It depended on how much the secretaries thought about it. I met some pretty savvy ones at law firms (where WP 4 DOS was the king, and you could watch whole rows of monitors churning out documents)
But it doesn't really matter because businesses got rid of most of their secretaries after GUI word processing became popular.
What happened was that as email entered corporate environments, people got used to typing their own mail. That, combined with the rise of GUI word processing, meant that most (not all) secretarial jobs were no longer needed, since people COULD effectively type their own letters (and correct their own mistakes quickly).
There are still lots of people who have secretaries. Usually they are either people who never really learned how to type (mostly due to age, they 'missed' growing up with computers/email), people who have more important things to do than type their own documents (high level executives, who still fall into the first category a lot of time), or people who had already established the "habit" and usually have the secretary handle other things (answering phones, mail, scheduling) while they are in another place, with secretarial work low on the list (but still there).
In 1992 I was working in computer lab on campus. All the Windows terminals (running Win 3.11, or Win 3.0 if they accidentally booted off the local drive instead of doing a network boot, like they were supposed to), had MS Word 5.
I was using WordPerfect 6 on my computer back in the dorm (and later version 6.1, 6.2 and 7... which suffered in performance). I was introduced to both platforms simultaneously, and I was consistently amazed at how much more difficult it was to do something in Word as it was in WordPerfect. I happily fire up an old version every now and then from a backed up partition of that first laptop, and am still amazed at how ahead of its time it was.
The example you always hear from people is the "Show codes" example to clear up text formatting. You'd think this would be difficult, but I'm still experiencing issues where Word (2004), is doing something strange with the formatting and I can't get it to stop/go away. A "Show codes" function would be a g-d send.
I don't know how Wii downloadable content works, or how XBox360 content works (although I've been reading the horror stories on slashdot about when your console breaks), but Sony seems to have done the DRM "right" (or as right as any DRM is).
Content is tied to your PSN Name, not the console (directly). Up to 5 consoles can be authorized access to the content tied to a given PSN Name (at any given time). You can authorize/deauthorize a console yourself via the menus on PSN once you log in (via your password). With the exception of the Warhawk Download, all PSN DLC (down load content) can be used by any user on the PS3 it was downloaded to, not just the Owner, so long as the owner's account remains on the PS3.
To me this has a fair amount of positives and negatives versus disks, but nowhere near the one-sided situation you mention.
Cons: No physical Disk. Relies on Sony staying in business. Must have broadband access to download content (but not to use it). Marginal delay before using the content (vs. insert disk and go).
Pros: No physical Disk to be damaged. Replace console, and redownload content to play, no need to "backup" yourself. Can "share" content with friends, or second/third console in one home/dorm.
Of note is the only title that has been offered as both a PSN download and a Blu-Ray disk: Warhawk. The PSN download is ONLY usable by the account that purchased the game.
The BD is usable by anyone (obviously), and can actually be removed from the system and used to launch another console for a LAN party, once the game has launched (I assume on-line also, but I have not tried it). This was done deliberately to try to curb some of the game sharing that was going on with PSN games, although no other title has seen this sort of restriction since. It will be interesting to see how Little Big Planet is handled, since that will also be available either via download or via a disk.
I'm not saying you have to use DLC, its certainly your right to refuse it, especially if nothing interests you.:)
On the other hand, I think Sony has been, by far, the more lenient console so far in supporting the user. MS ties content to either the original box, or the usertag itself, which must be logged in to use the content on a replacement or second box. So you'd better always have a network connection if you replace your 360.
Well, one reason might be that it is technically illegal...
Well that is only partially true.
The GPs comment of:
... but I can generally get a torrent for them from Mininova or The Pirate Bay
IS an illegal method.
On the other hand, considering how fast new programming show up on iTunes and AmazonUnbox (not mentioning Hulu yet, since it isn't "Download" per se), there ARE often legal ways to down movies and television programming.
In the past when I've had my cable go out for a day or two, once it came back, a quick trip to AmazonUnbox got the latest episode of Stargate: Atlantis downloaded straight to my TiVo. Quality wasn't as good, but It was "good enough". Yeah, it costs a few bucks each, but I've been seriously considering ditching higher tier cable in favor of this approach, especially as more of the shows I DO watch are on network TV.
