Google's big competitive advantage is its knowledge of trends and use of the market as a pricing mechanism. AdWord prices should be close to the "perfect" price, since advertisers compete for the ad spots.
The "Google way" will improve the margins on radio too. Radio ad rates are mostly determined by ratings -- more eyeballs, more $$$. Realtime adsense-style auctions would render the problems with the ratings system irrelevant and allow advertisers to evaluate what spots are worth how much money.
The real "meat" of Google Ads is the auction system. By auctioning off airtime, they'll maximize revenues on off-peak hours and cut out highly paid salespeople.
Suburban counties in the Hudson Valley refuse to allow rights of way for new high-tension power lines for the usual NIMBY reasons...
NYC & Long Island refuse to bring new power plants on line, period. To build a gas power plant in the metro area, you need to go through about 12-20 years of litigation, hearing, permit processes, etc.
The situation is retarded... the NIMBY people in NYC & Long Island don't want pollution, etc, so they rely on hydro & coal power imported from Upstate NY & Canada. Those overloaded transmission lines are going to become increasingly unreliable, so companies have responded by installing thousands of backup diesel generators -- generators that release hundreds or thousands of times more pollution than a modern gas or oil generator.
If you're not, get the job at the university and enjoy a year or two of empty casual sex with easily impressed college chicks. Then leave and take a corporate gig.
Maximum life is irrelevent. I could draw a picture in the sand with a stick and protect it from the wind for several years -- that doesn't make it a good media to store things in.
If your goal is to preserve data, and there is a 10% chance that exposure to moderate heat will render the media useless, it's time to pick another media.
15 hours in front of a screen is way too much -- you'll likely be dead of a heart attack or suffering from diabetes if you find a solution to your eyestrain.
You just don't get it... Google represents a new paradigm, a new way for everyone to do business. Google is serving us by volunteering to operate the express train to the future -- if you don't choose to ride, be prepared to walk.
Everything that Google does is right -- they are committed to not commiting evil acts, and offer free meals to their employees. I know people who work for Google, and although I haven't seen them in six months since they tend to hang out at work to play free foozeball and eat the free midnight snacks, they are very happy people.
I been using SNARF for a few weeks and have gotten some value out of it.
If you get an extreme amount of email like I do, its a great way to get up to speed on things. You can prioritize them based on who is CC'd or see a nice graphical thread view that makes it easier to figure out what is going in.
Its definately not something that's fully baked yet, but SNARF is a very interesting tool with alot of potential.
Sun now has Ray terminals that work over broadband connections, and Sun & Google are in some sort of alliance -- so I'd expect to see something like that.
Its just like Ellison's Network PC, except with something behind it other than hot air.
Switching to all-encrypted email will attract attention, and result in closer scrutiny to who you communicate with.
For typical criminal cases, obtaining wiretaps isn't always practical -- but obtaining phone records is trivial. If you have a pattern established of communicating with someone who is a criminal or terrorist figure (even without your knowledge), your encrypted communications suddenly become damning.
AS/400's are some of the lowest TCO systems on the planet. My wife worked at a place that used an AS/400 system bought in 1989... when she told me about it I laughed, until we realized that the machine had nearly a decade of uptime with about 30 users hitting it every day and no IT staff of any kind.
The machine eventually had to be rebooted when a hard disk died and the machine phoned home... an IBM guy showed up to replace it and nobody knew that there was a problem.
The system was replaced about 18 months ago (because spare parts were no longer available) by an Windows/Oracle system that is complete garbage. Bugs in the IBM eSeries lights-out-management card caused the system to reboot every 60 minutes. Things like restoring backups are also much more complicated and error prone. (On the AS/400, restoring the system from bare metal required you to insert the tape into the drive and holding down a function key)
I always get a kick about how people bitch about paying co-pays and uncovered expenses. Most people pay $2.00 for a bottle of water, $4.00 for a cup of coffee, or $8 for a $1.50 subway sandwich... but they complain about paying $30/month for a lifesaving drug!
Typically, an employee's total cost is about 125% of salary. Some government agencies or companies with really generous pension plans costs as much as 155%.
In the vast majority of cases, a typical "permanent" employee is costing somewhere between $40-60/hr, depending on skills and the location. With contract workers, billing rates (NOT what the contractor gets) routinely exceed $100 for skills beyond Level-2 helpdesk. Big companies like IBM/HP/Oracle tend to bill $150-350.
The sole advantage to contract staff is that you can hire them for a specific project and then get rid of them with a minimum of drama & fuss. If people are working for years billing $150/hr, they are wasting company money 90% of the time.
...and then there is a departmental budget shortfall, and you are out on your ass to find another gig. Or you get sick and need to be out of work for a couple of weeks, and your bodyshop fires you.
Contract staff always brag about how good they have it -- until something happens.
Your boss is a tool, and you'll end up taking the blame for whatever happens when the shit hits the fan. Unless you're "getting your ticket punched" so that you have experience for another job, get out of there tomorrow.
