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  1. If this is true, I will sell my stake in AAPL on Apple Said To Be Working On a 'Watch-Like Device' · · Score: 1

    If this is true, I will sell my stake in AAPL and never buy their shares again. This would indicate Tim Cook's lack of vision and focus, and his inability to listen. If true, that is, which I bet it isn't.

  2. Re:Can't America get its acts together ? on Congressman Introduces Bill To Ban Minting of Trillion-Dollar Coin · · Score: 1

    Have you considered finding work? Shit, with a degree and experience you'd have to try pretty hard to make less than 3x what you make now.

  3. In related news, on Russian Space Industry To Receive $69 Billion Through 2020 · · Score: 1

    The number of orders at Lamborghini and Ferrari has just doubled for the next few years. Keep in mind that at least half (if not two thirds) of this money will inevitably be stolen. That's just how "business" is done over there. IRS would have a field day discovering the discrepancies between what folks officially make, and what they actually spend.

  4. Be fair on Linus Chews Up Kernel Maintainer For Introducing Userspace Bug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The guy deals with A LOT of bullshit on a daily basis, and this was a BS patch anyway. That would be the end of it if the dude didn't start coming up with excuses. If you know you're wrong, fucking say so and make things right.

  5. "Defensively" is such a load of horseshit on Google CEO Larry Page Talks Apple, Android, Google+ · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You know where else I have heard about using patents "defensively"? At Microsoft, circa 2001-2002 when I worked there. It was all about using them "defensively" back then. Then Microsoft had found itself struggling in a number of markets and started suing people left and right to extract royalties. Google will do the exact same thing a few years down the road, for the same reason.

  6. Makes you think what he would have thought on Wozniak On the Samsung Patent Verdict · · Score: 1

    Makes you think what he would have thought if back in the day a Korean company released a near-copy of Apple II in a nearly identical case and with nearly identical UI.

  7. Re:"I don't have a computer science degree" on Is a Computer Science Degree Worth Getting Anymore? · · Score: 1

    I wasn't ironic at all. I know a ton of people who do benefit handsomely from their computer science degrees. Heck, I'm one of them. I know of only a handful of guys who got lucky and got anywhere in this business without a degree. There are exceptions to any rule, but this particular one seems to put the probability mass on the side of getting a degree if you want to work in software. :-)

  8. Shake them down for 20% more, and move on on Ask Slashdot: How Much Is a Fun Job Worth? · · Score: 2

    I'd rather regret the things I've done than the things I didn't do. Nothing ventured—nothing gained. But since you're in doubt and have a stable job, you might as well use that and get them to pay you more. What's a few tens of thousands of dollars between friends, right?

  9. "I don't have a computer science degree" on Is a Computer Science Degree Worth Getting Anymore? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >> "I don't have a computer science degree"

    Found this sentence and did not read the article. The guy lucked out by being in the right place at the right time, and now he's spouting his confirmation bias to anyone who would listen. I'm also pretty sure he doesn't know what "confirmation bias" is. :-)

  10. Wrong goal on Ask Slashdot: Best Computer For a 7-Year Old? · · Score: 3

    >> I'm looking for a computer that will teach him basic computer literacy

    Computer can't do that. Only a human can.

  11. Re:I might be a hardass, but on Do We Need a Longer School Year? · · Score: 1

    I graduated at the top of the class. I was the one giving people "math wedgies". :-) I didn't work quite as hard as my son does, though, so I suppose that's why.

  12. Re:I might be a hardass, but on Do We Need a Longer School Year? · · Score: 1

    Music he does on his own. His dad plays electric guitar at a pretty advanced level, so he's kid of attracted to that. :-)

  13. Re:I might be a hardass, but on Do We Need a Longer School Year? · · Score: 1

    No, he seems to be pretty good at it. Much better than I was, anyway.

  14. I might be a hardass, but on Do We Need a Longer School Year? · · Score: 1

    I might be a hardass, but my kid does math homework even in the summer. An hour in the morning, an hour in the evening as a prerequisite to doing all the "fun" stuff, like computer games, watching cartoons and so on. He doesn't seem to mind too much. That's in addition to private math teacher that he goes to twice a week year round.

  15. When police start riding these, we're all in troub on California To License Self-Driving Cars · · Score: 1

    When police start riding these, we're all in trouble. Imagine a police car which at any given moment knows the exact speeds of the cars around it, and can read license plates of those ahead. Heck, just drive on the highway in an unmarked car, and have it automatically issue speeding tickets to everyone. Neat.

  16. This money would be better spent bribing congressm on US Army To Train Rats To Save Soldiers' Lives · · Score: 1

    This money would be better spent bribing Congresscritters. They have a much greater impact on not putting soldiers in the harm's way in the first place, and they're relatively cheap to buy. In fact, tens of thousands of soldiers (and hundreds of thousands of civilians) could have been saved by simply not invading Iraq or Afghanistan.

  17. Russia can "want" anything, but on Russia Wants a Hypersonic Bomber · · Score: 1

    Russia can "want" anything, but over the past 20 years they've pissed away all of their scientific and technological prowess. Their space launches fail _several times a year_ these days. Their latest passenger jet (Sukhoi Superjet) has been a failure. Their army is mostly equipped with gear made 20-25 years ago. You can only pay pittance to your scientists and engineers for so long.

    The crooks and thieves who run that country don't actually need any science or technology. They just need to be in the close proximity to government spending and/or oil and gas cash flow to saw off their share while nobody is looking.

