Honestly, most of the "problems" with Android I actually consider to be strengths. Now the "fragmented" argument, yes, I can see where that can hurt in the long run, but then again, PC's are quite fragmented yet which has a larger hold after all these years, Apple or PC?
I know some people might, and I'm not an Apple devotee by any means, but I greatly prefer the iPhone. I mean, I seriously find it much easier to use. It is certainly more intuitive. The fragmentation issue has been a problem for me since people started installing apps on their blackberry. All of a sudden there are different versions to install for different OS versions.
At the end of the day, my people are more productive with iPhones and I have to spend less time supporting them than I do the Android phones.
Most of the "problems" I see with Android I actually consider quite annoying. Steve Jobs has a good point. Android might be "open" in an ideal sense, but it is "closed" in a practical sense. It's mostly a marketing ploy. Pragmatically the iPhone is open enough to be usable for anything a non-rooted iPhone/Android phone user would want.
The difference is that with most Android installations (and indeed, all to my knowledge, but there may be some I haven't heard of), you can install what you want right off the bat. If you don't like the content available on the Android Market, you can check the box to allow you to install non-Market apps. There is absolutely no reason Apple couldn't do this, while still preserve their "user experience".
Having just purchased a Droid 2, I have to call it a tie. The fact that Android is an OS is "open" is irrelevant because there are so many random things put on by manufacturers or service providers. You have to hack both to get them to do what you want. There is a checkbox that lets me install non-market apps on the Droid, but at the same time I cannot for any reason in the world uninstall the Blockbuster bloatware app. WTF?
I believe a lot of people are reading too much into this. This isn't anything more than Apple allowing Verizon to sell hardware that you can buy a dozen other places. I could get a mifi through Verizon or any of the other carriers already, and I could buy a wifi iPad already.
??
Is it Verizon just saying that "Hey! Apple doesn't hate us! We're cool too! Oh yeah, they didn't make any hardware yet that will work with our network, but you can buy stuff here and we'll sell you a second thing to carry around and keep charged that will let you casually browse the internet if you don't want to stream any video."
I was in the Verizon store yesterday. They had a little section for Android phones, a little section for Blackberries, even a little section for Samsung Android phones. They also had a little section for Windows platform phones. There were three phones in that section, and only 1 was even powered on. I had to wait to see the Droid 2, but nobody in the store even bothered to look at the windows phone while I was there. They were right in front of the front door too!
Seriously, I do a lot of cleaning/tidying up in the house during commercials. I don't like them, but it is also a time where you can do something very short while your attention isn't so focused, and by the time the show is over my wife is happier and I didn't really feel like I did anything.
When I left the movie, I had the impression that Zunkenberg was portrayed as a thieving, condescending, misogynistic, little twerp. He stole everybody else's ideas, idolized a child molesting drug abuser, and betrayed his best (only?) friend. His only redeeming value is that he was a talented programmer.
Not my idea of a hero, but then, I don't idolize Bill Gates either.
I think it's important to recognize that this is a dramatization and not a real-life account. He was portrayed that way because it makes a move interesting, but doesn't seem to be the real story.
Is there some drama about the creation of facebook? Sure. But we have to remember that this was a creation of a computer nerd with computer nerd friends. Think about your most dramatic experience coding with friends...
The lawsuits didn't come until he was successful. Who isn't going to be sued by people when they become filthy rich?
In high school I had a knack for computers and programming and thought going into college I would be a doctor or programmer. It took a year, but I finally realized that, after disliking chemistry in high school, I rather enjoyed it in college and didn't like the other stuff so much. Once we got into lab it was just like I was a kid again - mixing chemicals, trying to impress people with my ability to pour without a funnel, precise measurements - doing stuff I did when I was a kid with a chemistry set.
Seriously, where would we get chemists, geologists, or biologists if we don't have kids experiencing these things in a rich way when they are young? If I wouldn't have had that experience I would have been a bored unhappy CS major.
Why was Barnes and Noble stupid? I bought books from their website before I bought them from amazon.
