Personally I think that this is a great idea. In fact, I've already sent an email to Charles Vest (the MIT president) letting him know that I support the OpenCourseWare initiative.
Perhaps the community could help to contribute to this effort by establishing a means of communication (message boards, etc.) for people working through the online courses.
On a side note, I attend the University of Texas at Austin. While there I've begun to work with some professors on some web based interactive supplements for our Introduction to Electrical Engineering class. You can see what we have so far at http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~ee302sup/
Being a long time distributed computing advocate, I've used (and crunched many blocks for) GIMPS, distributed.net, Seti@Home, Folding@Home, and United Devices. I'm currently using all my spare cycles for United Devices. Why? Well here's a brief explanation/analysis of the projects I've used:
GIMPS - They have a good, clean client, but the critical problem is that the project has no conceivable benefit.
distributed.net - Probably the best client/site out there, and definitely the largest pre-Seti@home project. However, the cracking of encrypted messages has next to no scientific benefit (it is quite easy to calculate the chance per try of cracking any of their ciphertexts). Recently they've been doing some work with OGRs. Finding new OGRs looks like something that at least has a marginal benefit. On a side note, distributed.net has partnered up with United Devices.
Seti@home - It seems like everyone and their mom is running seti@home. However, reportedly seti@home actually has more clock cycles than they need. (they can only get so much radio info per day to analyze)
Folding@Home - Definitely a lesser known project which is being run by some researchers from Stanford, they analyze proteins. The project definitely has scientific merit, however they're experiencing some growing pains due to their recent popularity. Also their client is definitely beta-esque.
United Devices - This is the project that I'm currently contributing to. (so of course I'm bias) I chose them because they're doing something useful (working on cancer stuff with some researchers from the University of Oxford), have a fairly good client, and have a 'rewards' program for their users. (btw, GIMPS and distributed.net users also have the chance of winning a large cash prize) In addition, UD has partnered up with distributed.net, so it looks like UD just might be the commercial corporation to win the Internet-based distributed computing market.
As a past MS intern, I must whole heartedly agree with furiousgeorge. MS does not care about your appearance. All they care about is what you get done and what you'll get done in the future. (Nearly everyday at work I walked around without shoes on... heck, no even cared when I wore my KMFMS shirt to work.)
As for the allegations of racial discrimination, all I can say is bah! The number of Asian people that work for MS is extremely high. In fact my manager was Indian, and half of my team was Chinese. Also my group was at least half female, which is outstandingly high for the tech sector.
Too bad they didn't choose the 15 most influential computer games of all time. Then we would of gotten to be reminded of the *real* classics: Adventure and Trade Wars.
If book authors and publishers aren't adequately compensated for their work, however, then more and more writers will be compelled to pursue other creative outlets and professions.
Do authors really write for the money? Throughout history, often times the greatest authors have died in poverty because their works were not appreciated. However they still continued to write. IMHO, for most writers, writing is a passion and not simply a money generator. (For a prime example of this, watch the movie/play Quills.)
C. Copywritten Files
1. Files found on Page Creator's servers which are found to be copywritten will be removed and the account cancelled immediately without prior notification to the customer. All copyright owners will be notified accordingly.
Notice how they don't say anything about only removing files that illegally violate copyright! Any piece of work is immediately copyrighted when the author creates it. This means that each and every page that is on Pagecreators site should be removed according to their TOS. (The funny thing is that it looks like they've complied with this by taking down their entire site.);P
Not only does it have a laptop compatibility list that is twenty times larger than the ZDNet one, but it also has howto's, discussion forums, and much, much more.
The CNN article was basically on a subset of this interview. Also please remember that this doesn't mean that NASA will get more money, just that a president who is about to leave office thinks that they should get more money.
My friends and I watched it last week and all we could say was "Oooh... play it again." This is on the top of our list of movies to see when/if we stop boycotting the MPAA.
I made the switch to Dvorak about a year ago. Admittedly the first few weeks were very slow, however after about a month I was touch typing at a decent speed. Because of my occasional use of Qwerty in computer labs and such, I can still touch type on Qwerty just as fast as I could before I made the switch.
I have to agree that a major sticky point is that many programs have the standard shortcuts (c-Z, c-X, c-C, c-V, etc.) hard coded into them. However just use Emacs for everything and you won't have any problems. (You can remap all the controls to whatever you want.)
Oh, and you can't forget the *real* reason to switch: the Geek Factor Often times people will start using my computer and then realize that what they're typing isn't what's appearing on the screen. Then they look down at the keyboard and realize how much of a geek I am.:) (I'm using a Dvorty board so they can switch it back to Qwerty with the press of a key.)
The credit card companies should no longer allow Egghead to be a merchant for their cards. This would effectively put Egghead out of business. (However I'm sure Egghead would reach a settlement with the CC companies in order to keep their merchant status and stay alive. Also I'm sure there's some massive contract between Egghead and the CC companies that *might* prevent this.)
