lines of "I've submitted it to apple 2 weeks ago. They'll approve it when they approve it. There is nothing I can do to speed it up.
[Shameless Plug]:
For any who are interested, here are the apps I've written:
Velocity Points
normal users simply can't deal with them. The result is sticky noted passwords.
This gets especially problematic when the janitorial staff comes through one night and decides all those pesky post-its (and, indeed, most every paper/seeming clutter on every desk) needs to get cleaned up and thrown out.
When a company does something stupid or draconian, I take my business elsewhere.
If the city I lived in started doing this, I'd move and take my tax revenue with me (paltry as it may be).
Interesting sidenote: This morning on the way to work I heard on the radio that California is in even bigger financial trouble now: Banks are no longer honoring the state tax refund IOU's, student grants are no longer being paid, people on all sorts of state-run social welfare programs are no longer receiving the assistance they are used to, etc.
Why don't we hear of more people fleeing the state in droves? I've never lived in CA, but if I did the decision to move would be a simple one. The state government is bankrupt, and now they want to monitor me from the sky in hi-def all the time.
checking your location against a map of known biohazards and disease outbreaks.
Seriously?
When was the last time you rounded a corner and stepped right in a pile of biohazard or disease outbreak? While I can see the utility and potential upside to a lot of the ideas being implemented on mobile devices these days, some of them seem to be solutions looking for a problem.
I do as well. Just last week I was driving along I-84 between Portland and Boise, and they have a pretty amazing stretch of windmills along both sides of the highway for miles.
They were beautiful in a majestic way, and they helped me stay awake during the drive.
Thank you for this response - you've enlightened my thinking on this subject. Perhaps I'll approach this with a slightly lower dose of cynicism in the future as a result.
It sounds like you and I fundamentally agree, with a twist: I don't mind if the customers incapable of critical thinking, logic, reasoning, argumentation and propaganda techniques wind up "losing" as you put it (for our discussion, losing has not been defined, but I assume you mean something along the lines of not becoming wealthy, not receiving superior products and services, being jerked around, etc).
In short, the problem you have with free markets are that they are free for everyone involved, and those who lack the mental acumen to see that they are being abused will continue to be abused. You propose increasing education to help those who are being abused realize it and do something about it for themselves. Great. Teach more critical thinking more rigorously. I'm all for better education (though in my opinion, your reasoning for increased education is to fix a non-existent problem) - but doubt it would really change things all that much. Some people are just not capable of critical reasoning skills at the level you demonstrate - but are worthy contributors to our society. What do we do with them? And who decides? "I'm sorry, you are not smart enough to know what companies are evil, therefore you are not permitted to buy stuff." Surely this approach is ludicrous to even the most socialized of first world societies - right?
So here's a philosophical question for you: If they don't realize they are losing, are they really losing?
That's a slippery slope - how would you define trade organizations?
The RIAA is a group made up of corporations. Something like the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is made up of mostly individuals, as I understand. Do you propose that we just let corporations stand alone as singleton entities, but let individual professionals join groups that help further their careers, share information, etc? How do you deal with someone who wholly owns a corporation? (I do). Could I personally join an association, but my corporation cannot?
Both the ACM and the RIAA are "associations", but I've never heard of the ACM running out and suing everything under the sun - in fact, they provide a ton of valuable information, awards, and knowledge sharing. Until I did some research this am, I had no idea that the RIAA was actually formed to ensure the quality of professionally produced recordings was consistent - and they still do this today, when they are not busy suing.
To answer your question in two parts: Would it benefit the population to outlaw all trade organizations? I don't know, as I am not aware of the activities of them all.
Do I think we should, if it is demonstrable that their activities harm the general population? No - I don't think we should outlaw all trade organizations, as I believe in unrestricted free market enterprise. If we can demonstrate that a particular group is having a negative impact on the rest of us, we should shout about it from the treetops, let everyone know what we have found and let the market take care of itself. If Joe Sixpack were aware of all the harm that came to him and his family by his patronizing a particular business, I believe he would stop patronizing, and tell his friends, who will stop as well, and before long, the business goes away.
I'm curious - we frequently hear of the RIAA suing this, that, and the other thing. Is there somewhere we can go to see just how many concurrent ongoing cases involve the RIAA on a global scale?
