I laughed at the "Endangered: Unencumbered Digital-to-Analog (D/A) and Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converters" . Any EE with half a brain can build a converter with a single I/O pin, a couple of resistors & capacitors costing pennies from Radio Shack, and enough CPU speed. Good luck getting rid of those!
The less able they are, personally, to produce something better or arrange for enough cash to form a company with talent than can produce something better, the more they complain about the people who do and can
Man, you said a mouthful.
Reminds me of when my ex girlfriend graduated from college (after taking 10 years to get her BS through night school) and immediately quit her $28k/year job as a glorified secretary to take a $44/hour programming job. Pretty much all her co-workers got all bitchy complaining how she had it handed to her. Of course, they all ignored the years of going to school after a full day of work, the huge risk in leaving a company she had worked at for 4 years and where she was well liked, to contract for one where her contract could be (and was) terminated the instant she wasn't needed. None of that mattered. She just had the easy life "handed to her on a silver platter."
I really wish I understood how people can be such idiots.
this is all they have to give their developers. And you know their executives are going to receive higher bonuses
So what's the problem? The developers got paid the salary they negotiated. The message I see here is "if you want a big bonus, be an executive, not a developer."
Won't they find it hard to do their jobs if, due to the inability to patent any outcome, the company eliminates said job?
It's more than just a little disingenuous to claim that the scientists are independent of "moneymen." We all need to make a living. I do private experimentation at home on my own time, on my own dollar, but I still need a job so I have the money to buy equipment.
I can get signals from a house down the street at a distance of about 300 feet
...which happens to be about the distance to my closest neighbor. I figured that anyone wanting to wardrive me would either have to park right outside the house (on a street where very few people ever park and by law every house must have off street parking), or in my driveway. So I'm not too worried. But I still have SSID broadcast turned off, use MAC filtering and WEP encryption (would use WPA, but the laptop from work doesn't support it), and of course the password changed to some useless alphanumeric combo that only makes sense to me.
The mfrs should really have a little card with a suggested configuration. It's not difficult to promote security!
Re:Nyko's iPod movie player
on
CES Tidbits
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· Score: 1
In the US??? I can't think of anywhere I'd want to go that a train also goes. Hell, around here you can't even find passenger trains: they're all freight.
I've been browsing for laser printers for a while and I find that the cheaper variants all use proprietary windows drivers
Don't know how cheap you want, but I picked up a Brother 5140 for $199 to avoid buying another toner cartridge for my aging Canon LBP430. It runs just fine under Linux and Brother does have Linux-specific setup instructions.
The problem of poor requirements management being the leading cause of software project failure is very well known. So well known that in addition to constantly pounding it into our heads during my Software Project Management course, the very last thing the instructor said on the last day of class was "if you take nothing else home from this course, what is the most common reason a development project fails?" Class responds in chorus: "failure to manage requirements!"
Re:I hate college
on
Defining Google
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
leaves otherwise qualified applicants out in the cold
Well, you do realize that a hospital's insistence on an MD degree when interviewing surgeons also leaves otherwise qualified applicants out in the cold, don't you?
But that's really beside the point. If I want to hire only PhD rocket scientists who also have 5 years experience as Supreme Court justices for my $17,000/year janitor position, it's my problem whether or not I get enough qualified applicants.
chain-eateries whose coffee is often assembled via automatic process and left to burn
OTOH, I was at a hotel restaurant on the North Shore of Lake Superior in MN (fairly remote, for point of reference) recently, and the waiter brought a small French press to the table for our coffee. How common is this? We don't eat out a whole lot, but still, I've never seen that done outside a coffeeshop.
Starbucks was able to build an empire by selling coffee to people who don't like coffee
Ditto that. I used to *hate* coffee. I couldn't even hang around inside when friends were buying coffee cause I didn't like the smell.
