"...allowing users to tell the good files from the bad ones."
Don't you mean the real illegal files from the fake illegal files? Seriously, it is no surprise to me why P2P has gotten a bad rap. Many of the users simply use P2P apps to commit piracy.
Yes, there are legit uses as well. But honestly, if you are looking for free music from a band that has released it as such, you can usually find it. It's the copyrighted commercial music and video that have tons of fake files, porn movies, etc...Not Jim Blow Sings the Blues, Live from Natrona, PA!
This is why security at the operating system layer is so important. How many homes and businesses are broken in to every day worldwide? Tens of thousands, I am sure. Computer crime will escalate in the future, to the point that virus software will probably barely be able to keep up.
Laws aren't going to stop this kind of thing, we need better solutions for security that automatically adapt and defend the end user or system they are on.
I can't recall how many hundreds of times I have seen Hubble in the headlines over the last few years. The waiting list for Hubble time is insane, and the science has been among the best that NASA has ever done.
It's amazing to me that this "it's too risky" reasoning for the cancellation of the repair missions to Hubble is still being floated.
It's franky disappointing to me as American that we are such a nation of wimps now. I personally think it's more of a risk to send people to the space station in regards to the scientific return.
While I have seen hundreds of "discovered by Hubble this week" I have not seen one discovery in the news come from the station. It's usually fighting with the Russians or announcing it's going to cost ten times more than we thought to do one twentieth the science.
Yes, I am off-topic. But I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!
If you are a startup looking to get into the VoIP market, chances are almost all of your customers are going to be running some kind of Windows based computer.
While I applaud open source and use it myself wherever I can personally, and in our offices, we still all have Windows machines on our desks.
If 95% of your customer base (and honestly the number is probably higher) is using Windows to either use your product, learn about your product, or do things like manage their accounts it is foolhearted to not have that technology available yourself.
Our servers and backend systems all run Linux, and yes it does save us money, but don't handicap your business' already statistically slim chances for success by not using a platform most of your customers will!
The articles state that NASA is going to "design and build" a robotic attachment to send up to Hubble when the lifetime is over. This is going to dock with Hubble, the control the re-entry so that it doesn't end up hitting a populated area.
Seems to be, the costs of one additional shuttle mission may very well be cheaper than the costs to design and build this robotic craft.
Also, the original plan called for a final shuttle flight to return Hubble inside the payload bay. Hubble was to be studied in detail to see the effects of long-term exposure in space to help design future craft to be more resistant.
After that, it was going to be given to the Smithsonian AIr and Space museum. A fitting place given the discoveries made with Hubble.
Sometimes I think we are often shortsighted these days...Doing everything for the bottom line and not thinking about future generations ability to "see and touch" some of the great things we have done.
...we have improved as we learned how to do things. We did indeed have issues like you reported, and we still do sometimes today. However, we have added lots of ways for people to report them to get credit. There isn't a perfect system on the net, and ours is focused more on fun than statistically proving you are the absolute best ranked player out there.
If you think about the best rating system in the world, probably the USCF system...You pretty much know right away that you suck and can never be the champion. That's not very fun, so our system is set up around online community and peer groups.
Problems aside, the cool part is that the business started as a hobby back in 1996, and I and the other people who work for Case's are still doing something we love in gaming. I can't shake a stick at that!
Case
P.S. The Worms2 ladder has always been full of interesting characters, to say the least, hehe!
There are two sides to every coin. I'm a manager of five developers and six support staff.
In my experience, younger people tend to work like dogs until it stops being fun for them. They will pull all nighters all week when you're trying to launch a product, won't need to leave early for soccer and little league games, and won't get in trouble from their non-existant wife for leaving a few minutes late.
On the other hand, older coders tend to work at a more steady pace, have fewer errors, and spend their time thinking about something before they start jamming out code. They also are more reliable at showing up on time, not burning through vacation and sick time the second it becomes available, and following through with their committments.
It isn't really fair what that manager said, but I think they might have experienced some of what I just mentioned above. Although things like that generally aren't to be said "out loud" behind closed doors you'll hear many people talking about things they have observed managing people.
What's the best solution? A balance of both, in my experience. You need an effective mix, an although young people can be great coders and older people can be off sick, those are the general trends I've seen in seven years being a manager.
