I normally wouldn't have been so harsh I am just so damn sick that everytime the topic of US car usage comes up Europeans have to say how they are so superior since they can ride public transportation everywhere, "who needs a car?" they say. They bring up how they are so great since they can walk to the local grocery store often as well which is not an option for many Americans either. It comes up EVERYTIME and it is great that they have those options available to them but over here in America there are still large amounts of areas that are sparsely populated and a lot of places that still even have dirt roads so mass transit is way out of the picture. Unless a person lives in a pretty urban area mass transit is usually non-existant. I live in the northern suburbs of Chicago and we actually have a really good bus and train system which I use almost everyday but this is far from the norm.
"People in sensible countries just take a walk down the street to a local shop, or at most, hop on a bus or train to the city centre, market, or supermarket for a couple of bags of food."
That is NOT a poor choice of words, that is directly saying "I am better than you" and I am sick of it. Non-American's love to say how American's always act like they are better than non-American's yet they love to do the same exact thing, how is that right?
"You people have bread that lasts more than a few days... that's just not right. Most of the stuff in the shops in the US is atrocious "long life" processed rubbish."
That was another line that just spews "I am better than you". We have A LOT more people to feed over here and we do have local bakeries available for people who prefer freshly baked bread but with the amount of mouths we have to feed I think having bread that doesn't spoil quickly (and other foods too) is better since less will be wasted. Of course, having a diet that consists ONLY of processed food is a bad idea but just having it available is not "atrocious", we have plenty of fresh foods available as well.
"And if a beating is Chicago's response to criticism of American food-shopping habits, it doesn't exactly project the image of a sensible country."
No that doesn't project the image of a sensible country and I was going overboard since I was pissed off, but what do people do when you continually pick on them? They retaliate, and sometimes harshly. It might not seem like a big deal this one time but thats just it, it wasn't this one time, it is over and over and over again.
In closing I want Europeans to stop bringing up the above things I mentioned since it is tired, old, and for the most part baseless when put into perspective of the real situation over here in America.
People in sensible countries just take a walk down the street to a local shop, or at most, hop on a bus or train to the city centre, market, or supermarket for a couple of bags of food.
Yeah, this works in your smallass countries that have decent mass transit EVERYWHERE but there are some places people live in the US where their nearest neighbor is miles away, let alone a grocery store which might be 20-30 miles away. I agree that stockpiling food is not the best idea and a lot of people in the US do it when it is not necessary but some people have no other choice. I love fresh fruit and vegetables, but meat is something that I have never had a problem throwing in the freezer and thawing the day I needed it. I am sure freshly baked bread is nice as well but my wheat bread that is not freshly baked at the grocery store I by it from is healthy too and since I live by myself it is nice that it lasts more than just a few days (usually 1-2 weeks) so I can finish eating it all.
Another thing is you really pissed me off when you said "People in sensible countries". Fuck you man, you aren't any better than my country or anyone elses so shove that pretentious talk up your foreign ass. I hope you don't visit the US again anytime soon and if you do stay away from Chicago because if you go spouting off like that around here you will get your shit kicked in no time, asshole.
There's absolutely no way I could carry 20 or 30 bags of groceries on a train without a team of sherpas.
Well just get them delivered then. I live in the Chicago area and have been using peapod.com for the last few months and it is great. I watch for the specials (which a lot of times are cheaper than the local grocery stores) and by doing so I am able to get everything I need without paying much more than I would by going to the grocery store. Basically, I can easily find everything I need (including household items, beer and liqour, fresh fruits/vegetables/meats, and the quality is EXCELLENT) and get it all delivered for a $6.95 delivery fee and I don't have to carry anything or worry about forgetting anything. You can pick the delivery timeframe and I usually go with 7pm-10pm since I get back from work after 6pm and basically I just wait for them to show up, I buzz them in, and they carry it up to my 4th floor apartment.
I know this is not ideal for everyone but for me it is since I have no personal transportation right now and don't live within walking distance of any grocery stores. I can bike to a few stores but peapod is great for big orders and large items that would be impossible to do on a bike without making multiple trips. Even when I do get my personal transportation back I will consider still using peapod just for the convenience factor, to me it would be worth paying 5% more to not have to drive to the store, spend at least an hour gathering everything, spending more time in line waiting to pay, and then having to drive home (them carrying everything up is nice but thats not something I care a whole lot about).
