Agreed. And they're using this data to target ads at everyone, but really, the vast majority of google ads I see are wholly irrelevant. The data can't be that good. Or google's not that good at targeting ads at individuals.
Then again: "garbage in garbage out" accurately describes my google account.
Because many (most?) large organizations have so many layers of bureaucratic red tape to cross that it's extremely difficult to ever get anything done quickly. Here's an example of what was involved in installing a vendor's security patch in a company I used to work for.
We'd have to test the changes in a sandbox environment and engage all stakeholders of all systems that even remotely touched the app. They would have to buy off on the change entering the development environment. Time spent here: 1-5 days depending on approvals.
We'd schedule a move to dev and immediately work with the help desk (to update their documentation--needed or not), and work with packaging teams to "productize" the change (which mind you, was often a simple configuration change or an installer from a vendor). We'd test the new rerolled installer and if it looked ok request buyoff from all stakeholders after they performed their tests. We'd request to move to the integration testing environment if all looked good. Time spent here: 2-6 weeks depending on approvals and packaging issues.
In the integration testing environment disgruntled test lab system administrators got involved. They'd work with the deployment teams to install the packages, but only during certain scheduled times that both the admins and the software deployment groups agreed to. Again we'd need buy off from all stakeholders after they did full regression tests to get past this gate. Any problems meant you went back to Dev. Time spent here: 2-4 weeks depending on approvals and scheduling.
Leaving integration testing you reach the user acceptance environment. Here the same disgruntled system administrators would be involved and the process was pretty much the same as in the integration testing environment. Except now instead of just stakeholder buy off you'd need to get buy off from the performance testing teams. If they gave a thumbs up, you'd have to work on scheduling focus groups with small subsets of real end users. Time spent here: 2-6 weeks depending on approvals.
Now, if the planets were correctly aligned and you said all your prayers, you would then have the opportunity to schedule a move to production. This usually results in at least a 1 week delay. In production, the people who know how things work are not allowed to touch anything due to various regulatory requirements and separation of duties. So in production, you deal with a different set of disgruntled systems administrators and a variety of production control operators. These are completely different guys than the ones in the test lab. They are incapable of doing anything except for exactly what you specify in an "engineering packet" which details in obscene detail exactly what needs to be done. Think of the level of detail you'd have to provide to a 10 year old with ADHD. Before working with them you'd go to the "change review board" which meets once a week, and if you were lucky and got all your forms filled out correctly you'd get a time slot to have those admins and operators push your change out. They often times screwed something up so you'd be delayed at least another week. Time spent getting into production: 1-5 weeks.
It was truly fucked, but seems to be the norm across all the larger organizations I've ever worked in.
I have the new Sony reader (PRS 505) and love it. It's sleek, comfortable to hold, easy to read, has excellent battery life, has plenty of storage built in, supports sony and sd flash cards, runs linux, works fine with all OSes I've plugged it into (osx, linux, & windows). You're not limited to DRMed formats either -- out of the box it suports the DRMed and non-DRMed sony format, txt, rtf, and pdf. PDF is a bit annoying with 8.5x11 formatted documents. The BBeB format is probably the "best" in the sense that it makes opening books and font size changes happen quicker than say rtf or txt. Using libprs500 you can convert additional formats to BBeB, most notably html, lit, and (with an additional step) chm. I use mine all the time. In short, it rules and I have no complaints about it whatsoever.
I'd start with books, magazines, newspapers, or comics. The trick is to probably go with something he's interested in. Video game magazines might be a good bet.
I have a better solution: Let's bomb them. Yeah! Take that you imperialist, commie isolationist spammers! Is there oil in China? Do they have bibles? Can we get them some bibles in Japanese or whatever language it is they speak there?
The kids should be weened from the glass teet at an early age. I do admire your attitude regarding the MPAA though and I'm sure it'll rub off on the youngsters.
Yeah, current technology would probably be a lot more efficient, but that's missing the point. You know, that point where they're building Da Vinci's contraption devised hundreds of years ago.;)
But as far as current technology goes, I've seen some people flying a commercial looking RC ornithopter at a park, and it, while not "real", was pretty cool darn cool.
Hopefully the internet will continue to be unsafe, filthy, and represent all that is wrong with our species as a whole. It makes things more interesting and certainly more entertaining. Thoughts?
iTunes for windows pretty much sucks. I had all kinds of problems with it. iTunes for Mac works great. I own several pcs and a mac, and don't quite understand why someone would switch to a mac just because of this. However, I also realize a lot of people are idiots so it doesn't surprise me.
Slashdot Mirror
Their stock price hadn't tanked enough?
Agreed. And they're using this data to target ads at everyone, but really, the vast majority of google ads I see are wholly irrelevant. The data can't be that good. Or google's not that good at targeting ads at individuals.
Then again: "garbage in garbage out" accurately describes my google account.
Because many (most?) large organizations have so many layers of bureaucratic red tape to cross that it's extremely difficult to ever get anything done quickly. Here's an example of what was involved in installing a vendor's security patch in a company I used to work for.
We'd have to test the changes in a sandbox environment and engage all stakeholders of all systems that even remotely touched the app. They would have to buy off on the change entering the development environment. Time spent here: 1-5 days depending on approvals.
