Being loyal is admirable, but it can easily go too far. I felt the same way as you do now, all the way up until I was laid off. While looking for a new job, I've found that I was being paid at the low end of the scale, and even though I was the only "expert" in the areas I was working on, I was let go simply because I was not working out of the main offices (or out of India).
You need to seriously consider how much loyalty your company has to you. You don't work for your colleagues or even your direct manager, you work for the company. If the loyalty isn't nearly equivalent in both directions, then you need to bring it into balance on your end, which most likely means scaling back your own sense of loyalty.
As others have said, that the non-touch Kindle doesn't have a touch-based keyboard is a tad on the obvious side.
As for the 3G browser, this discussion is the first time I've heard it was available at all. When I got my Kindle, Amazon made it very clear and obvious that the browser was only supported over WiFi. It made sense to me that the free 3G connection was contingent upon the fact that very little bandwidth is used downloading books and checking the Kindle bookstore periodically. It just doesn't make sense that the 3G providers would allow a very low one-time fee for effectively unlimited data usage. If Amazon did open up 3G browsing, then I suspect they only did it because no one uses it. That might be different with the Kindle Touch, I suppose.
My first thought on reading the summary: they're splitting off the DVD service so that streaming users no longer see just how much content they don't have access to. I just switched to DVD-only, but with the prior DVD+streaming plan, I was constantly irritated that the vast majority of content I searched for was only on DVD.
On the flip side, now that I have the DVD-only plan, I won't have to see that I could be watching that movie right now if I had streaming. That means there is no enticement for me to consider getting streaming again. Good for me, bad for Netflix/Qwikster. Another aspect of the "didn't think it through very well" supposition.
I'm glad they made this change. Now musicians will finally have a worthwhile incentive to create good music knowing they can reap the rewards for 70 years. Everyone knows there's been nothing worth listening to in the last 50 years since all the musicians have been holding back their best works for a longer copyright period. This is how copyright is intended to work, right?
The best thing that could come out of the NetFlix change in pricing would be if a significant number of sheep told NetFlix "Fine, drop my subscription in price by two bucks and only send mr DVDs by mail, I'll pass on the low bitrate, limited selection, no extras downloads"
That's my plan, although looking at the Netflix website, I don't see a way to sign up for just DVDs. It appears that you need to sign up for streaming, then you can add 1 DVD at a time for $7.99. Guess I have to call and ask, but they're not making it easy. I'd actually like to go to 2 DVDs at a time and drop the poor-selection streaming.
Seems like they're trying to get current customers to bankroll future deals with the content providers to increase the selection. Since there are no contracts, I'll let someone else pay and then jump back in when the selection is better than "sucky".
Don't forget about the manufacturer of the servers, network gear, cabling, racks, etc that CNET uses. And the contractor that built the building the equipment is in. And the local restaurants that provide sustenance to the people that keep the servers running. And the local governments that profited (via taxes) from the ill gotten gains CNET took in as a result of the blatant infringement. And the parents of the children who receive public education payed for by those taxes. And the...
I've been getting hit by the ATT "$2 button" (TM) most billing periods. This Verizon settlement should make it easier to get them to refund all those back charges. What's really annoying is that to be able to use the *free* unlimited MMS messaging service I have (I have a teenager, ugh), I have to have a data plan. So I have the pay-as-you go plan, which exposes me to the cost of the inadvertent data fees (and no, it doesn't all come from the teenager, her mother and I get hit with it as, if not more, often).
I know someone who had cable internet, phone and TV. They canceled the phone line (the cable co's voip was awful at the time), and somehow the internet charges were canceled as well, even though the internet connection continued to work. That went on for something like 18 months, during which service went out several times and technicians had to be called. That was one case where the unexplainable chasm between the service and billing departments was an advantage.
It all eventually came to an end when a phone service person noticed it and reinstated the billing. I think they didn't want to deal with the hassle of paperwork, so there was never any mention of payment for the previous service.
Not that I would ever want to defend a cable co, but just to show that there's at least one case where a mistake was significantly in the favor of the customer.
The question is, would the company have said anything if the mistake was in *their* favor (they had over read the meter), or would they stay silent and only deal with it if the customer complained?
(and widescreen displays tend to have more pixels overall, hence are a big win in general)
No. Over the course of time, I've had to "upgrade" my leased laptop at work. The progression of the equivalent laptops has gone from 1600x1200 (1.92M pixels) to 1680x1050 (1.764M pixels) to 1600x900 (1.44M pixels). Sure, you can spend more and get 1920x1440. Oops, even that has dropped to 1920x1080 in newer laptops.
