I work in a Microsoft only shop. We are an integrator that develops systems for manufacturers. The single most important technology we deal with are OPC (OLE for Process Control) servers, which are a Windows only technology. With.NET, I can create a client to connect to the OPC server, get the status of the machine, and relay that information to our MES and ERP systems.
Once Mono reaches a full, stable release, I'll be able to switch over to developing under Linux. Mono will allow me to interoperate with the components on a Windows application server, which we will still need to run the OPC server, but the client will now be able to run on any machine.
Until Mono is ready, I'll continue to use Ant, Vim, and Visual Studio.
Rather than focus on the idea of creating a living copy of our minds, consider the consequences of creating a complete and perfect snapshot of the brain. The snapshot contains detailed information on the physical structures of the brain, chemical compositions, and electrical state. Such a model would be invaluable to medical researchers in developing new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. Perhaps we could find methods to prevent or even cure ailments such as Lou Gherig's disease, Alzheimer's, Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, ADHD, or multitude of phenomenon.
Much more likely, however, is that such a technology would first be used in the military arena. Perhaps a device could be developed to trigger a sleep response, or disrupt the mind in such a way as to incapacitate the enemy. An entirely new way to conduct battle would be devised, as the human mind would be too susceptible to enemy influence.
Of course, another very interested party would be drug cartels. It would be very useful to find a way to alter the chemical makeup of the brain such that, after a single dose of the product, the customer is hopelessly addicted.
Marketing agencies could use the result of the research to utilize colors and motions that elicit a happy response when the viewer sees their advertisement. Advertisers are already using this idea to some extent, but with a better model of the brain to research with, how will we be able to resist these perfect ads?
My point is, there are much more near term and realistic results of a perfect snapshot of the mind than the idealized prophecy of copying ourselves into new bodies. Many seam to put their money on HAL, but mine is on the next LSD.
No, it would be just the same as if you threw it in the trash. AOL ships the CDs 4th class mail, which means that if you mark it return to sender, the USPS returns it to the earth.
Tell them to mark any and all AOL mail "RETURN TO SENDER" and AOL will bear even greater costs, at no cost to the consumer.
Actually, that won't work. The CD's are shipped 4th class mail. If you mark it return to sender, the post office will return it to the earth. They even mention it in the FAQ
I'm an avid BattleBots fan. Every week a new episode airs, I'm planted in the chair with my beer and popcorn. Unfortunately, the show is losing it's appeal. I enjoy watching the fights. It was great during the second and third season when they would air back to back episodes, because I could count on seeing up to eight fights in a night. This limited the chance of seeing some wedge weenies bumping around and increased the chance of a couple of spinners knocking themselves silly.
I think the show started to go bust when they went from two commentators and an interviewer, to a team that rivals professional baseball coverage. Do we really need this many people to host the show? Season 5 is by far the worst in this respect, with plenty of Carmen dancing in tight shirt and short skirt, and Tony Rock being Chris Rock's brother. The builders do not make good interview subjects, and the interviewers are even less apt in their role.
To get more viewers, they need to show more fights, and less talk. The big attraction for me is to see machines that are not quite fully controllable ripping each other apart. Fully armored wedges are no fun to watch, but the point system can be adjusted to insure that these bots don't win. The best fights are usually the lightweights, as the power of the machine surpasses the ability of the driver to control it, and the low weight means little armor. Spinners are great fun (Ziggo!), especially when they fight each other. Spinners are even fun when they malfunction, as they tend to tear themselves apart when they become unbalanced (Mauler, Son of Whyachi). Flippers are entertaining as well(Toro!). I'm sure that the builders will continue to come up with more ideas on how best to wreck the opponent. I think the current set of limits on weapons are not hampering the builders either. In fact, I think the limits are fair. How much fun is it to watch one machine douse the other in water? About as much fun as the dunk booth at the county fair. The show needs to go back to a four fight format. Get rid of the useless interviews, prancing, and posturing.
Government jobs may pay less per year, but I'm not sure that they pay less per hour. I'm working in a government job, and I have friends who went to a big financial services company (in NYC) to do risk management. They are making about twice as much as I do, counting bonuses. I'm ``working'' less than 40 hours per week, and they're WORKING 60 to 70.
This is an excellent point, and something to take note of when looking at any offers that you might receive. My first year working for a private company, I went from a steady 40 hours of well-paced work a week to 50 hours or more of feverish work per week. Make sure that you are getting the 20-30% increase in pay to go along with the 20-30% increase in work load if you look to take a job with a typical small, private firm.