You have to remember that you are there to solve your employer's problems. If he's looking at someone to produce 1,000 lines of code per hour then you wouldn't be interested in the job anyway. You want to work somewhere focused on quality over quantity, and that is probably more biased to older more experienced developers in many cases than younger folks.
I remember back in my BBS days what a big deal zmodem was when it started getting used all over the place. As I recall, it changed the block size that you would receive dynamically based on line quality.
So when you sent a block of 2k and got no errors, the frame size increased to 4k...8k... etc etc... Sounds like a similar approach.
Case
P.S. That was a long time ago in a FidoNet far far away, so my terms may be off.
As both a gamer and someone who runs a business in the online gaming space, I can see both sides of the coin here.
Personally I see this as a great first step for massively multiplayer gaming. Not necessarily a great first step, but a move forward nonetheless.
I used to play EQ for 10 hours a day. Then I met the right woman, got married, and had a baby. When Dark Age of Camelot came out, I managed to play 4-5 hours a handful of nights a week (at the expense of sleep). Luckily my wife loves gaming too, but she was in the same boat.
I really enjoyed both games, but in both situations I could not compete with teenagers and college students who could throw 12-14 hours a day at the game. It really ruins the fun if you can no longer group with your friends because your character has fallen behind.
So, yes, I think it's great that I can get the +10 Not-so-rusty sword for $9.95 or whatever... Otherwise I would just be camping some spawn mindlessly wasting time to get it in the game. That makes me get bored and want to quit the game, taking my subscription revenue with it.
Gaming companies and the games themselves are better off long term if they can keep people attracted to the game. For those of us who love the games, but simply don't have the time, this is a good thing.
I think a better (even more powerful idea) would be to create servers/shards/realms with a MAXIMUM amount of hours played per account per week. This would be great for people like me who can only play so many hours a day -- basically you're keeping the power gamers out of one or two servers to allow casual players a chance.
Especially in newer games like DAOC where realm vs realm is so important, there is no way someone who can only play 10 hours per week has a chance. I applaud the companies for realizing this and starting to take baby steps towards addressing it.
I have the kids that run around my house. They wake up, eat breakfast, and then go outside and collect all manner of nasty goo on their little fingers.
Then they come in for lunch, "play" computer, and muck up CDs. I'm not talking about my really important stuff that is snuggled away - I'm talking about the games they are alloyed to play...God forbid they get their hands on Warcraft 3!
I always make burnt copies of CDs for the kids to use, so that when they roll over it with the toy car and crack it I can just make a new one.
I know piracy is a problem for the industry, but it just sickens me at how legitimate fair use gets slaughtered for people like me!
And forget the "I won't be buying any of THESE CDs line" -- that only works until Toy Story 17 comes out on DVD....
If it's because you are in love with the material goods and life you can (or can't) live because of your income, then you have no place to complain.
I currently manage nine people, four of whom are developers. I have to say I have more respect when people have a little backbone and say "No, I requested this time off under the company policies" than "Okay boss, I'll cancel my wedding to reboot the server."
Not standing up for what you really believe in won't get you very far in life - in the IT department, or while working drive-thru. You'll always be the whipping boy until you learn that.
My aunt lived in Japan for two years. From what she said, and this article mentions, is that getting a land line phone is very expensive.
The article quotes $700, but if I recall my aunt mentioned it was more than that. Additionally, the waiting list to get a telephone was months and months long.
So, to me, it's no surprise that Japanese are using cell phones for both voice and data more than US counterparts. A big chunk of people there simply can't even make a call from home. So they are used to using their cell phones more than your average American.
I think geography has something to do with it as well. Japan has a much higher population density than the US, so it's easier for the providers. You don't need to erect as many towers to cover the same number of people. Installing and upgrading cell towers to support higher speed data services costs a fortune, so I'm not surprised it's not happening faster in the US. You'd need thousands of towers in Japan, compared to tens of thousands here.
How do we, as developers, get a good hold on this? Should we put any stock at all in those online "salary comparisons" that say a person with job X in market Y makes $Z?
Salary comparisons online lag pretty far behind the real job market. The data they are using is always at least six months old, and I'm sure many of the online sites are using data older than that.
A better source would be cost of living comparisons between cities. That will give you a starting point. I relocated from the East coast 3.5 years ago to Seattle, and that's what I did.
Part of my problem is that I'm relocating to a new market with a significantly higher cost of living than my old place. So I don't know if I should be asking for about the SAME as my last position, figuring that the market difference will make that "lower," or go even LOWER than my old salary and live like a peon.