There are monitors with high resolutions (1920x1200) now that are remarkably cheap compared to even just a few years ago, so we should thank the TV industry for driving volumes, but I'm still going to complain about having a display designed for watching movies on my laptop where I don't watch movies. I have a 55" HDTV for that.
If this was nothing more than a portable videoconferencing device, I'd be inclined to agree with you. Personally, I'm more interested in all the other features (IM, virtual desktop, PDF reader (hopefully), etc.) This would be a very handy device for the way I work, although as a software engineer, it would never replace a desktop or a really good laptop. The video conferencing stuff would be nice while I am at my desk. I really don't think Cisco is trying at all to compete with or replace the iPad. Apple hasn't shown any real interest in the business market, and the Cius is targeted exclusively at the business market.
As for using a couple of netbooks for video conferencing, have you ever used a telepresence room? If not, then you are in no position to offer alternatives. I too was skeptical of the cost of a telepresence setup until I actually used one. Telepresence is to video conferencing what a telephone is to a couple of cans and a string.
In the interests of full disclosure, I do work for Cisco, but I'm not a fanboy. I say "telepresence" because that's the only HD VC system I've used, but I'm sure the others on the market provide a similar (hopefully slightly inferior:) experience. The iPad is a really slick device, but I have no interest in buying one. I am hoping that Cisco provides me with a Cius (not a fan of the name), though.
Regardless of what the end database looks like and how long it takes, the first step should be to hire Google to use their book scanning technology to scan all of those documents for preservation. Hell, I bet Google would do it for free. There goes the possibility that "We are one fire, or one flood, or one spilled Starbucks coffee away from some of those records being lost or spoiled". If you don't like Google, I'm sure there are others who could do it just as well.
I know my daughter was much more interested in learning to read so she could play Pokemon and other games on her DS. She was tired of asking us to read what the characters were saying. She's in second grade now and just finished the third Harry Potter book.
o Remove all menu entries and shortcuts to Internet Explorer and show them how to use Firefox.
It's not necessarily perfect, but it cuts the infection rate way down. My Mom's laptop has been running smoothly for a couple of years. She never uses IE or Outlook and knows not to download stuff sent to her in emails.
I wear a HRM when I ride my bike, mostly for curiosity's sake. I do know that when my heart rate hits 172-174 going up a nasty hill, I am usually just beyond the maximum output I can sustain for more than a minute or two. But on rare occasion, I'll notice that I'm at 175 and feeling not too bad, so there are obviously other factors at play (perhaps hydration level, amount of sleep the night before, etc). I'm not so serious that I use my heart rate to train by; when I can't get enough air, I know I'm pushing to my limit.
Sure, the study is likely wildly wrong on the numbers and is self-serving on McAfee's part, but so what? Reducing carbon footprint is all the rage these, and if politicians latch onto this study, maybe they'll be more likely to really do something about spam.
So shut up and stop providing well-considered criticism of this report (not that it matters, the politicians generally don't read slashdot and they certainly don't pay attention to the truth, unless it happens to coincide with public perception).
Why is it that this post feels so much like it's going to say the exact opposite of what it does say?
In any case, I agree completely. I've always felt that having "critical thinking" be a required course of study alongside language arts, math, science, etc. from Kindergarten on has the potential to change the world in a significantly positive way. Hell, just giving people the skills to avoid spam/phishing, thus putting an end to it, would make a big difference in most of our lives.
I think that's just a tad bit hyperbolic. The Prof. Reiss thing appears to be an unfortunate case of media sensationalism blowing things way out of proportion (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Royal_Society_education_chief_forced_out_in_creation_row).
But to extrapolate that into what you consider "many on slashdot" would like is willful stupidity. If you pay attention at all, I think you'll find that the "many on slashdot" to which you are referring simply don't want creationism/ID to be taught as science. And they feel that way because it's NOT SCIENCE.
Anyone who feels that creationism/ID shouldn't be discussed in, say, a philosophy class is, in my opinion, just as obtuse as you are. But I haven't seen anyone say that here or in the numerous other similar discussions, at least not in any comments I've read.
Uh, yeah. So the "we have no evidence that life could have spontaneously arisen, so it must not have" crowd is somehow more right than the "we have no evidence for how it happened, but we think life spontaneous arose" crowd?
