I get the Apple is evil thing. I do. Please though, tell me what company I can trust? Should I trust Google with one of their phones for example? I think that ship sailed. I was thinking maybe one of the new Ubuntu phones, but wait, Canonical is in the middle of user privacy issues.
Last month I bought my first new TV, having owned a lot of castoffs from friends. A shiny new Panasonic plasma "smart TV". My first thought was that I'd never use that stuff, but the picture was the deciding factor. Since the router was nearby, I went ahead and attached an Ethernet cable to it. Next thing you know, I'm surfing around on the built in Netflix and Amazon Prime apps, and less than a month later, I actually cancelled the cable TV service that I stopped watching.
Maybe it's just that I value my time differently, or that I don't spend hours randomly cruising through the channels on the off chance that I catch a show when I want to watch something. I want something on demand when I have time, and at least on my TV and internet connection combination, Netflix HD looks absolutely amazing.
Of course the cable providers know this, which is why heavy caps are in place in a lot of markets, and why I had to up my internet plan with my ISP to give me a higher cap, but if I was a big TV watcher, I'd still bust it.
I'm actually glad people didn't stop with the old one button Macintosh mouse, or those first Microsoft two button pieces of crap, with the rubber ball that needed regular cleaning and a cord that was frequently in the way. The current optical mice, even in planned obsolescence form are lightyears better in my opinion.
I'd almost say the same with cases. The old metal shells case covers, with hard to access drive bays, no front panel access, and poor ventilation are also dinosaurs that I'm glad have become extinct. The current case I've had for the last five years is the best I've ever had, and while it's possible the power supply might give it up at some point, I'll drop in a new one. The case I imagine will last for the next decade at least, assuming I'm still able to purchase hobbyist level components by then.
I do prefer to buy things that last, but really, the frequent upgrades that have been forced upon us in some ways have been a blessing.
As long as you don't have an objection to running KDE, Plasma runs just fine on the Retina displays as the window components are resolution independent. It is the only workspace I know of that is unfortunately, but I've been running it for a while on my MBP and have zero issues. Looks fantastic.
While I was an engineer, mostly C++ systems/embedded, for over a decade, I had to take some time off to deal with family issues. I did some side projects during this time, but rarely full-time. I did take some additional college science classes, more for myself, during periods of time when I had a light load. So, four years out of work, and I might as well be starting off again. I have noticed some new things though.
There IS more of an interest in things that you do outside of the work day. I have seen companies that want to see something you developed, OSS projects you work on, maybe your github account name, an iPhone app you wrote, coding challenges that you participate in. While many companies do have four year requirements, they don't all. It comes up enough that I wish I had something along those lines myself. I do think some of this is more valuable when you are just starting out in place of formal job experience, but it does allow someone to view the quality of your work regardless. There are plenty of older developers entrenched in companies that write horrible code, and at least this is one way that you can show that you can shine.
The question I really have though, is this what you want to do, or are you doing it just because you think it will pay well? I code when I'm not working, and had taught myself how to program many years before ever worked in the field. If you have a passion for it, you'll learn more on your own than you ever will in class.
Those first couple involved FTPing a huge (huge!) pile of floppy images, then formatting, rawwrite to every floppy, then of course, installing... I don't miss those days at all.
Mandrake was fine at the time, but went to Redhat because of work. Ubuntu seemed fine at home, but I switched to Mint a while ago, and it's been great. Maybe Gentoo next, who knows.
I can still remember the HR meeting at the typical DC beltway bandit place I worked. Huge company, thousands of employees. They were switching all timesheets to use increments of 1/100 of an hour for everything. So, every 36 seconds needed to be tracked. For that first month, I tracked every single thing too. These were computer based, and I enjoyed submitting a large stack of timesheets with detailed descriptions of walking between offices, my intimate bathroom details, and of course, several times a day, filling out the timesheet. Payroll also didn't enjoy the repeated calls to find out charge numbers for my various activities. All this lasted only a few months till they went to 1/10 of an hour...
Yes, Germans take driving seriously and in my experience are probably better than most Americans. I know getting a license is more difficult there, and you never see anyone driving around eating a burger or talking on their cellphone. Even in the cities, people whip around very quickly, but I have never seen an accident during my stays.