The employer lives there, and they know what it costs to live there. So don't feel bad about asking for more than you "feel" worth in a market like that. Just make sure it's in live with how much you were making over the cost of living at your old position.
That, and how does the salary requirement influence you? Do you require it on resumes/monster searches, and just toss out the ones that have unreal demands? Personally, I'd rather just interview and then discuss what a reasonable salary would be if it seems like a good fit.
I've asked people to submit salary requirements with resumes, but honestly less than 5% of people are willing to do that. Usually the last couple questions in an interview I ask to get a handle on a "range" that someone would be comfortable with. If someone says their low end is, say, 90K and they have only a year or two of experience, that's a pretty good indicator it's a waste of my time (when hiring entry level positions, especially).
I think it's important people be honest about their expectations. You don't want to waste your time if you can't make $x, but you aren't qualified for $y. So say you'd like to make between $x and $y and then you'll arrive at $z.
Again, I'm not suggestion you shouldn't earn enough to feel happy and comfortable. I'm saying that to get that kind of salary in this job market, you need to sell yourself well.
A good tactic is to ask for a real world problem they are facing right now, and give them your 30 second "from the tip of my tongue" solution. If the person interviewing comes away from it with a couple new ideas it will help get you in the door.
I see lots of growth in Web services and entertainment. There are lots of companies transitioning to membership based models now, and that generates a lot of work to build those subscription systems and management tools.
I just hired four new developers at my company, so I will give you some pointers for actually getting in the door once you have found a company to interview for:
#1 - Accept the fact you'll most likely make less money than your last position. Times have changed in most markets. I hired for four positions and had 150 resumes (not counting the throw them in the trash right away kind). Lots of people I interviewed were looking for salaries that were gone with the 1999 dot com frenzy. Don't mentioned your MBA or Masters in CompSci fifty times, either.
#2 - Don't accept less money than you're worth. With #1 being said, don't short sell yourself either. Companies are getting away with murder when they hire right now because the market is so bad for those out of work. You want to come across as someone who is WORTH every penny you ask for. How to do this? Focus on things at your previous jobs that increased efficiency or saved your company money. As an example, someone I hired told me about how they cut their company's bandwidth costs by 30% by installing a proxy that used mod_gzip on everything going out. Companies will pay for people who will not only save them money, but FIND them ways to save even more money.
#3 - Be assertive, but not forceful. People who call me every two days to follow-up annoy the heck out of me. It sends a signal that you're desparate and don't have other options. Definately send an E-mail thanking the person for an interview with a couple BRIEF thoughts. If you call back more than once and don't hear back, don't waste your time chasing the job.
#4 - Focus on MY needs, not yours. I don't want to hear about how you are really heavily involved in open source, or have this web site you help maintain on the side that gets uber traffic. Things like that spell distraction to me. Review the Web site or product catalog of the company you are going to interview for. Do a Google search and read recent press on the company. Try to get an idea of what challenges the company is facing and apply your past project experience directly to that.
#5 - Dress and act appropriately. Don't show up in a suit unless it's an executive position and you're in an area of the country that requires it. Being overdressed makes you look out of place, and tells me you haven't been in circulation or interviewed much. Comb your hair, take out those nose rings (unless you're a graphics person, haha), and ask questions. If you don't understand something you're asked, say so. Nothing is worse than watching someone try to fake their way through an answer.
#6 - Base the business on the numbers and the market, not the Herman Miller chairs. Our office isn't super deluxe. It's pretty spartan, just a couple floors of cubes and Costco desks, tables, etc. But we're profitable for over a year, have over three million users, have positive growth, and have been in business on the net for over six years. You won't find a good job that will last if a company spends more on their office than their payroll.
#7 - Avoid the startup...This one is more of my personal experience, but most people I know are sick of hearing about startups. Hearing someone works at a startup in most cases sends up warning signs. You're better off working for a smaller, established company that is challenged by it's growth and needs quality people. You'll learn a lot more when you don't have to worry if your paycheck will be coming next month.
Just some thoughts from the front lines of a smallish Internet company in Seattle...Hope this helps!
Case
The real reason E-paper will never take off...
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It's because all those congressmen won't look so smart in front of the fake bookcases they use on all the TV interviews and speeches.
