Of course, this will probably just have the effect of freeing up $27,000 for windows machines in the classroom.
What Open Source software would you suggest for a Kindergarten or First Grade classroom?
There's a tremendous opportunity for Open Source software in the educational market, where budgets are always tight. The problem is that there are few (if any) apps that would be appropriate for the lower grade levels. I'm talking about age appropriate programs that will help young children learn the letters of the alphabet, or the names of the basic shapes, or improve basic reading and arithmetic skills. These are commercial apps that run under Windows or MAC OS. I am not talking about pure entertainment games.
Many people complain about the use of commercial operating systems such as Windows in schools, but what choice is there? Perhaps the best interim solution would be to try to get some of the existing educational apps to run under Linux or Lindows. Is anyone working on this? If not, then stop complaining.
As others have mentioned, the software that is installed on these new systems needs to be consistent with what the teaching staff wants/needs to do. You can probably get a good idea about this by looking at what is currently installed on the old Apple systems. Then see if you can find anything close that will run on Linux.
Personally, I'll be really surprised if you find much Linix compatible software that is suitable for the mission of these computers. I'm currently running Win98SE on my kids' computer, because I have not found much educational software for Linix. To be fair I must mention that my kids are younger that the users of the systems that you're working on, but in this case I don't think that the difference matters.
You know that a potential employer is in trouble when they expect to hire people who are already 100% competient at the required task. This approach works fine in the short term, but it breaks when after a few months/years they need to move on to the next generation technology or the company starts developing products in a different area and they find out that the employees do not know how to learn to do something new.
Instead of hiring people who are already experts, look for people who can adapt, and have the basic skilsl that will allow them to figure out the new stuff when it comes. In other words, hire people who get excited at the opportunity to learn about something new. These are the folks who will be with you for a long, long time.
The idea of tracking groceries sounds great, but I'm not sure how practical this would be. The biggest potential barrier would be the barcode database. Is there a database similar to CDDB on the net where the software could look up items, or would you have to load the database yourself? I am positive that my wife (non-geek who does about half of our grocery shopping) would refuse to have anything to do with a system if she had to manually type something into a computer whenever she purchased an item for the first time.
The second barrier would be to remember to scan the empty package before discarding it, but having mutiple scanners placed in strategic areas would take care of that.
I would try to avoid the need for a keyboard. Unless your kitchen is huge, space will be at a premium so who wants to fill up an entire drawer with a keyboard. I would also be concerned about how practical it would be to use a keyboard with food covered hands. Finally, anything that you use in a kitchen needs to be easy to clean, both for cosmetic as well as sanitary reasons.
A standard keyboard just seems impractical in a kitchen environment.
Nonsense. You obviously did not look at any of the links that I provided. There are many more symptoms associated with Autism/Asperger's than just shyness/language, as the diagnostic criteria clearly shows. Physical coordination is just one example. Another is the inability to associate non-verbal expressions with underlying feelings.
To be diagnosed with Autism/AS a person needs to have several symptoms, not just one (or two).
And, yes, I know something about this because my son has AS.
The diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorders is much more complex than simply shyness. You can read more about the diagnostic criteria for Autism here and here . The diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Symdrom (a high function form of Autism, often associated with geeks) is described here.
Instead of speculating about whether a database could be implemented or would even work, why not read about the real thing? According to this report that was issued by the US Senate, there's already a ballistics database in use today. It's contents are currently limited to fingerprinting handguns that have been used to commit crimes, but I don't think that scaling would be a big issue.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned carrying an ethernet port tester. I work in an area where there are may more wall outlets than ports in the PDS closet, so a lot of the wall outlets are not active. As I move equipment around, the port tester makes it easy to see if a port is active (saving a trip to the PDS closet).
I have a similar set up, and I have two small children which means that taking off the door is not a viable option. I tried installing a standard muffin fan, but it vibrated the wood and made a lot of noise so I removed it (though a slow fan might have worked better). I did leave the fan hole open, though, and found that this made a big difference in the ambient temperature inside the cabinet.
