You can always develop iPhone and Android apps. Of course, you might not end up making any money. But you could get lucky and strike it big. Even if not, you'll be having fun.
What about extreme weather conditions? In many places around the country, these come without much warning. A patch of thick fog or a sudden torrent of rains can easily drops visibility around a section of the highway or curve. If you slow down too much, you may cause accidents where drivers behind you rear end your car. Same with black ice or animals on the road. There are some situations where you can't just blame the driver for negligence.
Driving is inherently risky. You take on that risk and responsibility for driving safely when you apply for a license. That is why you're required to have car insurance.
All,
Please invest in my kick starter project to determine when the kick starter bubble will burst. There is no timeline and no deliverables. Budget is $10 million. First 100 people to invest get an autographed copy of the report. Thanks.
Too bad there's really no way to give feedback. I wish kickstarter would work more similar to a traditional VC. You receive rounds of funding based on performance goals and deliverables instead of a lump sum to spend on whatever you want.
That would be really cool. Thought I imagine the maintenance costs (especially due to corrosion from the salty air and tropical storms) may make it a little less attractive than conventional means.
They're saying there is no market for investing in new expensive launch vehicles with all the quadruple redundancies and fail-safes imposed by the government. There's already a crop of old but reliable Soviet technology that does the same.
Umm no. I made $60K living outside the DC in NoVA suburbs and I got along just fine. WIth $1200/month payment for shitty condo.
I wouldn't count DC as a major US city.
That said, I think only NYC, SF, and parts of LA and Chicago have such ridiculous high costs of living to make 80K only marginally above-average pay.
I enjoyed a fairly well-off lifestyle in the midwest before moving moving out here to silicon valley. My monthly rent for my tiny hole-in-the-wall apartment is more than my spacious luxurious condo in the Midwest. Add in the utilities and higher cost of groceries, gas, etc, the 30% jump in salary just doesn't cut it.
You may want to give Gutsy Gibbon a try. It has a new GUI-based screen configuration utility that handles dual screens.
http://www.ubuntu.com/files/GutsyImages/Screen-and-Graphic-Preferences.jpg
This is a feature that I've been waiting for:-) Yes, mucking around with xorg.Conf isn't too hard, but this makes life easier for new comers.
Actually this is interesting because my non-gamer friend also sold their Wii. He actually stood in line and managed to nab a Wii last Christmas.
After the initial interest and curiosity died down, their 6-yrs old son (now 7), seem to enjoy the old Gamecube I lent them. I'm guessing it's because I had all the best games for the GameCube, while their Wii was limited to the Wii Sports and a handful of mediocre titles. It's all about the games you buy. There needs to be an easier way for non-gamers to learn how to choose and buy games. Right now it's more of an "appliance" or "toy" mindset. You buy it, and they're supposed to just play with it for a long time.
They sold their Wii two weeks ago and bought a PS3 instead. The free demo games are a nice way for providing "unlimited" entertainment value for their son -- at least for right now.
I used to be just like you. Never had a problem with Adware/spyware or virus all those years. Heck, I cleaned viruses and ad/spyware off of other people's computers as a part-time job in college. I'd scoff at the Linux zealots who claimed that XP is riddled with holes. Even though I'd always have a dual boot setup, I'd end up using Windows XP a lot more (games, certain Windows only apps) than the Debian, RedHat, SuSE, and now Ubuntu distribution I installed.
But a couple of months ago I switched over to using my Ubuntu parition 95% of the time due to a Microsoft bug. I had received a free copy of Office 2003 and I decided to replace my Open Office installation. That was when Windows started crapping out. Turned out that there's a bug (that seems to remain unfixed) that forces Windows Update to scan and try to update Office components everytime. That process alone would use up 99% of the CPU processing and last up to half an hour. The only way around it, other than killing the errant svcHost process, would be to go into the Services in Control Panel to disable Windows Update (which gets reset everytime you reboot, so you have to do this everytime).
There are some features that are still not as refined as windows (such as toggling the IME for entering text in other languages that may not always work), but I've gotten used to it.
Now I rarely boot into windows because it's too annoying to deal with that problem everytime I boot into windows. Ubuntu just works. Everything I need is there.
If you're going to be a troll, at least try to be creative.
I'm sick of all these templatized flamebaits:
1. start with lame attempt at reverse psychology disclaimer. 2. Insert singular bad experience with Linux. 3. Omit all relevant detail so you won't be embarassed when others point out the real source of the problems you were complaining. 4. Recycle old complaints about Linux. Choose from the following:
a) can't install hardware
b) my device Blah doesn't work
c) user interface is ugly
d) there aren't any games
e) my software Blah doesn't work
f) boot time is slow 5. Repeat lame reverse psychology blurb in the beginning.