I figured with some experience here, I should add:
All Walmarts do not let you boondock. Most do, but it pays to ask. If I don't see several RVs already set up in the parking lot, I go in and ask. I have been told several times, usually in the South East, that they do not allow any overnight vehicles.
Believe it or not, there are state operated rest areas that don't allow for overnight parking as well.
You can always find something, but when you're really tired it can suck. My Sprinter was lightly urban camoed, and most cities were usually the easiest for me to park in for the night. Make sure you're set up to black out though, and use minimal lighting if you do this. If a cop drives by and sees you lit up at 2am, you can get hassled. This includes running the generator, so make sure you have a nice battery setup. I ran four large deep cycles to run my fridge and everything else I needed, but I couldn't run the AC in places like that.
It's a fun life, but does get old. I know enough to do it a little different if I went that route again. Be careful though. Once you do this for a while, you'll probably find that you aren't really happy being in one place for very long. I can't go a few months anymore before wanting to take off again.
Racetracks are known quantities, down to every minute detail. Back in the 90s, when the F1 cars were loaded with every possible form of electronics, the computer was programmed with every turn on every track. All the driver had to do was stomp on the gas and let the car handle the maximum traction, braking, etc for every place on the track. Even the prime steering track can be programmed in. Ever played any of the more recent driving simulations?
I can appreciate the achievement to some extent. The ability to sense where it is, and things of those nature are impressive to me, but lets see how the car would do in a pack of other drivers where conditions weren't always ideal. If you could convince other race drivers to get on the track with it.
Is that an iOS or Android device is likely something that you _always_ have with you. I never go anywhere where my phone isn't in my pocket, and I always have a handful of games with me for a quick fix. As nice as the 3DS XL might be, it's something I would have to carry around extra, and I can promise, it would be left at home most of the time, like my POS camera.
The app vs dedicated carts is a whole other argument. $10 or so will buy you a premium iOS game, most are $1-$3. The 3DS games are $40, though I imagine a good deal better than most iOS apps. Still, a large expense after a $200 platform.
I would +1 Insightful if I had points. This is probably the closest to how I feel about it right now. I'm sure Apple can make metric assloads of cash selling dumbed down laptops for college kids and yuppies, but they really should maintain the professional grade machines that are still the backbone of a lot of industries. They have some momentum onto the business desktop right now, and they should hold on to that. I fear you are correct though, and this is just another signpost of their slow decline.
Completely agree. Occasionally when I see a new game mentioned like this one, I get excited for a moment or two thinking that maybe I'll find something I want to play again. Almost always ends the same though; some online multiplayer game that I have no interest in.
Thankfully GOG is around, as well as the old Steam games I bought many years ago that are fun to occasionally replay because few have any interest in putting the time into making great single player games anymore.
"the problem, however, is that this isn’t some counterfeit version of Angry Birds."
This cracks me up. Angry Birds was a pretty solid ripoff of "Crush The Castle." At least CtC authors acknowledged their inspiration from "Castle Clout." Pulling anything imitating Angry Birds is pure BS.
If the salaries for those positions were acceptable to the people with those skills, they would have no problem filling the positions.
I get weekly emails from companies wanting me to do contract work, all senior engineer level work, as a contractor (no benefits, 1099 work), and the hourly rate is pathetic. Then they cry about not being able to hire engineers, and how we need to outsource/bring in H1Bs. Let them struggle.
I'm on the other side of 45, and getting ready to start looking again in a few months, after being out of work for a few years. It's not going to be a fun time, but I have to believe I can do something other than make fries. Is this what I want to do long term? No, but I have to eat, as well as take care of some family; though thankfully not my own family.
I imagine that the back of the receipts will state something to this effect, possibly in store signs as well. How binding is this? I guess some lawyer will end up figuring it out.
I know if I had to return a second defective item, my recourse would be to hand the item to the BB customer service person, and then call my credit card, and initiate a chargeback. If you paid by cash or check, good luck.
Or I could do what I always do instead. Don't buy anything from Bestbuy.
Slashdot Mirror
I get the Apple is evil thing. I do. Please though, tell me what company I can trust? Should I trust Google with one of their phones for example? I think that ship sailed. I was thinking maybe one of the new Ubuntu phones, but wait, Canonical is in the middle of user privacy issues.