I'm not sure that argument really even is that relevant in the discussion of evolution. I never considered evolution to really define where the original cell came from, but more to define how that one cell became us. I find it absolutely astonishing that so much evidence of evolution exists, particularly in the fossil record.
I mean, think about how big the earth is, the constant turmoil from erosion, volcanism, plate tectonics, etc. that afflicts the earth's crust. Now imagine a squishy flesh-and-bone creature (let alone a bacteria or plankton, or whatever) dying, being preserved in whole or part, and being found hundreds of millions of years later, many times purely by chance by some construction worker or farmer digging a hole.
So, for some whiny creationist to come along and say there are holes in the fossil record really just pisses me off. If you want to believe in miracles, think about finding a preserved brain from a hundred+ million year old fossil. To me, that's a f*cking miracle. (Sorry, that's probably somewhat tangent in the context of this reply, but not in the context of the overall discussion.)
And please, the "God put it there to test us" argument is just an embarrassment.
Most then went on to get the same kind of computer at home that they used at work because, as much of a pain as it is to use Windows, it's more of a pain to have to use both.
Not to mention the fact that, while Macs may have been cheap for schools to acquire, they were far from affordable for most people. That's where Apple's strategy was flawed.
Thanks for that explanation. Now I know not to trust that "topological map" I got at a yard sale next time I go hiking. Might be helpful in finding a donut shop, though...
I shut my laptop down just about every night and reboot it the next day. Boot time really isn't that bad in Ubunutu 7.10, certainly in comparison to Windows (XP or Vista), but it would be nice if it were even faster. My desktop at work, on the other hand, is like yours--it stays up until I upgrade the distro (or sometimes if I'm not too busy at work, I'll let it upgrade the kernel and reboot).
Either way, speeding up the boot process can't hurt, even if only 5% of users end up caring, so let these guys have their fun and applaud them for it. I do.
Slashdot Mirror
Being loyal is admirable, but it can easily go too far. I felt the same way as you do now, all the way up until I was laid off. While looking for a new job, I've found that I was being paid at the low end of the scale, and even though I was the only "expert" in the areas I was working on, I was let go simply because I was not working out of the main offices (or out of India).
You need to seriously consider how much loyalty your company has to you. You don't work for your colleagues or even your direct manager, you work for the company. If the loyalty isn't nearly equivalent in both directions, then you need to bring it into balance on your end, which most likely means scaling back your own sense of loyalty.
As others have said, that the non-touch Kindle doesn't have a touch-based keyboard is a tad on the obvious side.
As for the 3G browser, this discussion is the first time I've heard it was available at all. When I got my Kindle, Amazon made it very clear and obvious that the browser was only supported over WiFi. It made sense to me that the free 3G connection was contingent upon the fact that very little bandwidth is used downloading books and checking the Kindle bookstore periodically. It just doesn't make sense that the 3G providers would allow a very low one-time fee for effectively unlimited data usage. If Amazon did open up 3G browsing, then I suspect they only did it because no one uses it. That might be different with the Kindle Touch, I suppose.
My first thought on reading the summary: they're splitting off the DVD service so that streaming users no longer see just how much content they don't have access to. I just switched to DVD-only, but with the prior DVD+streaming plan, I was constantly irritated that the vast majority of content I searched for was only on DVD.
On the flip side, now that I have the DVD-only plan, I won't have to see that I could be watching that movie right now if I had streaming. That means there is no enticement for me to consider getting streaming again. Good for me, bad for Netflix/Qwikster. Another aspect of the "didn't think it through very well" supposition.
I'm glad they made this change. Now musicians will finally have a worthwhile incentive to create good music knowing they can reap the rewards for 70 years. Everyone knows there's been nothing worth listening to in the last 50 years since all the musicians have been holding back their best works for a longer copyright period. This is how copyright is intended to work, right?
The best thing that could come out of the NetFlix change in pricing would be if a significant number of sheep told NetFlix "Fine, drop my subscription in price by two bucks and only send mr DVDs by mail, I'll pass on the low bitrate, limited selection, no extras downloads"
That's my plan, although looking at the Netflix website, I don't see a way to sign up for just DVDs. It appears that you need to sign up for streaming, then you can add 1 DVD at a time for $7.99. Guess I have to call and ask, but they're not making it easy. I'd actually like to go to 2 DVDs at a time and drop the poor-selection streaming.