I'm quite glad about their decision to switch to a platform independent language.
Although C++ (which is what the tests are currently over) is much more widely used, it raises some sticky platform dependency issues. These issues often lead to problems on AP/UIL tests where you have to choose a multiple choice response. In order to deal with these problems the AP board has to decide upon a standard and then all the students taking the test have to learn and memorize this arbitrary standard.
However the most important result of this decision is no more APString!
You can not necessarily win every minesweeper game you play, even if you play perfectly.
For example, on the very first 'move' you always have a chance of uncovering a bomb... no matter how good a player you are.
/. Readers' Two Favorite Institutions Have Museums
on
Computer Historian?
·
· Score: 1
/. readers' two favorite institutions, Microsoft and the NSA, both have museums.
Microsoft Museum
The Microsoft Museum is mainly focused on the history of Microsoft, although it does have quite a bit of information and exhibits on the history of computing and computer software. The whole place is decorated in Microsoftie colors. It's located on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. Unfortunately it's not open to the public, but I got to attend a party there while I was interning for The Great Satan of Software. However, they do have a fairly nice website that's available to the public.
National Cryptologic Museum
The NCM is run by the NSA and is located on/near Ft. Meade in MD. It gives a good overview of the history of crypto and includes a lot of information on early computing and the role it played. They also have a small public library with plenty of old books that deal with crypto. It's open to the public and has a gift shop where you can buy plenty of things with the NSA logo on them.
Zero-ohm resistor? WTF?
on
Linux BIOS
·
· Score: 1
"a one-time product review by BXA continues to be required"
As you can read, they still have to review anything before it's exported. (Which isn't any different then it is now.)
However, it does sound like they're going to make an honest attempt to loosen their grasp on the exportation of encryption. E-commerce seems to be fueling their decision, so I wouldn't be surprised if business oriented software is quickly approved, while stronger privacy type encryption software is still delayed/banned.
The US government recruiting (and using) *ackers isn't exactly something that's new or that has been covered up.
For example, at a recent college recruiting convention, the CIA was passing out fliers on their CITO (Clandestine Information Technology Office). The flier stated that CITO's mission was to exploit foreign information technology. They even advertise for these types of positions on their employment web site at: http://www.cia.gov/cia/employment/ci aeindex.htm
Slashdot Mirror
I still think sircam is more annoying since it affects every email user
Every email user?!? CmdrTaco must run Windows. Let's get him!
Personally I think that this is a great idea. In fact, I've already sent an email to Charles Vest (the MIT president) letting him know that I support the OpenCourseWare initiative.
Perhaps the community could help to contribute to this effort by establishing a means of communication (message boards, etc.) for people working through the online courses.
On a side note, I attend the University of Texas at Austin. While there I've begun to work with some professors on some web based interactive supplements for our Introduction to Electrical Engineering class. You can see what we have so far at http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~ee302sup/
The best thing to do would be to add in AES (or triple-DES) support so the program could be used as a legitimate security product.
Being a long time distributed computing advocate, I've used (and crunched many blocks for) GIMPS, distributed.net, Seti@Home, Folding@Home, and United Devices. I'm currently using all my spare cycles for United Devices. Why? Well here's a brief explanation/analysis of the projects I've used:
GIMPS - They have a good, clean client, but the critical problem is that the project has no conceivable benefit.
distributed.net - Probably the best client/site out there, and definitely the largest pre-Seti@home project. However, the cracking of encrypted messages has next to no scientific benefit (it is quite easy to calculate the chance per try of cracking any of their ciphertexts). Recently they've been doing some work with OGRs. Finding new OGRs looks like something that at least has a marginal benefit. On a side note, distributed.net has partnered up with United Devices.
Seti@home - It seems like everyone and their mom is running seti@home. However, reportedly seti@home actually has more clock cycles than they need. (they can only get so much radio info per day to analyze)
Folding@Home - Definitely a lesser known project which is being run by some researchers from Stanford, they analyze proteins. The project definitely has scientific merit, however they're experiencing some growing pains due to their recent popularity. Also their client is definitely beta-esque.
United Devices - This is the project that I'm currently contributing to. (so of course I'm bias) I chose them because they're doing something useful (working on cancer stuff with some researchers from the University of Oxford), have a fairly good client, and have a 'rewards' program for their users. (btw, GIMPS and distributed.net users also have the chance of winning a large cash prize) In addition, UD has partnered up with distributed.net, so it looks like UD just might be the commercial corporation to win the Internet-based distributed computing market.
As a past MS intern, I must whole heartedly agree with furiousgeorge. MS does not care about your appearance. All they care about is what you get done and what you'll get done in the future. (Nearly everyday at work I walked around without shoes on... heck, no even cared when I wore my KMFMS shirt to work.)
As for the allegations of racial discrimination, all I can say is bah!
The number of Asian people that work for MS is extremely high. In fact my manager was Indian, and half of my team was Chinese. Also my group was at least half female, which is outstandingly high for the tech sector.
