You can get a bookPC without the cpu and memory for under two hundred, which looks nice next to the other audio/video components, and runs fairly cool. Drop a cdr into that, write your own app and you're done. Best of all, most book PCs output video so you can write your own tv controller app, and use a remote to program it.
-Adam
Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window.
If companies know that we can trivially and legally circumvent their "control" schemes, they won't bother with them in the first place. And that's what open standards are all about.
So, essentially, the author is claiming that open standards exist only because any closed standard is going to be opened forcefully, and companies are just going to give in?
Some minds are like cement - thoroughly mixed and permanently set.
-Adam
"Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window." Web developer:
Resume
I've been running a small computer consulting business on the side for 4 years now which my father ran for the previous ten.
You will likely never be able to compete with even Dell on price - but you won't normally be selling all-in-one system boards, will you? That's what Dell and others sell in order to lower their cost. You need to know that the parts and systems you sell are of better quality than those provided "off the shelf" from a cookie-cutter manufacturer. If you don't believe it (sounds like you don't) then your customers won't, and they'll go elsewhere.
Networking and connections count for far more than advertising. If you can't make it as a small business without advertising, you may as well choose another line of work.
Many customers want cheap. Most customers want cheap. Take the time to explain the difference between cheap and inexpensive. You sell inexpensive equipment. The computer they showed you in the ad is cheap. (not always the case, make sure you know what you're talking about)
Customer!=client. A customer will walk in, purchase, and walk out. A client will call you for every need that is computer related. Maintain client relationships. A computer company can make money selling computers for only so long, this is where you get your clientelle from. After everyone who is going to buy from you has bought from you you will live off repeat business. Expect and plan for a finite number of customers, and work from day one turning them into clients.
Distributers such as Ingram Micro, D and H, Infotel, Tech data, etc don't mind working with smaller customers. You can sell inexpensive good quality parts as a small store, you'll just have to tell clients (customers won't understand this) that often parts will take a day (or two at the most) to get, and if they want something immediately then the part will likely be more expensive (ie, you run to another computer store to get it - they don't mind you doing this even though it does cost more - if you have developed the client relationship then they would rather work with you and through you so they will only have one point of contact for all their needs and problems) And, of course, distributers like these will give you what you need to offer MSN and other rebates as well, so you CAN offer the $400 MSN rebate, if that's what they want - I try to steer people away from MSN and AOL as it increases my own support (MSN and AOL both routinely claim "it's a computer problem" when, in fact, it is an internet service problem (ISP))
KEEP ACCURATE RECORDS. Your company will die a horrible bloody death otherwise. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.
Consider the entire life cycle of a computer system. Customers will not want to spend much, so suggest that they upgrade their old computer - replace the motherboard, CPU, memory and it costs a fraction of a new system.
Internet service is a commodity, and it has been for quite some time. People are willing to give up support for (lower price || more bandwidth) or even a perception of lower/more.
The market for the mom'n'pop shop is dwindling. They have to either:
Grow their own 'large' business (and thus lower their service/support) or
Offer a unique service, fit into a niche.
Otherwise people are just going to buy the cheapest. You generally can't offer cheap unless you have a large customer base, and few employees which generally means inferior service.
But then there's the whole other issue of what you feel service is. Large corporations can afford a multi-tier approach to service, and that is what generally is best for the majority of clueless users. It pains us because we know that everytime we call we have to go through 2-3 tiers before we get someone who knows as much as we do. Sure, we could get better service, but we would be paying more, and guess which most of us geeks choose: Good service/Low price?
-Adam
Saving the world one CR/LF at a time. Web developer:
Resume
First, the note from someone about geothermal use in alaska concerns mainly the use of it as an open loop. You suck water from an underground well, lake or other natural resource into your system, extract heat/insert heat, and then dump it back into the ground (drain, well, lake, etc). Many geothermal systems (If not most) are closed loop, and do not touch underground aquafers (rivers, wells, lakes, etc) and so are considered much less of a danger to the environment, and therefore suffer fewer regulations.
I've not dealt directly in geothermal energy, but I've studied it through the years. It has a low user base, and is very expensive initially (it almost always pays for itself in under 1/2 of it's lifetime). It falls under a lot more regulation than gas/electric systems for several reasons, but mainly that it involves tearing up land, burying pipes (which may or may not leak), and is still considered expirimental by the general public (ie, go to a town meeting and few people will understand that it is a good, safe, well tested method). It should also be kept in mind that the gas and electric companies encourage this extra regulation, and the misconceptions about price/performance/maintenance/etc.
-Adam
Trepanning? I need that like I need a hole in my --- Hey...wait a minute! Web developer:
Resume
Well, to answer your second question, yes - you are too paranoid.
I won't answer the first though, you are asking the wrong question. You can try to find the 'perfect' or 'best' country to live in, but once you get there you'll find they have many of the same problems, as well as many different problems. It probably evens out in the end. You might try asking, instead, "What country has laws and problems which suit me and my lifestyle the best?"