One thing that has not been brought up yet is that most larger companies are publically traded. Their number one objective is to create value for their shareholders. While the same can be said for private companies, public companies are under much greater watch.
That being said...It is very true that executives will pick a "name" that people recognize rather than the best technology. Everyone knows Microsoft. THat's why management picks it, supports it, and spends the money.
If you want a chance in heck of deploying Linux over a MS solution, DON'T try to pitch it yourself. Call IBM. They talk the same language as your boss.
Sure, you might pay more for an IBM solution than you would if you bought stuff yourself and configured it. But the end goal is to save your company money and deploy a product they will have faith in. If MS does it for $200k, IBM for $125k, or you for $50k. It brings Linux into the office behind a solid name and then you can expand slowly with homegrown projects.
Also, is it so wrong that management would like to have a COMPANY to call to support a product they are using to run their business? It is a reasonable request, which is why you call IBM and tell them your situation.
Now Linux can really own as a legitimate desktop OS!
Seriously though...Isn't there a better place for someone who has the time to contribute? I'd rather see a better desktop environment, a better E-mail package, etc...
(Flame away, all of you running on 200Mhz machines with a four gig drive who will post about how awesome this new support is!)
...because all the companies exhibiting at COMDEX are so broke they can't afford to give me new t-shirts. What a clever way to save money on promo items!
But, what am I supposed to wear for the next year!?! I guess my Penguin Computing T-shirts will have to be worn twice!
Tom's Hardware is generally known for the accurate reporting and trying to keep the playing field level in tests.
This one should be pretty easy to test...Someone just needs to have the resources to risk frying a few dozen processors.
I was a little surprised when I read the results on Tom's Hardware...I would have expected they could see this could be a major issue for AMD and would have run even more tests to make sure their results were accurate and not a bad batch or something like that.
Hate to see Tom's take a credibility hit on this one, so it will be interesting to see how this one unfolds!
I read over a few of the links but not the full spec. Will this be backwards compatiable or will the current generation of GPS devices just use the old satellite constellation until it dies?
I can just see it now...All the new GPS applications being developed needing to be tossed.
Anyone have some details on this?
Also, as GPS becomes more and more important to the world in general, who is paying the bill? And what price do other countries "pay" if they rely heavily on GPS that is US controlled?
I don't mind the US being "humanitarian" but it's troubling to think that we will basically be custodians of what could eventually be the primary method of navigation for lots of things.
Suddenly sanctions against country X means that planes there can't fly, lost puppies can't be found, and GPS tied 911 type services fail.
It seems every year we find a way to double the amount of data that we can send down fiber. As a result of this, companies are actually deploying less new fiber in the field and taking older lines out of commission.
One of the things that worries me about this is the increased vulnerability. In the past, huge fiber networks were used that can be one tenth the size today. All too often a clueless construction worker rips up a section of fiber and causes some havok.
Won't this kind of thing happen more frequently if less fiber is deployed that can handle more traffic? And does this bring us any closer to fiber to the curb - it doesn't seem like it.
Everyone else in the real world has to use real age verification systems (be is visual "hmm, he looks like a 11 year old" or "ID please") when it comes to things that can be deemed "harmful" to minors, so why shouldn't online systems? Asking for something like credit card information seems to be the easiest and most widely spread use of such a method, as I cannot think of any other methods that can be (more) successfully used?
Using online credit cards for identifying someone's age isn't only unreliable (as you pointed out) but also is not accessible to a large number of Americans.
After high school, I ran up a huge long distance bill calling BBSes across the country. I didn't have the money to pay the bill on time, so an entry was put on my credit report that I had a late payment. As a consequence, it was more than five years later before any credit card company would touch me.
There are a lot of people with low or modest income that have no access to get a credit card, not to mention one of the biggest problems Americans have right now is TOO MUCH DEBT. I think it would be foolish to block so many people from access to content that they are legally allowed to view.
When it comes right down to it, there just isn't a good way to know for sure who is on the other side of the keyboard. And it will cost businesses too much to figure out a way to make sure, so I hope there aren't any stupid decisions by the Fed on this issue.
As for the virtual porn...It's just one step from saying an artistic rendering of a real act is illegal to saying writing about it is illegal...And then from there, who knows? Thinking about it becoming illegally? We don't want to start down that road...
I can see my first flight on one these babies now
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard LotsaCashSpentDevelopingThis Airways.