So I suggest that you use a hole saw to cut some large holes (the larger the better) in the back of the cabinet. Just don't remove so much wood that it causes structural damage.:-)
Let's assume that you're replacing the phone for reasons other than the amount of talk time that the current battery is providing you with. As others have pointed out, if talk time is the only problem then replace the darn batteries and move on...:-)
If you're buying a new phone, look for one that uses standard size AA rechargable batteries, instead of a proprietary battery pack. A phone that can handle NiMH batteriers is somewhat preferable to ones that can only use NiCAD batteries, but since NiMH batteries cost more I'm not sure that they are really worth the extra cost.
There are several advantages with standard size AA rechargable batteries. One is that you can purchase replacement batteries from any good electronics shop. Another is that if talk time consinues to be a problem then you can always buy a second set of batteries and an inexpensive stand alone reconditioning charger, and swap batteries back and forth between the phone and the charger. Note that the charger should have a reconditioning circuit (cheap ones don't).
There are several good inexpensive chargers on the market. I use a MAHA brand charger, which I purchased from Thomas Distributing. I have used it to recharge both NiCAD and NiMH batteries with good results.
We need to distinguish between tracking someone who is breaking the law and someone who isn't.
It needs to be pointed out that it was the stolen car that was actually being tracked, not the suspects. This distinction may seem minor, but it's very important.
If you think that using technology to locate a stolen vehicle is a problem, then please explain why it's ok to use technology to notify police when a building is being broken into (a remote alarm).
I used to receive a lot of these kinds of tasks, until I learned that if I spent a small amount of time before the review anticipating these questions I could defect them before they got any momentum.
So the secret is to:
1) Spend some time learning about what others are doing in your company/group/whatever.
2) Anticipate the questions that you're likely to be asked regarding synergy, re-use, etc.
3) Have the answer waiting in your back pocket (or better yet, in your presentation back-up material).
In a few cases, during this pre-work you may even discover a better way to do something, and you can make it part of your proposal. And if you're clever, you might even find a way to make the bosses think that it was their idea! And then you're a hero for making them look good.
Usenet has for the last twenty or so years been a place to ask questions and get advice. Google Groups has a wonderful search feature where you can query past Usenet discussions, which includes almost all of the questions that others have already asked. Let's face it, it's very likely that someone else has already asked your question.
I use this for all sorts of topics (computers, home remodeling, appliance repair, cars, etc.). I almost always find some useful information.
And if all else fails, I can submit my question to an appropriate newsgroup (again using Google Groups).
Yes, and that's why all those meaningless brands are disappearing fast.
Disappearing fast? I don't know about that. Chrysler is dropping Plymouth and GM is canning Oldsmobile, but I'm not so sure that this is driven primarily by customer prefering the lower priced versions of the almost identical models. The Oldsmobile brand, for example, has been associated with old fogeys so GM has had a lot of trouble selling them the younger folks.
They basically think that chassis and body production will be commoditized to the point where you could mix and match from various manufacturers.
I sort of agree with your skepticism here, but then again there are already a lot of components that are/were shared between manufacturers (or they were shared until the manufactures sold off the component plants). If GM really does change their development model, then the chassis might become a marketable OEM item. This already happens to a limited degree with truck chassis (think school buses, for example).
I'm not sure what you mean by competitive reasons. GM already owns several brands (Chevrolet, Pontiac, etc.) and they commonly share chasis and bodies between these brands. The main differences are often just the extras (styling, interiors, etc.).
So why wouldn't they share chasis between models? Seems like a natural extension of what they are already doing.
Here's a quote from the transcript of the Larry King show on CNN:
KING: Do you agree, though, with the all-day coverage? Every network seems to be doing...
CRONKITE: No, I think we're going to get very weary, as tragic as are the stories, as heartrending as are the stories, as tear- jerking as are the stories, I think we're going to get very tired of hearing them over and over again over a period of two or three days or more. I think it's going to be overdone.
What do you think that the general music-buying public should do about the current situation? Should we boycott copy-protected CDs? Write letters to someone? Share our views artists after concerts?
I assume that you get a chance to talk to other artists at music festivals and the like. Have you received any feedback from them regarding your recent public comments? What about other music industry people (festival organizers, recording industry execs, radio DJ's, etc)?
