I have to concur with you. The cell phone market has reached a lull in the U.S. in terms of pushing forward with new ideas. I don't see EVDO or EDGE as new ideas, just an extension of an existing idea. The same can be said of almost all of the features of the iPhone itself. (Not withstanding the use of OS-X on an embedded platform: where's my Apple iTablet?)
The biggest thing Jobs and Co. is revolutionizing with the iPhone isn't the phone itself, it is how the consumer purchases services from the service provider. If we recall, Verizon Wireless was offered exclusive rights to sell the iPhone but turn the offer down when Apple required that the iPhone purchaser could not be bound by a contract and that no promotional offers tied to a contract were allowed. VZW, using the age-old telco mantra of "rest of your contract and recurring monthly revenues (RMR) generated by locking in customers" model, was reluctant to take on a new business model. Now that Verizon's largest competitor, AT&T, has taken on the mantle of contractless RMR, there is a potential that the US cell phone market will finally be liberated from the US cell phone service contract.
Separating the sale of a cell phone from the service contract in the US is nothing short of revolutionary: a war VZW has been reluctant to fight and one they will ultimately lose to AT&T
Personally, I've found that Logitech Optical Marble Mouse and the Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball are the only real options for Lefties. I called Logitech several years ago and their VP of Product Development told me "Yeah... so."
The Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball is the most comfortable input device I've ever used. Two of the biggest drawbacks are that their drivers STINK and the device is too expensive.
Of course I could go into some of the studies that show how a trackball is better for your wrist, but all of us know that a mouse tends to be better for FPS games.
Yor is absolutely the worst movie I've ever seen. I've seen every movie on the IMDB Worst list and my impression is that Yor isn't listed because it is SO bad that movie rental houses don't carry it and thus there has never been a public outcry that 10,000 feet of perfectly good celluloid was wasted in the making of such a public nuisance.
This movie has NOTHING going for it. At lease pr0n has nudity and sex... and I HATE pr0n!
I've gone 'round and 'round on this and finally come to the conclusion that for developing software and application that Software Engineering is a better approach than Computer Science. This is mostly because a CS major (usually) approaches a problem from a "discovery" point of view.
A Software Engineer tends to have a more methodical approach to the problem space. Both are good majors but each one takes a different approach. I prefer the Software Engineering approach as I turn out better code in large, complex projects. I would be curious to see if there has been any studies pitting project complexity and size to the majors of the developers.
Now, I haven't mentioned Computer Engineering. Why? There is nothing wrong with Copmputer Engineering. There are two schools of thought in Computer Engineering. One school of thought is that you create a generic system (such as the Intel platform) and force the computer science and software engineers to create the compilers for the chipset. The other school of thought is a little old school but has applications today. The school maintains that the computer itself should have the application/program hardcoded into the chipset. This is great for embedded applications like robotic controllers or automotive applications. In this school of thought there is a lot of overlap between the colleges of Eletrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.
I imagine by now I have you totally wondering which one you will want to go into. Well, in the REAL WORLD it is safe to say you need Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, and Computer Information Systems/Management Information Systems people in order to make a complete system. You also need analysts, configuration managers, system architects, software architects, business architects, system administrators, network engineers, and network administrators because the modern computer system in a business is inter-connected with so many different systems.
In order to you to make an educated decision, I suggest an intership between your Freshman and Sophomore years in school. Keep in mind that each position is a part of a complete system, and you have to decide what part you like and focus on that.
Another way to look at it, is that each position can be described in terms of the of thier relationship to the User and the User Interface. Starting with the User and moving through the system all the way to the actual logic gates on the chips you have the following positions and thier best suited majors:
Project Managers and Business Analysts (MIS/CIS)
GUI Designers (CIS/CS/Software Engineer)
Middle Ware (CS/Software Engineer)
Operating Systems (CS/Software Engineers/Computer Engineers)
BIOS/Chipsets (CE/EE)
chip design
This is just what I have witnessed and I imagine there are other takes on it.
Devin.
OK,
I went down to my local Laz-y-Boy Showroom to try out the chair. It was nice black leather. I liked the electrical, phone, and LAN outlets. Too bad they are tucked away in the back of the left arm pocket. The arm pocket open from the inside, up and out. I had to shift around everytime I wanted to open of close the pocket. I'm kinda skinny so wide-bodied folks won't be able to get the pockets open without getting up. Another bad thing is the keyboard tray. It is on the left side and doesn't center on the person sitting in the chair. It is too high and any REAL ergonomic adjustments that would make it usable by us folks that suffer from carpel tunnel. For a real guide I suggest that the designers at Laz-y-Boy check out The University of Michigan's Center for Ergonomics. The part that really put me off is that you MUST purchase the M$N/Sony WebTV bundle and subscription. Even my wife (am Internet Neophite) said she thought WebTV stinks. Someone really needs to let marketeers know that (1) the internet is not like TV, and (2) if I wanted Intenet on my TV I would put a ATI All-In-Wonder board in my Linux box, and grab a Logitech Wireless Keyboard/Trackball combo.