The only thing holding me back is that if I ditch the higher tiers, the cable company increases the cost of my internet connection, so I'm not sure where the break-even point is (and my phone wiring is too antiquated to support DSL).
So I guess the solution to Sony's dilemma is to remove the movie-playing function from the PS3, and then offer it as a $100-$200 option.
Why? They already make money on every Blu-Ray disk and drive sold. That was one of the reasons they faught so hard to make sure Blu-Ray won.
Now that they've won the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD war, I expect them to throw more into the PS3 vs. XBox 360 war, and stripping the PS3 of its advantage as a Blu-Ray player would go against that strategy.
Well, I can see that argument being made against subtitles, but PiP is for a second or third viewing of a movie. It isn't meant for first viewing features.
I can see having "Directors Video Commentary" in a PiP box, so you can see the people commenting, besides just hear them.
Likewise, I could see animated movies perhaps being able to present "rough cut" footage in a PiP, so that people could see the comparison to the on-screen final cut.
Also a feature similar to the original "Rabbit Hole" Matrix pop-outs, but instead of jumping from the movie, have the main movie pause, open the PiP window, play a few minutes about how a particular special effect was done, with the effect in mid-motion as the main picture, then close the PiP and un-pause the movie.
I also don't know if the PiP is supposed to be resizable, or repositionable, both of which could have a major impact on both usability, and wether it would block an important/key element of a scene. If it can move, then I would hope directors might take this into account, without abusing it, to minimize its impact or to make sure they can point out something (again, perhaps pausing the main movie). If it CAN be resized/repositioned, then maybe it could also be used like MTV "pop-up" videos, with tid-bits overlayed onto the screen throughout the movie.
Why would you want the commentary streamed to a different screen?
Most people usually have enough of a problem following the action on screen with subtitles also available, now you're talking about people looking at different screens at the same time?
PiP seems like a much better way to do this.
The only time I see a laptop being useful is if I'm:
A) looking something up (in which case I usually am not paying attention to the screen anyway)
B) doing something in the living room to keep my wife company while SHE is watching TV
In both of those cases, the laptop is independent of the screen anyway, so, while I could see it as a "Gee Whiz!" feature, I don't see where streaming the Second Picture to another device would be useful in reality, but I"m curious about the idea so please let me know how you see it being useful.
Tellme, what version of HD-DVD is going to have feature parity with blu-ray? Lossless sound, large capacity, minimally decent support from studios. Oh what's that? Never? Oh. Wonder why blu-ray won out.
I've sided with Blu-Ray for the past year or two, but if you take a look at the "Profile 1.0" standard, then there were certainly some areas where HD-DVD was "ahead".
Things like a second audio and video decoder for PiP output that "Profile 1.1" added (something HD-DVD included from the beginning), means that content providers don't need to "fake" the feature by providing a second full copy of the movie with the video inserted, something that should save space which is always a "good thing" even on a Blu-Ray Disk which may have more to burn. Another feature like the mandatory local storage space (256MB for "Profile 1.1" and 1GB for "Profile 2.0") and the mandatory internet access in "Profile 2.0" are also things HD-DVD included as part of its standard.
On the other hand, the forthcoming ability to download a movie from a disk to a portable player was something the HD-DVD group talked about, but dropped from the standard before it was released, whereas the Blu-Ray group decided to add it later on. Likewise HD-DVD started out with better Codecs mandatory, and while they were added as optional to Blu-Ray, original Blu-Ray disks were made using an older DVD Codec which hurt them in comparison to HD-DVD video.
So, yeah, I think Blu-Ray had way more potential, which is one of the reasons that it won out, but when the Blu-Ray "Profile 1.0" spec came out, the specification itself was behind the HD-DVD specification.
The price hike is because customers are willing to pay more for blu-rays than they would have paid for hd-dvd. Maybe not you, maybe not me, but they are out there. Why not cash in? Once the early adopters are fed for another year, then we can see some cheap players. Blu-ray is not catering to the bottom. It's the best mass produced movie tech ever produced, certainly far far far ahead of hd-dvd. It will be a long time before we see $30 blu-ray drives.
If that's not what you want, then by all means wait or never buy at all. But the economics are predictable and not really sinister at all.