Of course, that's still not a good solution to the fundamental problem you are having. Chances are you are really asking, "How much can I get doing as little as possible?" Your post didn't seem to indicate that you are doing (or want to do) anything to improve your situation. Your first thought was, "I don't like it here, let's see if there's someplace else I can go to where I don't have to work at my own security and happiness." Too many people are apathetic (emphasis on the latter 8 characters) about their surroundings.
You are human! You are master of your fate (as long as you aren't infringing on other's fate;-). If you don't like your surroundings, if your surroundings are forcing you to change then you need to take control! Change your surroundings for once. Humans are one of the few creatures on this earth that change their environment instead of letting it change them. Does the trash on the city street bother you? Pick some up and throw it away whenever you go out. Does it bother you that the internet may be taxed in the near future? Make sure the people YOU helped elect know what your position is (and make sure you know theirs!).
The only time a human has good reason to move is if 1) the oppressive conditions are non-controllable or 2) there is a significantly better (and more easily adaptable) environment elsewhere.
You might be surprised how much control each state, county, city, township, etc has over your area (and how much control you have over them). I doubt you know. You should visit their meetings, find out what issues they have to deal with. Become involved. You can't fight an enemy you haven't studied, and, trust me, you'll be fighting different enemies in other countries. You'll just be fighting on their turf and in their language and culture. You may find it easier to mold your current environment to your needs than to find the perfect environment, or mold a foreign one to your needs.
-Adam
Ten loud voices are heard more readily than ten thousand silent voices. Don't be silent! Web developer:
Resume
The first time this is used will also be the first time it is challenged, and even if congress(!progress) approves, and the president approves, you can be certian the supreme court will not approve. Yes, I'm aware that Bush will likely pick up to 3 new justices, but even conservative justices cannot look at this bill without seeing the glaring constitutional problems engendered by it.
Secondly, can we make it so only people who read the articles can post? Maybe have 2 or 3 changing multiple choice questions they have to answer correctly about it before they are allowed to post.;-)
-Adam
"After playing with Netscape 6 for a while, I've come to the conclusions it doesn't even support IPv4..." - noted on an IPV6 mailing list.
BTW, can anyone explain why Visor chose not to make its OS upgradable other than via RAM-resident patches?
Sure. A ROM memory (Read Only Memory, programmed once (either when it is made, as in a mask rom, or later, as in a prom - programmable)) is significantly less expensive than flash memory, and requires less interface circuitry. Flash generally requires a 12v programming voltage (provided by voltage converters, adds an extra 20 cents to the design or so).
And given that the palm os is mature, RAM patches are not a bad idea. The visor will be obsolete before a new os would be required to run newer programs that will be produced several years from now.
-Adam
Failed Products: Helicopter ejection seat.
Subsidising the cost of the visor with the service
on
Visor Phone Released
·
· Score: 2
So when can we expect them to start selling the visor/phone combo for $50 and a one year service contract? Or better yet, 1 cent, one year contract @ $39.99/month with 1500 minutes/month, no roaming or long distance charges, and basic cell phone wap or internet service...
Ok, there's too much misinformation here. The restriction is purely electronic and prevents the ebook reader from sending the text to a text-speach converter. It other words, it prevents computers from reading the book to you, making it more difficult for one to create an audio tape or CD of the book and selling it for free.
Talk about letting your imagination run wild. Settle down people. Let's see if adobe comes out with an ebook authoring program before we complain too much. And it looks like an extension of PDF anyway, so we'll likely have open source readers and modifiers soon(which is exactly what adobe wants to prevent...)
-Adam
Bumper sticker of the day: Honk if you've never seen an uzi fired out of a car window.
Essentially you want to find new parts of older equipment. However, the older equipment is not produced for consumers. It is produced to maintain older more expensive installations (gov't, industry, science, etc) which can handle the fact that it costs the same to produce a PIII 900 as it does to produce a PII 300. They pay more for their chips becuse they have to maintain their current equipment, consumers, however, won't buy something so low-powered becuase it is the same cost as something higher powered.
It's a basic question of capitalism. Intel cannot sell the older chip for much more than it costs them to make, but they can sell the higher chip for a higher margin. Which do you think they will sell then? This is why cyrix and other low-end cheapo processor producers fell out of the consumer market.
So, you have a choice. You can have low-power used equipment, or higher power new equipment. It is not going to be worth your time to find someone selling cheap low end new equipment. To paraphrase a common saying: "Cheap, Low End, New. You can have any two at once."
-Adam
My users already cower in fear before me. Now I'm working on the gifts and offerings...
I love electronics. It is wonderful. I believe there are several reasons for this:
I'm wired for it - Some people just have the mind set for kernel hacking, some for art, some for mechanics - it is a talent that I have and want to develop.
My father had a good bit of interest in electronics and computers when I was younger - I was always with him either watching or doing. We may be changing his brake pads one day, patching up a lamp cord the next, and wire-wrapping an interface to the zx-80 over the weekend. In this way he was a mentor of sorts.