I don't respond to head hunters or bottom feeders offering uncompetitive pay. Right now I have interviews lined up with Microsoft and Amazon.com and a few others that are in the Chicago area as well. All of these jobs specifically said they do not want H1B visa applicants. The pay is not low at all, $75-125k+ salary and great benefits. All of this without putting in any more work than posting my resume. This is why I don't understand people who say nothing good is available, because it is available. I use C/C++ and PERL and have a lot of device driver level, API, and library experience but nothing out of the ordinary.
I know there is no guarantee I will always have a job but from the looks of things right now I am not worried. I also like to work for smaller companies where it does not make sense to outsource people (right now I am at a 2 person company). I do not mean to criticize your skills but what is your experience and skills that makes it so hard for you to find employment? I am just curious.
For all you phobic people out there who don't want them to "have a copy of your fingerprint" from what I found out from the employees it doesn't work that way. It doesn't store your fingerprint, just certain points on it. So really there is not a way to one way hash back to your actual fingerprint. Now, maybe the employee didn't know what they were talking about but for them to have any knowledge about the device at all suprised me so I believed them. The article also mentions that it doesn't store the actual fingerprint. By the way, I am a the paranoid type too so I don't use it.
Bzzt. My son, due in a few weeks, will be a natural born citizen AND have dual citizenship.
Okay, if you want to be pedantic about it then yes I left out US citizens who have dual citizenship by being citizens of another country besides the US. I figured people could figure that one out on their own. If however you think you are a natural born citizen of the US and were not born here or had at least one parent who was a US citizen you are wrong and you in fact are a naturalized citizen, there is no way around that rule.
Also, does being a natural-born citizen somehow make you better than somebody who actually had to WORK at becoming a US citizen?
No, not at all. I consider both types equal and really look up to the people who put in the effort to become US citizens. I find most of them more useful then the poor, natural born US citizens who put in no effort to find any type of job and just try to live off welfare forever, what a waste of a life. The reason I mentioned being a natural born citizen was to show that you don't have to have H1-B status or GC status to be able to easily find a GOOD job. The jobs are out there and from what I have seen they are available almost all over the US. The market is great right now.
I used to be delusional in that way, too. I was very good at almost any job I did.
I am not dilusional. I put my resume on a jobsite and got so many responses that I had to take it off, I know I am in demand. If you spend a year without work and must take a job that is 30% of what you used to take home then you either have outdated skills or were being way overpaid. Companies will pay less money for less talent but they don't do that for positions that they actually care about unless they have horrible managers. The job market is good for those who have the skills. Just from putting my resume on that one jobsite I have been notified of good jobs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Washington, New Jersey, Floriday, Texas, California, Colorado, Washington, Georgia, Washington DC, and a few other states. This was all without even putting any effort in besides posting my resume.
You are the one who is dilusional and you either have outdated skills, are way too specialized, or you don't have any skills at all.
I am from the Midwest, I live in the Chicago area. Things are not screwy here at all, companies appear to be hiring like crazy and they are offering full benefits and high salaries.
What exactly did you mean about a OSU going closed? I went there (starting in '99) and the only problem I had was that there were too many damn people in CS who were only there because "that's were the money was". This ended up creating a huge shortage of classes that were available and I eventually got pissed off enough that I transferred out. The tuition never jumped considerably while I was there but it has been quit a while so I would be interested if thats the case.
As opposed to those artificially born US citizens. I didn't know we did birthing ceremonies for naturalized citizens.
Here is a lesson for you:
There are 2 main types of US citizens, natural born and naturalized (along with dual citizenship which is similar to naturalized). Natural born means being born within the United States, being born abroad with both parents being United States citizens, or being born abroad with one parent being a United States citizen.
Naturalized mean you are a citizen of another country and must go through a process to become a US citizen.
You obviously knew nothing about either. Please go to school and actually pay attention so you can actually have intelligent conversations.
Those entry level positions may not be that important
I should have specified clearly that I did not think it was "a good thing" that this is hurting entry level positions. I totally agree that entry level positions can be the only way for people new to the industry to prove themselves, that was exactly my case when I started out. My hope is that people who are doing the interviewing can see that a person has the potential to learn and grow into a useful developer instead of immediatly passing them over because they have no experience.
What I meant by what I said in my original post is that H1B's could hurt entry level positions because if a company has the choice of hiring an H1B who at least has some experience and probably will work for a lower than normal wage and a new hire demanding the prevailing wage then the company will probably choose the H1B. I see entry level programmers being the hardest hit and I think that is horrible for them but I in no way look at this as a totally unimportant issue. When I said "who cares" I was referring to mid-senior level positions that take skill and people think will be quickly outsourced.
