it'll only ring alarm bells when the damn pols quit making money from it or people get so disgusted they start shooting them. Once that happens the damn pols are screwed because their corporate overlords sure as hell wont protect them.
One comment that immediately jumped out at me was the use of External Encryption to lighten the load on the VM's. If that's the case, what method are the using and who holds the keys? If it isn't the customer who's paying for that cloud, then it's useless for building any kind of service on as the data can easily be snooped on by Google. In other words, kill the project now because it will never be profitable.
Sure Apple and the i Pad/Phone/Pod were game changers when they came out but unless Apple comes out with something just as inovative, MS and their OEM's will eat both their Lunch and Dinner pretty damn soon. An example of this is that when Apple moved to x86 based designs, people could easily compare specs across the board because they used the same hardware as everyone else.
An example of this is the Acer Iconia W5xx series tablet. Size and Specs are pretty damn close to the iPad as far as Memory and Storage goes (2GB memory/32GB SSD). The main difference is the addition of a pair of USB ports, Mic/Sound ports, SDHC/MMC slot, a Keyboard dock with 10/100 Ethernet, Front and Rear Webcams. On the battery life, it's less then the iPad 3 due to being smaller (3 cell/3260mah).
On software advantage, I'm looking at one as all of my current software will run on it. In other words, I don't have to spend thousnads of dollars replacing software unlike how moving to iOS/OS X would require. This is how/why Apple is going to loose their lunch and dinner to MS/Android and why the "Patent Wars Began Steve Jobs Did." Unless Apple introduces a new game changer, they simply wont grab more market share then they already have and MS has to be very careful about alienating their OEM's as they've already done with HP. Heck I'm expecting to hear many of the other OEM's state the same thing and pretty much for the same reason, meaning the WinRT is dead in the water before it even hits the market. Not One of the OEM's will trust MS not to try eating their lunch and with damn good reason.
irrelevant line huh? Guess that means I'm pregnant and in the first trimester. If I am, it's a damn problem because I've been buying Scent/Dye Free products for over a decade and I still haven't given birth to my baby. Main reason I buy them is the scent/dye free are classified as HypoAlergenic - meaning they're tested as allergen free. Of course I'm a guy with a great sense of smell and dislike the number of perfumes being added to things that don't need it like laundry soap. All I want my clothes to smell like is clean. No god damn perfumens to make my clothes stink like most Americans. Due to my job, I pretty much have to stick with perfume free products as my nose is to damn important and the stinking scents screw me up while trying to do my job.
It's gotten so bad that I actually bought a book on soap making just so I can ensure I've got something completely scent free. If I need extra cleaning power, I'll add a small bit of pumice (2 grams) to a 1 oz bar of soap. I keep them that small (travel size) because I add no damn preservatives or anything else and they general get used before they go bad. If not, then no big loss of product as the others are in vacuumn sealed packaging (food sealers work great).
then why did MS even bother introducing the Tablet Features in Win7 along with the handwriting feature in One Note (geared for students) that can supposedly take written math formulas and solve them? That's right Mr. Gates. Your Company actually introduced features that make a tablet a useful electronic version of the traditional notebook and as an End User who's currently using a dual core system, I've seriously been looking at the Acer Iconia Tablets since it actually seems able to fill most if not all of my current computing needs.
Actually the L.A./S.B./Riverside basins are all Semi Arid and the rainfall average you're talking about is based on a century of data that varies anywhere's from 5 inches to 45 inche of rainfall in a single year. So all of your information is incorrect.
actually, unless you have a usage based billing cycle, the only logs needed by any ISP are those in regards to total throughput and network efficiency. Smply put, don't log your customers for any reason unless ordered by the courts, otherwise you're simply wasting internal resources and such that could be better spent monitoring the overall efficiencies of your network. Then you can begin deciding how to improve network quality by properly shaping your internal network traffic instead of trying to rape the consumers for every damn penny you can.
efective health care? working transit? What have you been smoking? The current tax burden of the American Middle Class is in excess of 70 percent and you can not pay your tax burden by April 15th anylonger. in fact, your tax burden isn't paid until Febuary 1 of the following year, meaning we never get ahead as the government continues to spend, spend, spend while printing more ass wipe paper so it looks as though you're making more. As a prime example of inflation, back in 1980, I could buy enough grocceries to feed 2 adults and 3 teens for a week for 40 dollars yet in 2012 when I go to the store, I can't even buy enough grocceries to feed 2 adults for a week for less then 50 dollars. Note that I do use a budeget and such and have done so for over 40 years, so I can see how much food has increased and keep in mind that food is one of Maswells Basic Needs. If it's not met, then none of the other needs can be successfully met - basic economic theory that goes back to the 70's.