Seems like they're trying to get current customers to bankroll future deals with the content providers to increase the selection. Since there are no contracts, I'll let someone else pay and then jump back in when the selection is better than "sucky".
Don't forget about the manufacturer of the servers, network gear, cabling, racks, etc that CNET uses. And the contractor that built the building the equipment is in. And the local restaurants that provide sustenance to the people that keep the servers running. And the local governments that profited (via taxes) from the ill gotten gains CNET took in as a result of the blatant infringement. And the parents of the children who receive public education payed for by those taxes. And the ...
I've been getting hit by the ATT "$2 button" (TM) most billing periods. This Verizon settlement should make it easier to get them to refund all those back charges. What's really annoying is that to be able to use the *free* unlimited MMS messaging service I have (I have a teenager, ugh), I have to have a data plan. So I have the pay-as-you go plan, which exposes me to the cost of the inadvertent data fees (and no, it doesn't all come from the teenager, her mother and I get hit with it as, if not more, often).
I know someone who had cable internet, phone and TV. They canceled the phone line (the cable co's voip was awful at the time), and somehow the internet charges were canceled as well, even though the internet connection continued to work. That went on for something like 18 months, during which service went out several times and technicians had to be called. That was one case where the unexplainable chasm between the service and billing departments was an advantage.
It all eventually came to an end when a phone service person noticed it and reinstated the billing. I think they didn't want to deal with the hassle of paperwork, so there was never any mention of payment for the previous service.
Not that I would ever want to defend a cable co, but just to show that there's at least one case where a mistake was significantly in the favor of the customer.
The question is, would the company have said anything if the mistake was in *their* favor (they had over read the meter), or would they stay silent and only deal with it if the customer complained?
(and widescreen displays tend to have more pixels overall, hence are a big win in general)
No. Over the course of time, I've had to "upgrade" my leased laptop at work. The progression of the equivalent laptops has gone from 1600x1200 (1.92M pixels) to 1680x1050 (1.764M pixels) to 1600x900 (1.44M pixels). Sure, you can spend more and get 1920x1440. Oops, even that has dropped to 1920x1080 in newer laptops.
There are monitors with high resolutions (1920x1200) now that are remarkably cheap compared to even just a few years ago, so we should thank the TV industry for driving volumes, but I'm still going to complain about having a display designed for watching movies on my laptop where I don't watch movies. I have a 55" HDTV for that.
Thank you. People who indent with spaces should be shot. Indent with tabs all you want and I can view it the way I want (2 space, 4 space, etc.).
If the only place code was ever looked at was in an editor with adjustable TAB sizing, you just might have an argument. But it isn't, and you don't.
If this was nothing more than a portable videoconferencing device, I'd be inclined to agree with you. Personally, I'm more interested in all the other features (IM, virtual desktop, PDF reader (hopefully), etc.) This would be a very handy device for the way I work, although as a software engineer, it would never replace a desktop or a really good laptop. The video conferencing stuff would be nice while I am at my desk. I really don't think Cisco is trying at all to compete with or replace the iPad. Apple hasn't shown any real interest in the business market, and the Cius is targeted exclusively at the business market.
As for using a couple of netbooks for video conferencing, have you ever used a telepresence room? If not, then you are in no position to offer alternatives. I too was skeptical of the cost of a telepresence setup until I actually used one. Telepresence is to video conferencing what a telephone is to a couple of cans and a string.
In the interests of full disclosure, I do work for Cisco, but I'm not a fanboy. I say "telepresence" because that's the only HD VC system I've used, but I'm sure the others on the market provide a similar (hopefully slightly inferior :) experience. The iPad is a really slick device, but I have no interest in buying one. I am hoping that Cisco provides me with a Cius (not a fan of the name), though.
Regardless of what the end database looks like and how long it takes, the first step should be to hire Google to use their book scanning technology to scan all of those documents for preservation. Hell, I bet Google would do it for free. There goes the possibility that "We are one fire, or one flood, or one spilled Starbucks coffee away from some of those records being lost or spoiled". If you don't like Google, I'm sure there are others who could do it just as well.
I know my daughter was much more interested in learning to read so she could play Pokemon and other games on her DS. She was tired of asking us to read what the characters were saying. She's in second grade now and just finished the third Harry Potter book.
You forgot one step:
o Remove all menu entries and shortcuts to Internet Explorer and show them how to use Firefox.