Soon even the most experienced positions will be available for foreign replacement.
This may occur somewhat (although I find it unlikely) with large companies but I think small to medium sized companies want their staff HERE. Having no language barrier and being able to interact directly with the people you work with is a HUGE benefit and it is downright more efficient. I am not worried at all.
You're not allowed to "prove your salt", at least not easily.
I never said this was easy, I agree it can be difficult but it is far from impossible.
You know NOTHING of the real world- you've been coddled. Hope you've kept up on your studying.
I have kept up on my studying, I learn new things at work everyday be it learning how to use some new API's, libraries, working with new technology, or just coming up with new implementations. Maybe I don't know everything about the real world but I seriously wonder why you are having such a problem finding work, are you stuck with only job experience in an extremely specialized area? I listed my resume on a jobsite a couple weeks ago just to see what response I would get and I got such a huge response that I had to take it off of there. No, it was not all head hunters, way more than the majority of it was coming directly from the companies with the open positions and it also was not all from company recruiters, a lot of the responses were from people who could actually read my resume and understand it to see if I was a good fit for the positions that were open. This was all without sending my resume to one company, just putting it out there for companies to search and find. You must just have skills that are outdated or some other deficiency holding you back because the job market is better than it has been in a LONG time.
By nailing the interview? I came out of school with zero years of real world experience since I spent my time off from school working as an electrician (I am from a small town with no programming jobs and I wanted to be near my hometown friends in my time off) and I was able to find someone who could see I had the potential to be a good programmer even though I had nothing on paper besides school experience to prove otherwise. It did take a long time to finally find the job but it's not impossible.
The best thing I can tell entry level candidates with no experience to do is come up with your own interesting project in your spare time or download an open source project and fix a few bugs or even add some functionality to it. Just having a passion for computers in general is a big bonus. I think if you have those types of things to show yet no real world experience it will make a huge difference unless the person interviewing you is a moron.
The US job market is weak and the H1-B workers just make it harder.
This is NOT the case at all, the job market right now is awesome. I currently have a job but I decided to put my resume on monster.com just to see what was available. I got such a response that I had to take it off of there, my e-mail inbox was full and my phone was ringing off the hook. I also want to mention that yes, about 25% of the responses I got were from head hunters but the rest were straight from the companies themselves and what suprised me the most is a large majority of the people contacting me were actually lead developers and project managers basically people who could look at my resume and see if I had the skills needed, not HR drones. Maybe the companies are finally looking for pure talent over saving money, I don't know, what I do know is the job market is WAY better than it was 2 years ago when it took me 6 months to find my current job. Oh yeah, and I am a natural born US citizen.
Let them take the low paying and boring jobs. If you are an excellent programmer you WILL be in demand and you most likely wouldn't want the positions that advertise they want H1B's and GC holders. The people I do see this hurting is entry level candidates but even so if you can prove you are worth your salt you will find a nice job.
Not to mention that I get games with a wider range of textures and environements and content due to the increased storage offered
I highly doubt this will be an issue. A dual layer HD-DVD maxes out at 30GB which, yes, is 20 GB less than a dual layer Blu-Ray disc but I highly doubt any games will come close to using that much space with the majority of it taken up by textures and environment details. The only thing that I can think of that would be able to fill that space up rather quickly is HD video clips but if that is the case then remind me not to buy that game since I can't stand video cut scenes and prefer cut scenes that use the game engine. That would just be a worthless waste of space to fill it up with HD video.
Why again am I going to buy a standalone HD player in a market with two formats for the same price as a gaming system I know at least games will be produced on years to come?
I do agree with you here. I think most of the people interested in HD video will be somewhat younger and the type who like video games too so it makes sense that they would prefer to pick a system that can be used as both a movie player and game console. This is going to get interesting.
I don't really see what they want that much RAM for.
My guess is to cache A LOT of the video in RAM since it will have to be software decoded and it would be quicker that way. There most likely will be a buffer of decoded video as well that is stored in RAM. It still seems like a lot of RAM but it may be necessary for the hack job they put together.
Maybe they'll enable CD capabilities with a BIOS flash I am not entirely sure but I think it would require a different laser, so a BIOS flash to support CD's may not be possible.