If you are looking at taking a government job, check to see if they pay based on a grade-step schedule. If they do, ask for a copy of that schedule. Ask about grade and step elevations, and how often they take place. Don't be afraid to ask for a better grade or step, or even reclassification from scientific to engineering staff.
My coworkers here are wonderful, pleasant people, and many of them are quite knowledgeable.
I should elaborate on my comment about unmotivated peers. In my government work, I found that most of the people that I worked with regularly were well educated, highly skilled, enjoyable people. I certainly do not want to paint a picture of all public employees being poor workers, as this is the farthest thing from the truth. However, government position do offer the opportunity for a person to do very little, and still get by. Unfortunately, some of the staff within my old organization had the goal of doing as little as possible. They were not interested in their job or their work. They did the bare minimum to get by. If you are in a position where you must depend upon a person like this, it can be extremely frustrating. The larger the organization, private or public, the more likely you are to run into this type of attitude.
I worked in a government position for two years, then switched to a private industry job. I can't recommend any books on the subject, but I can relate my experience.
Government Job: Pros
Deadlines were meaningless
Very low stress level
Projects were unique and interesting
If you really need something, money is no object.
Government Job: Cons
Lots of paperwork
Limited salary
Unmotivated peers
Politics
Private Industry Job: Pros
Good Pay
Good Equipment
Competent Peers
Good Benefits (insurance, perks, bonuses)
Private Industry Job: Cons
Tough deadlines
High stress
Mundane projects
Lots of hours
Every work environment will be different, so don't take these items as a hard and fast rule. I'm sure others in this thread will have widely different experiences from my own. Private companies that do work for the government (Raytheon, Boeing, Northrup) will act more like government jobs, and conversely, government labs (Sandia National Labs, MIT Lincoln Labs, John's Hopkins Physics Lab) will act more like private companies. Finding the right fit is a trial and error process that everyone must go through. I've found that I prefer to work for a small, private firm where I have more influence on my job, but at the same time take on quite a bit more stress and responsibility.
Whatever job you decide to take, a good idea is to first define what your goals are. Do you want a job that requires you to spend long hours, but rewards handsomely? Are you looking for a job where your tasks are well defined? What is your tolerance for stress? Do you prefer to work on a team, or alone? Do you want to perform research into new areas? Ask yourself these types of questions, and when you are sure of what you are looking for, ask your prospective employer about them. If you have a chance, ask the existing employees. Compare what the job has to offer against what you want from the job, and you will have a better chance of finding a position that is right for, regardless of whether it is public or private.
I've been on both sides of the interview table, and from what I can tell, most interviewers fall into the same trap: focusing too much on detailed technical questions. In reality, your programmers are going to be involved in much more than writing eloquent solutions to programming problems. Your programmers will most likely be involved in project management, project design, project implementation, project testing, and project deployment. Be sure not to get wrapped up in asking too many questions like "how many bytes in a java int?" Instead, look for good all around problem solvers. Ask about their design experience and what tools or resources they have used in designing previous projects. Ask how they would handle testing when a project has been under-quoted. These are questions that good problem solvers will be able to answer quickly, and those who "studied" for an interview will not. It will give you a much better idea of how your potential employee would work out in your business. Be sure that your interviewee will not only be a good programmer now, but also in the future when your development tools change.
Another useful tool for an employee interview is to have a break for lunch with a group of your staff. This will give you and your staff a chance to meet the interviewee in a less structured environment. Many times, an interviewee will relax a bit during your lunch, and you get a much better idea of the person's attitude. Someone who answers technical questions very well may turn out to be a social dunce. Or you may find that the person doesn't share the goals of your company. It will also give your staff a chance to find out if they fit in with the group.
If you don't feel satisfied without asking some technical questions, be sure to ask questions which apply to your framework, and not necessarily the programming language you use to implement that framework. For instance, if you design using Object Oriented principles, ask about "has a" and "is a" relationships. The idea is to ask questions that are still relevant if you change languages from C++ to Java or to some other language.
Using some of these ideas, my company has been able to easily pick the good candidates from the poor ones. YMMV: good luck!
This past Christmas, my wife gave me an MP3 player for when I go jogging. It was an Iomega HipZip. I had really wanted the Nike player, and had some initial doubts about the Iomega device. It uses the PocketZip media (was Clik! disk), which is essentially a scaled down 40MB version of the Iomega ZIP disk. The package came with two disks, the player, a USB cable, a power adapter, a licensed copy of MusicMatch Plus, ear bud headphones, and a BodyGlove belt clip. It can play MP3 and WMA files, and handles VBR MP3s.
The Pros:
Can swap out disks, so you can play as much music as you can carry.