Dr. Evil. Please help us by destroying Washington D.C. and we'll reward you with 100 Billion Dollars along with the Keys to the Playboy Mansion for cleaning up American Politics.
Acer Iconia W5xx - Comparable specs to the iPad2, Runs Win7 Home Premium, includes a keyboard dock has a smaller battery (4hrs runtime) and been out for over a year.
The question then is would I buy one? Why not, it at least runs windows - familiar OS and handles almost all of my existing software investment.
I'm a business user and have to wonder what you've been smoking. Simply put, Linux has cedded the market in regards to regulatory compliant software that I must have from a business standpoint. If there was compliant software from a FLOSS vendor, I'd be quite willing to purchase it in a heartbeat but it simply isn't there, thus I have no choice on OS because there's no competition in the application space I need. Sorry but Laws and Regs tend to trump ideology and religion every damn business day.
I've got no problem with them doing this as the few pieces of MS Branded hardware (keyboard/mice) I've bought over the years has tended to be better then bargain basement crap. Sure it may be a tad more expensive but what I expect is that the Surface Tablet will be ARM based as none of the OEM's want to take the risk. This means Win8-RT and only those apps blessed by MS in their App Store being able to run on it. It also means Corporate Sales simply wont exist as the units wont connect to a Domain Controller and they'll be locked down enough to prevent the casual install of anything else on them. Someone else commented that this is the appliance direction AKA iPad and really that's what Joe Sixpack seems to be looking for in this market, so yea, it makes lots of sense.
The problem I see MS having is their OEM's are going to fight real hard against this being priced low enough to compete successfully with the iPad where it's aimed but if they can pull it off, I don't have an issue with it so long as I can still buy a PC that's unlocked and able to run the OS of my choice.
and this is just part of the reason I use Ghostery and Noscript in Firefox. For the home network, my router includes a filtering proxy server as the gateway, thus as we become aware of the domains doing the most invasive tracking, I block them there. Seems to work quite well and the system I'm using for this is an old HP Pavilion based on a 700Mhz Celeron (P3 era) with 512 Ram. Hell power consumption is about the same as the last wireless router I'd bought while the performance is far better.
Here in the States, we have several prefab solutions. The first is called SIP (structurally insulated panels). Then there is the Engineered Beams and Joists and don't forget Prefab Concrete Floors, Walls and various Panels. Simply put, Prefab is not a dirty word in the States as it's usually far better quality then site built. Hell it's even used in Ship Building, otherwise we'd not be able to afford the number of cruise and cargo ships that are built each year.
What does have the connotation of being cheap/low quality is mobile/manufactured homes as they've been around for many years. Most of them are built as cheaply as possible and it's damn near impossible to get a mortgage longer then 15 years for any such housing. Seriously, the entire Manufactured Housing Industry has earned its bad repuation because of the many companies who've built cheap/shoddy products.
To me, the most disturbing trend in Housing today is the lack of durability. Sure Custom Stick built should be more durable yet while Mobile/Manufactured Homes have gone up in durability (most are designed to last 20 years now) standard building has dropped from a 50 year durability to a 30 year lifespan. In other words, people fully expect any house that's pushing 20 years to be close to expiration and needing replacement. If you have to replace the damn house in 20 years, there is little reason to buy a custom built home and it shows in the cookie cutter templates used in some of the so called community development projects by various large builders (Lewis Homes/DelWeb). It's downright disgusting to me they can't/wont use prefab techniques such as SIP construction to ensure a consistent quality instead of the shoddy workmanship we sometimes see in large projects.
As a G+ user, I can categorically state that it is not a competitor to FB because it's not a social network. Instead, it's a competitor to LiveJournal and Blogger and I'm expecting to see Blogger actually get consumed by G+ as it makes sense to consolidate the two products.