Most problems at holiday times are the result of strained family relations. Some people are really cut off from the family most of the year and return home, only to be treated like a little kid again to put up with the same stupid jokes, stories and teasing.
We had a couple hang with our family over the holidays, and they had a great time for the first time in years. They both come from families that were broken up by divorce, and normally get put through the guilt ringer.
I think its a use problem. We have too many entertainment outlets, and the public as a whole gravitates more toward "easy" entertainment like movies, TV or video games that don't require alot of attention to get value from.
Think about how radios are used today -- probably about 60% in the car, 35% while cooking/studying/etc. Listening is a secondary task.
Reading a book or paying attention to a radio drama requires constant attention -- you cannot divert your attention to something else and get anything out of the story.
The comment wasn't intended to be bashing women or their intelligence. In general, women are less attracted to math and engineering for cultural and possibly physiological reasons. But math & engineering != IT, or intelligence for that matter.
I'm an IT manager at a fairly large IT organization, and I have about 12 direct reports, who are a mix of programmers, database specialists and "advanced" PC analysts who do alot of customization and deep troubleshooting. 7 men, 5 women.
Of the men: 4 have BSCS degrees, (1 has a MS as well) 2 have a degrees in biology and chemistry 1 high school diploma, and rose up the ranks from tape operators or installers
Of the women: 2 have degrees in liberal arts 1 BS in physics 2 never finished degrees and rose up the ranks from clerical/admin titles
In my experience, with my people, the women have generally been better at paying attention to detail (patch management, report writing, system administration) and getting the techs from different groups together and working. The guys seem to enjoy troubleshooting, low-level programming and the technology factor more.
Again, those are 12 people at one place, but I think that men and women bring different skills to the plate, and that those skills complement each other.
I also have a BSCS, and all of us agree that studying math, discrete structures, compiler design, etc contribute almost nothing to our jobs. If I had to do it all over again, I would have majored in physics, history or classics and minored in CS or MIS.
Slashdot Mirror
Finally someone who gets it...
Google's big competitive advantage is its knowledge of trends and use of the market as a pricing mechanism. AdWord prices should be close to the "perfect" price, since advertisers compete for the ad spots.
The "Google way" will improve the margins on radio too. Radio ad rates are mostly determined by ratings -- more eyeballs, more $$$. Realtime adsense-style auctions would render the problems with the ratings system irrelevant and allow advertisers to evaluate what spots are worth how much money.
The real "meat" of Google Ads is the auction system. By auctioning off airtime, they'll maximize revenues on off-peak hours and cut out highly paid salespeople.
The problem lies in the middle.
Suburban counties in the Hudson Valley refuse to allow rights of way for new high-tension power lines for the usual NIMBY reasons...
NYC & Long Island refuse to bring new power plants on line, period. To build a gas power plant in the metro area, you need to go through about 12-20 years of litigation, hearing, permit processes, etc.
The situation is retarded... the NIMBY people in NYC & Long Island don't want pollution, etc, so they rely on hydro & coal power imported from Upstate NY & Canada. Those overloaded transmission lines are going to become increasingly unreliable, so companies have responded by installing thousands of backup diesel generators -- generators that release hundreds or thousands of times more pollution than a modern gas or oil generator.
Have you ever worked with IBM? They'd bill $50/hour for a janitor.
I'd like a machine to do my job, and continue to get paid too!
What do you expect, a chourus of praise for ASP or any other .NET technology?
Try calling the 700 club and asking about whether its better to convert to christianity or islam.
If you're married, go for the private sector gig.
If you're not, get the job at the university and enjoy a year or two of empty casual sex with easily impressed college chicks. Then leave and take a corporate gig.
Maximum life is irrelevent. I could draw a picture in the sand with a stick and protect it from the wind for several years -- that doesn't make it a good media to store things in.
If your goal is to preserve data, and there is a 10% chance that exposure to moderate heat will render the media useless, it's time to pick another media.
15 hours in front of a screen is way too much -- you'll likely be dead of a heart attack or suffering from diabetes if you find a solution to your eyestrain.
Workout and manage your time better.
Only vinyl provides the warmth and depth that the artists really intended --- But Steve Jobs refuses to support vinyl because it won't accomodate DRM.
You just don't get it... Google represents a new paradigm, a new way for everyone to do business. Google is serving us by volunteering to operate the express train to the future -- if you don't choose to ride, be prepared to walk.
Everything that Google does is right -- they are committed to not commiting evil acts, and offer free meals to their employees. I know people who work for Google, and although I haven't seen them in six months since they tend to hang out at work to play free foozeball and eat the free midnight snacks, they are very happy people.
I been using SNARF for a few weeks and have gotten some value out of it.
If you get an extreme amount of email like I do, its a great way to get up to speed on things. You can prioritize them based on who is CC'd or see a nice graphical thread view that makes it easier to figure out what is going in.