Flight Attendant #1:
"Once we reach our cruising altitude we will begin our complimentary beverage service. Coke products are free while beer, wine, and liquor may be purchased for..."
(interrupted by Flight Attendant #2):
"LotsaCashSpentDevelopingThis Airways welcomes you to Paris DeGaulle Airport. The local time is 12:14pm."
Slashdot Mirror
Don't you mean the real illegal files from the fake illegal files? Seriously, it is no surprise to me why P2P has gotten a bad rap. Many of the users simply use P2P apps to commit piracy.
Yes, there are legit uses as well. But honestly, if you are looking for free music from a band that has released it as such, you can usually find it. It's the copyrighted commercial music and video that have tons of fake files, porn movies, etc...Not Jim Blow Sings the Blues, Live from Natrona, PA!
This is why security at the operating system layer is so important. How many homes and businesses are broken in to every day worldwide? Tens of thousands, I am sure. Computer crime will escalate in the future, to the point that virus software will probably barely be able to keep up.
Laws aren't going to stop this kind of thing, we need better solutions for security that automatically adapt and defend the end user or system they are on.
I can't recall how many hundreds of times I have seen Hubble in the headlines over the last few years. The waiting list for Hubble time is insane, and the science has been among the best that NASA has ever done.
It's amazing to me that this "it's too risky" reasoning for the cancellation of the repair missions to Hubble is still being floated.
It's franky disappointing to me as American that we are such a nation of wimps now. I personally think it's more of a risk to send people to the space station in regards to the scientific return.
While I have seen hundreds of "discovered by Hubble this week" I have not seen one discovery in the news come from the station. It's usually fighting with the Russians or announcing it's going to cost ten times more than we thought to do one twentieth the science.
Yes, I am off-topic. But I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!
If you are a startup looking to get into the VoIP market, chances are almost all of your customers are going to be running some kind of Windows based computer.
While I applaud open source and use it myself wherever I can personally, and in our offices, we still all have Windows machines on our desks.
If 95% of your customer base (and honestly the number is probably higher) is using Windows to either use your product, learn about your product, or do things like manage their accounts it is foolhearted to not have that technology available yourself.
Our servers and backend systems all run Linux, and yes it does save us money, but don't handicap your business' already statistically slim chances for success by not using a platform most of your customers will!
The articles state that NASA is going to "design and build" a robotic attachment to send up to Hubble when the lifetime is over. This is going to dock with Hubble, the control the re-entry so that it doesn't end up hitting a populated area.
Seems to be, the costs of one additional shuttle mission may very well be cheaper than the costs to design and build this robotic craft.
Also, the original plan called for a final shuttle flight to return Hubble inside the payload bay. Hubble was to be studied in detail to see the effects of long-term exposure in space to help design future craft to be more resistant.
After that, it was going to be given to the Smithsonian AIr and Space museum. A fitting place given the discoveries made with Hubble.
Sometimes I think we are often shortsighted these days...Doing everything for the bottom line and not thinking about future generations ability to "see and touch" some of the great things we have done.
...we have improved as we learned how to do things. We did indeed have issues like you reported, and we still do sometimes today. However, we have added lots of ways for people to report them to get credit. There isn't a perfect system on the net, and ours is focused more on fun than statistically proving you are the absolute best ranked player out there.
If you think about the best rating system in the world, probably the USCF system...You pretty much know right away that you suck and can never be the champion. That's not very fun, so our system is set up around online community and peer groups.
Problems aside, the cool part is that the business started as a hobby back in 1996, and I and the other people who work for Case's are still doing something we love in gaming. I can't shake a stick at that!
Case
P.S. The Worms2 ladder has always been full of interesting characters, to say the least, hehe!
There are two sides to every coin. I'm a manager of five developers and six support staff.
In my experience, younger people tend to work like dogs until it stops being fun for them. They will pull all nighters all week when you're trying to launch a product, won't need to leave early for soccer and little league games, and won't get in trouble from their non-existant wife for leaving a few minutes late.
On the other hand, older coders tend to work at a more steady pace, have fewer errors, and spend their time thinking about something before they start jamming out code. They also are more reliable at showing up on time, not burning through vacation and sick time the second it becomes available, and following through with their committments.
It isn't really fair what that manager said, but I think they might have experienced some of what I just mentioned above. Although things like that generally aren't to be said "out loud" behind closed doors you'll hear many people talking about things they have observed managing people.