Fast forward. The very first cup of coffee I bought was from the Starbucks around the corner, for the woman who became my wife. Due to a combination of sampling her Caramel Macchiatos (venti, of course!) and my drinking bottled Frappucinos to stay awake when taking classes at night after a full day of work, I slowly was weaned onto Starbucks. I since figured out I can make much better tasting (and cheaper) coffee than they can, but I still go by now and then.
The brainwashing was complete the day I purchased a bag of green coffee beans and roasted them in my hot air popcorn machine...
No. They. Are. Not. Not to the USPS or any other postal service on the planet. I used to work for a major mail processing equipment manufacturer; the labs where electronic postage vaults were developed were all on limited access passwords, all the data I/O is encrypted. The USPS are hardasses when it comes to postage, as much so as banks are about money. Thou shalt not have anything placed in the mailstream unless it's paid for. Postage is big business: try sending something at max dimensional weight with $2000 insurance and a bunch of surcharges and it adds up.
Get ripped off when buying $1000 in postage for your business and see how you feel about it then.
How often is the mail used in incidents of terrorism?
This is insightful? WTF. Why isn't there a -1 Moronic moderation?
Look, I used one of these things for the first time this week. There was a line of people with packages waiting for the window to open, and the machine was completely unused. I was in and out of there in less than 2 minutes. I love it. It took my picture? Maybe, whatever, but as soon as I read this headline on/. I could understand why.
The reason you can't drop off anything over 1lb in a mailbox is because of the Unabomber and mailbombs. The rationale being that by going into the PO, the clerk has a chance of remembering your face, so of course if you can mail large packages without other human interaction, it makes sense that they'd want at least as much visibility of the person dropping the package off as possible. In any event, I think the thing only takes credit cards, so 'they' still know who you are.
A camera takes a picture of you when you go to the cash machine, too. There are cameras in (almost) every store and supermarket. There are also old people with nothing better to do who watch everyone who goes by (I know cause I used to live next door to them). Are you going to ask for their removal also?
Well, why does the user call the helpdesk? If the system in question can eliminate, say 50% of users' questions by being reliable, self-healing and intuitive, then it doesn't matter whether you can automate the helpdesk by 50% or not, since you've just cut their workload in half.
Perhaps the reason it sounds so outrageous is why so many people are in financial trouble: most people don't manage their finances as well as this guy does.
It's not brain surgery: live well beneath your means, and invest the money you don't spend. Most people, however, seem to prefer being buried in debt...
does it not irk you in the slightest that the work you are doing may very well lead to the killing of another human being
Why should it? Why can't he take satisfaction in knowing that the work he's doing is protecting the people on his side in a war that's going to happen anyway?
Let me "defend" him by coming at this from the opposite angle. I work for a medical device manufacturer. The product of my work is used to help sick people get better, or for doctors to find out why someone is ill in the first place. I like knowing that I'm helping people in this way.
However, the very instruments that my code runs in could be used by bioterrorists to verify that e.g., they have sufficient quantity of whatever virus they're manufacturing to cause harm to a population.
Do I worry about this? Of course not. No one can 100% (or even nearly) control what their work will be used for. People get stabbed with screwdrivers all the time. You think the guys on the production floor at Stanley Tools lose any sleep over this?
It could be used say in the clinic for a quick complete cell count
Even if it could, what would be the point? The cost of FDA approval would by far outweigh any savings by using such a sensor and since it's being used so far outside its intended purpose, you'd have to start a separate project just to do the validation so you could incorporate it into your instrument.
That said, it is a cool idea if it could be made to work as there are many other small particles that need to be counted other than blood cells. Do you have any more thoughts on the subject? It could be a fun hobby project.
Seriously. Take a beginner art class. You'll learn much more from having someone (usually the whole class) critique your work than you will from a book or a website. It doesn't have to cost a lot: many communities have adult education art classes, or you can take a non-credit class at a local art school. I did a Printmaking semester (evening classes) at a nearby college for $275 and had a great time. And I am as talentless as they come;-)
I suggest basic classes as the more professionally oriented ones like graphic or Web art design tend to be expensive and geared towards people with plenty of experience.