Simple Controls - the buttons are arranged nicely that you can perform all of the basics with one hand without looking. This is nice while running.
Button lockout - there is a switch to cause the unit to ignore button input.
Resilient - I've dropped it a couple of times while jogging. It still works.
No skipping - I was afraid that the unit may skip, or fail since it uses a disk, but I haven't had a problem with that yet.
USB Support - To my PC, it looks like a standard USB hard drive. I can store photos, music, files, whatever on there.
Rechargeable - the unit uses an internal, rechargeable battery. In my use, I get about 8 hours of playtime per charge.
Price - At the time, the entire package listed above was $99.
The Cons:
Heavy: the unit is heavy. This is fine if it is sitting on your desk, but a different story on long runs.
Bulky: Even with the belt clip, it is difficult to keep the unit seated while jogging (thus my two drops). You will have to carry it while you run.
Small Storage: 40MB was plenty of space a couple of years ago, but with 128MB solid state devices, and 20GB disk based units, it is falling behind fast. The PocketZip media doesn't have much use outside of your player either, unlike the flash memory that other units use. Also, the price of a disk is at least $10, which is pretty high for magnetic media.
Noisy: Once a song is loaded, the player is silent, but when drive spins (about every 3 to 5 minutes depending on your bitrate) it is LOUD. You can see the unit torque if it is sitting on your desk.
Out of Production: To my knowledge, Iomega no longer promotes this unit. You will have to find one retail, or look on Ebay. The media is still available from the Iomega site though.
To summarize, if you are looking to purchase an MP3 player for your runs, I would not recommend the HipZip. Other players are lighter, smaller, and offer more storage than this unit.
This Sony products sounds very similar to the RioCentral from SonicBlue. The RioCentral rips a CD that you insert, grabs cd track info from cddb, and stores on 40GB drive in mp3 format. It has USB ports for connecting your portable MP3 player, and you can connect it to the rest of your network with the ethernet port. A feature it has over the Sony model is that it can also burn CDs that you mix. You can also transfer files to and from the unit over the network. The only feature sony seems to have on this guy is the ability to tune to radio stations.
I went to see the film this afternoon with my wife. We were joking about how long the previews, commercials, and intros were taking and decided to time it. The listed showing time was 1:00pm. The previews ran to 1:15. The animated short ran until 1:25. We exited the theater at 2:35. On a pure dollars per hour of entertainment scale, this was a really expensive outting, even considering it was a matinee.
I can't speak to the quality of a Linux Beowulf cluster. I did, however, recently setup and install an MS Win2K two server cluster for a large manufacturer.
The hardware:
(2) Dell PowerEdge 6450
Dual Pentium III Xeon (900Mhz)
1 GB RAM
(3) 3Com Network Interfaces
6 GB HD
PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller (PERC)
Dell Console Switch
APS 1400RM UPS
PowerVault 210S SCSI RAID
(5)6 GB HD
Hot swappable spare 6 GB drive.
The Software:
Windows 2000 Professional Server
MSDE
Internet Information Services
Windows Cluster Services
The purpose for using a clustered setup was for failover assurance. The active cluster controlled the manufacturing process, and if the cluster went down, the whole plant went down. We settled on a two node cluster. We later discovered that two nodes is the maximum that microsoft "recommends" (read supports). The cluster was to act as the gateway between the plant IT network, and the device network of PLCs for the machinery. The cluster would serve progress reports to the IT network, while controlling and collecting data from the device network. In the case of a failure on one node, the second node was to pick up the load.
After our initial research and development on the project, we became seriously disenchanted with MS clustering. No synchronization, no active replication, no load balancing.... about all it could do is fail gracefully from one node to the other. The three NICs on each node were a real nightmare. First NIC was a heartbeat. Second NIC to the plant IT network. Third NIC to the plant device network. We routinely encountered routing table loops through the heartbeat NIC, causing VERY long delays in connections.
The RAID acted as a quorum drive between the two nodes. The active node had control of the quorum, and the MSDE database was installed there. When a failover occurred, the last transactions committed were in the database. Unfortunately, any data from a transaction in progress was completely lost. The nodes often got confused over who owned the quorum, sometimes both fighting for it, other times both dropping it.
Fortunately, this system is only a prototype, and never controlled anything more important than a machine simulator and an isolated test network. I would highly discourage anyone considering using MS clustering. If you are hosting a web site, you may get some use from it, but if you are looking to perform distributed transaction processing, constant uptime, and at the same time provide a robust system, avoid MS clustering.
I work for a systems integrator and I have evaluated and used RFID in a couple of systems. There are only a handful of scenarios where using the RFIDs makes sense right now.