You might have bought from B&N first, but it sounds like you bought from Amazon later on? B&N should have invested early to keep Amazon from getting huge. Back in 1997 Amazon.com was cheap! B&N was huge! Amazon started buying up other.com's, like CDNow, in order to grow their product lines to be more than just books. Amazon grew from nothing and became a giant while B&N was a giant and started struggling to survive, but they both were selling the same thing! B&N could have been the site we all go to, or Amazon could have been a subsidiary. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory...
It's not stupidity. They were already making megabucks each year with obligatory bonuses independent on how the company they supposed to manage is doing. It's not a capitalism, it's a parody on it.
Actually, it is stupid. They could have used those megabucks to wipe out any competition that started getting popular. They were lazy and stupid because they didn't understand or study their market or the way technology changes their market. If you don't adapt to changing market conditions and get ahead of the curve, you can't expect to stay on top.
Browsing in a browser just doesn't hold up to browsing the physical media. Guess I'm just a library kinda guy.
I won't. Besides the higher prices and late fees, I hate staring at shelves lined with a bunch of movies in alphabetical order, or 15 shelves of the same movie in the new releases section. In a browser I have genre sorting capabilities, suggestions, and reviews. I would have saved a lot of money when I used to frequent Blockbuster if they would have put user reviews with the movies on the shelves.
The Netflix/Redbox combo is nearly perfect. I do all the browsing and picking online. If I want it today I get it at Redbox or stream it through the Wii on Netflix. If it's a TV series I get the disc through Netflix and watch it at my leisure. If I start watching something and don't like it, I turn it off without feeling like I wasted money.
I'm a library kinda guy when I read books (though they have movies too!) but I don't miss anything when I have my digital media presented to me in a more convenient digital form. Even if you don't have Netflix, browsing on Redbox lets you know whats available and where to get it before you even go out.
This is going to be vital technology for the new NSA/FBI/CIA robo-swallow assassins. Previously we were limited to a very specific payload based on the geographic region in which the swallow originated.
No, there is enough of a distinction between the functions of an air-bag and a seat belt that actually warrants having them both. A seat belt will keep you inside your car as opposed to flying through the windshield. An air bag protects you from smashing up hard against the dash, but it will likely not keep you inside your car should your car overturn, roll, or you get hit so hard you would normally fly through w/out a seat belt.
On the other hand, a desktop firewall and a server-based firewall has too much of an overlap in terms of their function.
It's true. That's why I have a server for every desktop
Keeping workstation firewalls on behind network level firewalls is like locking the door of each room of your house as you pass through it. Unlock, open, go through, shut, and lock. Suddenly, the security measures outweigh their usefulness.
Likewise, leaving all the workstation firewalls on behind the network firewall, involves a bit of hassle each time you want to access new file shares, install new printers, etc. This isn't necessarily hassle you can't live with... but it IS additional work that scales into a BIG hassle as you add more and more workstations, and more importantly, more users that need you to hand hold them through this activity.
I've got a good firewall between my network and the internet. That's why I disable all the firewalls on my networked computers, disable all the security features in Internet Explorer, and give everyone admin access. I used to have all that stuff, but it was a hassle. Now I never run into security certificate errors! No locked doors for me!
My Organic Chemistry professor had a similar diagnosis when I was in college. He was still fully able to function to the point of lecturing and running a lab, he simply could not answer any questions. As long as he had a day to prepare his notes, look off his notes, and not get interrupted he was normal. When people asked questions mid-lecture (or any time) he would get off-track and get confused. He lasted for two years like this before he had to stop teaching.
It was particularly sad, because he knew what was going on - he still knew his chemistry and left to himself could still function, research, etc. It was mostly bad in any social setting where long lengths of time aren't given to wrap your head around a particular thought or go through a problem several times before giving an answer. He could still cook quite well on his own, but if you asked him what the ingredients were or what he was doing while he was cooking, it would throw him off course and he would be confused for a while until he could retrace his steps to figure out what he was doing.
My boss has the same issue of it not working in his house. He had called and complained several times with no resolution. Finally, he got a "Customer Service Satisfaction Survey" where he reamed ATT in every way he could. About a week later he got a letter saying he qualified for a free MicroCell.
If I were your friend, I'd go to a corporate store (not an authorized reseller), get a manager, and ask that they give him a MicroCell for free. If they don't, demand one - or the termination of his service without an ETF. The managers seem to be empowered to give them away. I went and picked up the MicroCell, and when the barcode on the letter didnt' work, the manager just came over, typed in her override code, and we skipped all of the "setup" information that I was supposed to go through.