"And now we can go back and talk about some of the success that was driven by the launch, talk about the Vista First 100 Days. We've really been amazed at the customer response. I mean, we knew that [Windows] Vista would become the standard version of Windows. We knew that the industry was stepping up to take advantage of those capabilities, but what's happened in the last 100 days has been beyond our expectations. As of last week, we've had nearly 40 million copies sold, and so that's twice as fast as the adoption of Windows XP, the last major release that we've had."
We all know it's at least 90% OEM license sales. Businesses aren't buying them, they've just upgraded to XP. Consumers aren't buying it, that's why Dell had to offer Windows XP again. This means that they've made the majority of their sales already.
Actually you can already see this trend in many (if not most) universities. Just go to any of the graduate programs around the nation and you will see that the vast majority of students are foreign students. Many of them stay and pursue teaching or research positions. That is why an ever increasing number of faculty are European, Indian or Chinese (at least in the sciences and engineering). The academic world requires a certain personality to succeed -- one that seems unappealing compared to the glitzy lifestyle of Silicon Valley IPOs.
The GP's idea of the counter-intuitive notion of encouraging immigration to help the economy is nothing new. That's what America has been doing ever since it was founded. It's a pity that the xenophobic elements always dismiss any possibility that the Irish, Germans, Chinese, or any other immigration wave, could ever bring any good to outweight the short-term negative impact they may force upon our established way of life. For a modern example of where this open borders policy is working, Business Week has an article on how open immigration policy has propelled Spain as the best-performing major economy in Europe.
Don't you get it? The whole point of this project is to breed a new generation of super hackers. (Of course the laptops are rigged by the CIA to implant subliminal messages so that they will be useful to us in the future.)
But on a serious note, technology (hopefully introduced via these laptops) is an enabler that opens opportunities. I'm not just taking about Nigerian scams and Brazilian hackers. You do read about how Africa nations are able to position themselves as a leader in mail processing center thanks to the ability to access scanned documents through the Internet. Maybe someday these laptops will help create the world's only remaining source for exploitable outsourced technology.
The technology is already there, but it's the economics that haven't been worked out yet.
I remembered back in December, Slashdot covered the high efficiency multi-junction solar cells with a 40% conversion efficiency from Boeing's Spectrolab. According to the press release, they already had a fully functional 33 kilowatt generator in the Australian outback.
Too bad according to Wikipedia, it costs up to $40 per cm^2.
Slashdot Mirror
You can always develop iPhone and Android apps. Of course, you might not end up making any money. But you could get lucky and strike it big. Even if not, you'll be having fun.
What about extreme weather conditions? In many places around the country, these come without much warning. A patch of thick fog or a sudden torrent of rains can easily drops visibility around a section of the highway or curve. If you slow down too much, you may cause accidents where drivers behind you rear end your car. Same with black ice or animals on the road. There are some situations where you can't just blame the driver for negligence. Driving is inherently risky. You take on that risk and responsibility for driving safely when you apply for a license. That is why you're required to have car insurance.
All, Please invest in my kick starter project to determine when the kick starter bubble will burst. There is no timeline and no deliverables. Budget is $10 million. First 100 people to invest get an autographed copy of the report. Thanks.
Sadly, projects like this already exists in kickstarter. Exhibit A: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ribwt/step_1_get_money_from_kickstarter_step_2_abandon/
Too bad there's really no way to give feedback. I wish kickstarter would work more similar to a traditional VC. You receive rounds of funding based on performance goals and deliverables instead of a lump sum to spend on whatever you want.
That would be really cool. Thought I imagine the maintenance costs (especially due to corrosion from the salty air and tropical storms) may make it a little less attractive than conventional means.
They're saying there is no market for investing in new expensive launch vehicles with all the quadruple redundancies and fail-safes imposed by the government. There's already a crop of old but reliable Soviet technology that does the same.
Umm no. I made $60K living outside the DC in NoVA suburbs and I got along just fine. WIth $1200/month payment for shitty condo.
I wouldn't count DC as a major US city. That said, I think only NYC, SF, and parts of LA and Chicago have such ridiculous high costs of living to make 80K only marginally above-average pay. I enjoyed a fairly well-off lifestyle in the midwest before moving moving out here to silicon valley. My monthly rent for my tiny hole-in-the-wall apartment is more than my spacious luxurious condo in the Midwest. Add in the utilities and higher cost of groceries, gas, etc, the 30% jump in salary just doesn't cut it.
Why bother asking slashdot when all the best Vim tips have been collected and compiled? http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Best_Vim_Tips
You may want to give Gutsy Gibbon a try. It has a new GUI-based screen configuration utility that handles dual screens. http://www.ubuntu.com/files/GutsyImages/Screen-and-Graphic-Preferences.jpg This is a feature that I've been waiting for :-) Yes, mucking around with xorg.Conf isn't too hard, but this makes life easier for new comers.
