"It looks like you're located outside of the United States. Although you're welcome to read about Google eBooks, please note that Google eBooks are only available for sale to customers in the U.S. at this time."
Could it be that creating content is simply much more labour intensive than it was years ago?
Creating a level in the old days was easy, because the required detail was pretty low. I recall building my own Quake levels (I replicated the office where I worked) in just a few hours. I have no idea how levels are created for the latest FPS games, but the stunning amount of detail has raised the bar very high. I am guessing the amount of effort involved is also very high. And since content takes longer to create, to get the game out in a reasonable time they have to cut the amount of content.
At first I thought it was some sort of explosion. But as it lasted I decided that it must be an earthquake. When dust began falling from the ceiling tiles I began to get a little worried, but it didn't get any stronger. If that was a 5.0, I can't even imagine what a major quake like a 7+ would be like.
About half the people evacuated the building, but mostly because it is really nice (29C) outside. I stayed inside to call my wife at home, who reported that the quake woke up the cat but that was about it.
The problem is not the tools (well, not *always* the tools), but the developers. You can provide the best development tools in existence to an incompetent developer, and you will end up with a crap website. It has nothing to do with the quality of the tools or the maturity of the application frameworks.
Hell, humans have been building houses for 1000s of years, yet an incompetent builder can still build a house that will fall apart. I don't think the problem is that the hammer and saw still have a ways to go.
Some of the estimates have to be multiplied by 8. That's why they are calculated separately. If there are no hardware interfacing features, then your outstanding optimization algorithm can be used.
I really don't know why this is as accurate as it always turns out to be, but it really works.
I look at the specs of what needs to get done, and I do a quick back of the envelope estimates as to how long each feature will take (e.g., feature A: 5 days, feature B: 2 weeks, etc). Then I multiply each estimate by 3 and add it all up. If some sort of hardware interfacing is required, I multiply the estimate by 8.
My supervisor for my Masters degree taught me this trick, when I was programming a sensor control system for a wind tunnel. I didn't believe him at first, but he turned out to be right.
Misfits from future Earth society escape six millions years into the past through a one-way time gate, only to find that the pliocene-era Earth is dominated by an alien species with artificially enhanced mind powers.
Hmmm, sounds silly when I type it out, but it is one of the most brilliant series I have read. What really makes it stand out is that, unlike most authors, Julian May will readily kill off major characters. So you are never sure who is going to make it to the end of the story.
I enjoyed this series so much I named my cats Julian and May;-)
He's right in that people have a "give it to me now" attitude, but he's wrong in saying that people are unwilling to pay for it.
If people want it now, and you want to make money from them, then make it available to them now. People will pay if you give them what they want.
I have happily paid to rent movies online through iTunes. Why? Because it is very convenient. I wanted to see something now and didn't want to leave the house to get it. iTunes delivered and I paid for the convenience. When what I want to see is not available to purchase (for example, most TV shows are not available through iTunes in Canada), I have to turn to the free alternatives.
...so I will post the same answer: For me it was useless.
I did my Masters (in Engineering, not Comp Sci, but my example might still be relevant) and discovered that, although I enjoyed the program, as far as my career was concerned a Masters degree was worse than useless.
After I graduated I was hired at a starting salary. My Masters' experience counted for nothing. I was therefore making less money and had less seniority than my former Bachelor's classmates, and was essentially doing the same work. When I was looking for a job, some employers were openly suspicious of my intentions, saying that since I had a Masters degree I would probably quit after a couple of years and go seek a Phd (so why hire me?).
Would I do it all again? YES! Because I really enjoyed doing my Masters and was very very interested in the research that I did. That is the most important thing. If you don't love the subject, you will hate doing your Masters.
I know many people who have done Masters degrees, and the only ones who benefited career-wise were those who continued on to their Phd and those who did MBAs.
I used to prefer dead-tree books until I got an iPod Touch last December. Since then my reading habits have been revolutionized. I've read almost 2 dozen books since then, and all but 3 were on my iPod. It is not the *same* as reading a paper book, but the benefits balance the cons quite nicely.
Just break up all the articles in the 140 character tweets. Then all readers with a TweetTorrent client would be able to gather them together (and share them of course) and read the entire newspaper.
I did my Masters (in Engineering, not Comp Sci, but my example might still be relevant) and discovered that, although I enjoyed the program, as far as my career was concerned a Masters degree was worse than useless.
After I graduated I was hired at a starting salary. My Masters' experience counted for nothing. I was therefore making less money and had less seniority than my former Bachelor's classmates, and was essentially doing the same work. When I was looking for a job, some employers were openly suspicious of my intentions, saying that since I had a Masters degree I would probably quit after a couple of years and go seek a Phd (so why hire me?).