He saw what I was interested in and he designed and presented opportunaties for me to develop that interest. It was the 300 in 1 electronics kit one christmas, or the modular mechanical globes for a birthday. Showing me how to run wires in the attic, why the whole-house fan was hooked up the way it was, using a timing light in the engine, simple programming examples on the various computers we owned. Giving me the old or used parts and pieces of equipment - This may have been the best way to learn. I would rip apart motors, solenoids, smash chips to see the dies, take old phones, toys and other things apart, and then I would ask him how something worked if I couldn't figure it out.
He didn't start me out on kits, and didn't give me them until I asked. I see now that when I had even a medium to low complexity kit that it was difficult to do without supervision - and I didn't want help, I wanted to do it by myself, and then get help when it didn't work. Unfortunately when it didn't work I had the tendency to skip it altogether and do something I knew I could do. So I would do an easy maybe 30 in one learning kit to start off with - it's difficult to blow things up with it, and easy to do things right.
So, in the end, 1) Encourage them to explore, 2) Provide opportunities to build, learn, and SUCCEED where they need very little physical help (ie, have them do all the work, you just provide tidbits of knowledge - let them do it their way, even if your way is faster - as long as it still works, great) 3) Get excited about their new knowledge and developments. They will surprise you sometimes with their knowledge - help them develop their problem solving and thinking skills by telling them when you were surprised that they thought of it themselves (even when it's old news to you). When they come to you with a problem or question - don't answer it. Ask them what they already know about the subject - anything related. Then ask them questions which will lead to the answer. If you can't think of a good way of doing that, then tell them the answer, and give a simple explanation of why, how, or an analogy.
Essentially these are little engineers - Their problem solving, thinking and discovery skills will be their most important tool they will have - whether they choose electronics or not.
I should have checked it out with IE before posting. I don't have the time, but I wonder what the HTML code is that makes IE use black and netscape default to white...Does it follow an HTML standard, and netscape fails, or is it bad HTML?
I am partially color blind (red-green) and I cannot believe how many people design their websites with color rather than brightness. For this particular site you can see examples of this on page three and four, where the web designer uses white text on a bright background in some tables. My monitor is set to 1600x1200 (19") and I cannot read the text without blowing it up (zoomin) or selecting the text (which produces a nice white on dark blue selection)
This site was obviously not designed by a color-blind person, it would have to have been designed by a person who 1) has their display set to a low resolution and 2) has no color blindness whatsoever.
Good user interface design requires not only contrasting colors, but contrasting brightness (luminance ~= brightness, chominance ~= color). Too many sites have a dark font (navy blue, brick red, etc) on a black background, or a light font (pink, purple) on a white background. If you run a site such as this, PLEASE consider changing it (even a slight change can make a big difference!), or at least increasing the font size.
Take 1" pvc piping, say 3-4 foot section, and a length of pipe insulation (foam pipe, with a slit down the side) which fits over the pvc. Use about six inches of the insulation for a handguard (placed perpendicular to the pvc, at the handle end) and use the rest of the foam for the length of the sword, excepting the handle (which is just bare pvc). The foam should extend past the tip of the pvc by two inches (for soft stabs). Now duct tape the entire thing. All of it! One big, grey sword.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Swordfights generally require a space to fight it, but the best fighters can fight as effectively inside or between cubicles as they can in an open area.
Plus you can fight over design decisions.
"Sir! You insult my work when you add the paperclip to the software!" "It makes the program easier for the users. Cower to my usability, fiend!" "Hold thy tongue, knave! I Challenge you to a duel!"
-Adam
Let's build some for gore, bush, cheney, and leiberman... I'd like to see them go at it. For each blow they have to insult a program or policy of the other...
I find it interesting that Gore wants to provide public schools with free internet access, and he also thinks schools should use internet filtering software.
This is going to be another crow-bar to push schools around. Can't afford internet access? Here, you can have it for free. Except that it has to be filtered.
What? You don't think that filtering works? Too bad- pay for the internet yourself, unless, of course, you can't afford it. In that case we'll allow you to use our plan which gives you inferior access.
No money == Badly Filtered Internet == Non-useful Resource == Time-Wasting == Bad Education.
Well, I must admit that this is a matter of opinion and speculation. But from where I'm standing, here's what it looks like:
Sun has always been server driven, and application servers are a future we are looking at now. The hardware to run those servers is what Sun will make its money on. Netscape tried to make this a reality with their integrated communicator product, and their server software, but they were only selling software, and it is mainly an issue of manpower and money to drive a software company out of the market, rather than time. Hardware takes time, and if Sun can get their product out the door as a complete solution for application servers, they are set for the short term.