Absolutely. Blue-Ray is still catering to "early adopters", although I'd say we're a bit beyond that point, maybe the start of real "mass adoption" but thats a small quible. You're right that with HD-DVD out of the picture they can jack up prices to what the market will bare, but I think that because there is a clear winner, in the short term, the fact that there is a definitive winner will mean faster adoption of the technology, which in turn means lower prices. Maybe not a $30 Blu-Ray drive, but considering a BD-R drive sells for $400 today (check newegg), I could easily see it dropping to $100-$200 within a year or two, with a comparable drop in stand-alone BD players during the same time frame.
That isn't that long in terms of technology, and is not that long to wait. I for one am looking forward to buying lots of cheap DVDs and BDs from Blockbuster in the future.:)
I'm not really surprised but this, but not because HD-DVD is dead.
Blu-Ray recently add the "Profile 1.1" and "Profile 2.0" specs to their list (and yes, to all you HD-DVD supporters playing at home, Profile 2.0 does FINALLY bring Blu-Ray to feature parity with HD-DVD). Also, as we've been reminded time and again (especially by posters on/.), what percentage of TV owners even OWN an HDTV that could benefit from a next-gen format?
Once the specs have settled a little, and as HDTV adoption increases, I'd expect to see economies of scale kick in (as opposed to the price war going on between the BD camp and the HD-DVD camp).
Something else to keep in mind though, is that the PS3 is probably going to be leading the charge in the price war for the next few years.
If $400 is the average price for a BD player, then the $400 PS3, as a current "Profile 1.1" and guaranteed future "Profile 2.0" player (according to Sony's press release from last years E3), makes it a steal as the best priced (and more "future-proof") unit. On the other hand, so long as the PS3 is competing with the XBox 360, they can not keep the price that much higher than their competitor, and they MUST include the Blu-Ray Drive, since PS3 games are shipped on BDs.
It'll be interesting to follow the market as a whole as the PS3 ages into its life cycle, the price drops, and HDTV adoption increases.
(I know at least 5 people in the past week that have finally decided to look into HDTVs that didn't know anything about it. Yes this is anecdotal evidence, but its more people than I have personally seen looking at getting an HDTV at a given time.)
What this is going to affect is people who run a fab making legitimate parts, but also run the same parts from the same masks but keep them off the books and sell them independently of the company that owns the design -- OEM ripoffs.
So for instance all those "third shift" stories about Factories in China?
Because there are no capitalist counter-revolutionaries in Cuba of course.
Well, yes and no.
There WEREN'T any Capitalist Counter-Revolutionaries in Cuba, (for all the reasons that you mentioned), but it seems like they are creating their own (the people running the black market are certainly Capitalist, and some would argue that those using their services are counter-revolutionaries).
The more interesting thing to me is the perceived path for Information Freedom. That its coming from the Universities (similar to how Email and the WWW found their way to people's homes).
From TFA:
Pedro, a midlevel official with a government agency, said he often surfed Web sites like the BBC and The Miami Herald at work, searching for another view of the news besides the ones presented in the state-controlled media. He predicted that the 10,000 students studying the Internet and programming at the University of Information Sciences would transform the country over time, opening up more and more avenues of information.
"We are training an army of information specialists," he said.
The world is out there, and it looks like the next generation is not only aware of it, but actively [thinking about/seeking/working] to become a part of it.
Hell, we should give every nation their own nukes and delivery system.
Sounds like a good idea. I can think of a few places we could do that. Heck, we can even demonstrate that the Nuke and Delivery System were 'capable" and use the Later to deliver the Former.... not what you meant?... shucks.
I guess I was lucky, since I was able to fulfill those "Breadth" requirements by taking courses that I was interested in.
The trick most people miss out on is planning ahead. Start on day one with the list of classes you need to take (for your major/minor). Then start filling in classes around it that look interesting. You might not be able to take everything you want to, but that way, if an interesting class you were interested in shows up (since not all classes are given each semester), you'll keep an eye out for it so you can fill it in (and check off the requirements it fulfills).
