The douchiness is in reactionary fucking morons who scream "waah CFLs suck because of LEDs, therefore we should all go back to incandescents" which is a really fucking stupid comment as you watch them make it.
BUT...
CFLs aren't dimmable..yes, some manufacturers lie and say they are..but they're not
LEDs are dimmable, poorly, but they are somewhat nonlinear and have a minimum threshold where they turn off
I am all in favor of energy efficient bulbs..IF THEY ARE DIMMABLE!..I mean really dimmable, with a smooth, linear transition from off to full
One of my favorite tricks when working on digital/analog hybrid circuits is to use the microprocessor to set an output pin, then use the signal to trigger a scope
I have debugged lots of tricky interrupt driven realtime stuff with this approach
But yeah, it gets turned on about once every two months
...when 3D printing is much more advanced, this will actually be a problem
Modern manufactured products are complex assemblies of metal, plastics and sometimes circuitry
A 3D printer can print an ice cream scoop, but not a bicycle, or a smartphone, or a fishing reel..etc..
This kind of article reminds me of the early days of Virtual Reality when the writers went on and on about a time when VR would be indistinguishable from reality
Well, VR kinda failed to live up to the hype..maybe someday it will, but so far, no (and yes, I know a bit about it having worked on a well funded VR project)
Bottom line? Don't make me learn new interface stuff. I hate it
So does my wife, and my brother
They are both smart people, but don't have the time or passion to devote hours to learning all the details about their computers. They have a job to do, and want to do it quickly
I am somewhat in the middle. I like the Office Ribbon. It seems like a real improvement
But, changes based on "fashion" suck. I don't want my UI to look "fresh and new", I want it to work well, and be efficient to use for a power user
Slashdot Mirror
..text vs "something-else-that-isn't-text"
The problem is complexity
Programs are getting too complex for humans to understand
We need more powerful tools to manage the complexity
And no, I don't mean another java framework
How about a full pardon and the medal of freedom
After hearing his horror stories, I wondered if I made the right choice buying WD drives
But, the evidence speaks for itself...100% reliability
It seems like the marketoids are convincing companies to design ever more annoying technology to piss off their customers
In the old world, companies tried to satisfy their customers
In the modern world, it seems like companies want to make customers as angry as possible
Sadism is the new corporate religion
The douchiness is in reactionary fucking morons who scream "waah CFLs suck because of LEDs, therefore we should all go back to incandescents" which is a really fucking stupid comment as you watch them make it.
BUT...
CFLs aren't dimmable..yes, some manufacturers lie and say they are..but they're not
LEDs are dimmable, poorly, but they are somewhat nonlinear and have a minimum threshold where they turn off
I am all in favor of energy efficient bulbs..IF THEY ARE DIMMABLE!..I mean really dimmable, with a smooth, linear transition from off to full
We were the R&D group of a major corporation
Our boss, the VP of R&D, was non-technical, but he did a great job
He handled the politics
He got us the budget
He got us our own purchasing guy and receiving dock
He isolated us from the bullshit of the rest of the corporation
He gave us freedom to handle the technical side as we saw fit
To sum it up..his job was to give us the perfect environment, our job was to do cool stuff that made him look good
You are never buying from them, only renting for variable durations
When I need it, there is no substitute
One of my favorite tricks when working on digital/analog hybrid circuits is to use the microprocessor to set an output pin, then use the signal to trigger a scope
I have debugged lots of tricky interrupt driven realtime stuff with this approach
But yeah, it gets turned on about once every two months
We are living in the transition time where some people have private lives and some are more public
If current trends continue, everybody will have embarrassing pictures on the internet and nobody will care
So called "3D" (actually stereoscopic) sucks in most cases
The best it gets is in a carefully done CGI film where left and right eye views are separately rendered by someone who knows what they are doing
Unfortunately, a lot of "3D" is regular 2D films, cheaply post-processed to give a slight taste of stereoscopic-ness
A 4K monitor can use intelligent upscaling to make any existing program material look better
..as long as it's purely based on quantity used and cost to provide
It sucks when it's used as a weapon to kill competition (Netflix) or when it's based on the type of content
If a micro-manager has less talent/intelligence/magic than his workers..he gets in the way and impedes progress
If a micro-manager has a clear vision, and it's an inspired vision..you would be wise to follow him
Example..Walt Disney
...when 3D printing is much more advanced, this will actually be a problem
Modern manufactured products are complex assemblies of metal, plastics and sometimes circuitry
A 3D printer can print an ice cream scoop, but not a bicycle, or a smartphone, or a fishing reel..etc..