Anyway, the MicroCell was kinda funny in that it needed two hours to setup and get it's GPS location, but for now it's working great and gives coverage over the whole house. Service is more reliable in the house than it is outside.
I would have more respect for them if they could at least ADMIT their cowardice and just admit that they're caving because they're afraid of violent retaliation. Instead they hide behind "religious respect" and try to convince themselves that they're not just a bunch of pussies.
Businesses don't necessarily get "scared" or "have balls". A good business weighs risks and rewards, and takes logical steps to maximize reward while minimizing risk. Sometimes they try risky maneuvers, miscalculate or overlook risk, and sometimes they are wrong, but the basic premise is the same.
Rackspace is protecting themselves from what could be a violent and/or politically costly situation. It's high risk. What do they have to gain? Are good legitimate companies going to flock to Rackspace because they stood up for the psycho fringe group trying to give the finger to everybody? Or would it mean that a lot of small fringe groups that want to host radical-focused websites are going to start flocking their way?
Rackspace would gain nothing from having a datacenter as the target of a terrorist attack, and they have basically nothing to lose by cutting off a single client with a crazy website. I'm sure the Dove World Outreach Center can find some webhost that doesn't care somewhere in the world, or else host their own website.
It might be a big deal if they were an ISP, because they might be removing the ability of the church to connect to the internet, to express their opinions, etc - and we'd be talking about net neutrality.
Rackspace is not only exercising a clause in their contract, they are doing what they can to protect themselves and their business. Would you want to be the host of the website that could soon be the most targeted and talked about thing in the world? If the church does its demonstration, and international violence happens, I wouldn't want to be the guy holding the server that is publicizing the offending content.
I mean, if DDOS doesn't work, these guys could be physically targeted to get this website offline. Other Rackspace customers should be happy that there was some forethought here; not pissed politically.
As long as their ISP is feeding them a connection, there is no reason why this church has to use a web hosting company. They could post whatever they want on their own servers.
At least he blew one up that isn't spewing oil this time.
Maybe now when he calls up the oil companies to talk business, they'll listen. I can just see him saying "The harder you tighten your grip, the more oil rigs will slip through your fingers."
Wikileaks isn't journalism because they aren't supported by advertising, nor do they publish anything in daily dead-tree format. How could it be considered journalism? Wikileaks is about facts, not stories.
Journalism used to be about taking risks to bring critical public interest information to everyone, with a strong ethic and moral code. Now it seems that to most of the industry, it's about finding out what trouble Lindsay Lohan will get into next.
As far as I know, it's actually evolved into a business where you buy story feeds from the AP so that there will be words under whatever headlines you can make so that people and advertising dollars will notice that you exist.
The printer was bricked, not because it was the wrong kind of ink, but because the "digital microprocessor in the ink cartridge was incompatible with the microprocessor in the printer." They told me that the generic cartridges were essentially a "virus" that infected the "computer chip" in the printer. It never got to the point where the ink could have come out of the cartridges to damage the print head.
It, of course, voided the warranty and there was nothing that could be done. I don't remember the model right now, but when I searched the forums it seemed to be a common problem. Some russian guy had hacked a firmware to get around it, but I couldn't ever get it to load quite right. I gave up and brought a Brother laser. I also haven't purchased an Epson product (or an inkjet) since then.
Moon bounce is the pretty cool. I'm not an expert either, but I am a HAM and have spent quite a few nights outside with friends playing around with a large (handmade) dish. Sure, moon bounce isn't real popular, but there is something very satisfying about being able to bounce a signal off the moon onto some far reaching part of the earth.
I don't have a powerful enough radio to do it very well, but we could still listen to other people quite well and every once in a while could make contact. Of course, we weren't using a nice manufactured dish like that, but had constructed one out of PVC pipe and wire mesh. I bet a real dish would do a lot better than what we constructed.
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Honestly, most of the "problems" with Android I actually consider to be strengths. Now the "fragmented" argument, yes, I can see where that can hurt in the long run, but then again, PC's are quite fragmented yet which has a larger hold after all these years, Apple or PC?