  18. Re:The Chinese... on Who Cares If Samsung Copied Apple? · · Score: 1

    US military is completely moot against any nation capable of delivering nuclear warheads to US soil. China is one of those nations. One bomb dropped on Chinese soil will result in a globally catastrophic retaliation.

  19. Re:PhD is not a guarantee of anything on Ask Slashdot: Worth Going For a Graduate Degree In the Middle of Your Career? · · Score: 1

    It's difficult, both for you and for the person on the phone. Personally, in my current job I flat out refuse to do phone interviews, even though we use a web UI and I can see what the person is writing. I just don't feel I have enough signal to judge a candidate on the phone.

    The best thing you can do in any interview (phone or not), is project calm confidence right from the start. I know it's difficult to do, particularly on the phone, but really, the decision about whether to hire you is made based on the first five minutes (or some even say 30 seconds), and then you can sway it either way with how well you do in the rest of the interview. So my advice is be calm and don't rush it. Haste makes waste. If you want some quiet time, just calmly and diplomatically say so. The guy (or gal) on the other end has almost certainly been in your situation, they'll understand you.

  20. Re:Sure, if you have skin in the game on Are 12-16 Hour Workdays Productive? · · Score: 1

    You're lying. You can't "work" 16 hours a day, and also find time to sleep, shower, communicate with your S.O., eat, etc. Your definition of "work" is probably being available on the phone most of the time. That's not actually work.

  21. Re:PhD is not a guarantee of anything on Ask Slashdot: Worth Going For a Graduate Degree In the Middle of Your Career? · · Score: 2

    Simply put, MSR did not offer an exciting enough career path. Software development is a service function in a lab, not its bread and butter. As such, there are very few canonical "teams" there, so you might as well forget about management track. To progress as a developer (or "individual contributor" in Microsoft parlance), you need to be shipping software. That's something you don't get to do in a lab, not very often at least. I managed to ship a couple of things and get promoted once, but I was an anomaly rather than the rule.

    They know the lack of a career path is a problem, they pay lip service to it, but realistically you're on your own. Some folks do well. I did well, just not as well as I hoped, career-wise. Learning-wise I have no complaints. By far the best time in my career. If you treat this as going back to school for a few years while also getting paid, it's pretty awesome. Just set your expectations appropriately.

  22. PhD is not a guarantee of anything on Ask Slashdot: Worth Going For a Graduate Degree In the Middle of Your Career? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've worked at MSR as a software developer. I have a M.Sc in CS/EE. To be a researcher there, with very few exceptions, you need a PhD. But that's a requirement, not a guarantee. You also need to either be young and promising (as determined by your publications, and how well they're received by the scientific community), or seasoned and established (as determined again by your track record of publications). "Seasoned and established" is not something you can get in a couple of years. These folks operate at the bleeding edge, you need to spend 2-3 years working really hard just to really understand what they're doing, let alone contribute something significant.

    For an engineer, there's no requirement beyond, well, being a great engineer, and B.Sc. Some other companies (notably Google) prefer to hire researchers who are _also_ great engineers. This is rare, but these folks do exist, I know a few personally. PhD requirements do apply to those engineers.

    If you're looking to do something researchy for a while, just get a software developer job at a lab (MSR or elsewhere). You likely will be able to publish, if your work is not embarrassing :-) (MSR allows and encourages engineers to do their own research). Let me warn you, though, you will be working with people who have been working in the same field for a decade or more, and as a result acquired the amounts of expertise that you won't have just starting out. A few (or a lot, depending on your IQ) of them will be a lot smarter than you, which can be demoralizing to some folks. And almost all of them will know math really well, which can be a challenge for you 10 years after school, even if you did advanced math there. You will have to understand them, after all, and help them apply what they've thought up. As if this wasn't enough, 9/10ths of what you do will never go anywhere other than to the patent office, which too can be demoralizing for someone who's used to people actually using their products.

    On the flipside, you will learn A TON, if you're willing to put in the effort, and the environment is the very definition of low pressure. People are pleasant and super smart, research is interesting, you don't have to pull 12 hour work days, except maybe once a year before a major conference, and since you're a precious commodity, you're given the freedom to choose projects that interest you.

    Point is, it's not all as rosy as you imagine it right now, but it's a worthwhile experience nevertheless. Or at least it was for me, YMMV.

  23. Re:Interesting timing, too on Microsoft Posts First Quarterly Loss Ever · · Score: 1

    You'll see. I worked at Microsoft for almost a decade. They never passed up an opportunity to screw the employees. If Microsoft is all you know, you might not ever recognize it as being screwed.

  24. Interesting timing, too on Microsoft Posts First Quarterly Loss Ever · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most of you don't know this, but Microsoft gives out bonuses and stock grants in September. This is a good excuse to stiff the employees a bit, and by god they're gonna use it. Being employed by a Microsoft's competitor, I can't help but like this course of events, since we get an influx of resumes from there every October or so, and while most of the people who apply should really be flipping burgers instead, every now and then we do hire a brilliant engineer.

  25. Looks like it's time to negotiate OEM pricing with on Dell To Offer Ubuntu Laptops Again · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Looks like it's time to negotiate OEM Windows pricing with Microsoft. Out comes the old pal, Linux, and stays there right up until Microsoft complies with Dell's demands. This is getting tiresome. It's the third or fourth time they've done this, there's no element of surprise to anyone but people with Alzheimers.