Last month I bought my first new TV, having owned a lot of castoffs from friends. A shiny new Panasonic plasma "smart TV". My first thought was that I'd never use that stuff, but the picture was the deciding factor. Since the router was nearby, I went ahead and attached an Ethernet cable to it. Next thing you know, I'm surfing around on the built in Netflix and Amazon Prime apps, and less than a month later, I actually cancelled the cable TV service that I stopped watching.
Maybe it's just that I value my time differently, or that I don't spend hours randomly cruising through the channels on the off chance that I catch a show when I want to watch something. I want something on demand when I have time, and at least on my TV and internet connection combination, Netflix HD looks absolutely amazing.
Of course the cable providers know this, which is why heavy caps are in place in a lot of markets, and why I had to up my internet plan with my ISP to give me a higher cap, but if I was a big TV watcher, I'd still bust it.
Too many people violated the first rule of USENET.
I'm actually glad people didn't stop with the old one button Macintosh mouse, or those first Microsoft two button pieces of crap, with the rubber ball that needed regular cleaning and a cord that was frequently in the way. The current optical mice, even in planned obsolescence form are lightyears better in my opinion.
I'd almost say the same with cases. The old metal shells case covers, with hard to access drive bays, no front panel access, and poor ventilation are also dinosaurs that I'm glad have become extinct. The current case I've had for the last five years is the best I've ever had, and while it's possible the power supply might give it up at some point, I'll drop in a new one. The case I imagine will last for the next decade at least, assuming I'm still able to purchase hobbyist level components by then.
I do prefer to buy things that last, but really, the frequent upgrades that have been forced upon us in some ways have been a blessing.
As long as you don't have an objection to running KDE, Plasma runs just fine on the Retina displays as the window components are resolution independent. It is the only workspace I know of that is unfortunately, but I've been running it for a while on my MBP and have zero issues. Looks fantastic.
Meanwhile, the Chinese thank NASA for taking their time in implementing this.
While I was an engineer, mostly C++ systems/embedded, for over a decade, I had to take some time off to deal with family issues. I did some side projects during this time, but rarely full-time. I did take some additional college science classes, more for myself, during periods of time when I had a light load. So, four years out of work, and I might as well be starting off again. I have noticed some new things though.
There IS more of an interest in things that you do outside of the work day. I have seen companies that want to see something you developed, OSS projects you work on, maybe your github account name, an iPhone app you wrote, coding challenges that you participate in. While many companies do have four year requirements, they don't all. It comes up enough that I wish I had something along those lines myself. I do think some of this is more valuable when you are just starting out in place of formal job experience, but it does allow someone to view the quality of your work regardless. There are plenty of older developers entrenched in companies that write horrible code, and at least this is one way that you can show that you can shine.
The question I really have though, is this what you want to do, or are you doing it just because you think it will pay well? I code when I'm not working, and had taught myself how to program many years before ever worked in the field. If you have a passion for it, you'll learn more on your own than you ever will in class.
I'm sure they're hoping analog turntables will make a comeback...
Yggsdrasil -> Slackware -> Mandrake -> Redhat -> Ubuntu -> Mint
Those first couple involved FTPing a huge (huge!) pile of floppy images, then formatting, rawwrite to every floppy, then of course, installing... I don't miss those days at all.
Mandrake was fine at the time, but went to Redhat because of work. Ubuntu seemed fine at home, but I switched to Mint a while ago, and it's been great. Maybe Gentoo next, who knows.
I can still remember the HR meeting at the typical DC beltway bandit place I worked. Huge company, thousands of employees. They were switching all timesheets to use increments of 1/100 of an hour for everything. So, every 36 seconds needed to be tracked. For that first month, I tracked every single thing too. These were computer based, and I enjoyed submitting a large stack of timesheets with detailed descriptions of walking between offices, my intimate bathroom details, and of course, several times a day, filling out the timesheet. Payroll also didn't enjoy the repeated calls to find out charge numbers for my various activities. All this lasted only a few months till they went to 1/10 of an hour...
Yes, Germans take driving seriously and in my experience are probably better than most Americans. I know getting a license is more difficult there, and you never see anyone driving around eating a burger or talking on their cellphone. Even in the cities, people whip around very quickly, but I have never seen an accident during my stays.