One scenario where RFIDs do make sense is in large warehouses and storage systems. With barcodes, the fork truck operator must be fairly accurate in his aim to get a proper ID back. With the RFIDs, he has a lot more room for error. A single RFID can identify what is in a skid of product, so the cost is relatively small.
A situation where RFIDs don't work well is in the consumer market. Currently, beverage makers are able to print the barcode directly onto the container (case, can, bottle). With RFIDs, the manufacturing must add an extra step in order to apply the ID. The additional cost of the ID, plus the cost of modifying the packaging system is far too great right now to justify using RFIDs. Add to this the fact that most supermarkets will need to install new equipment at the checkout for identifying the products. It is a change that is not worth making when the current barcode system works very well.
For those concerned about someone scanning all of your products in a single sweep, don't be (at least not with today's version of RFID). You have to be within a couple of feet of the ID to get it to respond. Also, several brands of the RFIDs are reprogrammable, so you could simply reset all of the IDs when you got home. Most likely, the ID is applied to the packaging, and not the product itself, so you could just throw out the box as well. I have found in my testing that if more than one ID is within the activation range of the reader, the reader will not get the right value. So you can rest your fears (at least until a better RFID tag is created).
For anyone who has not read Neal Stephenson, In The Beginning Was The Command Line is an essay he wrote dealing with the evolution of the UI from the command line to windows based. It is a funny and interesting rant on how the graphical widgets we use today have softened us.
A number of comments in this thread remark on the need for a touch screen. I believe a better solution would be to incorporate some type of voice activation / voice recognition. Make the system completely hands free. Voice recognition technology has advanced quite a bit in the past few years, and it would make the product infinitely more accessible to your average user. A keyboard/mouse/remote could still be included, but the unit should be capable of being operated completely by voice command.
I think the acid test in this case is to ask the question "If a warning label were placed on the product, would it have prevented the injury?" In this case, I believe it is a resounding NO. The kid had a serious gaming addiction. A warning in the Playstation documentation, assuming he read it, would not have prevented this kid from sitting in front of the tube and playing for hours on end.
I interned at Delco Electronics (now Delphi Automotive) who develop HVAC and electronic systems for automobiles, and I asked a similar question. Why not pipe the exhaust through the seats and use it to quickly heat the interior? It turns out that the risk of leaking exhaust fumes into the cabin is too great to allow such a design. The exhaust could quickly overcome the driver, and lead to an accident or death, even if parked.
I can see a possible application for this: speed detector jamming. Lots of people buy radar/laser/microwave detectors for their cars to try to beat the cops. There are even some on the market which claim to scramble the speed detector in such a way to disable the readout. With the quantum laser/maser setup, the faster you drive, the hotter your exhaust, and the hotter your exhaust, the more ferociously you jam anyone attempting to gauge your speed. Great!
This sounds like a great opportunity to run another test of the National Missile Defense system.
Better yet, let's turn it into an X-Game type competition between the BMDO and National Skeet Shooting Association to see who can hit the first/most chunk(s).
[...]most exciting aspect of this emerging technology is the fact that it is green!
I dispute the greenness of the disposable methanol charger. Think of all of the byproducts exhausted into the environment from simply manufacturing the charger. Also, most people will not properly dispose of a charger at a recycler, but will simply throw it away in the most convenient place (trash bin, front yard, road side).
i'm sure that the hotelier has adjusted their per night rate accordingly
True, but if I'm staying in a hotel, I've already paid for the electricity I'm consuming, no matter how much I consume. If I stay in a hotel and require methanol chargers, that is an additional charge that the hotel bill will not cover.
i doubt very much that 2 chemical batteries would have lasted for a 10 hour day
Mine do. Two Lithium Ion batteries on a powerstep notebook from Dell. I have no problem going ten hours.
[...]or refill from any of the countless other sources of hydrogen.
It's true enough that hydrogen is abundant, but the means for converting that available hydrogen into methane, and then storing that methane in your propietary charger technology are not.
I'm looking forward to the use of fuel cells in a number of areas. Unfortunately, this looks to be an application which is sufficiently handled by rechargeable chemical batteries.
I recall an earlier Slashdot article discussing the Coleman portable fuel cell generator. This would seem like a better solution for the laptop user, as you still have the option to charge from a standard wall outlet, but if you are in the field you could carry a resevoir of methanol and the Coleman for recharging in the wild.
One of the main thrusts behind developing fuel cells is how clean they are. The only exhaust from the process is water. This is great! However, if the methanol charges for the fuel cells are not rechargeable themselves, we will be adding a MORE exhaust to the environment, in the form of the disposed charger. Depending on how the charger is constructed, this can lead to toxic heavy metals breaking down in the earth.