Yeah, course descriptions sometimes blow, so if there is a course that you think you MIGHT be interested in, go talk to someone in the department. Try the professor who will be teaching the class (if its listed, and they have office hours scheduled), or try the office secretary, who usually has been there "forever" and will give you an idea, or try other students you know, who might have taken the class before.
If all else fails, sign up for the class anyway (if it doesn't conflict with something else you are more sure of), and go to the first class or two. Most colleges let you Add/Drop classes the first week or two of classes. Adding isn't ideal (since you'll be missing some material you might have to catch up), and dropping can be a problem (depending on the credit load, and how much you have to pay/need to take to graduate), but it IS an option if properly managed.
The departments are individually given a fair amount of latitude. The article mentions that this was a "Media" course. When I went to Hunter I had a few friends who took some media courses, on web design, because they wanted to get some "practical" experience that they didn't get in the Comp-Sci department.
Its a pity, but this seems more like a case of "What do you expect when you let Marketers teach technology".
On a side note, the Professor heading the committee investigation (Sakas) was a very cool teacher who taught the Intro Comp-Architecture course the year I was there.
I had a P90 and when I went to upgrade it to a P166 (after its EOL when the chip costs dropped), I found out the fan had died some unspecified time earlier.... System kept running without much fuss (I suppose it used the fan as a passive heat-sink:) ).
Try doing that with one of those fancy chips from Intel or AMD today.:/
If Chinese counterfeits can get marketed under their own brands, we'll actually have some price competition. And maybe when some American companies get killed by their OEM factories like Japanese manufacturers did to cameras and consumer electronics in the 1970s-80s, we'll see some more caution in shipping all their tech expertise overseas to create their competitors. They might be more likely to consider the less immediate costs of outsourcing from a country where the law (usually) protects things like intellectual property, contracts, labor and the environment.
Happened in Japan.
Happened in South Korea.
Happening in China.
Or maybe every generation is doomed to watch America squander its hard-won tech leads for the sake of a few years of cheap manufacturing that then eats the parent for lunch.
But now we have 802.11g and next year we should have 802.11n on the store shelves.
I don't know about you, but I've been enjoying 802.11n for the past few months quite happily.
The AirPort Extreme BaseStation (and Leopard) even includes the drivers to upgrade earlier MacBook/MacBook Pros that have the hardware and not the drivers.
"Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. It is not known for certain that the lander reached the Martian surface; all contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere. It may have missed Mars altogether, skipped off the atmosphere and entered an orbit around the sun, or burned up during its descent. If it reached the surface, it may have hit too hard or just simply failed to contact Earth due to a minor fault." (emphasis mine)
Otherwise, we'd need more lobbyists to fulfill the market demand for them, and other than the sharks themselves, who wants that?
Well, the way I see it, there are other possibilities.
1) More lobbyists (which would cost their backers more) 2) The same number of Lobbyist, but spread out thinner (since each would campaign less) 3) Less Lobbyists (since some might decide that sitting in line for hours is not something they care to do), or perhaps less "Competent" Lobbyists, combined with more cheap and less competent lobbyists.
There are lots of possibilities, I say let them have to wait in line, and see how the market adjusts and responds. If it truly a detriment to our Democratic Process, then we can always change things again. Right?
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What happened was that as email entered corporate environments, people got used to typing their own mail. That, combined with the rise of GUI word processing, meant that most (not all) secretarial jobs were no longer needed, since people COULD effectively type their own letters (and correct their own mistakes quickly).
There are still lots of people who have secretaries. Usually they are either people who never really learned how to type (mostly due to age, they 'missed' growing up with computers/email), people who have more important things to do than type their own documents (high level executives, who still fall into the first category a lot of time), or people who had already established the "habit" and usually have the secretary handle other things (answering phones, mail, scheduling) while they are in another place, with secretarial work low on the list (but still there).
I'm sorry, but you're wrong.
... which suffered in performance). I was introduced to both platforms simultaneously, and I was consistently amazed at how much more difficult it was to do something in Word as it was in WordPerfect. I happily fire up an old version every now and then from a backed up partition of that first laptop, and am still amazed at how ahead of its time it was.
In 1992 I was working in computer lab on campus. All the Windows terminals (running Win 3.11, or Win 3.0 if they accidentally booted off the local drive instead of doing a network boot, like they were supposed to), had MS Word 5.