Microsoft, however, knowing that Intel (and consequently AMD) is creating more powerful hardware which will transcend the desktop for pennies wants the market that netscape, sun and all the other major player were after: distributed computing, especially in the context of application serving. Imagine a world where users don't have to buy new software every year, upgrade their computers infrequently, and have instant support. This is the holy grail of money making: Software is now a service, not a unit or product. Rather than making $80 per computer sold for Office, MS is going to be making $5 a month from all these people who want to buy cheap, small, non-upgradeable computing units. Even those people who now only upgrade office every other version will pay this. Now MS doesn't have to pay for packaging, distribution, etc. They just need to set up companies with servers and their software. The company gets a cut, MS gets a cut, which is significantly larger than what they are getting now.
Sun now has a problem: if NET takes hold of a significant share of the market (as it will, since this is the third time MS is at bat in this market;-) then Sun will have a VERY difficult time selling its hardware. In order to protect the market so they can insert their servers into it they have to get the people so entrenched into Java than NET fails.
C# isn't the ONLY reason they MIGHT open-source java, but it is the straw that broke the camels back. It is an integral part of MS's NET strategy, and must be in place before MS can effectivly get developers on board their vision.
I'm certian this decision is a long time coming, and that it has been discussed for the past several years at various times. But I would not be surprised if the decision was tipped toward open source (not free software, read the article) due to MS's NET strategy, and integral part of which is C#.
And I doubt Sun is anywhere near an understanding that 'the Free Software paradigm is the future for computer infrastructure'.
Whether they have a problem with people changing it the way MS tried changing it depends entirely on what they source and how they license it.
I doubt Sun is opening all of java, and I doubly doubt that they will use a licensing scheme which allows others to 1) fork the code and 2) change the code significantly without their stamp of approval.
The statement "Sun wants everyone to use Java on every platform - without putting forth the effort to port it to every platform themselves." is only contrdictory if you assume that to have java on every platform then Sun will have to port it to every platform. If they open-source the code (under whatever restrictive license they need to keep control of it) then OTHERS will do the porting for them. They will have it on every platform, they will have control over it, and they'll only have to expend a fraction of the resources they would expend if they ported it themselves. This also lets their user community decide which ports get done and how quickly, rather than Sun guessing which port has the highest priority.
This is really just a reaction to C#. Rather than trying to submit Java to a standards body and let everyone make their own Java compilers (instead of Java - like compilers) Sun wants everyone to use Java on every platform - without putting forth the effort to port it to every platform themselves. But more importantly, they want everyone to use their compiler/runtime/etc
This may or may not happen, and it may or may not benefit them. But if it does happen, it can only benefit us.
-Adam
It's no match for Larry-Boy and his Super Suction ears! "spluh, spluh, spluh, spluh, spluh"
How do you make a squeeking, suctioning sound in cyberspace?
Yes, and each person who wants to build their own AV device (either software, hardware, etc) for whatever use has to pay a $5,000 licensing fee, and a trivial amount per device for the various IP and patent rights to the few companies who started the HAVi.
It would be nice to have an open standard in the way that TCP/IP is open, or HTML or XML. I can see the devices talking TCP/IP to each other, with a HDNS(home device name server). "Hey, HDNS, is there an audio device in this house in room a floor two?"
But it doesn't look like any of these guys are gonna be doing anything open source, so it probably will be a long time before we get there.
It's going to be a long time before we get anywhere with these types of devices anyway. It's not a matter of open source, it's a matter of What Consumers Really Want(tm). Manufacturers are guessing what consumers want, and are going slowly. Why? Consumers don't really want an all in one device. Yet.
Before we can even think that our VCR, Radio, computer, and internet are going to interact, someone has to lay down some rules as to how they interact. Sure, they all have firewire. Hook your VCR to the stereo. How the heck does the stereo and VCR communicate? What information do they each need? How are they going to explain their needs to each other? We need a standards body that not only decides these standards, but also does studies to find out what the customer wants. I, for one, want to be able to buy brand A TV, brand B HDTV tuner, brand C digital surround sound system, and have them all talk to each other intelligibly!
Stereo: Behold, I am an audio amplifier with the ability to decode surround sound, MPEG through V4, and a variety of other streams and formats. I can send sound to three locations in this building, each location has the following parameters. VCR: Howdy, I'm a VCR. You sure do have a funny accent. I'll throw out the words I don't know. I've been told to get movie A for immediate viewing, and movie B on a slow stream for later viewing. Stereo - here is the handle to the audio stream that will be playing momentarily for location one. I know you've been playing classic music from another source for this location, but this more recent command supercedes your last commend. TV, here is the video stream for location one. Router, please give me two connections to this video server, dedicate at least this much bandwidth to stream A (priority 1), and apply a priority of 4 to the following connection. Stereo: Router, please cancel classical audio stream. TV: I feel sick. What kind of crud are they using me for now? ew.
-Adam
Please moderate me down. Ever since I hit the karma cap, my self worth has gone down the tubes! I need to have it drop so it can go back up! PLEASE!
Slashdot Mirror
You can get a bookPC without the cpu and memory for under two hundred, which looks nice next to the other audio/video components, and runs fairly cool. Drop a cdr into that, write your own app and you're done. Best of all, most book PCs output video so you can write your own tv controller app, and use a remote to program it.