When charging a standard chemical battery, we rely on the cleanliness of the source powering the outlet. Perhaps this technology might be better applied on a larger scale, such as powering an office building, or a small town.
The infrastructure for methanol will have to be vastly improved before a methanol fuel cell battery will ever be successful in laptops. I work as an integrator, and I take my laptop on-site for a lot of the jobs that I do. Most days on-site I work for 10 hours or longer on a system, carrying my laptop from place to place. The batteries drain, but my two batteries usually have the life to last through the day. When I get back to the hotel at night, I can plug into any outlet to fuel up the batteries.
With the methanol fuel cell, I would need to carry extra charges with me. On a week long trip out of state, that can be a lot of charges. With the current security measures in place at most airports, I doubt that I would be able to take them on the aircraft. Now I need to rely on the local shops to carry the fuel cell cartridges, which may or may not happen, depending upon my location.
Also, if I'm staying in a hotel, charging my batteries is free. If I use the fuel cell, I could get charged $3 per day or more for using my laptop. That's not much if I can write it off as a business expense, but if it is for my two week vacation to Alaska, it can get fairly expensive.
I prefer the convenience of using chemical batteries. I can charge from anywhere, and in a lot of cases, for free.
Slashdot Mirror
I work in a Microsoft only shop. We are an integrator that develops systems for manufacturers. The single most important technology we deal with are OPC (OLE for Process Control) servers, which are a Windows only technology. With .NET, I can create a client to connect to the OPC server, get the status of the machine, and relay that information to our MES and ERP systems.
Once Mono reaches a full, stable release, I'll be able to switch over to developing under Linux. Mono will allow me to interoperate with the components on a Windows application server, which we will still need to run the OPC server, but the client will now be able to run on any machine.
Until Mono is ready, I'll continue to use Ant, Vim, and Visual Studio.
Rather than focus on the idea of creating a living copy of our minds, consider the consequences of creating a complete and perfect snapshot of the brain. The snapshot contains detailed information on the physical structures of the brain, chemical compositions, and electrical state. Such a model would be invaluable to medical researchers in developing new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. Perhaps we could find methods to prevent or even cure ailments such as Lou Gherig's disease, Alzheimer's, Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, ADHD, or multitude of phenomenon.
Much more likely, however, is that such a technology would first be used in the military arena. Perhaps a device could be developed to trigger a sleep response, or disrupt the mind in such a way as to incapacitate the enemy. An entirely new way to conduct battle would be devised, as the human mind would be too susceptible to enemy influence.
Of course, another very interested party would be drug cartels. It would be very useful to find a way to alter the chemical makeup of the brain such that, after a single dose of the product, the customer is hopelessly addicted.
Marketing agencies could use the result of the research to utilize colors and motions that elicit a happy response when the viewer sees their advertisement. Advertisers are already using this idea to some extent, but with a better model of the brain to research with, how will we be able to resist these perfect ads?
My point is, there are much more near term and realistic results of a perfect snapshot of the mind than the idealized prophecy of copying ourselves into new bodies. Many seam to put their money on HAL, but mine is on the next LSD.
No, it would be just the same as if you threw it in the trash. AOL ships the CDs 4th class mail, which means that if you mark it return to sender, the USPS returns it to the earth.
Tell them to mark any and all AOL mail "RETURN TO SENDER" and AOL will bear even greater costs, at no cost to the consumer.
Actually, that won't work. The CD's are shipped 4th class mail. If you mark it return to sender, the post office will return it to the earth. They even mention it in the FAQ
I'm an avid BattleBots fan. Every week a new episode airs, I'm planted in the chair with my beer and popcorn. Unfortunately, the show is losing it's appeal. I enjoy watching the fights. It was great during the second and third season when they would air back to back episodes, because I could count on seeing up to eight fights in a night. This limited the chance of seeing some wedge weenies bumping around and increased the chance of a couple of spinners knocking themselves silly.
I think the show started to go bust when they went from two commentators and an interviewer, to a team that rivals professional baseball coverage. Do we really need this many people to host the show? Season 5 is by far the worst in this respect, with plenty of Carmen dancing in tight shirt and short skirt, and Tony Rock being Chris Rock's brother. The builders do not make good interview subjects, and the interviewers are even less apt in their role.