I'm guessing no.
Though I posit that if we had access to a simple count of current litigation broken down by who is suing whom, the RIAA would be somewhere near the top in terms of the number of suits they have filed and are currently working.
No, I am very aware of the fluctuation of pricing of precious metals.
But I'm also aware that cash *never* gains value, it only loses purchasing power.
Slver, on the other hand, both increases and decreases in value over time, but on average over the last 10 years, has steadily increased:
http://66.38.218.33/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_graphs.plx
Does this mean that Silver will continue to do so? No, obviously. Silver will continue to fluctuate, and can go down as easily as it goes up. It's up to the individual investor to decide when it is time to buy or sell their metal, just as with stocks, real estate, or other investment vehicles.
As a previous commenter mentioned, precious metals are a good option to park wealth, not spending money. Historically, precious metals have never been worth $0.
While I'm not a Ron Paul supporter, Precious Metal *is* better than cash. Cash just sits there and loses value to inflation. Precious Metals (historically) don't.
Is there a way automate this using the bluetooth settings on your phone and computer at the office, such that when your phone is in range, google forwards calls to your office phone, and when your phone is out of range, google forwards calls to your cell?
I have sometimes thought that such a service would be handy (and, in fact, I know someone who uses one) but he has to manually tell the service where he is all the time. Granted, it's a quick process, but it's one more thing to think about. Sometimes he forgets and when I dial his cell it hits his office even though he left already. If google offered an integrated way to detect where your phone is and forward calls appropriately, I'm much more interested.
I never received any post cards or phone calls on my land line or cell phone. I suspect it is because I always buy my cars from a private party and I always pay cash.
Oh, say, ask your non-geek friends if they would rather have an iPhone or something from Nokia that runs something called "Symbian". See how many know what Symbian actually is.
Symbian may hold almost 50% of the smartphone market, but few mainstream consumers know about it. Nearly everyone (usual disclaimers apply - folks living under rocks or in areas of sparse technology likely have not) has heard of iPhone, most know what it can do, and many want one.
Then again, I have no clue what I'm talking about.
So, based on what you have listed, it appears that the Nokia platform is vastly superior - why is it that the first time I'm hearing about it is from a comment on a story on/.?
Nokia ought to be shouting from the tops of the trees about why their products are far superior to the competition, but all I hear are crickets chirping...Any clue as to why? Does Apple just do a better job marketing and thus enjoys a greater market share? Or is it that the somewhat limited functionality of the Apple devices appeals to people who don't want the complexity of a more capable device?
I place a value on my time - and that value is typically way too high for my friends / family to pay.
That's why I always wear this to family functions and frequently when hanging out with friends.
I've found it's much easier in the long run to be non-committal. When someone says "yeah, that stupid computer is slow and broken - you know anything about how to fix it?" my usual response is either:
1) "Yup - call the manufacturer and ask them for help. They can troubleshoot it for you." or
2) "Yup - Get a Mac."
Either way, it leaves me out of it.
The only family computer I work on for free is my mom's, cause she gives me cookies.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, unlike every other software out there, which takes months to be approved. Unless you are releasing it yourself. You are living in a dream world my friend, living in a dream world.
I've written code for both large corporate (> 50,000 employees) environments and very small companies. I've never had to sit around and wait for 2 weeks for something I wrote to be approved, with no feedback or interaction in the approval process.
Perhaps I am living the dream, after all?
For those of you who have never seen this movie (am I really that old? ) this scene involved Bill Murray's character administering shock treatments as negative reinforcement when the test subject was unable to guess what was printed on the other side of a card he held up.
He tests some poor schmoe who gets close to half of them right, but he gets shocked on every card anyway.
Then he tests a potential future girlfriend and never shocks her at all, even though she misses every card.
Shock therapy as a way to screen your dates. Interesting concept.
Now get off my lawn!
I'll do ya one better. How's about links to the separate sites that promote these apps?
Velocity
Points
Thanks for the tips!
Velocity is a speedometer calibration application that relies upon you tapping the screen as you pass markers to determine your speed. It does not use the accelerometer, gps, etc. Just you tapping and math.
Points is an acupuncture reference library, intended for students studying for boards, and for the experienced practitioner wishing for a quick review.