Why no love for DVD-RAM? People exist who actually use DVD-RAM? I mean it has some advantages such as hardware verification of written data and the ability to be used similar to how a HD is used but because it is not highly supported and is pricey why not just buy an actual hard disk?
I don't care about it having the ability to write CD's, I do care about it having the ability to READ them though. This was clearly rushed to the market and a waste of money IMHO.
In all sincerity, why would you ever want to buy something like this?
Well once the price of the media and drives comes down, there is a/are format(s) that are somewhat standard, and high definition DVD players are more common how about to be able to master your own HD DVD's? You can't really cheaply mail out copies of the latest video you took in HD to people using hard disks and it also is pretty hard to get a high definition DVD player to play content when it is on a hard disk and not a compatible optical disc.
Why did they leave that ability out? I know I don't want to have a separate drive to read CD's, but with this drive that is the only option. I can see phasing out CD's once this new generation of media is firmly in place but it is way too early to start phasing out CD's. Floppy disks somewhat recently just got phased out for Christ's sake. I don't see CD's going anywhere for at least 3 more years.
I think we'll see within the decade solid state drivers. CF memory is now available in 3GB sizs for about $300; 32GB chips are now coming on the market; assuming these 3GB units use 8GB chips, we can imagine in the near year CF cards with a 12GB capacity at the same price point. These are already large enough to support a credible laptop computer, although you'd need ten or so to provide storage for a typical desktop.
Mobile PC's with solid state drives are already here. They not only use much less power but they are also much quicker. From the first article listed below:
"The SSD reads 300 percent faster (53MB/s) and writes 150 percent quicker (28MB/s) than normal hard drives. As a result, multiple application programs can operate simultaneously and large volumes of data can be edited and reproduced more efficiently. Microsoft Windows XP will boot up 25-50% faster on the SSD than on other drives. Moreover, the typical 1.8-inch hard disk drive weighs around 50 grams; whereas the SSD is 20 to 30 grams lighter, depending on the package type."
I personally carry a notebook drive in a usb enclosure that fits in my pocket, and it is one of the best purchases that I Have ever made in electronics. Never underestimate the convenience of having 60gB in your pocket to carry documents, music, and movies on. I was even running Unreal Tournament 2004 off of it - portable gaming on any capable computer!
This is what I have as well, except it has other functions as well... it's an iPod. If you don't want to spend the money on the latest and greatest iPod you can do what I did and get a used iPod Photo for $100-200 on ebay. I got the 30GB version but there is a 60GB available too. I don't think that price range can be much higher than the combination you have and it has more than one use.
While on the subject: that page must qualify as one of the most pointless uses of flash ever! And are they entering a competition for the ugliest front page to their website?
Well what do you expect when SCO can now only get the shittiest people to work for them since they pissed off everyone who has a clue what they did in past?
By the way I agree that that is one ugly page and use of flash. I think a blind, retarded, schizophrenic, monkey that just did a few lines of coke could bash on a keyboard and create a better webpage than that.
Ok, now to talk about the only 3 browsers that mean anything being IE, Firefox, and Opera. You can install any of those on WinXP. Sure you might have to do it after the initial install but its not that big of a deal, I prefer it that way since then I will get the latest version of Opera instead of wasting time installing some outdated version that is on the Windows install disc. Even if there was a choice at install time about which browser to install it would make a very small difference since an overwelming majority of people could care less what browser they use as long as it displays web pages for them. If they had that choice it would just be one more step to confuse them. I do not think installing all 3 is an option either since most users will only use one so having all of them installed right from the bat is a waste. If you decide you want to install more browsers later on nothing is stopping you.
I hate IE, I love Opera, but I do not see the point people try to describe about how it is such a horrible thing that IE is the default and only browser for the initial install process. It's Microsoft's product, they can and should be able to choose whatever the hell browsers they want users to have a choice to install during the install process. It is up to the user to decide afterwards what is best for them. Some versions of linux will not allow some applications to be part of their official distro if they are not "open" enough, what is the difference between that and what MS does? Either way nothing stops a person from installing what they want after the initial install.
Now on to what Microsoft did that was really wrong, they effectively did not allow OEM distributers to install Netscape initially. THAT is wrong, resellers should be allowed to bundle whatever the hell they want as well. It is one thing to control your own products, it is quite another to force control on products that others own.