I know some people might, and I'm not an Apple devotee by any means, but I greatly prefer the iPhone. I mean, I seriously find it much easier to use. It is certainly more intuitive. The fragmentation issue has been a problem for me since people started installing apps on their blackberry. All of a sudden there are different versions to install for different OS versions.
At the end of the day, my people are more productive with iPhones and I have to spend less time supporting them than I do the Android phones.
Most of the "problems" I see with Android I actually consider quite annoying. Steve Jobs has a good point. Android might be "open" in an ideal sense, but it is "closed" in a practical sense. It's mostly a marketing ploy. Pragmatically the iPhone is open enough to be usable for anything a non-rooted iPhone/Android phone user would want.
The difference is that with most Android installations (and indeed, all to my knowledge, but there may be some I haven't heard of), you can install what you want right off the bat. If you don't like the content available on the Android Market, you can check the box to allow you to install non-Market apps. There is absolutely no reason Apple couldn't do this, while still preserve their "user experience".
Having just purchased a Droid 2, I have to call it a tie. The fact that Android is an OS is "open" is irrelevant because there are so many random things put on by manufacturers or service providers. You have to hack both to get them to do what you want. There is a checkbox that lets me install non-market apps on the Droid, but at the same time I cannot for any reason in the world uninstall the Blockbuster bloatware app. WTF?
I'm not sure about Sprint, but I know you aren't allowed to use AT&T's tubes for free. You should probably turn yourself in.
I believe a lot of people are reading too much into this. This isn't anything more than Apple allowing Verizon to sell hardware that you can buy a dozen other places. I could get a mifi through Verizon or any of the other carriers already, and I could buy a wifi iPad already.
??
Is it Verizon just saying that "Hey! Apple doesn't hate us! We're cool too! Oh yeah, they didn't make any hardware yet that will work with our network, but you can buy stuff here and we'll sell you a second thing to carry around and keep charged that will let you casually browse the internet if you don't want to stream any video."
I was in the Verizon store yesterday. They had a little section for Android phones, a little section for Blackberries, even a little section for Samsung Android phones. They also had a little section for Windows platform phones. There were three phones in that section, and only 1 was even powered on. I had to wait to see the Droid 2, but nobody in the store even bothered to look at the windows phone while I was there. They were right in front of the front door too!
and in a season or two it'll be on netflix for no additional cost. I don't mind waiting. Then I can watch them all sequentially on my own time.
Seriously, I do a lot of cleaning/tidying up in the house during commercials. I don't like them, but it is also a time where you can do something very short while your attention isn't so focused, and by the time the show is over my wife is happier and I didn't really feel like I did anything.
Zuckenberg was portrayed as a "hero" ?
When I left the movie, I had the impression that Zunkenberg was portrayed as a thieving, condescending, misogynistic, little twerp. He stole everybody else's ideas, idolized a child molesting drug abuser, and betrayed his best (only?) friend. His only redeeming value is that he was a talented programmer.
Not my idea of a hero, but then, I don't idolize Bill Gates either.
I think it's important to recognize that this is a dramatization and not a real-life account. He was portrayed that way because it makes a move interesting, but doesn't seem to be the real story.
Is there some drama about the creation of facebook? Sure. But we have to remember that this was a creation of a computer nerd with computer nerd friends. Think about your most dramatic experience coding with friends...
The lawsuits didn't come until he was successful. Who isn't going to be sued by people when they become filthy rich?
In high school I had a knack for computers and programming and thought going into college I would be a doctor or programmer. It took a year, but I finally realized that, after disliking chemistry in high school, I rather enjoyed it in college and didn't like the other stuff so much. Once we got into lab it was just like I was a kid again - mixing chemicals, trying to impress people with my ability to pour without a funnel, precise measurements - doing stuff I did when I was a kid with a chemistry set.
Seriously, where would we get chemists, geologists, or biologists if we don't have kids experiencing these things in a rich way when they are young? If I wouldn't have had that experience I would have been a bored unhappy CS major.
Why was Barnes and Noble stupid? I bought books from their website before I bought them from amazon.