I've released a few apps on the app store, and have met with some success with them. However, the single most frustrating thing is the approval process for getting an app released in the first place, and publishing updates on a continuing basis.
I recently updated one of my apps, and it took Apple 16 days to review the executable and publish it. I then updated my other app, and it took 14 days.
Seriously? 2 weeks? There is nothing more frustrating than to have users contacting me saying "when will feature xyz arrive?" and my response have to be along the lines of "I've submitted it to apple 2 weeks ago. They'll approve it when they approve it. There is nothing I can do to speed it up.
[Shameless Plug]:
For any who are interested, here are the apps I've written:
Velocity
Points
This gets especially problematic when the janitorial staff comes through one night and decides all those pesky post-its (and, indeed, most every paper/seeming clutter on every desk) needs to get cleaned up and thrown out.
Really happened where I worked, once.
But just once.
When a company does something stupid or draconian, I take my business elsewhere.
If the city I lived in started doing this, I'd move and take my tax revenue with me (paltry as it may be).
Interesting sidenote: This morning on the way to work I heard on the radio that California is in even bigger financial trouble now: Banks are no longer honoring the state tax refund IOU's, student grants are no longer being paid, people on all sorts of state-run social welfare programs are no longer receiving the assistance they are used to, etc.
Why don't we hear of more people fleeing the state in droves? I've never lived in CA, but if I did the decision to move would be a simple one. The state government is bankrupt, and now they want to monitor me from the sky in hi-def all the time.
And how will data required for this be collected? How will we know it is reliable and up-to-date?
Seriously?
When was the last time you rounded a corner and stepped right in a pile of biohazard or disease outbreak? While I can see the utility and potential upside to a lot of the ideas being implemented on mobile devices these days, some of them seem to be solutions looking for a problem.
Anyone know how much energy you can get out of a pound of wind?
I do as well. Just last week I was driving along I-84 between Portland and Boise, and they have a pretty amazing stretch of windmills along both sides of the highway for miles.
They were beautiful in a majestic way, and they helped me stay awake during the drive.
Thank you for this response - you've enlightened my thinking on this subject. Perhaps I'll approach this with a slightly lower dose of cynicism in the future as a result.
It sounds like you and I fundamentally agree, with a twist: I don't mind if the customers incapable of critical thinking, logic, reasoning, argumentation and propaganda techniques wind up "losing" as you put it (for our discussion, losing has not been defined, but I assume you mean something along the lines of not becoming wealthy, not receiving superior products and services, being jerked around, etc).
In short, the problem you have with free markets are that they are free for everyone involved, and those who lack the mental acumen to see that they are being abused will continue to be abused. You propose increasing education to help those who are being abused realize it and do something about it for themselves. Great. Teach more critical thinking more rigorously. I'm all for better education (though in my opinion, your reasoning for increased education is to fix a non-existent problem) - but doubt it would really change things all that much. Some people are just not capable of critical reasoning skills at the level you demonstrate - but are worthy contributors to our society. What do we do with them? And who decides? "I'm sorry, you are not smart enough to know what companies are evil, therefore you are not permitted to buy stuff." Surely this approach is ludicrous to even the most socialized of first world societies - right?
So here's a philosophical question for you: If they don't realize they are losing, are they really losing?
That's a slippery slope - how would you define trade organizations?
The RIAA is a group made up of corporations. Something like the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is made up of mostly individuals, as I understand. Do you propose that we just let corporations stand alone as singleton entities, but let individual professionals join groups that help further their careers, share information, etc? How do you deal with someone who wholly owns a corporation? (I do). Could I personally join an association, but my corporation cannot?
Both the ACM and the RIAA are "associations", but I've never heard of the ACM running out and suing everything under the sun - in fact, they provide a ton of valuable information, awards, and knowledge sharing. Until I did some research this am, I had no idea that the RIAA was actually formed to ensure the quality of professionally produced recordings was consistent - and they still do this today, when they are not busy suing.
To answer your question in two parts: Would it benefit the population to outlaw all trade organizations? I don't know, as I am not aware of the activities of them all.