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I normally wouldn't have been so harsh I am just so damn sick that everytime the topic of US car usage comes up Europeans have to say how they are so superior since they can ride public transportation everywhere, "who needs a car?" they say. They bring up how they are so great since they can walk to the local grocery store often as well which is not an option for many Americans either. It comes up EVERYTIME and it is great that they have those options available to them but over here in America there are still large amounts of areas that are sparsely populated and a lot of places that still even have dirt roads so mass transit is way out of the picture. Unless a person lives in a pretty urban area mass transit is usually non-existant. I live in the northern suburbs of Chicago and we actually have a really good bus and train system which I use almost everyday but this is far from the norm.
"People in sensible countries just take a walk down the street to a local shop, or at most, hop on a bus or train to the city centre, market, or supermarket for a couple of bags of food."
That is NOT a poor choice of words, that is directly saying "I am better than you" and I am sick of it. Non-American's love to say how American's always act like they are better than non-American's yet they love to do the same exact thing, how is that right?
"You people have bread that lasts more than a few days... that's just not right. Most of the stuff in the shops in the US is atrocious "long life" processed rubbish."
That was another line that just spews "I am better than you". We have A LOT more people to feed over here and we do have local bakeries available for people who prefer freshly baked bread but with the amount of mouths we have to feed I think having bread that doesn't spoil quickly (and other foods too) is better since less will be wasted. Of course, having a diet that consists ONLY of processed food is a bad idea but just having it available is not "atrocious", we have plenty of fresh foods available as well.
"And if a beating is Chicago's response to criticism of American food-shopping habits, it doesn't exactly project the image of a sensible country."
No that doesn't project the image of a sensible country and I was going overboard since I was pissed off, but what do people do when you continually pick on them? They retaliate, and sometimes harshly. It might not seem like a big deal this one time but thats just it, it wasn't this one time, it is over and over and over again.
In closing I want Europeans to stop bringing up the above things I mentioned since it is tired, old, and for the most part baseless when put into perspective of the real situation over here in America.
People in sensible countries just take a walk down the street to a local shop, or at most, hop on a bus or train to the city centre, market, or supermarket for a couple of bags of food.
Yeah, this works in your smallass countries that have decent mass transit EVERYWHERE but there are some places people live in the US where their nearest neighbor is miles away, let alone a grocery store which might be 20-30 miles away. I agree that stockpiling food is not the best idea and a lot of people in the US do it when it is not necessary but some people have no other choice. I love fresh fruit and vegetables, but meat is something that I have never had a problem throwing in the freezer and thawing the day I needed it. I am sure freshly baked bread is nice as well but my wheat bread that is not freshly baked at the grocery store I by it from is healthy too and since I live by myself it is nice that it lasts more than just a few days (usually 1-2 weeks) so I can finish eating it all.
Another thing is you really pissed me off when you said "People in sensible countries". Fuck you man, you aren't any better than my country or anyone elses so shove that pretentious talk up your foreign ass. I hope you don't visit the US again anytime soon and if you do stay away from Chicago because if you go spouting off like that around here you will get your shit kicked in no time, asshole.
There's absolutely no way I could carry 20 or 30 bags of groceries on a train without a team of sherpas.
Well just get them delivered then. I live in the Chicago area and have been using peapod.com for the last few months and it is great. I watch for the specials (which a lot of times are cheaper than the local grocery stores) and by doing so I am able to get everything I need without paying much more than I would by going to the grocery store. Basically, I can easily find everything I need (including household items, beer and liqour, fresh fruits/vegetables/meats, and the quality is EXCELLENT) and get it all delivered for a $6.95 delivery fee and I don't have to carry anything or worry about forgetting anything. You can pick the delivery timeframe and I usually go with 7pm-10pm since I get back from work after 6pm and basically I just wait for them to show up, I buzz them in, and they carry it up to my 4th floor apartment.
I know this is not ideal for everyone but for me it is since I have no personal transportation right now and don't live within walking distance of any grocery stores. I can bike to a few stores but peapod is great for big orders and large items that would be impossible to do on a bike without making multiple trips. Even when I do get my personal transportation back I will consider still using peapod just for the convenience factor, to me it would be worth paying 5% more to not have to drive to the store, spend at least an hour gathering everything, spending more time in line waiting to pay, and then having to drive home (them carrying everything up is nice but thats not something I care a whole lot about).