What's the best solution? A balance of both, in my experience. You need an effective mix, an although young people can be great coders and older people can be off sick, those are the general trends I've seen in seven years being a manager.
You have to remember that you are there to solve your employer's problems. If he's looking at someone to produce 1,000 lines of code per hour then you wouldn't be interested in the job anyway. You want to work somewhere focused on quality over quantity, and that is probably more biased to older more experienced developers in many cases than younger folks.
Case
I remember back in my BBS days what a big deal zmodem was when it started getting used all over the place. As I recall, it changed the block size that you would receive dynamically based on line quality.
So when you sent a block of 2k and got no errors, the frame size increased to 4k...8k... etc etc... Sounds like a similar approach.
Case
P.S. That was a long time ago in a FidoNet far far away, so my terms may be off.
...You should have seen some of the "sex on campus"
seven degrees of separation white boards from my college days!
(Yes, my "small patch" was rejected as too small to bother including)
As both a gamer and someone who runs a business in the online gaming space, I can see both sides of the coin here.
Personally I see this as a great first step for massively multiplayer gaming. Not necessarily a great first step, but a move forward nonetheless.
I used to play EQ for 10 hours a day. Then I met the right woman, got married, and had a baby. When Dark Age of Camelot came out, I managed to play 4-5 hours a handful of nights a week (at the expense of sleep). Luckily my wife loves gaming too, but she was in the same boat.
I really enjoyed both games, but in both situations I could not compete with teenagers and college students who could throw 12-14 hours a day at the game. It really ruins the fun if you can no longer group with your friends because your character has fallen behind.
So, yes, I think it's great that I can get the +10 Not-so-rusty sword for $9.95 or whatever... Otherwise I would just be camping some spawn mindlessly wasting time to get it in the game. That makes me get bored and want to quit the game, taking my subscription revenue with it.
Gaming companies and the games themselves are better off long term if they can keep people attracted to the game. For those of us who love the games, but simply don't have the time, this is a good thing.
I think a better (even more powerful idea) would be to create servers/shards/realms with a MAXIMUM amount of hours played per account per week. This would be great for people like me who can only play so many hours a day -- basically you're keeping the power gamers out of one or two servers to allow casual players a chance.
Especially in newer games like DAOC where realm vs realm is so important, there is no way someone who can only play 10 hours per week has a chance. I applaud the companies for realizing this and starting to take baby steps towards addressing it.
Case
I have the kids that run around my house. They wake up, eat breakfast, and then go outside and collect all manner of nasty goo on their little fingers.
Then they come in for lunch, "play" computer, and muck up CDs. I'm not talking about my really important stuff that is snuggled away - I'm talking about the games they are alloyed to play...God forbid they get their hands on Warcraft 3!
I always make burnt copies of CDs for the kids to use, so that when they roll over it with the toy car and crack it I can just make a new one.
I know piracy is a problem for the industry, but it just sickens me at how legitimate fair use gets slaughtered for people like me!
And forget the "I won't be buying any of THESE CDs line" -- that only works until Toy Story 17 comes out on DVD....
Case
So, ummm...Why don't you quit?
If it's because you are in love with the material goods and life you can (or can't) live because of your income, then you have no place to complain.
I currently manage nine people, four of whom are developers. I have to say I have more respect when people have a little backbone and say "No, I requested this time off under the company policies" than "Okay boss, I'll cancel my wedding to reboot the server."
Not standing up for what you really believe in won't get you very far in life - in the IT department, or while working drive-thru. You'll always be the whipping boy until you learn that.
Case
My aunt lived in Japan for two years. From what she said, and this article mentions, is that getting a land line phone is very expensive.
The article quotes $700, but if I recall my aunt mentioned it was more than that. Additionally, the waiting list to get a telephone was months and months long.
So, to me, it's no surprise that Japanese are using cell phones for both voice and data more than US counterparts. A big chunk of people there simply can't even make a call from home. So they are used to using their cell phones more than your average American.
I think geography has something to do with it as well. Japan has a much higher population density than the US, so it's easier for the providers. You don't need to erect as many towers to cover the same number of people.
Installing and upgrading cell towers to support higher speed data services costs a fortune, so I'm not surprised it's not happening faster in the US. You'd need thousands of towers in Japan, compared to tens of thousands here.
