Your comment sort of does make me think about how many of these new threats/problems are being produced simply because some CS graduate is having a hard time finding that $100,000 a year job and is looking to stick it to the society that fooled him into banking his future on IT...?
This is going to be much more difficult than their fight over home networking hardware. There's only so much they could do to stand apart from the other offerings in that area, so they had to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on store shelves. And they lost.
Trying to dominate the PC market by using a console is going to be far more difficult. Console users are becoming a more and more techno-savvy crowd. Many gamers today know the hardware in their console. Those that choose to also own a PC typically play games on the PC as well, so using the XBox as a watered down desktop wouldn't be useful to them. Most of these games are going to opt for the entry-level XBox and spend the difference on upgrading their Dell or Alienware gamers box.
On the other side of the equation, we have what I call the Grandmother Crowd. And *those* users are never going to look in the console gamers area of Wal Mart for their PC. They're going to get a Dell, or an eMachines from the front isle. These users will never be aware they could use an XBox for much of what they wanted to do, and thus Microsoft won't sell a single unit to that crowd.
You're right, the existing brands won't roll over, but they may not even come up. Microsoft may never climb enough of the mountain to be on even footing with those already there.
I agree with you on that! I very nearly ordered one online for my fiancee's birthday a couple of months ago, but she talked me into wandering by one of the "Dell Islands" in a mall to look at one first. Ten seconds in her hand and she decided she'd rather have a different brand. I can't say I blame her. The device was bigger than her hands, so it was awkward to hold and carry. About all it would have been good for was to slip into her laptop bag, but if she's already got her laptop with her, neither of us saw much use of the external player.
Useful or not, this just has a certain coolness factor to it that I haven't seen in a while. The only thing that would have made it cooler would have been if he wasn't running it from Windows...
These robots will continue to provide valuable security services for your enterprise until a small bank of people from a competing company you're about to crush manage to destroy your droid control ship, right?
Seriously, it's ignorance of the industry's history and future trends. If you don't know where we've been or where we're going, you've likely got no place in the industry. I certainly wouldn't want to hire a past-dweller, and I don't know many employers in a struggling economy who would, either.
Interesting. I've never been called a "past-dweller" before, and certainly not for making a decision to stick with something that works as opposed to moving to a new (yet inferior) product. Whatever, I suppose.
As for an employer who won't hire someone who sticks with a working technology, my company seems to be somewhat the opposite of what you're suggesting. If I forced an upgrade simply because something was new and I didn't want to be the last guy holding an old technology, I'd probably be fired. If it's not broken, don't fix it. I guess you and I work for different types of companies.
I'll buy the part about short-sighted. But explain to me the ignorance in that comment? I've had bad luck with it, and I refuse to subject myself to further failures from USB. Ignorance==disagreeing with your point of view, perhaps?
Serial Ports: How else are you supposed to hook up a dumb terminal to your computer. USB?
Will the 0.02% of the population using dumb-terminals on their home PCs please stand up?
Well, I'm using my PC as a dumb-terminal console for my SUN workstation. And "high-tech" stuff like this aside, without a serial port, I have nowhere to plug my GPS in. And that's a problem.
Besides, USB is not to be trusted.
I'll assume you've got some figures to support this otherwise baseless claim?
We don't need figures. I've used USB, and I've had bad results. I could care less if every other person I talk to is happy with USB. It's been nothing by trouble for me. Not only do I not trust it, but I simply won't use anything that connects via USB anymore.
And while the US courts usually side with the criminal in home invasion cases, there has not been a single case where a home owner was charged for shooting someone invading their home. The courts have unanimously upheld that your home is as far as you can possibly retreat. If you shoot someone on your lawn, you're still toast, but if you're forced to defend yourself in your home, the courts have (and hopefully will continue to) side with you.
I can't really think of a good way to spot someone who shouldn't be doing (insert something here) while driving until they screw up doing it. And by that point it's too late. Maybe some harsher traffic violation penalties. For example, if you're caught speeding and the officer notices a cellular phone, perhaps that could get a person the "no phone even with headset while in a car" restriction. Or if a teen is caught speeding or swerving from lane to lane, this gets them an automatic "no passengers in the car" restriction.
The chopsticks part bothers me the most in that story. I have a hard enough time with a chicken sandwich that I choose not to eat one while driving, but I can't even imagine trying to use chopsticks...
I very nearly had an accident a few years ago fumbling with my CD changer, so I try to avoid messing with the stereo while in motion. The addition of wheel-mounted audio controls have been great for me, because I don't have to think as much when switching stations or changing volume.
I guess some people just shouldn't drive. Or perhaps there should be a new set of restrictions for the license. Instead of just "must wear corrective lenses" or "can only drive with authorized adult figure in vehicle", perhaps we need things like "not allowed to transport passengers" and "not allowed to drive during rush hour."