I figured with some experience here, I should add:
All Walmarts do not let you boondock. Most do, but it pays to ask. If I don't see several RVs already set up in the parking lot, I go in and ask. I have been told several times, usually in the South East, that they do not allow any overnight vehicles.
Believe it or not, there are state operated rest areas that don't allow for overnight parking as well.
You can always find something, but when you're really tired it can suck. My Sprinter was lightly urban camoed, and most cities were usually the easiest for me to park in for the night. Make sure you're set up to black out though, and use minimal lighting if you do this. If a cop drives by and sees you lit up at 2am, you can get hassled. This includes running the generator, so make sure you have a nice battery setup. I ran four large deep cycles to run my fridge and everything else I needed, but I couldn't run the AC in places like that.
It's a fun life, but does get old. I know enough to do it a little different if I went that route again. Be careful though. Once you do this for a while, you'll probably find that you aren't really happy being in one place for very long. I can't go a few months anymore before wanting to take off again.
Racetracks are known quantities, down to every minute detail. Back in the 90s, when the F1 cars were loaded with every possible form of electronics, the computer was programmed with every turn on every track. All the driver had to do was stomp on the gas and let the car handle the maximum traction, braking, etc for every place on the track. Even the prime steering track can be programmed in. Ever played any of the more recent driving simulations?
I can appreciate the achievement to some extent. The ability to sense where it is, and things of those nature are impressive to me, but lets see how the car would do in a pack of other drivers where conditions weren't always ideal. If you could convince other race drivers to get on the track with it.
Is that an iOS or Android device is likely something that you _always_ have with you. I never go anywhere where my phone isn't in my pocket, and I always have a handful of games with me for a quick fix. As nice as the 3DS XL might be, it's something I would have to carry around extra, and I can promise, it would be left at home most of the time, like my POS camera.
The app vs dedicated carts is a whole other argument. $10 or so will buy you a premium iOS game, most are $1-$3. The 3DS games are $40, though I imagine a good deal better than most iOS apps. Still, a large expense after a $200 platform.
I would +1 Insightful if I had points. This is probably the closest to how I feel about it right now. I'm sure Apple can make metric assloads of cash selling dumbed down laptops for college kids and yuppies, but they really should maintain the professional grade machines that are still the backbone of a lot of industries. They have some momentum onto the business desktop right now, and they should hold on to that. I fear you are correct though, and this is just another signpost of their slow decline.
True, but hackers aren't giving campaign money to politicians.
Completely agree. Occasionally when I see a new game mentioned like this one, I get excited for a moment or two thinking that maybe I'll find something I want to play again. Almost always ends the same though; some online multiplayer game that I have no interest in.
Thankfully GOG is around, as well as the old Steam games I bought many years ago that are fun to occasionally replay because few have any interest in putting the time into making great single player games anymore.
You can be too stupid to know you're being exploited.
...Neuromancer.
"the problem, however, is that this isn’t some counterfeit version of Angry Birds."
This cracks me up. Angry Birds was a pretty solid ripoff of "Crush The Castle." At least CtC authors acknowledged their inspiration from "Castle Clout." Pulling anything imitating Angry Birds is pure BS.
If the salaries for those positions were acceptable to the people with those skills, they would have no problem filling the positions.
I get weekly emails from companies wanting me to do contract work, all senior engineer level work, as a contractor (no benefits, 1099 work), and the hourly rate is pathetic. Then they cry about not being able to hire engineers, and how we need to outsource/bring in H1Bs. Let them struggle.
...your word against theirs that there ever was a recording device.
I'm on the other side of 45, and getting ready to start looking again in a few months, after being out of work for a few years. It's not going to be a fun time, but I have to believe I can do something other than make fries. Is this what I want to do long term? No, but I have to eat, as well as take care of some family; though thankfully not my own family.
I imagine that the back of the receipts will state something to this effect, possibly in store signs as well. How binding is this? I guess some lawyer will end up figuring it out.
I know if I had to return a second defective item, my recourse would be to hand the item to the BB customer service person, and then call my credit card, and initiate a chargeback. If you paid by cash or check, good luck.
Or I could do what I always do instead. Don't buy anything from Bestbuy.
Sent from my Tablet, sitting in a comfy chair.
Now we know you are lying. There is no way to type on a tablet while sitting comfortably anywhere.