Case
Salary comparisons online lag pretty far behind the real job market. The data they are using is always at least six months old, and I'm sure many of the online sites are using data older than that.
A better source would be cost of living comparisons between cities. That will give you a starting point. I relocated from the East coast 3.5 years ago to Seattle, and that's what I did.
Part of my problem is that I'm relocating to a new market with a significantly higher cost of living than my old place. So I don't know if I should be asking for about the SAME as my last position, figuring that the market difference will make that "lower," or go even LOWER than my old salary and live like a peon.
The employer lives there, and they know what it costs to live there. So don't feel bad about asking for more than you "feel" worth in a market like that. Just make sure it's in live with how much you were making over the cost of living at your old position.
That, and how does the salary requirement influence you? Do you require it on resumes/monster searches, and just toss out the ones that have unreal demands? Personally, I'd rather just interview and then discuss what a reasonable salary would be if it seems like a good fit.
I've asked people to submit salary requirements with resumes, but honestly less than 5% of people are willing to do that. Usually the last couple questions in an interview I ask to get a handle on a "range" that someone would be comfortable with. If someone says their low end is, say, 90K and they have only a year or two of experience, that's a pretty good indicator it's a waste of my time (when hiring entry level positions, especially).
I think it's important people be honest about their expectations. You don't want to waste your time if you can't make $x, but you aren't qualified for $y. So say you'd like to make between $x and $y and then you'll arrive at $z.
Again, I'm not suggestion you shouldn't earn enough to feel happy and comfortable. I'm saying that to get that kind of salary in this job market, you need to sell yourself well.
A good tactic is to ask for a real world problem they are facing right now, and give them your 30 second "from the tip of my tongue" solution. If the person interviewing comes away from it with a couple new ideas it will help get you in the door.
Good luck!
Case
I see lots of growth in Web services and entertainment. There are lots of companies transitioning to membership based models now, and that generates a lot of work to build those subscription systems and management tools.
I just hired four new developers at my company, so I will give you some pointers for actually getting in the door once you have found a company to interview for:
#1 - Accept the fact you'll most likely make less money than your last position. Times have changed in most markets. I hired for four positions and had 150 resumes (not counting the throw them in the trash right away kind). Lots of people I interviewed were looking for salaries that were gone with the 1999 dot com frenzy. Don't mentioned your MBA or Masters in CompSci fifty times, either.
#2 - Don't accept less money than you're worth. With #1 being said, don't short sell yourself either. Companies are getting away with murder when they hire right now because the market is so bad for those out of work. You want to come across as someone who is WORTH every penny you ask for. How to do this? Focus on things at your previous jobs that increased efficiency or saved your company money. As an example, someone I hired told me about how they cut their company's bandwidth costs by 30% by installing a proxy that used mod_gzip on everything going out. Companies will pay for people who will not only save them money, but FIND them ways to save even more money.
#3 - Be assertive, but not forceful. People who call me every two days to follow-up annoy the heck out of me. It sends a signal that you're desparate and don't have other options. Definately send an E-mail thanking the person for an interview with a couple BRIEF thoughts. If you call back more than once and don't hear back, don't waste your time chasing the job.
#4 - Focus on MY needs, not yours. I don't want to hear about how you are really heavily involved in open source, or have this web site you help maintain on the side that gets uber traffic. Things like that spell distraction to me. Review the Web site or product catalog of the company you are going to interview for. Do a Google search and read recent press on the company. Try to get an idea of what challenges the company is facing and apply your past project experience directly to that.
#5 - Dress and act appropriately. Don't show up in a suit unless it's an executive position and you're in an area of the country that requires it. Being overdressed makes you look out of place, and tells me you haven't been in circulation or interviewed much. Comb your hair, take out those nose rings (unless you're a graphics person, haha), and ask questions. If you don't understand something you're asked, say so. Nothing is worse than watching someone try to fake their way through an answer.
#6 - Base the business on the numbers and the market, not the Herman Miller chairs. Our office isn't super deluxe. It's pretty spartan, just a couple floors of cubes and Costco desks, tables, etc. But we're profitable for over a year, have over three million users, have positive growth, and have been in business on the net for over six years. You won't find a good job that will last if a company spends more on their office than their payroll.
#7 - Avoid the startup...This one is more of my personal experience, but most people I know are sick of hearing about startups. Hearing someone works at a startup in most cases sends up warning signs. You're better off working for a smaller, established company that is challenged by it's growth and needs quality people. You'll learn a lot more when you don't have to worry if your paycheck will be coming next month.