No Need to as there are already x86 tablets running Win7. I've been looking at the Acer Iconia W5xx series as the specs are reasonable and it runs Win7-32. Sure I'd like it to run Win7-64 but with only 2GB of memory, it's simply not worth the overhead of the 64bit version. Of course, it's got enough power to actually run Win7-Pro and connect to an AD a few posts up wanted so why not get one?
Power demand is a bit more involved then you think. Sure ARM offers a very low demand CPU but what about the rest of the system? Nth/Sth bridges, USB chip, audio, radio and gpu along with the screen. All of this affects the demand on the battery and from what I've seen, Intel has finally gotten down low enough on the SoC offering to meet/beat many of the ARM based solutions, thus Intel has met the basic need for smart phone. This doesn't mean they've gotten anywhere's near what's needed for a basic feature/dumb phone as I use but I give them a decade and they'll either push ARM out of the smart phone market or they'll be another option and with Win8 coming out, they'll certainly become viable.
Slightly off topic but I've been looking at tablets lately and feel that the Acer Iconia W5xx series fits my needs. It runs Win7-32 and gets about 4 hrs of runtime off a battery that's smaller then the new iPad. If Intel pushed hard and develops a decent GPU that is low power while offering enough support for Direct-X to speed up flash and other media playback, then we'll see a major game change and I'll give it about 5 years to see a real competitior to the iPad. Keep in mind that with specs comparable to the new iPad & iPad2, the Acer Iconia can actually run Win7-Pro and connect properly to an AD along with supporting Outlook and Office in full. Sure the CPU's don't have the horsepower to handle a large Spreadsheet with pivot tables and such but for the basic features of office such as Word, OneNote and PowerPoint, it looks to be quite capable and if MS continues to improve IE as they've done with IE9, we'll see some serious competition in the Enterprise (Money) Segment where MS competes quite well. That's what Intel is betting on as they've certainly become MS's bitch.
I do advocate the use of FLOSS where a business case can be made for it but until someone steps up and offers a package the meets the regulatory issues faced by many small businesses, we're S.o.L (shit out of luck) and yet we already have to spend outrageous sums to fulfill those regulations, thus a FLOSS package with proper support could possibly make a living, competing in those area's. The reason I say that, is I already have to buy a package to meet those issues, so why not change vendors?
Several others have commented but I've yet to see anything about Perks/Cost Benefits. What impact does a 10 percent raise have on your tax burden? If it kicks you into another bracket, you may actually need at least a 20 percent raise just to see a 5 percent after tax increase.
I'm assuming that if you have the stated 20+ yrs experience that you're in your mid 40's at least so keep in mind that management can negotiate non-salary perks. The first I'd look at is the 401k. If you can, I'd ask for a 2 or 3 to 1 matching for 3 years and max out your contribution. Keep in mind that you're looking at retirement/disability in 10-20 years and you want to push your 401k to the limit. Talk with a certified financial advisor to see if you're on track for a reasonable retirement. Perks are always negotiable for management so look at what they can offer there and see what you can work out that benefits you. Why not a car. Hell sales people and upper management get them, why not you?
I know many think that an LCD is the Cats meow when it comes to getting work done and they're right. Power Consumption is far better, little/no flicker as the old CRT's did with flourecent lights along with the lower heat output but and it's a damn big BUT the color depth of an LCD is useless to me. Hell I've got a nice 23inch 1080 monitor and the stinking color depth is only 6 bit. Remember that's less then the 8 bit Web safe colors of yesteryear and I've been missing even a decent 16bit depth from a 1280x1024 CRT display because of the lack.
What I want is a decent 1920x1200 CRT that handles a proper 32bit color depth that can be calibrated correctly instead of the shit they're calling High Definition now days. Sorry folks but color depth for Photographers rules, not resolution and I want at least a 16bit depth instead of the so called HD that's only 6bit depth. Worthless Pieces of shit.
That's about all I can say as I've been seriously looking at the Acer Iconia W5xx. The interesting thing is, it's a Win7 Tablet that comes with a keyboard dock and is sized the same as a standard notebook at 8x11 inches. It's also spec'd/priced to compete directly with the same size/spec'd iPad unlike the Transformer and many of the other tablets I've looked at recently.