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I laughed at the "Endangered: Unencumbered Digital-to-Analog (D/A) and Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converters" . Any EE with half a brain can build a converter with a single I/O pin, a couple of resistors & capacitors costing pennies from Radio Shack, and enough CPU speed. Good luck getting rid of those!
Man, you said a mouthful.
Reminds me of when my ex girlfriend graduated from college (after taking 10 years to get her BS through night school) and immediately quit her $28k/year job as a glorified secretary to take a $44/hour programming job. Pretty much all her co-workers got all bitchy complaining how she had it handed to her.
Of course, they all ignored the years of going to school after a full day of work, the huge risk in leaving a company she had worked at for 4 years and where she was well liked, to contract for one where her contract could be (and was) terminated the instant she wasn't needed. None of that mattered. She just had the easy life "handed to her on a silver platter."
I really wish I understood how people can be such idiots.
So what's the problem? The developers got paid the salary they negotiated.
The message I see here is "if you want a big bonus, be an executive, not a developer."
Won't they find it hard to do their jobs if, due to the inability to patent any outcome, the company eliminates said job?
It's more than just a little disingenuous to claim that the scientists are independent of "moneymen." We all need to make a living.
I do private experimentation at home on my own time, on my own dollar, but I still need a job so I have the money to buy equipment.
You do realize that you can go to usps.gov and find out what it will cost to mail it before writing up the eBay listing, don't you?
And if you're going to do this a lot, boxes are cheap (if you buy in bulk), or free if you ask the local grocery (or just about any) store.
The mfrs should really have a little card with a suggested configuration. It's not difficult to promote security!
Exactly right. There's no need to build a vault to keep wardrivers out, just make sure you're harder to break into than the guy down the street.
I just don't broadcast my SSID. Why bother?
In the US??? I can't think of anywhere I'd want to go that a train also goes. Hell, around here you can't even find passenger trains: they're all freight.
Don't know how cheap you want, but I picked up a Brother 5140 for $199 to avoid buying another toner cartridge for my aging Canon LBP430. It runs just fine under Linux and Brother does have Linux-specific setup instructions.
The problem of poor requirements management being the leading cause of software project failure is very well known.
So well known that in addition to constantly pounding it into our heads during my Software Project Management course, the very last thing the instructor said on the last day of class was "if you take nothing else home from this course, what is the most common reason a development project fails?"
Class responds in chorus: "failure to manage requirements!"
Well, you do realize that a hospital's insistence on an MD degree when interviewing surgeons also leaves otherwise qualified applicants out in the cold, don't you?
But that's really beside the point. If I want to hire only PhD rocket scientists who also have 5 years experience as Supreme Court justices for my $17,000/year janitor position, it's my problem whether or not I get enough qualified applicants.
OTOH, I was at a hotel restaurant on the North Shore of Lake Superior in MN (fairly remote, for point of reference) recently, and the waiter brought a small French press to the table for our coffee. How common is this? We don't eat out a whole lot, but still, I've never seen that done outside a coffeeshop.
Ditto that. I used to *hate* coffee. I couldn't even hang around inside when friends were buying coffee cause I didn't like the smell.
Fast forward. The very first cup of coffee I bought was from the Starbucks around the corner, for the woman who became my wife. Due to a combination of sampling her Caramel Macchiatos (venti, of course!) and my drinking bottled Frappucinos to stay awake when taking classes at night after a full day of work, I slowly was weaned onto Starbucks.
I since figured out I can make much better tasting (and cheaper) coffee than they can, but I still go by now and then.
The brainwashing was complete the day I purchased a bag of green coffee beans and roasted them in my hot air popcorn machine...
No. They. Are. Not.