I knew there had to be a reason why I felt more distracted on the phone than when I have people riding with me. Good to see someone else has done the study so I don't have to keep wondering why. Although now I'll be more distracted with passengers trying to see what makes them shut up.
That's all well and good, but TiVo wasn't the first thing that let me skip commercials. First, there was the remote control. When commercial time came around, I'll hit the previous channel button and see what's happening on another show. And when there simply isn't anything else on I'm interested in (which happens a lot, despite my 500 channels), I'll get up and check my email, or get a snack, or start a load of laundry, or do any one of a number of other things. A TiVo hasn't let me skip commercials any better than anything else, really, it's just let me skip those annoying 2-minute block of entertainment-free time along with the commercial.
Why should this worry me? Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled, and I do think this is a violation of my privacy. But why should I worry if I've ever purchased books from Amazon? It seems to me I should worry about future freedoms, not what I've done in my past. Why? Because I've done nothing wrong and I have nothing to hide. No, I'm not happy about this. I intend to write letters. But I'm not going to move south of the border to keep myself from being caught for a book I purchased. Yes, let's worry about this. But let's worry for the right reasons.
My experience is that I can store *many* more programs on my Palm than I could on my iPaq. It's not just that Palm can get by with what it's got, but that WinCE needs to add about 128 megs before it can touch what the Palm can handle.
But I'm not sure that's really a problem. Has *anyone* found 32 megs worth of applications they actually want for WinCE?
They said on the page that they would have someone get back to me within twenty-four hours using the email address I provided. Anyone interested in the reply can email me and request it.
I've just got to see that reply. I'm sure they'll refuse, but I can't decide if they'll offer to sell it for a trillion dollars, or if they'll just say you took the quote out of context. In any event, I'd love to see the return email.
What (specific) features in Excel do you use that make it so much better than GNumeric? I'm not intending this as a flame. I use Excel on a pretty basic level, so I'm curious what it offers that make it better.
The "new" Kodak DX3900 has an adjustable shutter exposure up to 16 seconds. 16 seconds isn't enough to get shots like you linked to, but it should be enough to get a couple of objects in an intense shower.
Another reply suggested using photoshop to mesh multiple shots into one, and I tend to agree. I think that's about as good as you can hope for in a shower like this.
I'd love to see what those solutions are. I bought an iPaq under the assumption that I'd be able to deal with having to use Outlook. What a mistake that turned out to be. I'm now back to using my Palm, leaving my expensive iPaq as a paper weight on my desk. I'd love to be able to cycle it back into service, but it'd going to have to sync up with more than just Outlook.
As terrible as it is that Microsoft is prohibiting other web browsers from accessing MSN, it's not as if Microsoft has a monopoly on news and content on the web (at least not yet). As a company, they can decide how they want their content rendered and if IE (no matter how self-serving it is) is the only browser that does the job perfectly, then so be it.
You're right, and you've certainly motivated me to action. I've spent the time to customize my MSN homepage. As a hotmail user (IMAP wasn't available and I needed to be able to access my mail from *many* locations), I felt that MSN was a good choice for my other needs as well. Just as soon as I hit submit on this comment, however, I'm going to go customize myself a Yahoo page (or some other news portal). It's certainly their call about what they want to support, and it's hard to call it illegal right now. But they've without question lost my page hits. If they feel like they've got so many views they can afford to give the finger to a whole bunch of them, that's their business.
The same crap happened to me. Unfortunately, most of my spam comes from @hotmail and @msn addresses. Things like hornysluts5184846581418546@msn.com really should be disallowed. It can't be blocked from my end, since the address changes every time, but I would sure think Microsoft could see what's happening and block the creation of these addresses...
That's a very good point. When a school puts anything into the Code of Computing Practices (or whatever individual schools call it), you can end up in lots of trouble for violating it. Porn is one common example, and I'll bet that Napster will quickly become another.
My university (www.tntech.edu) took a different approach. We have a traffic shaper that, at times of peak usage, filters Napster, games, etc. way down on bandwidth allowance. When network usage isn't at peak (2am and such), those tasks are acceptable and nobody gets ticked. I would hope that, should Napster rebound and become a legal service, that most schools would allow it at certain times, provided it doesn't affect primary functions. While legal, there are those that argue that porn is wrong. If Napters gets the green light from the music industry, it'll be hard to argue that it's wrong as well...
So that would let them filter your traffic, or turn your network connection off if you refused to stop, but I think it would be hard to kick someone out of school for using their network connection to do someting perfectly legal.
I've heard a lot of things about the insane cost of living in that area. I'm not asking for specifics of your salary, but are you able to live comfortably? The handful of offers I've had from Nashville, in addition to being interesting work, also pay pretty well for the area. I'm not aiming to be the next Bill Gates or anything, but being able to live comfortably (without having to worry about if I can afford to buy real Coke, or if I have to get the off-brand stuff) is important.