I don't respond to head hunters or bottom feeders offering uncompetitive pay. Right now I have interviews lined up with Microsoft and Amazon.com and a few others that are in the Chicago area as well. All of these jobs specifically said they do not want H1B visa applicants. The pay is not low at all, $75-125k+ salary and great benefits. All of this without putting in any more work than posting my resume. This is why I don't understand people who say nothing good is available, because it is available. I use C/C++ and PERL and have a lot of device driver level, API, and library experience but nothing out of the ordinary.
I know there is no guarantee I will always have a job but from the looks of things right now I am not worried. I also like to work for smaller companies where it does not make sense to outsource people (right now I am at a 2 person company). I do not mean to criticize your skills but what is your experience and skills that makes it so hard for you to find employment? I am just curious.
here is a similar article about the same thing:r 2006/tc20060328_901806.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/ma
For all you phobic people out there who don't want them to "have a copy of your fingerprint" from what I found out from the employees it doesn't work that way. It doesn't store your fingerprint, just certain points on it. So really there is not a way to one way hash back to your actual fingerprint. Now, maybe the employee didn't know what they were talking about but for them to have any knowledge about the device at all suprised me so I believed them. The article also mentions that it doesn't store the actual fingerprint. By the way, I am a the paranoid type too so I don't use it.
Bzzt. My son, due in a few weeks, will be a natural born citizen AND have dual citizenship.
Okay, if you want to be pedantic about it then yes I left out US citizens who have dual citizenship by being citizens of another country besides the US. I figured people could figure that one out on their own. If however you think you are a natural born citizen of the US and were not born here or had at least one parent who was a US citizen you are wrong and you in fact are a naturalized citizen, there is no way around that rule.
Also, does being a natural-born citizen somehow make you better than somebody who actually had to WORK at becoming a US citizen?
No, not at all. I consider both types equal and really look up to the people who put in the effort to become US citizens. I find most of them more useful then the poor, natural born US citizens who put in no effort to find any type of job and just try to live off welfare forever, what a waste of a life. The reason I mentioned being a natural born citizen was to show that you don't have to have H1-B status or GC status to be able to easily find a GOOD job. The jobs are out there and from what I have seen they are available almost all over the US. The market is great right now.
I used to be delusional in that way, too. I was very good at almost any job I did.
I am not dilusional. I put my resume on a jobsite and got so many responses that I had to take it off, I know I am in demand. If you spend a year without work and must take a job that is 30% of what you used to take home then you either have outdated skills or were being way overpaid. Companies will pay less money for less talent but they don't do that for positions that they actually care about unless they have horrible managers. The job market is good for those who have the skills. Just from putting my resume on that one jobsite I have been notified of good jobs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Washington, New Jersey, Floriday, Texas, California, Colorado, Washington, Georgia, Washington DC, and a few other states. This was all without even putting any effort in besides posting my resume.
You are the one who is dilusional and you either have outdated skills, are way too specialized, or you don't have any skills at all.
I am from the Midwest, I live in the Chicago area. Things are not screwy here at all, companies appear to be hiring like crazy and they are offering full benefits and high salaries.
What exactly did you mean about a OSU going closed? I went there (starting in '99) and the only problem I had was that there were too many damn people in CS who were only there because "that's were the money was". This ended up creating a huge shortage of classes that were available and I eventually got pissed off enough that I transferred out. The tuition never jumped considerably while I was there but it has been quit a while so I would be interested if thats the case.
As opposed to those artificially born US citizens. I didn't know we did birthing ceremonies for naturalized citizens.
Here is a lesson for you:
There are 2 main types of US citizens, natural born and naturalized (along with dual citizenship which is similar to naturalized). Natural born means being born within the United States, being born abroad with both parents being United States citizens, or being born abroad with one parent being a United States citizen.
Naturalized mean you are a citizen of another country and must go through a process to become a US citizen.
You obviously knew nothing about either. Please go to school and actually pay attention so you can actually have intelligent conversations.
Those entry level positions may not be that important
I should have specified clearly that I did not think it was "a good thing" that this is hurting entry level positions. I totally agree that entry level positions can be the only way for people new to the industry to prove themselves, that was exactly my case when I started out. My hope is that people who are doing the interviewing can see that a person has the potential to learn and grow into a useful developer instead of immediatly passing them over because they have no experience.
What I meant by what I said in my original post is that H1B's could hurt entry level positions because if a company has the choice of hiring an H1B who at least has some experience and probably will work for a lower than normal wage and a new hire demanding the prevailing wage then the company will probably choose the H1B. I see entry level programmers being the hardest hit and I think that is horrible for them but I in no way look at this as a totally unimportant issue. When I said "who cares" I was referring to mid-senior level positions that take skill and people think will be quickly outsourced.