Yeah that's right. I remember COMDEX Atlanta around 1989 or 90. OS/2 had just made a big splash and they featured laptops and desktops with handwrighting and voice recognition. the laptop had a touch screen the desktop was one of the first non-plasma, non-system390, flat-panel screens I ever saw. I was drueling all over myself. Now it's just passe. Where's my Linux powered Clio?
Now a fully powered Clio... that would be cool.
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I have to concur with you. The cell phone market has reached a lull in the U.S. in terms of pushing forward with new ideas. I don't see EVDO or EDGE as new ideas, just an extension of an existing idea. The same can be said of almost all of the features of the iPhone itself. (Not withstanding the use of OS-X on an embedded platform: where's my Apple iTablet?)
The biggest thing Jobs and Co. is revolutionizing with the iPhone isn't the phone itself, it is how the consumer purchases services from the service provider. If we recall, Verizon Wireless was offered exclusive rights to sell the iPhone but turn the offer down when Apple required that the iPhone purchaser could not be bound by a contract and that no promotional offers tied to a contract were allowed. VZW, using the age-old telco mantra of "rest of your contract and recurring monthly revenues (RMR) generated by locking in customers" model, was reluctant to take on a new business model. Now that Verizon's largest competitor, AT&T, has taken on the mantle of contractless RMR, there is a potential that the US cell phone market will finally be liberated from the US cell phone service contract.
Separating the sale of a cell phone from the service contract in the US is nothing short of revolutionary: a war VZW has been reluctant to fight and one they will ultimately lose to AT&T
Personally, I've found that Logitech Optical Marble Mouse and the Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball are the only real options for Lefties. I called Logitech several years ago and their VP of Product Development told me "Yeah... so."
The Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball is the most comfortable input device I've ever used. Two of the biggest drawbacks are that their drivers STINK and the device is too expensive.
Of course I could go into some of the studies that show how a trackball is better for your wrist, but all of us know that a mouse tends to be better for FPS games.
Yor is absolutely the worst movie I've ever seen. I've seen every movie on the IMDB Worst list and my impression is that Yor isn't listed because it is SO bad that movie rental houses don't carry it and thus there has never been a public outcry that 10,000 feet of perfectly good celluloid was wasted in the making of such a public nuisance.
This movie has NOTHING going for it. At lease pr0n has nudity and sex... and I HATE pr0n!
Devin.
LOL.
You crack me up.
I guess you didn't hear that ILM converted to Linux. Star Trek Episode II was thier first Linux project.
Irix has become...deprecated?
Now, I haven't mentioned Computer Engineering. Why? There is nothing wrong with Copmputer Engineering. There are two schools of thought in Computer Engineering. One school of thought is that you create a generic system (such as the Intel platform) and force the computer science and software engineers to create the compilers for the chipset. The other school of thought is a little old school but has applications today. The school maintains that the computer itself should have the application/program hardcoded into the chipset. This is great for embedded applications like robotic controllers or automotive applications. In this school of thought there is a lot of overlap between the colleges of Eletrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.
I imagine by now I have you totally wondering which one you will want to go into. Well, in the REAL WORLD it is safe to say you need Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, and Computer Information Systems/Management Information Systems people in order to make a complete system. You also need analysts, configuration managers, system architects, software architects, business architects, system administrators, network engineers, and network administrators because the modern computer system in a business is inter-connected with so many different systems. In order to you to make an educated decision, I suggest an intership between your Freshman and Sophomore years in school. Keep in mind that each position is a part of a complete system, and you have to decide what part you like and focus on that.
Another way to look at it, is that each position can be described in terms of the of thier relationship to the User and the User Interface. Starting with the User and moving through the system all the way to the actual logic gates on the chips you have the following positions and thier best suited majors:
This is just what I have witnessed and I imagine there are other takes on it.
Devin.
OK, I went down to my local Laz-y-Boy Showroom to try out the chair. It was nice black leather. I liked the electrical, phone, and LAN outlets. Too bad they are tucked away in the back of the left arm pocket. The arm pocket open from the inside, up and out. I had to shift around everytime I wanted to open of close the pocket. I'm kinda skinny so wide-bodied folks won't be able to get the pockets open without getting up.
Another bad thing is the keyboard tray. It is on the left side and doesn't center on the person sitting in the chair. It is too high and any REAL ergonomic adjustments that would make it usable by us folks that suffer from carpel tunnel. For a real guide I suggest that the designers at Laz-y-Boy check out The University of Michigan's Center for Ergonomics.
The part that really put me off is that you MUST purchase the M$N/Sony WebTV bundle and subscription. Even my wife (am Internet Neophite) said she thought WebTV stinks.
Someone really needs to let marketeers know that (1) the internet is not like TV, and (2) if I wanted Intenet on my TV I would put a ATI All-In-Wonder board in my Linux box, and grab a Logitech Wireless Keyboard/Trackball combo.
Yeah that's right. I remember COMDEX Atlanta around 1989 or 90. OS/2 had just made a big splash and they featured laptops and desktops with handwrighting and voice recognition. the laptop had a touch screen the desktop was one of the first non-plasma, non-system390, flat-panel screens I ever saw. I was drueling all over myself. Now it's just passe. Where's my Linux powered Clio? Now a fully powered Clio... that would be cool.