As I said, it's sized the same at 8x11 and the weight is almost the same as my 1/2 inch notebooks for school when they're full of paper/handouts and such. So I think Acer has really nailed the form factors and price point they needed to.
as far as I'm concerned, an EULA is not even large enough to wipe your ass after a healthy shit becuase "I" didn't agree to it under the doctrines of "First Sale". Most times I purchase either Software or Hardware at retail, meaning that the only one that could have agreed to such an EULA is the Wholesaler that purchased it from the manufacturer. Sorry but simply put, I'll treat every EULA as an Attempted "Contraact of Adhesion" and if needed, will pursue that matter in a court of law as California Does Not by Law, recognize any EULA's as being legal or binding. So GTFO My lawn punk or I'm gonna shoot your with a load of rock salt, then spray lemon juice all over your ass.
Guess I'm unique in being part of the studied demographic along with being on the tail end of the baby boomers. Yet I don't even know any of my passwords nowdays because of a nice password manager called KeepPass 1. Password strength is as high as possible for every site I use and none of them have been duplicated. Does this mean I'm a god among users? Hell no! It means I've gotten smart and lazy and use the computer to my advantage where it makes sense to do so.
The simple answer is "Bias" in the programming. Everyone has a bias of some type and as this kid proved once again, there are many different ways to look at a problem as he hadn't yet reached the "Impossible stage" of thinking. Once Ossification of the thinking process sets in, everyone begins to add more and more bias (assumptions) to what they're doing based upon past experience/knowledge, which is why it is so important to encourage kids to look at the world with wide eye innocence.
Comparable to an iPad yet it runs Windows and is cheaper while including a Keyboard Dock. The really nice thing is the inclusion of a pair of USB ports unlike the iPad. On the CPU front, it's one of the new AMD APU models and it runs Win7. The only thing I'd suggest is doing a full wipe/clean install to get rid of the Bloatware that's preloaded by acer (backup the drivers first) and tweak things for best performance. One thing I'd also suggest is this stylus for Capacitive Screens
and add a few 16GB Flash and SD Cards for extra storage as they're less then $12 ea = >$1.00 per GB. On the software front, toss in a copy of Office Home and Student and she'll have Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote to make her teachers happy for reports. Sure the 32GB SSD isn't that big but offers enough space that with her docs and such kept on either a Flash or SD Card, she wont loose her class work if it's broken/lost.
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it'll only ring alarm bells when the damn pols quit making money from it or people get so disgusted they start shooting them. Once that happens the damn pols are screwed because their corporate overlords sure as hell wont protect them.
One comment that immediately jumped out at me was the use of External Encryption to lighten the load on the VM's. If that's the case, what method are the using and who holds the keys? If it isn't the customer who's paying for that cloud, then it's useless for building any kind of service on as the data can easily be snooped on by Google. In other words, kill the project now because it will never be profitable.
Sure Apple and the i Pad/Phone/Pod were game changers when they came out but unless Apple comes out with something just as inovative, MS and their OEM's will eat both their Lunch and Dinner pretty damn soon. An example of this is that when Apple moved to x86 based designs, people could easily compare specs across the board because they used the same hardware as everyone else.
An example of this is the Acer Iconia W5xx series tablet. Size and Specs are pretty damn close to the iPad as far as Memory and Storage goes (2GB memory/32GB SSD). The main difference is the addition of a pair of USB ports, Mic/Sound ports, SDHC/MMC slot, a Keyboard dock with 10/100 Ethernet, Front and Rear Webcams. On the battery life, it's less then the iPad 3 due to being smaller (3 cell/3260mah).
On software advantage, I'm looking at one as all of my current software will run on it. In other words, I don't have to spend thousnads of dollars replacing software unlike how moving to iOS/OS X would require. This is how/why Apple is going to loose their lunch and dinner to MS/Android and why the "Patent Wars Began Steve Jobs Did." Unless Apple introduces a new game changer, they simply wont grab more market share then they already have and MS has to be very careful about alienating their OEM's as they've already done with HP. Heck I'm expecting to hear many of the other OEM's state the same thing and pretty much for the same reason, meaning the WinRT is dead in the water before it even hits the market. Not One of the OEM's will trust MS not to try eating their lunch and with damn good reason.
irrelevant line huh? Guess that means I'm pregnant and in the first trimester. If I am, it's a damn problem because I've been buying Scent/Dye Free products for over a decade and I still haven't given birth to my baby. Main reason I buy them is the scent/dye free are classified as HypoAlergenic - meaning they're tested as allergen free. Of course I'm a guy with a great sense of smell and dislike the number of perfumes being added to things that don't need it like laundry soap. All I want my clothes to smell like is clean. No god damn perfumens to make my clothes stink like most Americans. Due to my job, I pretty much have to stick with perfume free products as my nose is to damn important and the stinking scents screw me up while trying to do my job.