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Of course, this will probably just have the effect of freeing up $27,000 for windows machines in the classroom.
What Open Source software would you suggest for a Kindergarten or First Grade classroom?
There's a tremendous opportunity for Open Source software in the educational market, where budgets are always tight. The problem is that there are few (if any) apps that would be appropriate for the lower grade levels. I'm talking about age appropriate programs that will help young children learn the letters of the alphabet, or the names of the basic shapes, or improve basic reading and arithmetic skills. These are commercial apps that run under Windows or MAC OS. I am not talking about pure entertainment games.
Many people complain about the use of commercial operating systems such as Windows in schools, but what choice is there? Perhaps the best interim solution would be to try to get some of the existing educational apps to run under Linux or Lindows. Is anyone working on this? If not, then stop complaining.
As others have mentioned, the software that is installed on these new systems needs to be consistent with what the teaching staff wants/needs to do. You can probably get a good idea about this by looking at what is currently installed on the old Apple systems. Then see if you can find anything close that will run on Linux.
Personally, I'll be really surprised if you find much Linix compatible software that is suitable for the mission of these computers. I'm currently running Win98SE on my kids' computer, because I have not found much educational software for Linix. To be fair I must mention that my kids are younger that the users of the systems that you're working on, but in this case I don't think that the difference matters.
You know that a potential employer is in trouble when they expect to hire people who are already 100% competient at the required task. This approach works fine in the short term, but it breaks when after a few months/years they need to move on to the next generation technology or the company starts developing products in a different area and they find out that the employees do not know how to learn to do something new.
Instead of hiring people who are already experts, look for people who can adapt, and have the basic skilsl that will allow them to figure out the new stuff when it comes. In other words, hire people who get excited at the opportunity to learn about something new. These are the folks who will be with you for a long, long time.
The second barrier would be to remember to scan the empty package before discarding it, but having mutiple scanners placed in strategic areas would take care of that.
I would try to avoid the need for a keyboard. Unless your kitchen is huge, space will be at a premium so who wants to fill up an entire drawer with a keyboard. I would also be concerned about how practical it would be to use a keyboard with food covered hands. Finally, anything that you use in a kitchen needs to be easy to clean, both for cosmetic as well as sanitary reasons.
A standard keyboard just seems impractical in a kitchen environment.
Nonsense. You obviously did not look at any of the links that I provided. There are many more symptoms associated with Autism/Asperger's than just shyness/language, as the diagnostic criteria clearly shows. Physical coordination is just one example. Another is the inability to associate non-verbal expressions with underlying feelings.
To be diagnosed with Autism/AS a person needs to have several symptoms, not just one (or two).
And, yes, I know something about this because my son has AS.
The diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorders is much more complex than simply shyness. You can read more about the diagnostic criteria for Autism here and here . The diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Symdrom (a high function form of Autism, often associated with geeks) is described here.
Instead of speculating about whether a database could be implemented or would even work, why not read about the real thing? According to this report that was issued by the US Senate, there's already a ballistics database in use today. It's contents are currently limited to fingerprinting handguns that have been used to commit crimes, but I don't think that scaling would be a big issue.
Seems like one possible source would be the User Interface Research Group at PARC. These are the same folks who invented the Windowing user interface.
The URL links to DigiKey don't work. Would you mind providing the part numbers?
I have a similar set up, and I have two small children which means that taking off the door is not a viable option. I tried installing a standard muffin fan, but it vibrated the wood and made a lot of noise so I removed it (though a slow fan might have worked better). I did leave the fan hole open, though, and found that this made a big difference in the ambient temperature inside the cabinet.
So I suggest that you use a hole saw to cut some large holes (the larger the better) in the back of the cabinet. Just don't remove so much wood that it causes structural damage. :-)
Let's assume that you're replacing the phone for reasons other than the amount of talk time that the current battery is providing you with. As others have pointed out, if talk time is the only problem then replace the darn batteries and move on... :-)
If you're buying a new phone, look for one that uses standard size AA rechargable batteries, instead of a proprietary battery pack. A phone that can handle NiMH batteriers is somewhat preferable to ones that can only use NiCAD batteries, but since NiMH batteries cost more I'm not sure that they are really worth the extra cost.