Actually this is interesting because my non-gamer friend also sold their Wii. He actually stood in line and managed to nab a Wii last Christmas. After the initial interest and curiosity died down, their 6-yrs old son (now 7), seem to enjoy the old Gamecube I lent them. I'm guessing it's because I had all the best games for the GameCube, while their Wii was limited to the Wii Sports and a handful of mediocre titles. It's all about the games you buy. There needs to be an easier way for non-gamers to learn how to choose and buy games. Right now it's more of an "appliance" or "toy" mindset. You buy it, and they're supposed to just play with it for a long time. They sold their Wii two weeks ago and bought a PS3 instead. The free demo games are a nice way for providing "unlimited" entertainment value for their son -- at least for right now.
I used to be just like you. Never had a problem with Adware/spyware or virus all those years. Heck, I cleaned viruses and ad/spyware off of other people's computers as a part-time job in college. I'd scoff at the Linux zealots who claimed that XP is riddled with holes. Even though I'd always have a dual boot setup, I'd end up using Windows XP a lot more (games, certain Windows only apps) than the Debian, RedHat, SuSE, and now Ubuntu distribution I installed.
But a couple of months ago I switched over to using my Ubuntu parition 95% of the time due to a Microsoft bug. I had received a free copy of Office 2003 and I decided to replace my Open Office installation. That was when Windows started crapping out. Turned out that there's a bug (that seems to remain unfixed) that forces Windows Update to scan and try to update Office components everytime. That process alone would use up 99% of the CPU processing and last up to half an hour. The only way around it, other than killing the errant svcHost process, would be to go into the Services in Control Panel to disable Windows Update (which gets reset everytime you reboot, so you have to do this everytime).
There are some features that are still not as refined as windows (such as toggling the IME for entering text in other languages that may not always work), but I've gotten used to it.
Now I rarely boot into windows because it's too annoying to deal with that problem everytime I boot into windows. Ubuntu just works. Everything I need is there.
If you're going to be a troll, at least try to be creative.
I'm sick of all these templatized flamebaits:
1. start with lame attempt at reverse psychology disclaimer.
2. Insert singular bad experience with Linux.
3. Omit all relevant detail so you won't be embarassed when others point out the real source of the problems you were complaining.
4. Recycle old complaints about Linux. Choose from the following:
a) can't install hardware
b) my device Blah doesn't work
c) user interface is ugly
d) there aren't any games
e) my software Blah doesn't work
f) boot time is slow
5. Repeat lame reverse psychology blurb in the beginning.
Transcript: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/billg/spee ches/2007/05-15-2007WinHEC.mspx
We all know it's at least 90% OEM license sales. Businesses aren't buying them, they've just upgraded to XP. Consumers aren't buying it, that's why Dell had to offer Windows XP again. This means that they've made the majority of their sales already.
Actually you can already see this trend in many (if not most) universities. Just go to any of the graduate programs around the nation and you will see that the vast majority of students are foreign students. Many of them stay and pursue teaching or research positions. That is why an ever increasing number of faculty are European, Indian or Chinese (at least in the sciences and engineering). The academic world requires a certain personality to succeed -- one that seems unappealing compared to the glitzy lifestyle of Silicon Valley IPOs.
The GP's idea of the counter-intuitive notion of encouraging immigration to help the economy is nothing new. That's what America has been doing ever since it was founded. It's a pity that the xenophobic elements always dismiss any possibility that the Irish, Germans, Chinese, or any other immigration wave, could ever bring any good to outweight the short-term negative impact they may force upon our established way of life. For a modern example of where this open borders policy is working, Business Week has an article on how open immigration policy has propelled Spain as the best-performing major economy in Europe.
Link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21 /b4035066.htm?chan=search
But on a serious note, technology (hopefully introduced via these laptops) is an enabler that opens opportunities. I'm not just taking about Nigerian scams and Brazilian hackers. You do read about how Africa nations are able to position themselves as a leader in mail processing center thanks to the ability to access scanned documents through the Internet. Maybe someday these laptops will help create the world's only remaining source for exploitable outsourced technology.
Exactly.
The technology is already there, but it's the economics that haven't been worked out yet.
I remembered back in December, Slashdot covered the high efficiency multi-junction solar cells with a 40% conversion efficiency from Boeing's Spectrolab. According to the press release, they already had a fully functional 33 kilowatt generator in the Australian outback.
Too bad according to Wikipedia, it costs up to $40 per cm^2.
http://www.boeing.com/ids/news/2006/q4/061206b_nr. html l lium_arsenide_.28GaAs.29_multijunction
href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell%23Ga