To get more viewers, they need to show more fights, and less talk. The big attraction for me is to see machines that are not quite fully controllable ripping each other apart. Fully armored wedges are no fun to watch, but the point system can be adjusted to insure that these bots don't win. The best fights are usually the lightweights, as the power of the machine surpasses the ability of the driver to control it, and the low weight means little armor. Spinners are great fun (Ziggo!), especially when they fight each other. Spinners are even fun when they malfunction, as they tend to tear themselves apart when they become unbalanced (Mauler, Son of Whyachi). Flippers are entertaining as well(Toro!). I'm sure that the builders will continue to come up with more ideas on how best to wreck the opponent. I think the current set of limits on weapons are not hampering the builders either. In fact, I think the limits are fair. How much fun is it to watch one machine douse the other in water? About as much fun as the dunk booth at the county fair. The show needs to go back to a four fight format. Get rid of the useless interviews, prancing, and posturing.
This is an excellent point, and something to take note of when looking at any offers that you might receive. My first year working for a private company, I went from a steady 40 hours of well-paced work a week to 50 hours or more of feverish work per week. Make sure that you are getting the 20-30% increase in pay to go along with the 20-30% increase in work load if you look to take a job with a typical small, private firm.
My coworkers here are wonderful, pleasant people, and many of them are quite knowledgeable.If you are looking at taking a government job, check to see if they pay based on a grade-step schedule. If they do, ask for a copy of that schedule. Ask about grade and step elevations, and how often they take place. Don't be afraid to ask for a better grade or step, or even reclassification from scientific to engineering staff.
I should elaborate on my comment about unmotivated peers. In my government work, I found that most of the people that I worked with regularly were well educated, highly skilled, enjoyable people. I certainly do not want to paint a picture of all public employees being poor workers, as this is the farthest thing from the truth. However, government position do offer the opportunity for a person to do very little, and still get by. Unfortunately, some of the staff within my old organization had the goal of doing as little as possible. They were not interested in their job or their work. They did the bare minimum to get by. If you are in a position where you must depend upon a person like this, it can be extremely frustrating. The larger the organization, private or public, the more likely you are to run into this type of attitude.
I worked in a government position for two years, then switched to a private industry job. I can't recommend any books on the subject, but I can relate my experience.
Government Job: Pros- Deadlines were meaningless
- Very low stress level
- Projects were unique and interesting
- If you really need something, money is no object.
Government Job: Cons- Lots of paperwork
- Limited salary
- Unmotivated peers
- Politics
Private Industry Job: Pros- Good Pay
- Good Equipment
- Competent Peers
- Good Benefits (insurance, perks, bonuses)
Private Industry Job: ConsEvery work environment will be different, so don't take these items as a hard and fast rule. I'm sure others in this thread will have widely different experiences from my own. Private companies that do work for the government (Raytheon, Boeing, Northrup) will act more like government jobs, and conversely, government labs (Sandia National Labs, MIT Lincoln Labs, John's Hopkins Physics Lab) will act more like private companies. Finding the right fit is a trial and error process that everyone must go through. I've found that I prefer to work for a small, private firm where I have more influence on my job, but at the same time take on quite a bit more stress and responsibility.
Whatever job you decide to take, a good idea is to first define what your goals are. Do you want a job that requires you to spend long hours, but rewards handsomely? Are you looking for a job where your tasks are well defined? What is your tolerance for stress? Do you prefer to work on a team, or alone? Do you want to perform research into new areas? Ask yourself these types of questions, and when you are sure of what you are looking for, ask your prospective employer about them. If you have a chance, ask the existing employees. Compare what the job has to offer against what you want from the job, and you will have a better chance of finding a position that is right for, regardless of whether it is public or private.
I've been on both sides of the interview table, and from what I can tell, most interviewers fall into the same trap: focusing too much on detailed technical questions. In reality, your programmers are going to be involved in much more than writing eloquent solutions to programming problems. Your programmers will most likely be involved in project management, project design, project implementation, project testing, and project deployment. Be sure not to get wrapped up in asking too many questions like "how many bytes in a java int?" Instead, look for good all around problem solvers. Ask about their design experience and what tools or resources they have used in designing previous projects. Ask how they would handle testing when a project has been under-quoted. These are questions that good problem solvers will be able to answer quickly, and those who "studied" for an interview will not. It will give you a much better idea of how your potential employee would work out in your business. Be sure that your interviewee will not only be a good programmer now, but also in the future when your development tools change.
Another useful tool for an employee interview is to have a break for lunch with a group of your staff. This will give you and your staff a chance to meet the interviewee in a less structured environment. Many times, an interviewee will relax a bit during your lunch, and you get a much better idea of the person's attitude. Someone who answers technical questions very well may turn out to be a social dunce. Or you may find that the person doesn't share the goals of your company. It will also give your staff a chance to find out if they fit in with the group.