It's gotten so bad that I actually bought a book on soap making just so I can ensure I've got something completely scent free. If I need extra cleaning power, I'll add a small bit of pumice (2 grams) to a 1 oz bar of soap. I keep them that small (travel size) because I add no damn preservatives or anything else and they general get used before they go bad. If not, then no big loss of product as the others are in vacuumn sealed packaging (food sealers work great).
then why did MS even bother introducing the Tablet Features in Win7 along with the handwriting feature in One Note (geared for students) that can supposedly take written math formulas and solve them? That's right Mr. Gates. Your Company actually introduced features that make a tablet a useful electronic version of the traditional notebook and as an End User who's currently using a dual core system, I've seriously been looking at the Acer Iconia Tablets since it actually seems able to fill most if not all of my current computing needs.
Actually the L.A./S.B./Riverside basins are all Semi Arid and the rainfall average you're talking about is based on a century of data that varies anywhere's from 5 inches to 45 inche of rainfall in a single year. So all of your information is incorrect.
actually, unless you have a usage based billing cycle, the only logs needed by any ISP are those in regards to total throughput and network efficiency. Smply put, don't log your customers for any reason unless ordered by the courts, otherwise you're simply wasting internal resources and such that could be better spent monitoring the overall efficiencies of your network. Then you can begin deciding how to improve network quality by properly shaping your internal network traffic instead of trying to rape the consumers for every damn penny you can.
efective health care? working transit? What have you been smoking? The current tax burden of the American Middle Class is in excess of 70 percent and you can not pay your tax burden by April 15th anylonger. in fact, your tax burden isn't paid until Febuary 1 of the following year, meaning we never get ahead as the government continues to spend, spend, spend while printing more ass wipe paper so it looks as though you're making more. As a prime example of inflation, back in 1980, I could buy enough grocceries to feed 2 adults and 3 teens for a week for 40 dollars yet in 2012 when I go to the store, I can't even buy enough grocceries to feed 2 adults for a week for less then 50 dollars. Note that I do use a budeget and such and have done so for over 40 years, so I can see how much food has increased and keep in mind that food is one of Maswells Basic Needs. If it's not met, then none of the other needs can be successfully met - basic economic theory that goes back to the 70's.
Dr. Evil. Please help us by destroying Washington D.C. and we'll reward you with 100 Billion Dollars along with the Keys to the Playboy Mansion for cleaning up American Politics.
Acer Iconia W5xx - Comparable specs to the iPad2, Runs Win7 Home Premium, includes a keyboard dock has a smaller battery (4hrs runtime) and been out for over a year.
The question then is would I buy one? Why not, it at least runs windows - familiar OS and handles almost all of my existing software investment.
I'm a business user and have to wonder what you've been smoking. Simply put, Linux has cedded the market in regards to regulatory compliant software that I must have from a business standpoint. If there was compliant software from a FLOSS vendor, I'd be quite willing to purchase it in a heartbeat but it simply isn't there, thus I have no choice on OS because there's no competition in the application space I need. Sorry but Laws and Regs tend to trump ideology and religion every damn business day.
I've got no problem with them doing this as the few pieces of MS Branded hardware (keyboard/mice) I've bought over the years has tended to be better then bargain basement crap. Sure it may be a tad more expensive but what I expect is that the Surface Tablet will be ARM based as none of the OEM's want to take the risk. This means Win8-RT and only those apps blessed by MS in their App Store being able to run on it. It also means Corporate Sales simply wont exist as the units wont connect to a Domain Controller and they'll be locked down enough to prevent the casual install of anything else on them. Someone else commented that this is the appliance direction AKA iPad and really that's what Joe Sixpack seems to be looking for in this market, so yea, it makes lots of sense.