You might have bought from B&N first, but it sounds like you bought from Amazon later on? B&N should have invested early to keep Amazon from getting huge. Back in 1997 Amazon.com was cheap! B&N was huge! Amazon started buying up other .com's, like CDNow, in order to grow their product lines to be more than just books. Amazon grew from nothing and became a giant while B&N was a giant and started struggling to survive, but they both were selling the same thing! B&N could have been the site we all go to, or Amazon could have been a subsidiary. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory...
It's not stupidity. They were already making megabucks each year with obligatory bonuses independent on how the company they supposed to manage is doing. It's not a capitalism, it's a parody on it.
Actually, it is stupid. They could have used those megabucks to wipe out any competition that started getting popular. They were lazy and stupid because they didn't understand or study their market or the way technology changes their market. If you don't adapt to changing market conditions and get ahead of the curve, you can't expect to stay on top.
Browsing in a browser just doesn't hold up to browsing the physical media. Guess I'm just a library kinda guy.
I won't. Besides the higher prices and late fees, I hate staring at shelves lined with a bunch of movies in alphabetical order, or 15 shelves of the same movie in the new releases section. In a browser I have genre sorting capabilities, suggestions, and reviews. I would have saved a lot of money when I used to frequent Blockbuster if they would have put user reviews with the movies on the shelves.
The Netflix/Redbox combo is nearly perfect. I do all the browsing and picking online. If I want it today I get it at Redbox or stream it through the Wii on Netflix. If it's a TV series I get the disc through Netflix and watch it at my leisure. If I start watching something and don't like it, I turn it off without feeling like I wasted money.
I'm a library kinda guy when I read books (though they have movies too!) but I don't miss anything when I have my digital media presented to me in a more convenient digital form. Even if you don't have Netflix, browsing on Redbox lets you know whats available and where to get it before you even go out.
This is going to be vital technology for the new NSA/FBI/CIA robo-swallow assassins. Previously we were limited to a very specific payload based on the geographic region in which the swallow originated.
No, there is enough of a distinction between the functions of an air-bag and a seat belt that actually warrants having them both. A seat belt will keep you inside your car as opposed to flying through the windshield. An air bag protects you from smashing up hard against the dash, but it will likely not keep you inside your car should your car overturn, roll, or you get hit so hard you would normally fly through w/out a seat belt.
On the other hand, a desktop firewall and a server-based firewall has too much of an overlap in terms of their function.
It's true. That's why I have a server for every desktop
Keeping workstation firewalls on behind network level firewalls is like locking the door of each room of your house as you pass through it. Unlock, open, go through, shut, and lock. Suddenly, the security measures outweigh their usefulness.
Likewise, leaving all the workstation firewalls on behind the network firewall, involves a bit of hassle each time you want to access new file shares, install new printers, etc. This isn't necessarily hassle you can't live with... but it IS additional work that scales into a BIG hassle as you add more and more workstations, and more importantly, more users that need you to hand hold them through this activity.
I've got a good firewall between my network and the internet. That's why I disable all the firewalls on my networked computers, disable all the security features in Internet Explorer, and give everyone admin access. I used to have all that stuff, but it was a hassle. Now I never run into security certificate errors! No locked doors for me!
My Organic Chemistry professor had a similar diagnosis when I was in college. He was still fully able to function to the point of lecturing and running a lab, he simply could not answer any questions. As long as he had a day to prepare his notes, look off his notes, and not get interrupted he was normal. When people asked questions mid-lecture (or any time) he would get off-track and get confused. He lasted for two years like this before he had to stop teaching.
It was particularly sad, because he knew what was going on - he still knew his chemistry and left to himself could still function, research, etc. It was mostly bad in any social setting where long lengths of time aren't given to wrap your head around a particular thought or go through a problem several times before giving an answer. He could still cook quite well on his own, but if you asked him what the ingredients were or what he was doing while he was cooking, it would throw him off course and he would be confused for a while until he could retrace his steps to figure out what he was doing.
My boss has the same issue of it not working in his house. He had called and complained several times with no resolution. Finally, he got a "Customer Service Satisfaction Survey" where he reamed ATT in every way he could. About a week later he got a letter saying he qualified for a free MicroCell.