Just some thoughts from the front lines of a smallish Internet company in Seattle...Hope this helps!
Case
It's because all those congressmen won't look so smart in front of the fake bookcases they use on all the TV interviews and speeches.
Excellent post! Please mod it up so others can read it as well.
One thing that has not been brought up yet is that most larger companies are publically traded. Their number one objective is to create value for their shareholders. While the same can be said for private companies, public companies are under much greater watch.
That being said...It is very true that executives will pick a "name" that people recognize rather than the best technology. Everyone knows Microsoft. THat's why management picks it, supports it, and spends the money.
If you want a chance in heck of deploying Linux over a MS solution, DON'T try to pitch it yourself. Call IBM. They talk the same language as your boss.
Sure, you might pay more for an IBM solution than you would if you bought stuff yourself and configured it. But the end goal is to save your company money and deploy a product they will have faith in. If MS does it for $200k, IBM for $125k, or you for $50k. It brings Linux into the office behind a solid name and then you can expand slowly with homegrown projects.
Also, is it so wrong that management would like to have a COMPANY to call to support a product they are using to run their business? It is a reasonable request, which is why you call IBM and tell them your situation.
This is what we've all been waiting for!
Now Linux can really own as a legitimate desktop OS!
Seriously though...Isn't there a better place for someone who has the time to contribute? I'd rather see a better desktop environment, a better E-mail package, etc...
(Flame away, all of you running on 200Mhz machines with a four gig drive who will post about how awesome this new support is!)
...because all the companies exhibiting at COMDEX are so broke they can't afford to give me new t-shirts. What a clever way to save money on promo items!
But, what am I supposed to wear for the next year!?! I guess my Penguin Computing T-shirts will have to be worn twice!
Tom's Hardware is generally known for the accurate reporting and trying to keep the playing field level in tests.
This one should be pretty easy to test...Someone just needs to have the resources to risk frying a few dozen processors.
I was a little surprised when I read the results on Tom's Hardware...I would have expected they could see this could be a major issue for AMD and would have run even more tests to make sure their results were accurate and not a bad batch or something like that.
Hate to see Tom's take a credibility hit on this one, so it will be interesting to see how this one unfolds!
I read over a few of the links but not the full spec. Will this be backwards compatiable or will the current generation of GPS devices just use the old satellite constellation until it dies?
I can just see it now...All the new GPS applications being developed needing to be tossed.
Anyone have some details on this?
Also, as GPS becomes more and more important to the world in general, who is paying the bill? And what price do other countries "pay" if they rely heavily on GPS that is US controlled?
I don't mind the US being "humanitarian" but it's troubling to think that we will basically be custodians of what could eventually be the primary method of navigation for lots of things.
Suddenly sanctions against country X means that planes there can't fly, lost puppies can't be found, and GPS tied 911 type services fail.
It seems every year we find a way to double the amount of data that we can send down fiber. As a result of this, companies are actually deploying less new fiber in the field and taking older lines out of commission.
One of the things that worries me about this is the increased vulnerability. In the past, huge fiber networks were used that can be one tenth the size today. All too often a clueless construction worker rips up a section of fiber and causes some havok.
Won't this kind of thing happen more frequently if less fiber is deployed that can handle more traffic? And does this bring us any closer to fiber to the curb - it doesn't seem like it.
Using online credit cards for identifying someone's age isn't only unreliable (as you pointed out) but also is not accessible to a large number of Americans.
After high school, I ran up a huge long distance bill calling BBSes across the country. I didn't have the money to pay the bill on time, so an entry was put on my credit report that I had a late payment. As a consequence, it was more than five years later before any credit card company would touch me.
There are a lot of people with low or modest income that have no access to get a credit card, not to mention one of the biggest problems Americans have right now is TOO MUCH DEBT. I think it would be foolish to block so many people from access to content that they are legally allowed to view.
When it comes right down to it, there just isn't a good way to know for sure who is on the other side of the keyboard. And it will cost businesses too much to figure out a way to make sure, so I hope there aren't any stupid decisions by the Fed on this issue.
As for the virtual porn...It's just one step from saying an artistic rendering of a real act is illegal to saying writing about it is illegal...And then from there, who knows? Thinking about it becoming illegally? We don't want to start down that road...
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