Do I think we should, if it is demonstrable that their activities harm the general population? No - I don't think we should outlaw all trade organizations, as I believe in unrestricted free market enterprise. If we can demonstrate that a particular group is having a negative impact on the rest of us, we should shout about it from the treetops, let everyone know what we have found and let the market take care of itself. If Joe Sixpack were aware of all the harm that came to him and his family by his patronizing a particular business, I believe he would stop patronizing, and tell his friends, who will stop as well, and before long, the business goes away.
Unless the idiots in US Govt bail them out.
I'm curious - we frequently hear of the RIAA suing this, that, and the other thing. Is there somewhere we can go to see just how many concurrent ongoing cases involve the RIAA on a global scale?
I'm guessing no.
Though I posit that if we had access to a simple count of current litigation broken down by who is suing whom, the RIAA would be somewhere near the top in terms of the number of suits they have filed and are currently working.
No, I am very aware of the fluctuation of pricing of precious metals.
But I'm also aware that cash *never* gains value, it only loses purchasing power.
Slver, on the other hand, both increases and decreases in value over time, but on average over the last 10 years, has steadily increased:
http://66.38.218.33/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_graphs.plx
Does this mean that Silver will continue to do so? No, obviously. Silver will continue to fluctuate, and can go down as easily as it goes up. It's up to the individual investor to decide when it is time to buy or sell their metal, just as with stocks, real estate, or other investment vehicles.
As a previous commenter mentioned, precious metals are a good option to park wealth, not spending money. Historically, precious metals have never been worth $0.
Here's a graph of gold prices since 1995: http://66.38.218.33/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_graphs.plx
Have your investments done as well, as safely?
While I'm not a Ron Paul supporter, Precious Metal *is* better than cash. Cash just sits there and loses value to inflation. Precious Metals (historically) don't.
See my sig to learn more.
Is there a way automate this using the bluetooth settings on your phone and computer at the office, such that when your phone is in range, google forwards calls to your office phone, and when your phone is out of range, google forwards calls to your cell?
I have sometimes thought that such a service would be handy (and, in fact, I know someone who uses one) but he has to manually tell the service where he is all the time. Granted, it's a quick process, but it's one more thing to think about. Sometimes he forgets and when I dial his cell it hits his office even though he left already. If google offered an integrated way to detect where your phone is and forward calls appropriately, I'm much more interested.
I never received any post cards or phone calls on my land line or cell phone. I suspect it is because I always buy my cars from a private party and I always pay cash.
Yeah, I guess I'm just an idiot.
Oh, say, ask your non-geek friends if they would rather have an iPhone or something from Nokia that runs something called "Symbian". See how many know what Symbian actually is.
Symbian may hold almost 50% of the smartphone market, but few mainstream consumers know about it. Nearly everyone (usual disclaimers apply - folks living under rocks or in areas of sparse technology likely have not) has heard of iPhone, most know what it can do, and many want one.
Then again, I have no clue what I'm talking about.
So, based on what you have listed, it appears that the Nokia platform is vastly superior - why is it that the first time I'm hearing about it is from a comment on a story on /.?
Nokia ought to be shouting from the tops of the trees about why their products are far superior to the competition, but all I hear are crickets chirping...Any clue as to why? Does Apple just do a better job marketing and thus enjoys a greater market share? Or is it that the somewhat limited functionality of the Apple devices appeals to people who don't want the complexity of a more capable device?
Is there some other reason?
Citation?
I frequently hear the environmental folks spout generalizations like the above, but never hear any citation of a reliable source.
Have I missed the citations, or is their cause mostly fueled by FUD?
Yeah. That software is crap. The computer won't run it because it is not safe.
If they bought a mac on my word alone, they'll believe that as well.
I place a value on my time - and that value is typically way too high for my friends / family to pay.
:)
That's why I always wear this to family functions and frequently when hanging out with friends.
I've found it's much easier in the long run to be non-committal. When someone says "yeah, that stupid computer is slow and broken - you know anything about how to fix it?" my usual response is either:
1) "Yup - call the manufacturer and ask them for help. They can troubleshoot it for you." or
2) "Yup - Get a Mac."
Either way, it leaves me out of it.
The only family computer I work on for free is my mom's, cause she gives me cookies.
That's worth it every time.
Nope. The Obama administration will save us all by passing some legislation to regulate the currents back to the way they are supposed to work.
We'll be fine.