It's not necessarily perfect, but it cuts the infection rate way down. My Mom's laptop has been running smoothly for a couple of years. She never uses IE or Outlook and knows not to download stuff sent to her in emails.
I wear a HRM when I ride my bike, mostly for curiosity's sake. I do know that when my heart rate hits 172-174 going up a nasty hill, I am usually just beyond the maximum output I can sustain for more than a minute or two. But on rare occasion, I'll notice that I'm at 175 and feeling not too bad, so there are obviously other factors at play (perhaps hydration level, amount of sleep the night before, etc). I'm not so serious that I use my heart rate to train by; when I can't get enough air, I know I'm pushing to my limit.
Sure, the study is likely wildly wrong on the numbers and is self-serving on McAfee's part, but so what? Reducing carbon footprint is all the rage these, and if politicians latch onto this study, maybe they'll be more likely to really do something about spam.
So shut up and stop providing well-considered criticism of this report (not that it matters, the politicians generally don't read slashdot and they certainly don't pay attention to the truth, unless it happens to coincide with public perception).
Why is it that this post feels so much like it's going to say the exact opposite of what it does say?
In any case, I agree completely. I've always felt that having "critical thinking" be a required course of study alongside language arts, math, science, etc. from Kindergarten on has the potential to change the world in a significantly positive way. Hell, just giving people the skills to avoid spam/phishing, thus putting an end to it, would make a big difference in most of our lives.
I think that's just a tad bit hyperbolic. The Prof. Reiss thing appears to be an unfortunate case of media sensationalism blowing things way out of proportion (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Royal_Society_education_chief_forced_out_in_creation_row).
But to extrapolate that into what you consider "many on slashdot" would like is willful stupidity. If you pay attention at all, I think you'll find that the "many on slashdot" to which you are referring simply don't want creationism/ID to be taught as science. And they feel that way because it's NOT SCIENCE.
Anyone who feels that creationism/ID shouldn't be discussed in, say, a philosophy class is, in my opinion, just as obtuse as you are. But I haven't seen anyone say that here or in the numerous other similar discussions, at least not in any comments I've read.
Uh, yeah. So the "we have no evidence that life could have spontaneously arisen, so it must not have" crowd is somehow more right than the "we have no evidence for how it happened, but we think life spontaneous arose" crowd?
I'm not sure that argument really even is that relevant in the discussion of evolution. I never considered evolution to really define where the original cell came from, but more to define how that one cell became us. I find it absolutely astonishing that so much evidence of evolution exists, particularly in the fossil record.
I mean, think about how big the earth is, the constant turmoil from erosion, volcanism, plate tectonics, etc. that afflicts the earth's crust. Now imagine a squishy flesh-and-bone creature (let alone a bacteria or plankton, or whatever) dying, being preserved in whole or part, and being found hundreds of millions of years later, many times purely by chance by some construction worker or farmer digging a hole.
So, for some whiny creationist to come along and say there are holes in the fossil record really just pisses me off. If you want to believe in miracles, think about finding a preserved brain from a hundred+ million year old fossil. To me, that's a f*cking miracle. (Sorry, that's probably somewhat tangent in the context of this reply, but not in the context of the overall discussion.)
And please, the "God put it there to test us" argument is just an embarrassment.
Most then went on to get the same kind of computer at home that they used at work because, as much of a pain as it is to use Windows, it's more of a pain to have to use both.
Not to mention the fact that, while Macs may have been cheap for schools to acquire, they were far from affordable for most people. That's where Apple's strategy was flawed.
Thanks for that explanation. Now I know not to trust that "topological map" I got at a yard sale next time I go hiking. Might be helpful in finding a donut shop, though...
Was this a lame attempt at a joke, or were you serious? If you were serious, then you are among the 50% of people that are below average intelligence.
Um, my Honda Fit is drive by wire, at least for the throttle. A number of Hondas have this, and I'm sure they're not the only manufacturer doing it.
I shut my laptop down just about every night and reboot it the next day. Boot time really isn't that bad in Ubunutu 7.10, certainly in comparison to Windows (XP or Vista), but it would be nice if it were even faster. My desktop at work, on the other hand, is like yours--it stays up until I upgrade the distro (or sometimes if I'm not too busy at work, I'll let it upgrade the kernel and reboot).
Either way, speeding up the boot process can't hurt, even if only 5% of users end up caring, so let these guys have their fun and applaud them for it. I do.