We'd schedule a move to dev and immediately work with the help desk (to update their documentation--needed or not), and work with packaging teams to "productize" the change (which mind you, was often a simple configuration change or an installer from a vendor). We'd test the new rerolled installer and if it looked ok request buyoff from all stakeholders after they performed their tests. We'd request to move to the integration testing environment if all looked good. Time spent here: 2-6 weeks depending on approvals and packaging issues.
In the integration testing environment disgruntled test lab system administrators got involved. They'd work with the deployment teams to install the packages, but only during certain scheduled times that both the admins and the software deployment groups agreed to. Again we'd need buy off from all stakeholders after they did full regression tests to get past this gate. Any problems meant you went back to Dev. Time spent here: 2-4 weeks depending on approvals and scheduling.
Leaving integration testing you reach the user acceptance environment. Here the same disgruntled system administrators would be involved and the process was pretty much the same as in the integration testing environment. Except now instead of just stakeholder buy off you'd need to get buy off from the performance testing teams. If they gave a thumbs up, you'd have to work on scheduling focus groups with small subsets of real end users. Time spent here: 2-6 weeks depending on approvals.
Now, if the planets were correctly aligned and you said all your prayers, you would then have the opportunity to schedule a move to production. This usually results in at least a 1 week delay. In production, the people who know how things work are not allowed to touch anything due to various regulatory requirements and separation of duties. So in production, you deal with a different set of disgruntled systems administrators and a variety of production control operators. These are completely different guys than the ones in the test lab. They are incapable of doing anything except for exactly what you specify in an "engineering packet" which details in obscene detail exactly what needs to be done. Think of the level of detail you'd have to provide to a 10 year old with ADHD. Before working with them you'd go to the "change review board" which meets once a week, and if you were lucky and got all your forms filled out correctly you'd get a time slot to have those admins and operators push your change out. They often times screwed something up so you'd be delayed at least another week. Time spent getting into production: 1-5 weeks.
It was truly fucked, but seems to be the norm across all the larger organizations I've ever worked in.
Apache::Registry
I have the new Sony reader (PRS 505) and love it. It's sleek, comfortable to hold, easy to read, has excellent battery life, has plenty of storage built in, supports sony and sd flash cards, runs linux, works fine with all OSes I've plugged it into (osx, linux, & windows). You're not limited to DRMed formats either -- out of the box it suports the DRMed and non-DRMed sony format, txt, rtf, and pdf. PDF is a bit annoying with 8.5x11 formatted documents. The BBeB format is probably the "best" in the sense that it makes opening books and font size changes happen quicker than say rtf or txt. Using libprs500 you can convert additional formats to BBeB, most notably html, lit, and (with an additional step) chm. I use mine all the time. In short, it rules and I have no complaints about it whatsoever.
Sounds like a blast. Sign me up!
That's truly screwed up. Perhaps this signifies the dotcom bubble 2.0 is nigh? I'm anxiously awaiting the return of the dogfood portal.
Linguistics for hardware development? I don't see the correlation.
Usually the bonus is an odd multiple of 0.5 so ties don't occur.
Not in St. Louis or the surrounding burbs. Everything here is still St. Louis Bread Company (aka "breadco").
More on topic: their wifi sucks in a lot of locations. Mostly because of their lame, broken, content nanny site blocking malware. Blech.
I'd start with books, magazines, newspapers, or comics. The trick is to probably go with something he's interested in. Video game magazines might be a good bet.
Is that the same Maria Schneider of Pathetic Geek Stories fame?
In my area the helicopters are bright blue, red, yellow and green.
And I've just won the Worst Spelling of a Simple Word Award.
Gngh.
Congratulations, you've just one the Worst Joke of the Day Award.
I have a better solution: Let's bomb them. Yeah! Take that you imperialist, commie isolationist spammers! Is there oil in China? Do they have bibles? Can we get them some bibles in Japanese or whatever language it is they speak there?
The kids should be weened from the glass teet at an early age. I do admire your attitude regarding the MPAA though and I'm sure it'll rub off on the youngsters.
Yeah, current technology would probably be a lot more efficient, but that's missing the point. You know, that point where they're building Da Vinci's contraption devised hundreds of years ago. ;)
But as far as current technology goes, I've seen some people flying a commercial looking RC ornithopter at a park, and it, while not "real", was pretty cool darn cool.
Hopefully the internet will continue to be unsafe, filthy, and represent all that is wrong with our species as a whole. It makes things more interesting and certainly more entertaining. Thoughts?
No, the market has clearly shown that people, like crows, covet shiny things. It has nothing to do with "style", or "class".
However, the pdf has some nice pictures and a more details of how it works.
iTunes for windows pretty much sucks. I had all kinds of problems with it. iTunes for Mac works great. I own several pcs and a mac, and don't quite understand why someone would switch to a mac just because of this. However, I also realize a lot of people are idiots so it doesn't surprise me.
the only thing you have no control over with a DVD is the intro sequence...
Sure you have control over it. Just rip and reauthor.
I mean, go make yourself some delicious popcorn while your friends and family enjoy the pre-movie entertainment.
I'm going to put MCPTE (Microsoft Certified Pivot Table Engineer) on my resume. Wheee!