Too bad they didn't choose the 15 most influential computer games of all time. Then we would of gotten to be reminded of the *real* classics: Adventure and Trade Wars.
If book authors and publishers aren't adequately compensated for their work, however, then more and more writers will be compelled to pursue other creative outlets and professions.
Do authors really write for the money? Throughout history, often times the greatest authors have died in poverty because their works were not appreciated. However they still continued to write. IMHO, for most writers, writing is a passion and not simply a money generator. (For a prime example of this, watch the movie/play Quills.)
From Pagecreator's TOS:
C. Copywritten Files
1. Files found on Page Creator's servers which are found to be copywritten will be removed and the account cancelled immediately without prior notification to the customer. All copyright owners will be notified accordingly.
Notice how they don't say anything about only removing files that illegally violate copyright! Any piece of work is immediately copyrighted when the author creates it. This means that each and every page that is on Pagecreators site should be removed according to their TOS. (The funny thing is that it looks like they've complied with this by taking down their entire site.) ;P
Google's Cache of their TOS
The three most important questions ever:
<British Accent>What is your name?
What is your quest?
What is your favorite colour?
</British Accent>http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-lapto p/
Not only does it have a laptop compatibility list that is twenty times larger than the ZDNet one, but it also has howto's, discussion forums, and much, much more.
Looks like someone finally did something about that big red guy that breaks into everyone's homes:
http://www.attrition.org/gallery/other/xmas/noxmas .jpg
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/290/ 5500/2236
The CNN article was basically on a subset of this interview. Also please remember that this doesn't mean that NASA will get more money, just that a president who is about to leave office thinks that they should get more money.
http://www.adcritic.com/content/movie-crouching-ti ger-hidden-dragon.html
My friends and I watched it last week and all we could say was "Oooh... play it again." This is on the top of our list of movies to see when/if we stop boycotting the MPAA.
http://www.attrition.org/gallery/other/takeittux.j pg
Imagine doing that to a window.... ouch!
I have to agree that a major sticky point is that many programs have the standard shortcuts (c-Z, c-X, c-C, c-V, etc.) hard coded into them. However just use Emacs for everything and you won't have any problems. (You can remap all the controls to whatever you want.)
Oh, and you can't forget the *real* reason to switch: the Geek Factor :) (I'm using a Dvorty board so they can switch it back to Qwerty with the press of a key.)
Often times people will start using my computer and then realize that what they're typing isn't what's appearing on the screen. Then they look down at the keyboard and realize how much of a geek I am.
The credit card companies should no longer allow Egghead to be a merchant for their cards. This would effectively put Egghead out of business. (However I'm sure Egghead would reach a settlement with the CC companies in order to keep their merchant status and stay alive. Also I'm sure there's some massive contract between Egghead and the CC companies that *might* prevent this.)
I'm quite glad about their decision to switch to a platform independent language.
Although C++ (which is what the tests are currently over) is much more widely used, it raises some sticky platform dependency issues. These issues often lead to problems on AP/UIL tests where you have to choose a multiple choice response. In order to deal with these problems the AP board has to decide upon a standard and then all the students taking the test have to learn and memorize this arbitrary standard.
However the most important result of this decision is no more APString!
Nobody will be happier then me!
You're busted!
Brought to you by your local Grammar Police and the letter A.For example, on the very first 'move' you always have a chance of uncovering a bomb... no matter how good a player you are.
Microsoft Museum
The Microsoft Museum is mainly focused on the history of Microsoft, although it does have quite a bit of information and exhibits on the history of computing and computer software. The whole place is decorated in Microsoftie colors. It's located on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. Unfortunately it's not open to the public, but I got to attend a party there while I was interning for The Great Satan of Software. However, they do have a fairly nice website that's available to the public.
National Cryptologic Museum
The NCM is run by the NSA and is located on/near Ft. Meade in MD. It gives a good overview of the history of crypto and includes a lot of information on early computing and the role it played. They also have a small public library with plenty of old books that deal with crypto. It's open to the public and has a gift shop where you can buy plenty of things with the NSA logo on them.
Did I just read the phrase "zero-ohm resistor" or do my EE eyes deceive me?
(from http://www.acl.lanl.gov/linuxbios/pictures.htm )
Here's my mirror:
http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~hintz/decss/
As you can read, they still have to review anything before it's exported. (Which isn't any different then it is now.)
However, it does sound like they're going to make an honest attempt to loosen their grasp on the exportation of encryption. E-commerce seems to be fueling their decision, so I wouldn't be surprised if business oriented software is quickly approved, while stronger privacy type encryption software is still delayed/banned.
For example, at a recent college recruiting convention, the CIA was passing out fliers on their CITO (Clandestine Information Technology Office). The flier stated that CITO's mission was to exploit foreign information technology. They even advertise for these types of positions on their employment web site at:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/employment/ci aeindex.htm