-Adam
Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window.
This sig 80% recycled bits, 20% post user.
your midichlorian count is above 250.
Duh.
-Adam
Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window.
This sig 80% recycled bits, 20% post user.
If companies know that we can trivially and legally circumvent their "control" schemes, they won't bother with them in the first place. And that's what open standards are all about.
So, essentially, the author is claiming that open standards exist only because any closed standard is going to be opened forcefully, and companies are just going to give in?
Some minds are like cement - thoroughly mixed and permanently set.
-Adam
"Honk if you've never seen a bazooka fired out a car window."
Web developer:
Resume
You will likely never be able to compete with even Dell on price - but you won't normally be selling all-in-one system boards, will you? That's what Dell and others sell in order to lower their cost. You need to know that the parts and systems you sell are of better quality than those provided "off the shelf" from a cookie-cutter manufacturer. If you don't believe it (sounds like you don't) then your customers won't, and they'll go elsewhere.
Networking and connections count for far more than advertising. If you can't make it as a small business without advertising, you may as well choose another line of work.
Many customers want cheap. Most customers want cheap. Take the time to explain the difference between cheap and inexpensive. You sell inexpensive equipment. The computer they showed you in the ad is cheap. (not always the case, make sure you know what you're talking about)
Customer!=client. A customer will walk in, purchase, and walk out. A client will call you for every need that is computer related. Maintain client relationships. A computer company can make money selling computers for only so long, this is where you get your clientelle from. After everyone who is going to buy from you has bought from you you will live off repeat business. Expect and plan for a finite number of customers, and work from day one turning them into clients.
Distributers such as Ingram Micro, D and H, Infotel, Tech data, etc don't mind working with smaller customers. You can sell inexpensive good quality parts as a small store, you'll just have to tell clients (customers won't understand this) that often parts will take a day (or two at the most) to get, and if they want something immediately then the part will likely be more expensive (ie, you run to another computer store to get it - they don't mind you doing this even though it does cost more - if you have developed the client relationship then they would rather work with you and through you so they will only have one point of contact for all their needs and problems) And, of course, distributers like these will give you what you need to offer MSN and other rebates as well, so you CAN offer the $400 MSN rebate, if that's what they want - I try to steer people away from MSN and AOL as it increases my own support (MSN and AOL both routinely claim "it's a computer problem" when, in fact, it is an internet service problem (ISP))
KEEP ACCURATE RECORDS. Your company will die a horrible bloody death otherwise. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.
Consider the entire life cycle of a computer system. Customers will not want to spend much, so suggest that they upgrade their old computer - replace the motherboard, CPU, memory and it costs a fraction of a new system.
-Adam
Web developer:
Resume
The market for the mom'n'pop shop is dwindling. They have to either:
Grow their own 'large' business (and thus lower their service/support)
or
Offer a unique service, fit into a niche.
Otherwise people are just going to buy the cheapest. You generally can't offer cheap unless you have a large customer base, and few employees which generally means inferior service.
But then there's the whole other issue of what you feel service is. Large corporations can afford a multi-tier approach to service, and that is what generally is best for the majority of clueless users. It pains us because we know that everytime we call we have to go through 2-3 tiers before we get someone who knows as much as we do. Sure, we could get better service, but we would be paying more, and guess which most of us geeks choose: Good service/Low price?
-Adam
Saving the world one CR/LF at a time.
Web developer:
Resume
First, the note from someone about geothermal use in alaska concerns mainly the use of it as an open loop. You suck water from an underground well, lake or other natural resource into your system, extract heat/insert heat, and then dump it back into the ground (drain, well, lake, etc). Many geothermal systems (If not most) are closed loop, and do not touch underground aquafers (rivers, wells, lakes, etc) and so are considered much less of a danger to the environment, and therefore suffer fewer regulations.
I've not dealt directly in geothermal energy, but I've studied it through the years. It has a low user base, and is very expensive initially (it almost always pays for itself in under 1/2 of it's lifetime). It falls under a lot more regulation than gas/electric systems for several reasons, but mainly that it involves tearing up land, burying pipes (which may or may not leak), and is still considered expirimental by the general public (ie, go to a town meeting and few people will understand that it is a good, safe, well tested method). It should also be kept in mind that the gas and electric companies encourage this extra regulation, and the misconceptions about price/performance/maintenance/etc.
-Adam
Trepanning? I need that like I need a hole in my --- Hey...wait a minute!
Web developer:
Resume
Well, to answer your second question, yes - you are too paranoid.
;-). If you don't like your surroundings, if your surroundings are forcing you to change then you need to take control! Change your surroundings for once. Humans are one of the few creatures on this earth that change their environment instead of letting it change them. Does the trash on the city street bother you? Pick some up and throw it away whenever you go out. Does it bother you that the internet may be taxed in the near future? Make sure the people YOU helped elect know what your position is (and make sure you know theirs!).
