I'd love to have gone with a Macbook even though it's commodity hardware - the Macbook is lighter and they're pretty, but on the other hand, I'm not retarded. I want two or three mouse buttons. Also, I'm not blind. I want high resolution because I design graphics, and now I am getting into embroidery and clothing design for a hobby. I need something better than 1440x900.
Err, you do know that you can just plug a 24" LCD in for an additional 1920 x 1200? No, that's not mirrored but in addition to the native 1280 x 800 built in. And that's on the cheapest MacBook they sell. And I can tell you it's quite adequate for two-page layouts, fine art and the like.
Plus, more appropriate to the original question, I would strongly recommend Rucker's math books, Mind Tools and Infinity and the Mind, the former a general romp in weird math, and the latter and in-depth approach to infinity, including transfinite numbers (like aleph-null, etc...).
I believe he also edited and wrote an introduction for a Dover reprint of the works of CE Hinton, who among other things worked at visualizing four-dimensional objects in the late 19th century, iirc.
Speaking of Dover, Lewis Carroll's Logic and the Game of Logic entertained me as a youngster before there were PCs, and I doubt you could go wrong with one of the numerous reprint collections of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns from Scientific American. Those cover a wide variety of weird math topics in terms easy to follow for teens, and give a good sense of the process of mathematical discovery, often straight from the discoverers. The first general discussion of the RSA cryptographic algorithm was in those columns, and Gardner distributed a preprint of RSA's paper for free to interested readers. Good times...
The Time Lords offered to reset the Master's regeneration count (the Five Doctors?), too, so we could consider the possibility that Gallifreyan technology could manipulate it.
The whole limit of twelve regenerations was introduced years into the series in a throwaway line, and historically those in charge have never been much troubled in changing continuity if it allows a better story, at least in TOS. Don't the Daleks have at least two origins? (Not including the Cushing movies, which are non-canon.)
While I generally agree with your point I also think the quasi-romantic relationships between the Doctor and his companions have as of late been done to death. A fifty-ish Doctor, with companions of the usual age, would have been a relief.
Now they've gone the other way, I'll wait and see, but also assume that if Stephen Moffat thinks it's a good idea it probably is.
You aren't required to use iTunes DRM with a iPod. We have a format called MP3 now, you should check it out. My library's got 12K of them and no DRM whatsoever.
Good thing Windows Media doesn't have DRM and plays everywhere! It would be horrible if you couldn't play it on your iPod.
To nitpick (hey, this is/.), they had a position in the phone market years before the iPhone, not that it stopped them from being lapped by Apple within 18 months. And iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store are all owned by Apple, no third parties involved.
The judge seems to have ruled quickly (the trial was going to be next month) so that Fox and WBros can make a settlement and get the damn thing out on time. Not that it's worth it without the squid ending...
I don't think there will be much of a market for $20+ "productivity" tools.
People might buy one in the category, if it's got everything in it. And the expectations of the users will be high -- it'll have to integrate well with the other stock software (Music, Photos, Video, Mail, iCal) instead of just building up its own data silo.
An interesting analysis, but you've left a few things out.
First, hobbies are by definition leisure-time activity; if, Bob forbid, you were to lose your job your time could be severely limited and irregular in availability.
Second, if your app is free then tech support (which would be necessary if your UI is any more complicated than a big red button bearing the label PRESS ME) will probably have to be free as well, which scales poorly for more than, say, 50 users. (If your app is popular enough a community might spring up and handle this for you, or you could do a blog/site yourself.)
Third, there's the possibility that you will miss a catastrophic bug in a public release (like when iTunes deleted hard drives that had more than one word in their names, back around Y2K).
People buy pro-developed apps because they know it's reasonable to expect timely tech support, a continuing upgrade path (particularly for new machines), and a target to sue the bejezus out of if something goes wrong (or, to put it another way, some type of responsibility on the part of the developer under pain of law).
But maybe the kind of apps you do are atypical in all this. At any rate, good luck with your coding. Hobbyists bootstrapped the space program, personal computers, the Web, open source, and I hope much of our future to come. Remember also the words of Coder Duke: "When the coding gets weird, the weird turn pro."
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And it still wasn't absolutely safe, was it, Tom Petersen (SSN 562-66-6172) of Detroit, MI, aka bone@gmail.com?
(Calm down, you'll knock over that table if you don't watch out.)
Wasn't it warmer up in Seattle than in Portland this year? It certainly was prolonged -- there was a small bit of snow just last week.
The way you describe Americans sounds a lot like one of the Australians who posts here on Slashdot.
The way he describes Australians sounds a lot like one of the Australians who posts here on Slashdot, too.
You fucking idiots are so fucking funny.
Coal technology is already clean [...]
About 525 million gallons of ash slurry clean, yeah.
Goatse.
Ooh. I had a splinter there once.
Was it Greta bloody Garbo?
Just goes to show that the living continue to have a decided advantage in reaction time over the dead.
And dood, Eyes Wide Shut? What were you thinking?