Soon even the most experienced positions will be available for foreign replacement.
This may occur somewhat (although I find it unlikely) with large companies but I think small to medium sized companies want their staff HERE. Having no language barrier and being able to interact directly with the people you work with is a HUGE benefit and it is downright more efficient. I am not worried at all.
You're not allowed to "prove your salt", at least not easily.
I never said this was easy, I agree it can be difficult but it is far from impossible.
You know NOTHING of the real world- you've been coddled. Hope you've kept up on your studying.
I have kept up on my studying, I learn new things at work everyday be it learning how to use some new API's, libraries, working with new technology, or just coming up with new implementations. Maybe I don't know everything about the real world but I seriously wonder why you are having such a problem finding work, are you stuck with only job experience in an extremely specialized area? I listed my resume on a jobsite a couple weeks ago just to see what response I would get and I got such a huge response that I had to take it off of there. No, it was not all head hunters, way more than the majority of it was coming directly from the companies with the open positions and it also was not all from company recruiters, a lot of the responses were from people who could actually read my resume and understand it to see if I was a good fit for the positions that were open. This was all without sending my resume to one company, just putting it out there for companies to search and find. You must just have skills that are outdated or some other deficiency holding you back because the job market is better than it has been in a LONG time.
By nailing the interview? I came out of school with zero years of real world experience since I spent my time off from school working as an electrician (I am from a small town with no programming jobs and I wanted to be near my hometown friends in my time off) and I was able to find someone who could see I had the potential to be a good programmer even though I had nothing on paper besides school experience to prove otherwise. It did take a long time to finally find the job but it's not impossible.
The best thing I can tell entry level candidates with no experience to do is come up with your own interesting project in your spare time or download an open source project and fix a few bugs or even add some functionality to it. Just having a passion for computers in general is a big bonus. I think if you have those types of things to show yet no real world experience it will make a huge difference unless the person interviewing you is a moron.
The US job market is weak and the H1-B workers just make it harder.
This is NOT the case at all, the job market right now is awesome. I currently have a job but I decided to put my resume on monster.com just to see what was available. I got such a response that I had to take it off of there, my e-mail inbox was full and my phone was ringing off the hook. I also want to mention that yes, about 25% of the responses I got were from head hunters but the rest were straight from the companies themselves and what suprised me the most is a large majority of the people contacting me were actually lead developers and project managers basically people who could look at my resume and see if I had the skills needed, not HR drones. Maybe the companies are finally looking for pure talent over saving money, I don't know, what I do know is the job market is WAY better than it was 2 years ago when it took me 6 months to find my current job. Oh yeah, and I am a natural born US citizen.
Let them take the low paying and boring jobs. If you are an excellent programmer you WILL be in demand and you most likely wouldn't want the positions that advertise they want H1B's and GC holders. The people I do see this hurting is entry level candidates but even so if you can prove you are worth your salt you will find a nice job.
Not to mention that I get games with a wider range of textures and environements and content due to the increased storage offered
I highly doubt this will be an issue. A dual layer HD-DVD maxes out at 30GB which, yes, is 20 GB less than a dual layer Blu-Ray disc but I highly doubt any games will come close to using that much space with the majority of it taken up by textures and environment details. The only thing that I can think of that would be able to fill that space up rather quickly is HD video clips but if that is the case then remind me not to buy that game since I can't stand video cut scenes and prefer cut scenes that use the game engine. That would just be a worthless waste of space to fill it up with HD video.
Why again am I going to buy a standalone HD player in a market with two formats for the same price as a gaming system I know at least games will be produced on years to come?
I do agree with you here. I think most of the people interested in HD video will be somewhat younger and the type who like video games too so it makes sense that they would prefer to pick a system that can be used as both a movie player and game console. This is going to get interesting.
I don't really see what they want that much RAM for.
My guess is to cache A LOT of the video in RAM since it will have to be software decoded and it would be quicker that way. There most likely will be a buffer of decoded video as well that is stored in RAM. It still seems like a lot of RAM but it may be necessary for the hack job they put together.
Maybe they'll enable CD capabilities with a BIOS flash
I am not entirely sure but I think it would require a different laser, so a BIOS flash to support CD's may not be possible.
Why no love for DVD-RAM?