I was using WordPerfect 6 on my computer back in the dorm (and later version 6.1, 6.2 and 7
The example you always hear from people is the "Show codes" example to clear up text formatting. You'd think this would be difficult, but I'm still experiencing issues where Word (2004), is doing something strange with the formatting and I can't get it to stop/go away. A "Show codes" function would be a g-d send.
Okay, I'll bite.
:)
I don't know how Wii downloadable content works, or how XBox360 content works (although I've been reading the horror stories on slashdot about when your console breaks), but Sony seems to have done the DRM "right" (or as right as any DRM is).
Content is tied to your PSN Name, not the console (directly). Up to 5 consoles can be authorized access to the content tied to a given PSN Name (at any given time). You can authorize/deauthorize a console yourself via the menus on PSN once you log in (via your password). With the exception of the Warhawk Download, all PSN DLC (down load content) can be used by any user on the PS3 it was downloaded to, not just the Owner, so long as the owner's account remains on the PS3.
To me this has a fair amount of positives and negatives versus disks, but nowhere near the one-sided situation you mention.
Cons: No physical Disk. Relies on Sony staying in business. Must have broadband access to download content (but not to use it). Marginal delay before using the content (vs. insert disk and go).
Pros: No physical Disk to be damaged. Replace console, and redownload content to play, no need to "backup" yourself. Can "share" content with friends, or second/third console in one home/dorm.
Of note is the only title that has been offered as both a PSN download and a Blu-Ray disk: Warhawk.
The PSN download is ONLY usable by the account that purchased the game.
The BD is usable by anyone (obviously), and can actually be removed from the system and used to launch another console for a LAN party, once the game has launched (I assume on-line also, but I have not tried it). This was done deliberately to try to curb some of the game sharing that was going on with PSN games, although no other title has seen this sort of restriction since. It will be interesting to see how Little Big Planet is handled, since that will also be available either via download or via a disk.
I'm not saying you have to use DLC, its certainly your right to refuse it, especially if nothing interests you.
On the other hand, I think Sony has been, by far, the more lenient console so far in supporting the user. MS ties content to either the original box, or the usertag itself, which must be logged in to use the content on a replacement or second box. So you'd better always have a network connection if you replace your 360.
Well that is only partially true.
The GPs comment of:
IS an illegal method.
On the other hand, considering how fast new programming show up on iTunes and AmazonUnbox (not mentioning Hulu yet, since it isn't "Download" per se), there ARE often legal ways to down movies and television programming.
In the past when I've had my cable go out for a day or two, once it came back, a quick trip to AmazonUnbox got the latest episode of Stargate: Atlantis downloaded straight to my TiVo. Quality wasn't as good, but It was "good enough". Yeah, it costs a few bucks each, but I've been seriously considering ditching higher tier cable in favor of this approach, especially as more of the shows I DO watch are on network TV.
The only thing holding me back is that if I ditch the higher tiers, the cable company increases the cost of my internet connection, so I'm not sure where the break-even point is (and my phone wiring is too antiquated to support DSL).
Darn spell check .. Colleague, not college (sigh)
Of course this brings to mind a whole new meaning to the term: "I yield the floor to my college from Illinois"
What?
Why? They already make money on every Blu-Ray disk and drive sold. That was one of the reasons they faught so hard to make sure Blu-Ray won.
Now that they've won the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD war, I expect them to throw more into the PS3 vs. XBox 360 war, and stripping the PS3 of its advantage as a Blu-Ray player would go against that strategy.
Well, I can see that argument being made against subtitles, but PiP is for a second or third viewing of a movie. It isn't meant for first viewing features.
I can see having "Directors Video Commentary" in a PiP box, so you can see the people commenting, besides just hear them.
Likewise, I could see animated movies perhaps being able to present "rough cut" footage in a PiP, so that people could see the comparison to the on-screen final cut.
Also a feature similar to the original "Rabbit Hole" Matrix pop-outs, but instead of jumping from the movie, have the main movie pause, open the PiP window, play a few minutes about how a particular special effect was done, with the effect in mid-motion as the main picture, then close the PiP and un-pause the movie.