The problem I see MS having is their OEM's are going to fight real hard against this being priced low enough to compete successfully with the iPad where it's aimed but if they can pull it off, I don't have an issue with it so long as I can still buy a PC that's unlocked and able to run the OS of my choice.
and this is just part of the reason I use Ghostery and Noscript in Firefox. For the home network, my router includes a filtering proxy server as the gateway, thus as we become aware of the domains doing the most invasive tracking, I block them there. Seems to work quite well and the system I'm using for this is an old HP Pavilion based on a 700Mhz Celeron (P3 era) with 512 Ram. Hell power consumption is about the same as the last wireless router I'd bought while the performance is far better.
Here in the States, we have several prefab solutions. The first is called SIP (structurally insulated panels). Then there is the Engineered Beams and Joists and don't forget Prefab Concrete Floors, Walls and various Panels. Simply put, Prefab is not a dirty word in the States as it's usually far better quality then site built. Hell it's even used in Ship Building, otherwise we'd not be able to afford the number of cruise and cargo ships that are built each year.
What does have the connotation of being cheap/low quality is mobile/manufactured homes as they've been around for many years. Most of them are built as cheaply as possible and it's damn near impossible to get a mortgage longer then 15 years for any such housing. Seriously, the entire Manufactured Housing Industry has earned its bad repuation because of the many companies who've built cheap/shoddy products.
To me, the most disturbing trend in Housing today is the lack of durability. Sure Custom Stick built should be more durable yet while Mobile/Manufactured Homes have gone up in durability (most are designed to last 20 years now) standard building has dropped from a 50 year durability to a 30 year lifespan. In other words, people fully expect any house that's pushing 20 years to be close to expiration and needing replacement. If you have to replace the damn house in 20 years, there is little reason to buy a custom built home and it shows in the cookie cutter templates used in some of the so called community development projects by various large builders (Lewis Homes/DelWeb). It's downright disgusting to me they can't/wont use prefab techniques such as SIP construction to ensure a consistent quality instead of the shoddy workmanship we sometimes see in large projects.
As a G+ user, I can categorically state that it is not a competitor to FB because it's not a social network. Instead, it's a competitor to LiveJournal and Blogger and I'm expecting to see Blogger actually get consumed by G+ as it makes sense to consolidate the two products.
No Need to as there are already x86 tablets running Win7. I've been looking at the Acer Iconia W5xx series as the specs are reasonable and it runs Win7-32. Sure I'd like it to run Win7-64 but with only 2GB of memory, it's simply not worth the overhead of the 64bit version. Of course, it's got enough power to actually run Win7-Pro and connect to an AD a few posts up wanted so why not get one?
Power demand is a bit more involved then you think. Sure ARM offers a very low demand CPU but what about the rest of the system? Nth/Sth bridges, USB chip, audio, radio and gpu along with the screen. All of this affects the demand on the battery and from what I've seen, Intel has finally gotten down low enough on the SoC offering to meet/beat many of the ARM based solutions, thus Intel has met the basic need for smart phone. This doesn't mean they've gotten anywhere's near what's needed for a basic feature/dumb phone as I use but I give them a decade and they'll either push ARM out of the smart phone market or they'll be another option and with Win8 coming out, they'll certainly become viable.
Slightly off topic but I've been looking at tablets lately and feel that the Acer Iconia W5xx series fits my needs. It runs Win7-32 and gets about 4 hrs of runtime off a battery that's smaller then the new iPad. If Intel pushed hard and develops a decent GPU that is low power while offering enough support for Direct-X to speed up flash and other media playback, then we'll see a major game change and I'll give it about 5 years to see a real competitior to the iPad. Keep in mind that with specs comparable to the new iPad & iPad2, the Acer Iconia can actually run Win7-Pro and connect properly to an AD along with supporting Outlook and Office in full. Sure the CPU's don't have the horsepower to handle a large Spreadsheet with pivot tables and such but for the basic features of office such as Word, OneNote and PowerPoint, it looks to be quite capable and if MS continues to improve IE as they've done with IE9, we'll see some serious competition in the Enterprise (Money) Segment where MS competes quite well. That's what Intel is betting on as they've certainly become MS's bitch.
I do advocate the use of FLOSS where a business case can be made for it but until someone steps up and offers a package the meets the regulatory issues faced by many small businesses, we're S.o.L (shit out of luck) and yet we already have to spend outrageous sums to fulfill those regulations, thus a FLOSS package with proper support could possibly make a living, competing in those area's. The reason I say that, is I already have to buy a package to meet those issues, so why not change vendors?