If I were your friend, I'd go to a corporate store (not an authorized reseller), get a manager, and ask that they give him a MicroCell for free. If they don't, demand one - or the termination of his service without an ETF. The managers seem to be empowered to give them away. I went and picked up the MicroCell, and when the barcode on the letter didnt' work, the manager just came over, typed in her override code, and we skipped all of the "setup" information that I was supposed to go through.
Anyway, the MicroCell was kinda funny in that it needed two hours to setup and get it's GPS location, but for now it's working great and gives coverage over the whole house. Service is more reliable in the house than it is outside.
I would have more respect for them if they could at least ADMIT their cowardice and just admit that they're caving because they're afraid of violent retaliation. Instead they hide behind "religious respect" and try to convince themselves that they're not just a bunch of pussies.
Businesses don't necessarily get "scared" or "have balls". A good business weighs risks and rewards, and takes logical steps to maximize reward while minimizing risk. Sometimes they try risky maneuvers, miscalculate or overlook risk, and sometimes they are wrong, but the basic premise is the same.
Rackspace is protecting themselves from what could be a violent and/or politically costly situation. It's high risk. What do they have to gain? Are good legitimate companies going to flock to Rackspace because they stood up for the psycho fringe group trying to give the finger to everybody? Or would it mean that a lot of small fringe groups that want to host radical-focused websites are going to start flocking their way?
Rackspace would gain nothing from having a datacenter as the target of a terrorist attack, and they have basically nothing to lose by cutting off a single client with a crazy website. I'm sure the Dove World Outreach Center can find some webhost that doesn't care somewhere in the world, or else host their own website.
Rackspace != ISP.
Rackspace is a website hosting company.
It might be a big deal if they were an ISP, because they might be removing the ability of the church to connect to the internet, to express their opinions, etc - and we'd be talking about net neutrality.
Rackspace is not only exercising a clause in their contract, they are doing what they can to protect themselves and their business. Would you want to be the host of the website that could soon be the most targeted and talked about thing in the world? If the church does its demonstration, and international violence happens, I wouldn't want to be the guy holding the server that is publicizing the offending content.
I mean, if DDOS doesn't work, these guys could be physically targeted to get this website offline. Other Rackspace customers should be happy that there was some forethought here; not pissed politically.
As long as their ISP is feeding them a connection, there is no reason why this church has to use a web hosting company. They could post whatever they want on their own servers.
Yeah, and it's Obama's fault, of course.
At least he blew one up that isn't spewing oil this time.
Maybe now when he calls up the oil companies to talk business, they'll listen. I can just see him saying "The harder you tighten your grip, the more oil rigs will slip through your fingers."
Wikileaks isn't journalism because they aren't supported by advertising, nor do they publish anything in daily dead-tree format. How could it be considered journalism? Wikileaks is about facts, not stories.
Journalism used to be about taking risks to bring critical public interest information to everyone, with a strong ethic and moral code. Now it seems that to most of the industry, it's about finding out what trouble Lindsay Lohan will get into next.
As far as I know, it's actually evolved into a business where you buy story feeds from the AP so that there will be words under whatever headlines you can make so that people and advertising dollars will notice that you exist.
Try teaching them to outsource work to the USA. Be careful to avoid creating an infinite loop.
The printer was bricked, not because it was the wrong kind of ink, but because the "digital microprocessor in the ink cartridge was incompatible with the microprocessor in the printer." They told me that the generic cartridges were essentially a "virus" that infected the "computer chip" in the printer. It never got to the point where the ink could have come out of the cartridges to damage the print head.
It, of course, voided the warranty and there was nothing that could be done. I don't remember the model right now, but when I searched the forums it seemed to be a common problem. Some russian guy had hacked a firmware to get around it, but I couldn't ever get it to load quite right. I gave up and brought a Brother laser. I also haven't purchased an Epson product (or an inkjet) since then.
Moon bounce is the pretty cool. I'm not an expert either, but I am a HAM and have spent quite a few nights outside with friends playing around with a large (handmade) dish. Sure, moon bounce isn't real popular, but there is something very satisfying about being able to bounce a signal off the moon onto some far reaching part of the earth.
I don't have a powerful enough radio to do it very well, but we could still listen to other people quite well and every once in a while could make contact. Of course, we weren't using a nice manufactured dish like that, but had constructed one out of PVC pipe and wire mesh. I bet a real dish would do a lot better than what we constructed.