I also don't know if the PiP is supposed to be resizable, or repositionable, both of which could have a major impact on both usability, and wether it would block an important/key element of a scene. If it can move, then I would hope directors might take this into account, without abusing it, to minimize its impact or to make sure they can point out something (again, perhaps pausing the main movie). If it CAN be resized/repositioned, then maybe it could also be used like MTV "pop-up" videos, with tid-bits overlayed onto the screen throughout the movie.
Why would you want the commentary streamed to a different screen?
Most people usually have enough of a problem following the action on screen with subtitles also available, now you're talking about people looking at different screens at the same time?
PiP seems like a much better way to do this.
The only time I see a laptop being useful is if I'm:
A) looking something up (in which case I usually am not paying attention to the screen anyway)
B) doing something in the living room to keep my wife company while SHE is watching TV
In both of those cases, the laptop is independent of the screen anyway, so, while I could see it as a "Gee Whiz!" feature, I don't see where streaming the Second Picture to another device would be useful in reality, but I"m curious about the idea so please let me know how you see it being useful.
I've sided with Blu-Ray for the past year or two, but if you take a look at the "Profile 1.0" standard, then there were certainly some areas where HD-DVD was "ahead".
Things like a second audio and video decoder for PiP output that "Profile 1.1" added (something HD-DVD included from the beginning), means that content providers don't need to "fake" the feature by providing a second full copy of the movie with the video inserted, something that should save space which is always a "good thing" even on a Blu-Ray Disk which may have more to burn. Another feature like the mandatory local storage space (256MB for "Profile 1.1" and 1GB for "Profile 2.0") and the mandatory internet access in "Profile 2.0" are also things HD-DVD included as part of its standard.
On the other hand, the forthcoming ability to download a movie from a disk to a portable player was something the HD-DVD group talked about, but dropped from the standard before it was released, whereas the Blu-Ray group decided to add it later on. Likewise HD-DVD started out with better Codecs mandatory, and while they were added as optional to Blu-Ray, original Blu-Ray disks were made using an older DVD Codec which hurt them in comparison to HD-DVD video.
So, yeah, I think Blu-Ray had way more potential, which is one of the reasons that it won out, but when the Blu-Ray "Profile 1.0" spec came out, the specification itself was behind the HD-DVD specification.
Absolutely. Blue-Ray is still catering to "early adopters", although I'd say we're a bit beyond that point, maybe the start of real "mass adoption" but thats a small quible. You're right that with HD-DVD out of the picture they can jack up prices to what the market will bare, but I think that because there is a clear winner, in the short term, the fact that there is a definitive winner will mean faster adoption of the technology, which in turn means lower prices. Maybe not a $30 Blu-Ray drive, but considering a BD-R drive sells for $400 today (check newegg), I could easily see it dropping to $100-$200 within a year or two, with a comparable drop in stand-alone BD players during the same time frame.
That isn't that long in terms of technology, and is not that long to wait. I for one am looking forward to buying lots of cheap DVDs and BDs from Blockbuster in the future.
I'm not really surprised but this, but not because HD-DVD is dead.
/.), what percentage of TV owners even OWN an HDTV that could benefit from a next-gen format?
Blu-Ray recently add the "Profile 1.1" and "Profile 2.0" specs to their list (and yes, to all you HD-DVD supporters playing at home, Profile 2.0 does FINALLY bring Blu-Ray to feature parity with HD-DVD). Also, as we've been reminded time and again (especially by posters on
Once the specs have settled a little, and as HDTV adoption increases, I'd expect to see economies of scale kick in (as opposed to the price war going on between the BD camp and the HD-DVD camp).
Something else to keep in mind though, is that the PS3 is probably going to be leading the charge in the price war for the next few years.
If $400 is the average price for a BD player, then the $400 PS3, as a current "Profile 1.1" and guaranteed future "Profile 2.0" player (according to Sony's press release from last years E3), makes it a steal as the best priced (and more "future-proof") unit. On the other hand, so long as the PS3 is competing with the XBox 360, they can not keep the price that much higher than their competitor, and they MUST include the Blu-Ray Drive, since PS3 games are shipped on BDs.
It'll be interesting to follow the market as a whole as the PS3 ages into its life cycle, the price drops, and HDTV adoption increases.