If you don't feel satisfied without asking some technical questions, be sure to ask questions which apply to your framework, and not necessarily the programming language you use to implement that framework. For instance, if you design using Object Oriented principles, ask about "has a" and "is a" relationships. The idea is to ask questions that are still relevant if you change languages from C++ to Java or to some other language.
Using some of these ideas, my company has been able to easily pick the good candidates from the poor ones. YMMV: good luck!
The Pros:
The Cons:
To summarize, if you are looking to purchase an MP3 player for your runs, I would not recommend the HipZip. Other players are lighter, smaller, and offer more storage than this unit.
This Sony products sounds very similar to the RioCentral from SonicBlue. The RioCentral rips a CD that you insert, grabs cd track info from cddb, and stores on 40GB drive in mp3 format. It has USB ports for connecting your portable MP3 player, and you can connect it to the rest of your network with the ethernet port. A feature it has over the Sony model is that it can also burn CDs that you mix. You can also transfer files to and from the unit over the network. The only feature sony seems to have on this guy is the ability to tune to radio stations.
I went to see the film this afternoon with my wife. We were joking about how long the previews, commercials, and intros were taking and decided to time it. The listed showing time was 1:00pm. The previews ran to 1:15. The animated short ran until 1:25. We exited the theater at 2:35. On a pure dollars per hour of entertainment scale, this was a really expensive outting, even considering it was a matinee.
I can't speak to the quality of a Linux Beowulf cluster. I did, however, recently setup and install an MS Win2K two server cluster for a large manufacturer.
The hardware:The Software:
The purpose for using a clustered setup was for failover assurance. The active cluster controlled the manufacturing process, and if the cluster went down, the whole plant went down. We settled on a two node cluster. We later discovered that two nodes is the maximum that microsoft "recommends" (read supports). The cluster was to act as the gateway between the plant IT network, and the device network of PLCs for the machinery. The cluster would serve progress reports to the IT network, while controlling and collecting data from the device network. In the case of a failure on one node, the second node was to pick up the load.
After our initial research and development on the project, we became seriously disenchanted with MS clustering. No synchronization, no active replication, no load balancing.... about all it could do is fail gracefully from one node to the other. The three NICs on each node were a real nightmare. First NIC was a heartbeat. Second NIC to the plant IT network. Third NIC to the plant device network. We routinely encountered routing table loops through the heartbeat NIC, causing VERY long delays in connections.
The RAID acted as a quorum drive between the two nodes. The active node had control of the quorum, and the MSDE database was installed there. When a failover occurred, the last transactions committed were in the database. Unfortunately, any data from a transaction in progress was completely lost. The nodes often got confused over who owned the quorum, sometimes both fighting for it, other times both dropping it.
Fortunately, this system is only a prototype, and never controlled anything more important than a machine simulator and an isolated test network. I would highly discourage anyone considering using MS clustering. If you are hosting a web site, you may get some use from it, but if you are looking to perform distributed transaction processing, constant uptime, and at the same time provide a robust system, avoid MS clustering.
I work for a systems integrator and I have evaluated and used RFID in a couple of systems. There are only a handful of scenarios where using the RFIDs makes sense right now.
One scenario where RFIDs do make sense is in large warehouses and storage systems. With barcodes, the fork truck operator must be fairly accurate in his aim to get a proper ID back. With the RFIDs, he has a lot more room for error. A single RFID can identify what is in a skid of product, so the cost is relatively small.
A situation where RFIDs don't work well is in the consumer market. Currently, beverage makers are able to print the barcode directly onto the container (case, can, bottle). With RFIDs, the manufacturing must add an extra step in order to apply the ID. The additional cost of the ID, plus the cost of modifying the packaging system is far too great right now to justify using RFIDs. Add to this the fact that most supermarkets will need to install new equipment at the checkout for identifying the products. It is a change that is not worth making when the current barcode system works very well.
For those concerned about someone scanning all of your products in a single sweep, don't be (at least not with today's version of RFID). You have to be within a couple of feet of the ID to get it to respond. Also, several brands of the RFIDs are reprogrammable, so you could simply reset all of the IDs when you got home. Most likely, the ID is applied to the packaging, and not the product itself, so you could just throw out the box as well. I have found in my testing that if more than one ID is within the activation range of the reader, the reader will not get the right value. So you can rest your fears (at least until a better RFID tag is created).
For anyone who has not read Neal Stephenson, In The Beginning Was The Command Line is an essay he wrote dealing with the evolution of the UI from the command line to windows based. It is a funny and interesting rant on how the graphical widgets we use today have softened us.
You can get Interface here from Amazon.