Not to the USPS or any other postal service on the planet. I used to work for a major mail processing equipment manufacturer; the labs where electronic postage vaults were developed were all on limited access passwords, all the data I/O is encrypted. The USPS are hardasses when it comes to postage, as much so as banks are about money. Thou shalt not have anything placed in the mailstream unless it's paid for. Postage is big business: try sending something at max dimensional weight with $2000 insurance and a bunch of surcharges and it adds up.
Get ripped off when buying $1000 in postage for your business and see how you feel about it then.
This is insightful? WTF. Why isn't there a -1 Moronic moderation?
Look, I used one of these things for the first time this week. There was a line of people with packages waiting for the window to open, and the machine was completely unused. I was in and out of there in less than 2 minutes. I love it. It took my picture? Maybe, whatever, but as soon as I read this headline on
The reason you can't drop off anything over 1lb in a mailbox is because of the Unabomber and mailbombs. The rationale being that by going into the PO, the clerk has a chance of remembering your face, so of course if you can mail large packages without other human interaction, it makes sense that they'd want at least as much visibility of the person dropping the package off as possible.
In any event, I think the thing only takes credit cards, so 'they' still know who you are.
A camera takes a picture of you when you go to the cash machine, too. There are cameras in (almost) every store and supermarket. There are also old people with nothing better to do who watch everyone who goes by (I know cause I used to live next door to them). Are you going to ask for their removal also?
Ummm. No.
Logic gates are far from the basics of electronics. Basics of computers, maybe, but not of electronics.
Lightbulbs, batteries, and capacitors can teach the basics of electronics just fine, with a transistor or two thrown in.
It already is. Try competing with these guys
Well, why does the user call the helpdesk?
If the system in question can eliminate, say 50% of users' questions by being reliable, self-healing and intuitive, then it doesn't matter whether you can automate the helpdesk by 50% or not, since you've just cut their workload in half.
Perhaps the reason it sounds so outrageous is why so many people are in financial trouble: most people don't manage their finances as well as this guy does.
It's not brain surgery: live well beneath your means, and invest the money you don't spend. Most people, however, seem to prefer being buried in debt...
Why should it? Why can't he take satisfaction in knowing that the work he's doing is protecting the people on his side in a war that's going to happen anyway?
Let me "defend" him by coming at this from the opposite angle. I work for a medical device manufacturer. The product of my work is used to help sick people get better, or for doctors to find out why someone is ill in the first place. I like knowing that I'm helping people in this way.
However, the very instruments that my code runs in could be used by bioterrorists to verify that e.g., they have sufficient quantity of whatever virus they're manufacturing to cause harm to a population.
Do I worry about this? Of course not. No one can 100% (or even nearly) control what their work will be used for. People get stabbed with screwdrivers all the time. You think the guys on the production floor at Stanley Tools lose any sleep over this?
Even if it could, what would be the point? The cost of FDA approval would by far outweigh any savings by using such a sensor and since it's being used so far outside its intended purpose, you'd have to start a separate project just to do the validation so you could incorporate it into your instrument.
That said, it is a cool idea if it could be made to work as there are many other small particles that need to be counted other than blood cells. Do you have any more thoughts on the subject? It could be a fun hobby project.
Perhaps. But you can also buy accelerometers for the same purpose directly from the manufacturer's (Analog Devices) website for $12 in single units.
Seriously. Take a beginner art class. You'll learn much more from having someone (usually the whole class) critique your work than you will from a book or a website. It doesn't have to cost a lot: many communities have adult education art classes, or you can take a non-credit class at a local art school. I did a Printmaking semester (evening classes) at a nearby college for $275 and had a great time. And I am as talentless as they come ;-)
I suggest basic classes as the more professionally oriented ones like graphic or Web art design tend to be expensive and geared towards people with plenty of experience.
It's more likely that they're doing it to avoid the transaction fee that Visa/MC tack on.
So, what happened after that