I won't answer the first though, you are asking the wrong question. You can try to find the 'perfect' or 'best' country to live in, but once you get there you'll find they have many of the same problems, as well as many different problems. It probably evens out in the end. You might try asking, instead, "What country has laws and problems which suit me and my lifestyle the best?"
Of course, that's still not a good solution to the fundamental problem you are having. Chances are you are really asking, "How much can I get doing as little as possible?" Your post didn't seem to indicate that you are doing (or want to do) anything to improve your situation. Your first thought was, "I don't like it here, let's see if there's someplace else I can go to where I don't have to work at my own security and happiness." Too many people are apathetic (emphasis on the latter 8 characters) about their surroundings.
You are human! You are master of your fate (as long as you aren't infringing on other's fate
The only time a human has good reason to move is if 1) the oppressive conditions are non-controllable or 2) there is a significantly better (and more easily adaptable) environment elsewhere.
You might be surprised how much control each state, county, city, township, etc has over your area (and how much control you have over them). I doubt you know. You should visit their meetings, find out what issues they have to deal with. Become involved. You can't fight an enemy you haven't studied, and, trust me, you'll be fighting different enemies in other countries. You'll just be fighting on their turf and in their language and culture. You may find it easier to mold your current environment to your needs than to find the perfect environment, or mold a foreign one to your needs.
-Adam
Ten loud voices are heard more readily than ten thousand silent voices. Don't be silent!
Web developer:
Resume
The first time this is used will also be the first time it is challenged, and even if congress(!progress) approves, and the president approves, you can be certian the supreme court will not approve. Yes, I'm aware that Bush will likely pick up to 3 new justices, but even conservative justices cannot look at this bill without seeing the glaring constitutional problems engendered by it.
;-)
Secondly, can we make it so only people who read the articles can post? Maybe have 2 or 3 changing multiple choice questions they have to answer correctly about it before they are allowed to post.
-Adam
"After playing with Netscape 6 for a while, I've come to the conclusions it doesn't even support IPv4..."
- noted on an IPV6 mailing list.
BTW, can anyone explain why Visor chose not to make its OS upgradable other than via RAM-resident patches?
Sure. A ROM memory (Read Only Memory, programmed once (either when it is made, as in a mask rom, or later, as in a prom - programmable)) is significantly less expensive than flash memory, and requires less interface circuitry. Flash generally requires a 12v programming voltage (provided by voltage converters, adds an extra 20 cents to the design or so).
And given that the palm os is mature, RAM patches are not a bad idea. The visor will be obsolete before a new os would be required to run newer programs that will be produced several years from now.
-Adam
Failed Products:
Helicopter ejection seat.
So when can we expect them to start selling the visor/phone combo for $50 and a one year service contract? Or better yet, 1 cent, one year contract @ $39.99/month with 1500 minutes/month, no roaming or long distance charges, and basic cell phone wap or internet service...
-Adam
Failed products:
Jalepeno Toilet Paper
Ok, there's too much misinformation here. The restriction is purely electronic and prevents the ebook reader from sending the text to a text-speach converter. It other words, it prevents computers from reading the book to you, making it more difficult for one to create an audio tape or CD of the book and selling it for free.
Talk about letting your imagination run wild. Settle down people. Let's see if adobe comes out with an ebook authoring program before we complain too much. And it looks like an extension of PDF anyway, so we'll likely have open source readers and modifiers soon(which is exactly what adobe wants to prevent...)
-Adam
Bumper sticker of the day:
Honk if you've never seen an uzi fired out of a car window.
You cannot have new old. It's an oxymoron.
Essentially you want to find new parts of older equipment. However, the older equipment is not produced for consumers. It is produced to maintain older more expensive installations (gov't, industry, science, etc) which can handle the fact that it costs the same to produce a PIII 900 as it does to produce a PII 300. They pay more for their chips becuse they have to maintain their current equipment, consumers, however, won't buy something so low-powered becuase it is the same cost as something higher powered.
It's a basic question of capitalism. Intel cannot sell the older chip for much more than it costs them to make, but they can sell the higher chip for a higher margin. Which do you think they will sell then? This is why cyrix and other low-end cheapo processor producers fell out of the consumer market.
So, you have a choice. You can have low-power used equipment, or higher power new equipment. It is not going to be worth your time to find someone selling cheap low end new equipment. To paraphrase a common saying: "Cheap, Low End, New. You can have any two at once."
-Adam
My users already cower in fear before me. Now I'm working on the gifts and offerings...
I love electronics. It is wonderful. I believe there are several reasons for this:
I'm wired for it - Some people just have the mind set for kernel hacking, some for art, some for mechanics - it is a talent that I have and want to develop.
My father had a good bit of interest in electronics and computers when I was younger - I was always with him either watching or doing. We may be changing his brake pads one day, patching up a lamp cord the next, and wire-wrapping an interface to the zx-80 over the weekend. In this way he was a mentor of sorts.