A number of comments in this thread remark on the need for a touch screen. I believe a better solution would be to incorporate some type of voice activation / voice recognition. Make the system completely hands free. Voice recognition technology has advanced quite a bit in the past few years, and it would make the product infinitely more accessible to your average user. A keyboard/mouse/remote could still be included, but the unit should be capable of being operated completely by voice command.
I think the acid test in this case is to ask the question "If a warning label were placed on the product, would it have prevented the injury?" In this case, I believe it is a resounding NO. The kid had a serious gaming addiction. A warning in the Playstation documentation, assuming he read it, would not have prevented this kid from sitting in front of the tube and playing for hours on end.
I interned at Delco Electronics (now Delphi Automotive) who develop HVAC and electronic systems for automobiles, and I asked a similar question. Why not pipe the exhaust through the seats and use it to quickly heat the interior? It turns out that the risk of leaking exhaust fumes into the cabin is too great to allow such a design. The exhaust could quickly overcome the driver, and lead to an accident or death, even if parked.
I can see a possible application for this: speed detector jamming. Lots of people buy radar/laser/microwave detectors for their cars to try to beat the cops. There are even some on the market which claim to scramble the speed detector in such a way to disable the readout. With the quantum laser/maser setup, the faster you drive, the hotter your exhaust, and the hotter your exhaust, the more ferociously you jam anyone attempting to gauge your speed. Great!
This sounds like a great opportunity to run another test of the National Missile Defense system.
Better yet, let's turn it into an X-Game type competition between the BMDO and National Skeet Shooting Association to see who can hit the first/most chunk(s).
[...]most exciting aspect of this emerging technology is the fact that it is green!
I dispute the greenness of the disposable methanol charger. Think of all of the byproducts exhausted into the environment from simply manufacturing the charger. Also, most people will not properly dispose of a charger at a recycler, but will simply throw it away in the most convenient place (trash bin, front yard, road side).
i'm sure that the hotelier has adjusted their per night rate accordingly
True, but if I'm staying in a hotel, I've already paid for the electricity I'm consuming, no matter how much I consume. If I stay in a hotel and require methanol chargers, that is an additional charge that the hotel bill will not cover.
i doubt very much that 2 chemical batteries would have lasted for a 10 hour day
Mine do. Two Lithium Ion batteries on a powerstep notebook from Dell. I have no problem going ten hours.
[...]or refill from any of the countless other sources of hydrogen.
It's true enough that hydrogen is abundant, but the means for converting that available hydrogen into methane, and then storing that methane in your propietary charger technology are not.
I'm looking forward to the use of fuel cells in a number of areas. Unfortunately, this looks to be an application which is sufficiently handled by rechargeable chemical batteries.
I recall an earlier Slashdot article discussing the Coleman portable fuel cell generator. This would seem like a better solution for the laptop user, as you still have the option to charge from a standard wall outlet, but if you are in the field you could carry a resevoir of methanol and the Coleman for recharging in the wild.
One of the main thrusts behind developing fuel cells is how clean they are. The only exhaust from the process is water. This is great! However, if the methanol charges for the fuel cells are not rechargeable themselves, we will be adding a MORE exhaust to the environment, in the form of the disposed charger. Depending on how the charger is constructed, this can lead to toxic heavy metals breaking down in the earth.
When charging a standard chemical battery, we rely on the cleanliness of the source powering the outlet. Perhaps this technology might be better applied on a larger scale, such as powering an office building, or a small town.
The infrastructure for methanol will have to be vastly improved before a methanol fuel cell battery will ever be successful in laptops. I work as an integrator, and I take my laptop on-site for a lot of the jobs that I do. Most days on-site I work for 10 hours or longer on a system, carrying my laptop from place to place. The batteries drain, but my two batteries usually have the life to last through the day. When I get back to the hotel at night, I can plug into any outlet to fuel up the batteries.
With the methanol fuel cell, I would need to carry extra charges with me. On a week long trip out of state, that can be a lot of charges. With the current security measures in place at most airports, I doubt that I would be able to take them on the aircraft. Now I need to rely on the local shops to carry the fuel cell cartridges, which may or may not happen, depending upon my location.
Also, if I'm staying in a hotel, charging my batteries is free. If I use the fuel cell, I could get charged $3 per day or more for using my laptop. That's not much if I can write it off as a business expense, but if it is for my two week vacation to Alaska, it can get fairly expensive.
I prefer the convenience of using chemical batteries. I can charge from anywhere, and in a lot of cases, for free.
BTW, my caustic comments are all addressed to Slashdot's editors, and not to submitters.
If your comments are for the editors, and not for the submitters, then why did you comment on the quoted submissions?