(I know at least 5 people in the past week that have finally decided to look into HDTVs that didn't know anything about it. Yes this is anecdotal evidence, but its more people than I have personally seen looking at getting an HDTV at a given time.)
I was expecting something more like this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/9080/
So for instance all those "third shift" stories about Factories in China?
Only the Dyslexic ones.
Well, yes and no.
There WEREN'T any Capitalist Counter-Revolutionaries in Cuba, (for all the reasons that you mentioned), but it seems like they are creating their own (the people running the black market are certainly Capitalist, and some would argue that those using their services are counter-revolutionaries).
The more interesting thing to me is the perceived path for Information Freedom. That its coming from the Universities (similar to how Email and the WWW found their way to people's homes).
From TFA:
The world is out there, and it looks like the next generation is not only aware of it, but actively [thinking about/seeking/working] to become a part of it.
Why not just package an offline Wikipedia Reader onto some memory sticks, and let them loose. :)
(sorry for the cached link, but the original seems to have disappeared)
Sounds like a good idea. I can think of a few places we could do that. Heck, we can even demonstrate that the Nuke and Delivery System were 'capable" and use the Later to deliver the Former.
I guess I was lucky, since I was able to fulfill those "Breadth" requirements by taking courses that I was interested in.
The trick most people miss out on is planning ahead. Start on day one with the list of classes you need to take (for your major/minor). Then start filling in classes around it that look interesting. You might not be able to take everything you want to, but that way, if an interesting class you were interested in shows up (since not all classes are given each semester), you'll keep an eye out for it so you can fill it in (and check off the requirements it fulfills).
Yeah, course descriptions sometimes blow, so if there is a course that you think you MIGHT be interested in, go talk to someone in the department. Try the professor who will be teaching the class (if its listed, and they have office hours scheduled), or try the office secretary, who usually has been there "forever" and will give you an idea, or try other students you know, who might have taken the class before.
If all else fails, sign up for the class anyway (if it doesn't conflict with something else you are more sure of), and go to the first class or two. Most colleges let you Add/Drop classes the first week or two of classes. Adding isn't ideal (since you'll be missing some material you might have to catch up), and dropping can be a problem (depending on the credit load, and how much you have to pay/need to take to graduate), but it IS an option if properly managed.
Its more a case of the Department.
The departments are individually given a fair amount of latitude. The article mentions that this was a "Media" course. When I went to Hunter I had a few friends who took some media courses, on web design, because they wanted to get some "practical" experience that they didn't get in the Comp-Sci department.
Its a pity, but this seems more like a case of "What do you expect when you let Marketers teach technology".
On a side note, the Professor heading the committee investigation (Sakas) was a very cool teacher who taught the Intro Comp-Architecture course the year I was there.
And were noticeably cooler. :)
... System kept running without much fuss (I suppose it used the fan as a passive heat-sink :) ).
:/
I had a P90 and when I went to upgrade it to a P166 (after its EOL when the chip costs dropped), I found out the fan had died some unspecified time earlier.
Try doing that with one of those fancy chips from Intel or AMD today.
Happened in Japan.
Happened in South Korea.
Happening in China.
Sadly, yes.
I don't know about you, but I've been enjoying 802.11n for the past few months quite happily.
The AirPort Extreme BaseStation (and Leopard) even includes the drivers to upgrade earlier MacBook/MacBook Pros that have the hardware and not the drivers.
The successor to Beagle 2 ;)
"Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. It is not known for certain that the lander reached the Martian surface; all contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere. It may have missed Mars altogether, skipped off the atmosphere and entered an orbit around the sun, or burned up during its descent. If it reached the surface, it may have hit too hard or just simply failed to contact Earth due to a minor fault." (emphasis mine)
Well, the way I see it, there are other possibilities.
1) More lobbyists (which would cost their backers more)
2) The same number of Lobbyist, but spread out thinner (since each would campaign less)
3) Less Lobbyists (since some might decide that sitting in line for hours is not something they care to do), or perhaps less "Competent" Lobbyists, combined with more cheap and less competent lobbyists.
There are lots of possibilities, I say let them have to wait in line, and see how the market adjusts and responds. If it truly a detriment to our Democratic Process, then we can always change things again. Right?