He saw what I was interested in and he designed and presented opportunaties for me to develop that interest. It was the 300 in 1 electronics kit one christmas, or the modular mechanical globes for a birthday. Showing me how to run wires in the attic, why the whole-house fan was hooked up the way it was, using a timing light in the engine, simple programming examples on the various computers we owned. Giving me the old or used parts and pieces of equipment - This may have been the best way to learn. I would rip apart motors, solenoids, smash chips to see the dies, take old phones, toys and other things apart, and then I would ask him how something worked if I couldn't figure it out.
He didn't start me out on kits, and didn't give me them until I asked. I see now that when I had even a medium to low complexity kit that it was difficult to do without supervision - and I didn't want help, I wanted to do it by myself, and then get help when it didn't work. Unfortunately when it didn't work I had the tendency to skip it altogether and do something I knew I could do. So I would do an easy maybe 30 in one learning kit to start off with - it's difficult to blow things up with it, and easy to do things right.
So, in the end, 1) Encourage them to explore, 2) Provide opportunities to build, learn, and SUCCEED where they need very little physical help (ie, have them do all the work, you just provide tidbits of knowledge - let them do it their way, even if your way is faster - as long as it still works, great) 3) Get excited about their new knowledge and developments. They will surprise you sometimes with their knowledge - help them develop their problem solving and thinking skills by telling them when you were surprised that they thought of it themselves (even when it's old news to you). When they come to you with a problem or question - don't answer it. Ask them what they already know about the subject - anything related. Then ask them questions which will lead to the answer. If you can't think of a good way of doing that, then tell them the answer, and give a simple explanation of why, how, or an analogy.
Essentially these are little engineers - Their problem solving, thinking and discovery skills will be their most important tool they will have - whether they choose electronics or not.
-Adam
Electronics is changing your world - for good!
An ISP I've done business with before gives free hosting to non-profit organizations, but they don't advertise this.
Ask around, you might be surprised how many companies would jump at this.
-Adam
I should have checked it out with IE before posting. I don't have the time, but I wonder what the HTML code is that makes IE use black and netscape default to white...Does it follow an HTML standard, and netscape fails, or is it bad HTML?
-Adam
I am partially color blind (red-green) and I cannot believe how many people design their websites with color rather than brightness. For this particular site you can see examples of this on page three and four, where the web designer uses white text on a bright background in some tables. My monitor is set to 1600x1200 (19") and I cannot read the text without blowing it up (zoomin) or selecting the text (which produces a nice white on dark blue selection)
This site was obviously not designed by a color-blind person, it would have to have been designed by a person who 1) has their display set to a low resolution and 2) has no color blindness whatsoever.
Good user interface design requires not only contrasting colors, but contrasting brightness (luminance ~= brightness, chominance ~= color). Too many sites have a dark font (navy blue, brick red, etc) on a black background, or a light font (pink, purple) on a white background. If you run a site such as this, PLEASE consider changing it (even a slight change can make a big difference!), or at least increasing the font size.
-Adam
Take 1" pvc piping, say 3-4 foot section, and a length of pipe insulation (foam pipe, with a slit down the side) which fits over the pvc. Use about six inches of the insulation for a handguard (placed perpendicular to the pvc, at the handle end) and use the rest of the foam for the length of the sword, excepting the handle (which is just bare pvc). The foam should extend past the tip of the pvc by two inches (for soft stabs). Now duct tape the entire thing. All of it! One big, grey sword.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Swordfights generally require a space to fight it, but the best fighters can fight as effectively inside or between cubicles as they can in an open area.
Plus you can fight over design decisions.
"Sir! You insult my work when you add the paperclip to the software!"
"It makes the program easier for the users. Cower to my usability, fiend!"
"Hold thy tongue, knave! I Challenge you to a duel!"
-Adam
Let's build some for gore, bush, cheney, and leiberman... I'd like to see them go at it. For each blow they have to insult a program or policy of the other...
I find it interesting that Gore wants to provide public schools with free internet access, and he also thinks schools should use internet filtering software.
This is going to be another crow-bar to push schools around. Can't afford internet access? Here, you can have it for free. Except that it has to be filtered.
What? You don't think that filtering works? Too bad- pay for the internet yourself, unless, of course, you can't afford it. In that case we'll allow you to use our plan which gives you inferior access.
No money == Badly Filtered Internet == Non-useful Resource == Time-Wasting == Bad Education.
-Adam
Well, I must admit that this is a matter of opinion and speculation. But from where I'm standing, here's what it looks like:
;-) then Sun will have a VERY difficult time selling its hardware. In order to protect the market so they can insert their servers into it they have to get the people so entrenched into Java than NET fails.
Sun has always been server driven, and application servers are a future we are looking at now. The hardware to run those servers is what Sun will make its money on. Netscape tried to make this a reality with their integrated communicator product, and their server software, but they were only selling software, and it is mainly an issue of manpower and money to drive a software company out of the market, rather than time. Hardware takes time, and if Sun can get their product out the door as a complete solution for application servers, they are set for the short term.