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Your comment sort of does make me think about how many of these new threats/problems are being produced simply because some CS graduate is having a hard time finding that $100,000 a year job and is looking to stick it to the society that fooled him into banking his future on IT...?
This is going to be much more difficult than their fight over home networking hardware. There's only so much they could do to stand apart from the other offerings in that area, so they had to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on store shelves. And they lost.
Trying to dominate the PC market by using a console is going to be far more difficult. Console users are becoming a more and more techno-savvy crowd. Many gamers today know the hardware in their console. Those that choose to also own a PC typically play games on the PC as well, so using the XBox as a watered down desktop wouldn't be useful to them. Most of these games are going to opt for the entry-level XBox and spend the difference on upgrading their Dell or Alienware gamers box.
On the other side of the equation, we have what I call the Grandmother Crowd. And *those* users are never going to look in the console gamers area of Wal Mart for their PC. They're going to get a Dell, or an eMachines from the front isle. These users will never be aware they could use an XBox for much of what they wanted to do, and thus Microsoft won't sell a single unit to that crowd.
You're right, the existing brands won't roll over, but they may not even come up. Microsoft may never climb enough of the mountain to be on even footing with those already there.
I agree with you on that! I very nearly ordered one online for my fiancee's birthday a couple of months ago, but she talked me into wandering by one of the "Dell Islands" in a mall to look at one first. Ten seconds in her hand and she decided she'd rather have a different brand. I can't say I blame her. The device was bigger than her hands, so it was awkward to hold and carry. About all it would have been good for was to slip into her laptop bag, but if she's already got her laptop with her, neither of us saw much use of the external player.
Useful or not, this just has a certain coolness factor to it that I haven't seen in a while. The only thing that would have made it cooler would have been if he wasn't running it from Windows...
These robots will continue to provide valuable security services for your enterprise until a small bank of people from a competing company you're about to crush manage to destroy your droid control ship, right?
Interesting. I've never been called a "past-dweller" before, and certainly not for making a decision to stick with something that works as opposed to moving to a new (yet inferior) product. Whatever, I suppose.
As for an employer who won't hire someone who sticks with a working technology, my company seems to be somewhat the opposite of what you're suggesting. If I forced an upgrade simply because something was new and I didn't want to be the last guy holding an old technology, I'd probably be fired. If it's not broken, don't fix it. I guess you and I work for different types of companies.
I'll buy the part about short-sighted. But explain to me the ignorance in that comment? I've had bad luck with it, and I refuse to subject myself to further failures from USB. Ignorance==disagreeing with your point of view, perhaps?
Serial Ports: How else are you supposed to hook up a dumb terminal to your computer. USB?
Will the 0.02% of the population using dumb-terminals on their home PCs please stand up?
Well, I'm using my PC as a dumb-terminal console for my SUN workstation. And "high-tech" stuff like this aside, without a serial port, I have nowhere to plug my GPS in. And that's a problem.
Besides, USB is not to be trusted.
I'll assume you've got some figures to support this otherwise baseless claim?
We don't need figures. I've used USB, and I've had bad results. I could care less if every other person I talk to is happy with USB. It's been nothing by trouble for me. Not only do I not trust it, but I simply won't use anything that connects via USB anymore.
And while the US courts usually side with the criminal in home invasion cases, there has not been a single case where a home owner was charged for shooting someone invading their home. The courts have unanimously upheld that your home is as far as you can possibly retreat. If you shoot someone on your lawn, you're still toast, but if you're forced to defend yourself in your home, the courts have (and hopefully will continue to) side with you.
I can't really think of a good way to spot someone who shouldn't be doing (insert something here) while driving until they screw up doing it. And by that point it's too late. Maybe some harsher traffic violation penalties. For example, if you're caught speeding and the officer notices a cellular phone, perhaps that could get a person the "no phone even with headset while in a car" restriction. Or if a teen is caught speeding or swerving from lane to lane, this gets them an automatic "no passengers in the car" restriction.
The chopsticks part bothers me the most in that story. I have a hard enough time with a chicken sandwich that I choose not to eat one while driving, but I can't even imagine trying to use chopsticks...
I very nearly had an accident a few years ago fumbling with my CD changer, so I try to avoid messing with the stereo while in motion. The addition of wheel-mounted audio controls have been great for me, because I don't have to think as much when switching stations or changing volume.
I guess some people just shouldn't drive. Or perhaps there should be a new set of restrictions for the license. Instead of just "must wear corrective lenses" or "can only drive with authorized adult figure in vehicle", perhaps we need things like "not allowed to transport passengers" and "not allowed to drive during rush hour."
I knew there had to be a reason why I felt more distracted on the phone than when I have people riding with me. Good to see someone else has done the study so I don't have to keep wondering why. Although now I'll be more distracted with passengers trying to see what makes them shut up.