Several others have commented but I've yet to see anything about Perks/Cost Benefits. What impact does a 10 percent raise have on your tax burden? If it kicks you into another bracket, you may actually need at least a 20 percent raise just to see a 5 percent after tax increase.
I'm assuming that if you have the stated 20+ yrs experience that you're in your mid 40's at least so keep in mind that management can negotiate non-salary perks. The first I'd look at is the 401k. If you can, I'd ask for a 2 or 3 to 1 matching for 3 years and max out your contribution. Keep in mind that you're looking at retirement/disability in 10-20 years and you want to push your 401k to the limit. Talk with a certified financial advisor to see if you're on track for a reasonable retirement. Perks are always negotiable for management so look at what they can offer there and see what you can work out that benefits you. Why not a car. Hell sales people and upper management get them, why not you?
I know many think that an LCD is the Cats meow when it comes to getting work done and they're right. Power Consumption is far better, little/no flicker as the old CRT's did with flourecent lights along with the lower heat output but and it's a damn big BUT the color depth of an LCD is useless to me. Hell I've got a nice 23inch 1080 monitor and the stinking color depth is only 6 bit. Remember that's less then the 8 bit Web safe colors of yesteryear and I've been missing even a decent 16bit depth from a 1280x1024 CRT display because of the lack.
What I want is a decent 1920x1200 CRT that handles a proper 32bit color depth that can be calibrated correctly instead of the shit they're calling High Definition now days. Sorry folks but color depth for Photographers rules, not resolution and I want at least a 16bit depth instead of the so called HD that's only 6bit depth. Worthless Pieces of shit.
That's about all I can say as I've been seriously looking at the Acer Iconia W5xx. The interesting thing is, it's a Win7 Tablet that comes with a keyboard dock and is sized the same as a standard notebook at 8x11 inches. It's also spec'd/priced to compete directly with the same size/spec'd iPad unlike the Transformer and many of the other tablets I've looked at recently.
As I said, it's sized the same at 8x11 and the weight is almost the same as my 1/2 inch notebooks for school when they're full of paper/handouts and such. So I think Acer has really nailed the form factors and price point they needed to.
as far as I'm concerned, an EULA is not even large enough to wipe your ass after a healthy shit becuase "I" didn't agree to it under the doctrines of "First Sale". Most times I purchase either Software or Hardware at retail, meaning that the only one that could have agreed to such an EULA is the Wholesaler that purchased it from the manufacturer. Sorry but simply put, I'll treat every EULA as an Attempted "Contraact of Adhesion" and if needed, will pursue that matter in a court of law as California Does Not by Law, recognize any EULA's as being legal or binding. So GTFO My lawn punk or I'm gonna shoot your with a load of rock salt, then spray lemon juice all over your ass.
Guess I'm unique in being part of the studied demographic along with being on the tail end of the baby boomers. Yet I don't even know any of my passwords nowdays because of a nice password manager called KeepPass 1. Password strength is as high as possible for every site I use and none of them have been duplicated. Does this mean I'm a god among users? Hell no! It means I've gotten smart and lazy and use the computer to my advantage where it makes sense to do so.
The simple answer is "Bias" in the programming. Everyone has a bias of some type and as this kid proved once again, there are many different ways to look at a problem as he hadn't yet reached the "Impossible stage" of thinking. Once Ossification of the thinking process sets in, everyone begins to add more and more bias (assumptions) to what they're doing based upon past experience/knowledge, which is why it is so important to encourage kids to look at the world with wide eye innocence.
You can find the one I'm seriously looking at here
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215081
Comparable to an iPad yet it runs Windows and is cheaper while including a Keyboard Dock. The really nice thing is the inclusion of a pair of USB ports unlike the iPad. On the CPU front, it's one of the new AMD APU models and it runs Win7. The only thing I'd suggest is doing a full wipe/clean install to get rid of the Bloatware that's preloaded by acer (backup the drivers first) and tweak things for best performance. One thing I'd also suggest is this stylus for Capacitive Screens
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834989024
and add a few 16GB Flash and SD Cards for extra storage as they're less then $12 ea = >$1.00 per GB. On the software front, toss in a copy of Office Home and Student and she'll have Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote to make her teachers happy for reports. Sure the 32GB SSD isn't that big but offers enough space that with her docs and such kept on either a Flash or SD Card, she wont loose her class work if it's broken/lost.