Microsoft, however, knowing that Intel (and consequently AMD) is creating more powerful hardware which will transcend the desktop for pennies wants the market that netscape, sun and all the other major player were after: distributed computing, especially in the context of application serving. Imagine a world where users don't have to buy new software every year, upgrade their computers infrequently, and have instant support. This is the holy grail of money making: Software is now a service, not a unit or product. Rather than making $80 per computer sold for Office, MS is going to be making $5 a month from all these people who want to buy cheap, small, non-upgradeable computing units. Even those people who now only upgrade office every other version will pay this. Now MS doesn't have to pay for packaging, distribution, etc. They just need to set up companies with servers and their software. The company gets a cut, MS gets a cut, which is significantly larger than what they are getting now.
Sun now has a problem: if NET takes hold of a significant share of the market (as it will, since this is the third time MS is at bat in this market
C# isn't the ONLY reason they MIGHT open-source java, but it is the straw that broke the camels back. It is an integral part of MS's NET strategy, and must be in place before MS can effectivly get developers on board their vision.
-Adam
#include "speculation"
#include "grainsalt"
I'm certian this decision is a long time coming, and that it has been discussed for the past several years at various times. But I would not be surprised if the decision was tipped toward open source (not free software, read the article) due to MS's NET strategy, and integral part of which is C#.
And I doubt Sun is anywhere near an understanding that 'the Free Software paradigm is the future for computer infrastructure'.
-Adam
Whether they have a problem with people changing it the way MS tried changing it depends entirely on what they source and how they license it.
I doubt Sun is opening all of java, and I doubly doubt that they will use a licensing scheme which allows others to 1) fork the code and 2) change the code significantly without their stamp of approval.
-Adam
The statement "Sun wants everyone to use Java on every platform - without putting forth the effort to port it to every platform themselves." is only contrdictory if you assume that to have java on every platform then Sun will have to port it to every platform. If they open-source the code (under whatever restrictive license they need to keep control of it) then OTHERS will do the porting for them. They will have it on every platform, they will have control over it, and they'll only have to expend a fraction of the resources they would expend if they ported it themselves. This also lets their user community decide which ports get done and how quickly, rather than Sun guessing which port has the highest priority.
-Adam
This is really just a reaction to C#. Rather than trying to submit Java to a standards body and let everyone make their own Java compilers (instead of Java - like compilers) Sun wants everyone to use Java on every platform - without putting forth the effort to port it to every platform themselves. But more importantly, they want everyone to use their compiler/runtime/etc
This may or may not happen, and it may or may not benefit them. But if it does happen, it can only benefit us.
-Adam
It's no match for Larry-Boy and his Super Suction ears!
"spluh, spluh, spluh, spluh, spluh"
How do you make a squeeking, suctioning sound in cyberspace?
Yes, and each person who wants to build their own AV device (either software, hardware, etc) for whatever use has to pay a $5,000 licensing fee, and a trivial amount per device for the various IP and patent rights to the few companies who started the HAVi.
It would be nice to have an open standard in the way that TCP/IP is open, or HTML or XML. I can see the devices talking TCP/IP to each other, with a HDNS(home device name server). "Hey, HDNS, is there an audio device in this house in room a floor two?"
-Adam
But it doesn't look like any of these guys are gonna be doing anything open source, so it probably will be a long time before we get there.
It's going to be a long time before we get anywhere with these types of devices anyway. It's not a matter of open source, it's a matter of What Consumers Really Want(tm). Manufacturers are guessing what consumers want, and are going slowly. Why? Consumers don't really want an all in one device. Yet.
Before we can even think that our VCR, Radio, computer, and internet are going to interact, someone has to lay down some rules as to how they interact. Sure, they all have firewire. Hook your VCR to the stereo. How the heck does the stereo and VCR communicate? What information do they each need? How are they going to explain their needs to each other? We need a standards body that not only decides these standards, but also does studies to find out what the customer wants. I, for one, want to be able to buy brand A TV, brand B HDTV tuner, brand C digital surround sound system, and have them all talk to each other intelligibly!
Stereo: Behold, I am an audio amplifier with the ability to decode surround sound, MPEG through V4, and a variety of other streams and formats. I can send sound to three locations in this building, each location has the following parameters.
VCR: Howdy, I'm a VCR. You sure do have a funny accent. I'll throw out the words I don't know. I've been told to get movie A for immediate viewing, and movie B on a slow stream for later viewing. Stereo - here is the handle to the audio stream that will be playing momentarily for location one. I know you've been playing classic music from another source for this location, but this more recent command supercedes your last commend. TV, here is the video stream for location one. Router, please give me two connections to this video server, dedicate at least this much bandwidth to stream A (priority 1), and apply a priority of 4 to the following connection.
Stereo: Router, please cancel classical audio stream.
TV: I feel sick. What kind of crud are they using me for now? ew.
-Adam
Please moderate me down. Ever since I hit the karma cap, my self worth has gone down the tubes! I need to have it drop so it can go back up! PLEASE!