Would I do it all again? YES! Because I really enjoyed doing my Masters and was very very interested in the research that I did. That is the most important thing. If you don't love the subject, you will hate doing your Masters.
I know many people who have done Masters degrees, and the only ones who benefited career-wise were those who continued on to their Phd and those who did MBAs.
The other day I was in a traffic jam, at a green light. Since there was no room to clear the intersection I waited at the stop line. Soon there was enough room for a single car, so I proceeded into the intersection, but before I was across a guy in the crossing road turned right and took up the empty space, leaving me stuck in the intersection when the light turned red.
The guy who turned right broke the law, but I was the one who got snapped by the camera.
I understand where they guy is coming from, even though his argument doesn't hold water. I am pretty sure that one of the "rights" sold by publishers covers a book's audio recording. In other words, not just anybody can take a book, record herself reading it, and sell the recording. You have to purchase the rights to do so. So he's complaining about the imminent evaporation of one of their revenue streams.
That said, too bad so sad. It's like a horse owner saying that an engine manufacturer is infringing on his right to pull wagons. If what you have to sell is no longer worth anything because of some new technology, you had better look for something else to sell.
You might have a devil of a time finding it (out of print) but Ascent to Orbit by Arthur C Clarke was very inspiring to me when I was in high school.
It's a collections of the scientific papers by ACC, explaining the mathematics of space flight (orbital velocities, geosynchronous orbit, space elevators, etc). Many of the papers were published before space flight was a reality, so it is historically interesting as well as mathematically approachable.
I can't speak for the entire world, but I've noted that the Apple Canada site (apple.ca) is advertising DRM-free music. So that's one place outside of the USA.
You are right, but you are wrong. The Coriolis effect is very real, but it is not force in the strict sense.
The gist of the point in the article is that as a payload is moved up the elevator, it must be accelerated to the side, since the upper portions of the elevator are moving circumferentially faster than the lower portions. The force required to accelerate the payload must come from the elevator itself, causing small displacement of the elevator. The use of the term "Coriolis effect" is not strictly wrong, though it is somewhat sloppy.
Slashdot Mirror
"It looks like you're located outside of the United States. Although you're welcome to read about Google eBooks, please note that Google eBooks are only available for sale to customers in the U.S. at this time."
sigh.
It is probably all marketing fluff. NASA is taking a page from Apple.
Probably Beatles music has been beamed in the direction of Alpha Centuri.
Could it be that creating content is simply much more labour intensive than it was years ago?
Creating a level in the old days was easy, because the required detail was pretty low. I recall building my own Quake levels (I replicated the office where I worked) in just a few hours. I have no idea how levels are created for the latest FPS games, but the stunning amount of detail has raised the bar very high. I am guessing the amount of effort involved is also very high. And since content takes longer to create, to get the game out in a reasonable time they have to cut the amount of content.
They never said that 2010 wouldn't be like 1984.
Advertising Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, apparently.
At first I thought it was some sort of explosion. But as it lasted I decided that it must be an earthquake. When dust began falling from the ceiling tiles I began to get a little worried, but it didn't get any stronger. If that was a 5.0, I can't even imagine what a major quake like a 7+ would be like.
About half the people evacuated the building, but mostly because it is really nice (29C) outside. I stayed inside to call my wife at home, who reported that the quake woke up the cat but that was about it.
The problem is not the tools (well, not *always* the tools), but the developers. You can provide the best development tools in existence to an incompetent developer, and you will end up with a crap website. It has nothing to do with the quality of the tools or the maturity of the application frameworks.
Hell, humans have been building houses for 1000s of years, yet an incompetent builder can still build a house that will fall apart. I don't think the problem is that the hammer and saw still have a ways to go.
Some of the estimates have to be multiplied by 8. That's why they are calculated separately. If there are no hardware interfacing features, then your outstanding optimization algorithm can be used.
I really don't know why this is as accurate as it always turns out to be, but it really works.
I look at the specs of what needs to get done, and I do a quick back of the envelope estimates as to how long each feature will take (e.g., feature A: 5 days, feature B: 2 weeks, etc). Then I multiply each estimate by 3 and add it all up. If some sort of hardware interfacing is required, I multiply the estimate by 8.
My supervisor for my Masters degree taught me this trick, when I was programming a sensor control system for a wind tunnel. I didn't believe him at first, but he turned out to be right.
They were probably Australian nails. Got mixed in with the shipment by accident.
Misfits from future Earth society escape six millions years into the past through a one-way time gate, only to find that the pliocene-era Earth is dominated by an alien species with artificially enhanced mind powers.