This kind of article reminds me of the early days of Virtual Reality when the writers went on and on about a time when VR would be indistinguishable from reality
Well, VR kinda failed to live up to the hype..maybe someday it will, but so far, no (and yes, I know a bit about it having worked on a well funded VR project)
TVs, and TV-viewing, are quite obsolete
If you mean broadcast TV, where a show is "on" at a particular time..I agree
If you mean that watching stuff on a phone, tablet or computer is going to take over..I disagree
My home theater has a large, high quality monitor and a very comfortable chair
It has one use, watching video entertainment whether from streaming, disk or DVR
I would never do computer stuff in my home theater or watch a movie on my computer
They are definitely NOT toys
The high performance ones have 5 to 10 HP motors
The flying style currently popular among the top pilots is to fly very close to the ground and very close to the pilot
So naturally, the guys with less talent want to fly like the pros
I think this is kinda crazy..no room for error
..this might be kinda OK..maybe
Speed limits are set artificially low for political reasons
There are several possible speeds for a given road
The one that most drivers chose for themselves, based on road conditions
The limit imposed by the laws of physics
The legal limit should be somewhere in between
But, even if speed limits were reasonable, this is still kinda bad. What if you need to go fast to avoid an accident?
Bottom line? Don't make me learn new interface stuff. I hate it
So does my wife, and my brother
They are both smart people, but don't have the time or passion to devote hours to learning all the details about their computers. They have a job to do, and want to do it quickly
I am somewhat in the middle. I like the Office Ribbon. It seems like a real improvement
But, changes based on "fashion" suck. I don't want my UI to look "fresh and new", I want it to work well, and be efficient to use for a power user
..if the source code is treated as a secret
Anybody with the right knowledge and some basic tools has been able to make a gun for a long time
Convicts do it in prison
People in underdeveloped countries do it using the most crude equipment imaginable
3D printing a gun, in plastic, is nothing more than an attention grabbing headline
A loss for the schools and the students
Yes, teaching children about technology is good
No, forcing them to all use the same device is bad..especially when it's Apple(the distilled essence of evil)
While I watch Netflix, I sometimes think about all of the magic that must be going on behind the scenes to deal with varying delivery speed
In almost all cases, my video entertainment proceeds, uninterrupted
As a guy who has worked with video streaming at the lowest level, I have nothing but respect for their tech
Somebody makes a popular movie
Everybody else analyzes it to determine why it was popular
Soon, lots of clones appear, trying to capture the essence of the original
The audience yawns and says "I'm bored, that one was just like the last one"
Why don't the producers see that creativity and novelty are exciting?
Stopping piracy is impossible
As long as you have enough paying customers to make a profit, you are OK
If you make your DRM too annoying, you will piss off your paying customers
I suggest doing everything you can to reward your loyal, paying customers, while treating piracy as advertising expense
The main reasons that sales are dropping...
Everybody that needs one has one, and they work well enough. Very few people need the latest and greatest
The various different activation and protection schemes make it a royal pain to upgrade
I used to buy new hardware frequently, and just clone my hard drive
Now, I hold on to hardware for as long as possible
I fear that if I upgrade, I will end up spending hours on hold waiting to convince some dude in India that I'm not a pirate
..and I think the author is a prick
I can easily separate the art from the artist