So by extension, talking to a passenger in your car is also dangerous?
That's all well and good, but TiVo wasn't the first thing that let me skip commercials. First, there was the remote control. When commercial time came around, I'll hit the previous channel button and see what's happening on another show. And when there simply isn't anything else on I'm interested in (which happens a lot, despite my 500 channels), I'll get up and check my email, or get a snack, or start a load of laundry, or do any one of a number of other things. A TiVo hasn't let me skip commercials any better than anything else, really, it's just let me skip those annoying 2-minute block of entertainment-free time along with the commercial.
Why should this worry me? Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled, and I do think this is a violation of my privacy. But why should I worry if I've ever purchased books from Amazon? It seems to me I should worry about future freedoms, not what I've done in my past. Why? Because I've done nothing wrong and I have nothing to hide. No, I'm not happy about this. I intend to write letters. But I'm not going to move south of the border to keep myself from being caught for a book I purchased. Yes, let's worry about this. But let's worry for the right reasons.
My experience is that I can store *many* more programs on my Palm than I could on my iPaq. It's not just that Palm can get by with what it's got, but that WinCE needs to add about 128 megs before it can touch what the Palm can handle.
But I'm not sure that's really a problem. Has *anyone* found 32 megs worth of applications they actually want for WinCE?
They said on the page that they would have someone get back to me within twenty-four hours using the email address I provided. Anyone interested in the reply can email me and request it.
I've just got to see that reply. I'm sure they'll refuse, but I can't decide if they'll offer to sell it for a trillion dollars, or if they'll just say you took the quote out of context. In any event, I'd love to see the return email.
What (specific) features in Excel do you use that make it so much better than GNumeric? I'm not intending this as a flame. I use Excel on a pretty basic level, so I'm curious what it offers that make it better.
The "new" Kodak DX3900 has an adjustable shutter exposure up to 16 seconds. 16 seconds isn't enough to get shots like you linked to, but it should be enough to get a couple of objects in an intense shower.
Another reply suggested using photoshop to mesh multiple shots into one, and I tend to agree. I think that's about as good as you can hope for in a shower like this.
I'd love to see what those solutions are. I bought an iPaq under the assumption that I'd be able to deal with having to use Outlook. What a mistake that turned out to be. I'm now back to using my Palm, leaving my expensive iPaq as a paper weight on my desk. I'd love to be able to cycle it back into service, but it'd going to have to sync up with more than just Outlook.
As terrible as it is that Microsoft is prohibiting other web browsers from accessing MSN, it's not as if Microsoft has a monopoly on news and content on the web (at least not yet). As a company, they can decide how they want their content rendered and if IE (no matter how self-serving it is) is the only browser that does the job perfectly, then so be it.
You're right, and you've certainly motivated me to action. I've spent the time to customize my MSN homepage. As a hotmail user (IMAP wasn't available and I needed to be able to access my mail from *many* locations), I felt that MSN was a good choice for my other needs as well. Just as soon as I hit submit on this comment, however, I'm going to go customize myself a Yahoo page (or some other news portal). It's certainly their call about what they want to support, and it's hard to call it illegal right now. But they've without question lost my page hits. If they feel like they've got so many views they can afford to give the finger to a whole bunch of them, that's their business.
The same crap happened to me. Unfortunately, most of my spam comes from @hotmail and @msn addresses. Things like hornysluts5184846581418546@msn.com really should be disallowed. It can't be blocked from my end, since the address changes every time, but I would sure think Microsoft could see what's happening and block the creation of these addresses...
That's a very good point. When a school puts anything into the Code of Computing Practices (or whatever individual schools call it), you can end up in lots of trouble for violating it. Porn is one common example, and I'll bet that Napster will quickly become another.
My university (www.tntech.edu) took a different approach. We have a traffic shaper that, at times of peak usage, filters Napster, games, etc. way down on bandwidth allowance. When network usage isn't at peak (2am and such), those tasks are acceptable and nobody gets ticked. I would hope that, should Napster rebound and become a legal service, that most schools would allow it at certain times, provided it doesn't affect primary functions. While legal, there are those that argue that porn is wrong. If Napters gets the green light from the music industry, it'll be hard to argue that it's wrong as well...
So that would let them filter your traffic, or turn your network connection off if you refused to stop, but I think it would be hard to kick someone out of school for using their network connection to do someting perfectly legal.
I've heard a lot of things about the insane cost of living in that area. I'm not asking for specifics of your salary, but are you able to live comfortably? The handful of offers I've had from Nashville, in addition to being interesting work, also pay pretty well for the area. I'm not aiming to be the next Bill Gates or anything, but being able to live comfortably (without having to worry about if I can afford to buy real Coke, or if I have to get the off-brand stuff) is important.