Hmmm, sounds silly when I type it out, but it is one of the most brilliant series I have read. What really makes it stand out is that, unlike most authors, Julian May will readily kill off major characters. So you are never sure who is going to make it to the end of the story.
I enjoyed this series so much I named my cats Julian and May ;-)
He's right in that people have a "give it to me now" attitude, but he's wrong in saying that people are unwilling to pay for it.
If people want it now, and you want to make money from them, then make it available to them now. People will pay if you give them what they want.
I have happily paid to rent movies online through iTunes. Why? Because it is very convenient. I wanted to see something now and didn't want to leave the house to get it. iTunes delivered and I paid for the convenience. When what I want to see is not available to purchase (for example, most TV shows are not available through iTunes in Canada), I have to turn to the free alternatives.
...so I will post the same answer: For me it was useless.
I did my Masters (in Engineering, not Comp Sci, but my example might still be relevant) and discovered that, although I enjoyed the program, as far as my career was concerned a Masters degree was worse than useless.
After I graduated I was hired at a starting salary. My Masters' experience counted for nothing. I was therefore making less money and had less seniority than my former Bachelor's classmates, and was essentially doing the same work. When I was looking for a job, some employers were openly suspicious of my intentions, saying that since I had a Masters degree I would probably quit after a couple of years and go seek a Phd (so why hire me?).
Would I do it all again? YES! Because I really enjoyed doing my Masters and was very very interested in the research that I did. That is the most important thing. If you don't love the subject, you will hate doing your Masters.
I know many people who have done Masters degrees, and the only ones who benefited career-wise were those who continued on to their Phd and those who did MBAs.
I used to prefer dead-tree books until I got an iPod Touch last December. Since then my reading habits have been revolutionized. I've read almost 2 dozen books since then, and all but 3 were on my iPod. It is not the *same* as reading a paper book, but the benefits balance the cons quite nicely.
...where will I sleep?
idontthinkthatwillworkverywell.
I see a new mode of distribution for newspapers.
Just break up all the articles in the 140 character tweets. Then all readers with a TweetTorrent client would be able to gather them together (and share them of course) and read the entire newspaper.
It makes me feel dirty somehow.
I did my Masters (in Engineering, not Comp Sci, but my example might still be relevant) and discovered that, although I enjoyed the program, as far as my career was concerned a Masters degree was worse than useless.
After I graduated I was hired at a starting salary. My Masters' experience counted for nothing. I was therefore making less money and had less seniority than my former Bachelor's classmates, and was essentially doing the same work. When I was looking for a job, some employers were openly suspicious of my intentions, saying that since I had a Masters degree I would probably quit after a couple of years and go seek a Phd (so why hire me?).
Would I do it all again? YES! Because I really enjoyed doing my Masters and was very very interested in the research that I did. That is the most important thing. If you don't love the subject, you will hate doing your Masters.
I know many people who have done Masters degrees, and the only ones who benefited career-wise were those who continued on to their Phd and those who did MBAs.
Sometimes hard to do.
The other day I was in a traffic jam, at a green light. Since there was no room to clear the intersection I waited at the stop line. Soon there was enough room for a single car, so I proceeded into the intersection, but before I was across a guy in the crossing road turned right and took up the empty space, leaving me stuck in the intersection when the light turned red.
The guy who turned right broke the law, but I was the one who got snapped by the camera.
I understand where they guy is coming from, even though his argument doesn't hold water. I am pretty sure that one of the "rights" sold by publishers covers a book's audio recording. In other words, not just anybody can take a book, record herself reading it, and sell the recording. You have to purchase the rights to do so. So he's complaining about the imminent evaporation of one of their revenue streams.
That said, too bad so sad. It's like a horse owner saying that an engine manufacturer is infringing on his right to pull wagons. If what you have to sell is no longer worth anything because of some new technology, you had better look for something else to sell.
You might have a devil of a time finding it (out of print) but Ascent to Orbit by Arthur C Clarke was very inspiring to me when I was in high school.
It's a collections of the scientific papers by ACC, explaining the mathematics of space flight (orbital velocities, geosynchronous orbit, space elevators, etc). Many of the papers were published before space flight was a reality, so it is historically interesting as well as mathematically approachable.
What's this then?
I can't speak for the entire world, but I've noted that the Apple Canada site (apple.ca) is advertising DRM-free music. So that's one place outside of the USA.
You are right, but you are wrong. The Coriolis effect is very real, but it is not force in the strict sense.
The gist of the point in the article is that as a payload is moved up the elevator, it must be accelerated to the side, since the upper portions of the elevator are moving circumferentially faster than the lower portions. The force required to accelerate the payload must come from the elevator itself, causing small displacement of the elevator. The use of the term "Coriolis effect" is not strictly wrong, though it is somewhat sloppy.