People exist who actually use DVD-RAM? I mean it has some advantages such as hardware verification of written data and the ability to be used similar to how a HD is used but because it is not highly supported and is pricey why not just buy an actual hard disk?
I don't care about it having the ability to write CD's, I do care about it having the ability to READ them though. This was clearly rushed to the market and a waste of money IMHO.
In all sincerity, why would you ever want to buy something like this?
Well once the price of the media and drives comes down, there is a/are format(s) that are somewhat standard, and high definition DVD players are more common how about to be able to master your own HD DVD's? You can't really cheaply mail out copies of the latest video you took in HD to people using hard disks and it also is pretty hard to get a high definition DVD player to play content when it is on a hard disk and not a compatible optical disc.
Why did they leave that ability out? I know I don't want to have a separate drive to read CD's, but with this drive that is the only option. I can see phasing out CD's once this new generation of media is firmly in place but it is way too early to start phasing out CD's. Floppy disks somewhat recently just got phased out for Christ's sake. I don't see CD's going anywhere for at least 3 more years.
I think we'll see within the decade solid state drivers. CF memory is now available in 3GB sizs for about $300; 32GB chips are now coming on the market; assuming these 3GB units use 8GB chips, we can imagine in the near year CF cards with a 12GB capacity at the same price point. These are already large enough to support a credible laptop computer, although you'd need ten or so to provide storage for a typical desktop.
2 953 and http://www.tabletpcreviewspot.com/default.asp?news ID=476
Mobile PC's with solid state drives are already here. They not only use much less power but they are also much quicker. From the first article listed below:
"The SSD reads 300 percent faster (53MB/s) and writes 150 percent quicker (28MB/s) than normal hard drives. As a result, multiple application programs can operate simultaneously and large volumes of data can be edited and reproduced more efficiently. Microsoft Windows XP will boot up 25-50% faster on the SSD than on other drives. Moreover, the typical 1.8-inch hard disk drive weighs around 50 grams; whereas the SSD is 20 to 30 grams lighter, depending on the package type."
I want one NOW.
Read more here:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=
I personally carry a notebook drive in a usb enclosure that fits in my pocket, and it is one of the best purchases that I Have ever made in electronics. Never underestimate the convenience of having 60gB in your pocket to carry documents, music, and movies on. I was even running Unreal Tournament 2004 off of it - portable gaming on any capable computer!
This is what I have as well, except it has other functions as well... it's an iPod. If you don't want to spend the money on the latest and greatest iPod you can do what I did and get a used iPod Photo for $100-200 on ebay. I got the 30GB version but there is a 60GB available too. I don't think that price range can be much higher than the combination you have and it has more than one use.
"any i... well i never have been good at spelling."
and you did it again, you are correct.
While on the subject: that page must qualify as one of the most pointless uses of flash ever! And are they entering a competition for the ugliest front page to their website?
Well what do you expect when SCO can now only get the shittiest people to work for them since they pissed off everyone who has a clue what they did in past?
By the way I agree that that is one ugly page and use of flash. I think a blind, retarded, schizophrenic, monkey that just did a few lines of coke could bash on a keyboard and create a better webpage than that.
Ok, now to talk about the only 3 browsers that mean anything being IE, Firefox, and Opera. You can install any of those on WinXP. Sure you might have to do it after the initial install but its not that big of a deal, I prefer it that way since then I will get the latest version of Opera instead of wasting time installing some outdated version that is on the Windows install disc. Even if there was a choice at install time about which browser to install it would make a very small difference since an overwelming majority of people could care less what browser they use as long as it displays web pages for them. If they had that choice it would just be one more step to confuse them. I do not think installing all 3 is an option either since most users will only use one so having all of them installed right from the bat is a waste. If you decide you want to install more browsers later on nothing is stopping you.
I hate IE, I love Opera, but I do not see the point people try to describe about how it is such a horrible thing that IE is the default and only browser for the initial install process. It's Microsoft's product, they can and should be able to choose whatever the hell browsers they want users to have a choice to install during the install process. It is up to the user to decide afterwards what is best for them. Some versions of linux will not allow some applications to be part of their official distro if they are not "open" enough, what is the difference between that and what MS does? Either way nothing stops a person from installing what they want after the initial install.
Now on to what Microsoft did that was really wrong, they effectively did not allow OEM distributers to install Netscape initially. THAT is wrong, resellers should be allowed to bundle whatever the hell they want as well. It is one thing to control your own products, it is quite another to force control on products that others own.