There are several advantages with standard size AA rechargable batteries. One is that you can purchase replacement batteries from any good electronics shop. Another is that if talk time consinues to be a problem then you can always buy a second set of batteries and an inexpensive stand alone reconditioning charger, and swap batteries back and forth between the phone and the charger. Note that the charger should have a reconditioning circuit (cheap ones don't).
There are several good inexpensive chargers on the market. I use a MAHA brand charger, which I purchased from Thomas Distributing. I have used it to recharge both NiCAD and NiMH batteries with good results.
In ten years, do you think that the average person's use of the Internet will be similar to today, or will it be drastically different?
In the future, so you see the Internet envolving in a evolutionary fashion, or are revolutionary changes in store?
We need to distinguish between tracking someone who is breaking the law and someone who isn't.
It needs to be pointed out that it was the stolen car that was actually being tracked, not the suspects. This distinction may seem minor, but it's very important.
If you think that using technology to locate a stolen vehicle is a problem, then please explain why it's ok to use technology to notify police when a building is being broken into (a remote alarm).
I used to receive a lot of these kinds of tasks, until I learned that if I spent a small amount of time before the review anticipating these questions I could defect them before they got any momentum. So the secret is to:
1) Spend some time learning about what others are doing in your company/group/whatever.
2) Anticipate the questions that you're likely to be asked regarding synergy, re-use, etc.
3) Have the answer waiting in your back pocket (or better yet, in your presentation back-up material).
In a few cases, during this pre-work you may even discover a better way to do something, and you can make it part of your proposal. And if you're clever, you might even find a way to make the bosses think that it was their idea! And then you're a hero for making them look good.
Usenet has for the last twenty or so years been a place to ask questions and get advice. Google Groups has a wonderful search feature where you can query past Usenet discussions, which includes almost all of the questions that others have already asked. Let's face it, it's very likely that someone else has already asked your question.
I use this for all sorts of topics (computers, home remodeling, appliance repair, cars, etc.). I almost always find some useful information.
And if all else fails, I can submit my question to an appropriate newsgroup (again using Google Groups).
Yes, and that's why all those meaningless brands are disappearing fast.
Disappearing fast? I don't know about that. Chrysler is dropping Plymouth and GM is canning Oldsmobile, but I'm not so sure that this is driven primarily by customer prefering the lower priced versions of the almost identical models. The Oldsmobile brand, for example, has been associated with old fogeys so GM has had a lot of trouble selling them the younger folks.
They basically think that chassis and body production will be commoditized to the point where you could mix and match from various manufacturers.
I sort of agree with your skepticism here, but then again there are already a lot of components that are/were shared between manufacturers (or they were shared until the manufactures sold off the component plants). If GM really does change their development model, then the chassis might become a marketable OEM item. This already happens to a limited degree with truck chassis (think school buses, for example).
I'm not sure what you mean by competitive reasons. GM already owns several brands (Chevrolet, Pontiac, etc.) and they commonly share chasis and bodies between these brands. The main differences are often just the extras (styling, interiors, etc.).
So why wouldn't they share chasis between models? Seems like a natural extension of what they are already doing.
Here's a quote from the transcript of the Larry King show on CNN:
KING: Do you agree, though, with the all-day coverage? Every network seems to be doing...
CRONKITE: No, I think we're going to get very weary, as tragic as are the stories, as heartrending as are the stories, as tear- jerking as are the stories, I think we're going to get very tired of hearing them over and over again over a period of two or three days or more. I think it's going to be overdone.
I agree with Walter...
What do you think that the general music-buying public should do about the current situation? Should we boycott copy-protected CDs? Write letters to someone? Share our views artists after concerts?
I assume that you get a chance to talk to other artists at music festivals and the like. Have you received any feedback from them regarding your recent public comments? What about other music industry people (festival organizers, recording industry execs, radio DJ's, etc)?
The folks at Yale were not the only ones looking at the sky that night. SpaceWeather.com has some links to other images here.
There's an undersea oil well platform that is claimed to be 1900 feet tall. Of course it's mostly underwater, but it is man made.