Its definately not something that's fully baked yet, but SNARF is a very interesting tool with alot of potential.
Sun now has Ray terminals that work over broadband connections, and Sun & Google are in some sort of alliance -- so I'd expect to see something like that.
Its just like Ellison's Network PC, except with something behind it other than hot air.
Switching to all-encrypted email will attract attention, and result in closer scrutiny to who you communicate with.
For typical criminal cases, obtaining wiretaps isn't always practical -- but obtaining phone records is trivial. If you have a pattern established of communicating with someone who is a criminal or terrorist figure (even without your knowledge), your encrypted communications suddenly become damning.
AS/400's are some of the lowest TCO systems on the planet. My wife worked at a place that used an AS/400 system bought in 1989... when she told me about it I laughed, until we realized that the machine had nearly a decade of uptime with about 30 users hitting it every day and no IT staff of any kind.
The machine eventually had to be rebooted when a hard disk died and the machine phoned home... an IBM guy showed up to replace it and nobody knew that there was a problem.
The system was replaced about 18 months ago (because spare parts were no longer available) by an Windows/Oracle system that is complete garbage. Bugs in the IBM eSeries lights-out-management card caused the system to reboot every 60 minutes. Things like restoring backups are also much more complicated and error prone. (On the AS/400, restoring the system from bare metal required you to insert the tape into the drive and holding down a function key)
I always get a kick about how people bitch about paying co-pays and uncovered expenses. Most people pay $2.00 for a bottle of water, $4.00 for a cup of coffee, or $8 for a $1.50 subway sandwich... but they complain about paying $30/month for a lifesaving drug!
Typically, an employee's total cost is about 125% of salary. Some government agencies or companies with really generous pension plans costs as much as 155%.
In the vast majority of cases, a typical "permanent" employee is costing somewhere between $40-60/hr, depending on skills and the location. With contract workers, billing rates (NOT what the contractor gets) routinely exceed $100 for skills beyond Level-2 helpdesk. Big companies like IBM/HP/Oracle tend to bill $150-350.
The sole advantage to contract staff is that you can hire them for a specific project and then get rid of them with a minimum of drama & fuss. If people are working for years billing $150/hr, they are wasting company money 90% of the time.
...and then there is a departmental budget shortfall, and you are out on your ass to find another gig. Or you get sick and need to be out of work for a couple of weeks, and your bodyshop fires you.
Contract staff always brag about how good they have it -- until something happens.
For real.
Your boss is a tool, and you'll end up taking the blame for whatever happens when the shit hits the fan. Unless you're "getting your ticket punched" so that you have experience for another job, get out of there tomorrow.
Joel Splosky from Joel on Software had a similar problem and wrote it up here:
n ything.html
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HowToShipA
I wouldn't worry about label damage if you are using a good thermal printer -- UPS and FedEx both use thermal printers to produce their labels.
Most problems at holiday times are the result of strained family relations. Some people are really cut off from the family most of the year and return home, only to be treated like a little kid again to put up with the same stupid jokes, stories and teasing.
We had a couple hang with our family over the holidays, and they had a great time for the first time in years. They both come from families that were broken up by divorce, and normally get put through the guilt ringer.
Get a spanish-speaking girl/boyfriend.
I think its a use problem. We have too many entertainment outlets, and the public as a whole gravitates more toward "easy" entertainment like movies, TV or video games that don't require alot of attention to get value from.
Think about how radios are used today -- probably about 60% in the car, 35% while cooking/studying/etc. Listening is a secondary task.
Reading a book or paying attention to a radio drama requires constant attention -- you cannot divert your attention to something else and get anything out of the story.
Talking about computers to a quick cam doesn't require much. Writing a coherent story and creating an entertaining performance is a non-trivial task.
The comment wasn't intended to be bashing women or their intelligence. In general, women are less attracted to math and engineering for cultural and possibly physiological reasons. But math & engineering != IT, or intelligence for that matter.
I'm an IT manager at a fairly large IT organization, and I have about 12 direct reports, who are a mix of programmers, database specialists and "advanced" PC analysts who do alot of customization and deep troubleshooting. 7 men, 5 women.
Of the men:
4 have BSCS degrees, (1 has a MS as well)
2 have a degrees in biology and chemistry
1 high school diploma, and rose up the ranks from tape operators or installers
Of the women:
2 have degrees in liberal arts
1 BS in physics
2 never finished degrees and rose up the ranks from clerical/admin titles
In my experience, with my people, the women have generally been better at paying attention to detail (patch management, report writing, system administration) and getting the techs from different groups together and working. The guys seem to enjoy troubleshooting, low-level programming and the technology factor more.
Again, those are 12 people at one place, but I think that men and women bring different skills to the plate, and that those skills complement each other.
I also have a BSCS, and all of us agree that studying math, discrete structures, compiler design, etc contribute almost nothing to our jobs. If I had to do it all over again, I would have majored in physics, history or classics and minored in CS or MIS.