Everybody look at your pants!
I'd love to have gone with a Macbook even though it's commodity hardware - the Macbook is lighter and they're pretty, but on the other hand, I'm not retarded. I want two or three mouse buttons. Also, I'm not blind. I want high resolution because I design graphics, and now I am getting into embroidery and clothing design for a hobby. I need something better than 1440x900.
Err, you do know that you can just plug a 24" LCD in for an additional 1920 x 1200? No, that's not mirrored but in addition to the native 1280 x 800 built in. And that's on the cheapest MacBook they sell. And I can tell you it's quite adequate for two-page layouts, fine art and the like.
You know, I'm wrong. Never mind.
I always wondered why they even bothered to include PCI slots on these machines, when it was such a pain to get to them.
Performas didn't have slots, so no wonder they were hard to find.
I heartily second both P and GP. (P and NP?)
Plus, more appropriate to the original question, I would strongly recommend Rucker's math books, Mind Tools and Infinity and the Mind, the former a general romp in weird math, and the latter and in-depth approach to infinity, including transfinite numbers (like aleph-null, etc...).
I believe he also edited and wrote an introduction for a Dover reprint of the works of CE Hinton, who among other things worked at visualizing four-dimensional objects in the late 19th century, iirc.
Speaking of Dover, Lewis Carroll's Logic and the Game of Logic entertained me as a youngster before there were PCs, and I doubt you could go wrong with one of the numerous reprint collections of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns from Scientific American. Those cover a wide variety of weird math topics in terms easy to follow for teens, and give a good sense of the process of mathematical discovery, often straight from the discoverers. The first general discussion of the RSA cryptographic algorithm was in those columns, and Gardner distributed a preprint of RSA's paper for free to interested readers. Good times...
Where I have to remember that distinction I always use this handy mnemonic from Groucho Marx in Monkey Business:
Come, let us lodge with my fleas in the hills, I mean flee to my lodge in the hills.
Eccleston played the bum who quotes Boethius in 24-Hour Party People.
The Time Lords offered to reset the Master's regeneration count (the Five Doctors?), too, so we could consider the possibility that Gallifreyan technology could manipulate it.
The whole limit of twelve regenerations was introduced years into the series in a throwaway line, and historically those in charge have never been much troubled in changing continuity if it allows a better story, at least in TOS. Don't the Daleks have at least two origins? (Not including the Cushing movies, which are non-canon.)
I thought they handled his meeting and marrying River Song pretty well.
While I generally agree with your point I also think the quasi-romantic relationships between the Doctor and his companions have as of late been done to death. A fifty-ish Doctor, with companions of the usual age, would have been a relief.
Now they've gone the other way, I'll wait and see, but also assume that if Stephen Moffat thinks it's a good idea it probably is.
Woosh.
You aren't required to use iTunes DRM with a iPod. We have a format called MP3 now, you should check it out. My library's got 12K of them and no DRM whatsoever.
Good thing Windows Media doesn't have DRM and plays everywhere! It would be horrible if you couldn't play it on your iPod.
Not to mention how Microsoft is branching out to new platforms like the iPhone. Microsoft's Seadragon app came out first on the iPhone
Their coding will definitely have to improve. Seadragon crashes enough on my Touch to be useless.
To nitpick (hey, this is /.), they had a position in the phone market years before the iPhone, not that it stopped them from being lapped by Apple within 18 months. And iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store are all owned by Apple, no third parties involved.
The judge seems to have ruled quickly (the trial was going to be next month) so that Fox and WBros can make a settlement and get the damn thing out on time. Not that it's worth it without the squid ending...
I don't think there will be much of a market for $20+ "productivity" tools.
People might buy one in the category, if it's got everything in it. And the expectations of the users will be high -- it'll have to integrate well with the other stock software (Music, Photos, Video, Mail, iCal) instead of just building up its own data silo.
An interesting analysis, but you've left a few things out.
First, hobbies are by definition leisure-time activity; if, Bob forbid, you were to lose your job your time could be severely limited and irregular in availability.
Second, if your app is free then tech support (which would be necessary if your UI is any more complicated than a big red button bearing the label PRESS ME) will probably have to be free as well, which scales poorly for more than, say, 50 users. (If your app is popular enough a community might spring up and handle this for you, or you could do a blog/site yourself.)
Third, there's the possibility that you will miss a catastrophic bug in a public release (like when iTunes deleted hard drives that had more than one word in their names, back around Y2K).
People buy pro-developed apps because they know it's reasonable to expect timely tech support, a continuing upgrade path (particularly for new machines), and a target to sue the bejezus out of if something goes wrong (or, to put it another way, some type of responsibility on the part of the developer under pain of law).
But maybe the kind of apps you do are atypical in all this. At any rate, good luck with your coding. Hobbyists bootstrapped the space program, personal computers, the Web, open source, and I hope much of our future to come. Remember also the words of Coder Duke: "When the coding gets weird, the weird turn pro."