I remember a few years back they sold something along these lines... but instead of a horrid high-pitched tone, it was a friendly pre-recorded voice that informs the caller that you don't respond to telemarketing.
I hope they get the patent and litigate heavily. Then perhaps parents will spend time with their children, rather than plopping them in front of various boxes that they believe will do the work for them.
Military recruiters are the worst. I had been expecting a phone call from a company where I was ordering something. A message was left on my answering machine around that time, asking to speak to me and leaving an 800 number, but not saying who was calling. Foolishly thinking this could possibly be a call regarding the order (from a mom&pop operation), I returned the phone call. The phone was answered by a recruiter, US Army. Miffed (they'd called recently already and I'd asked to be taken off their list), I hung up without so much as a hello. Not surprisingly, I was greeted with a return call, asking if I'd just called and hung up. I informed him that his call was unwelcome. He said it was rude to call someone and immediately hang up. I informed him that it was even more rude to leave a phone message on my machine without identifying oneself, especially since the call was unwanted.
Finally, I asked him to take me off his list and never call again. He replied that SINCE I HAD CONTACTED HIM, he could not remove me. Knowing the conversation never goes anywhere and such people have rarely been considerate of my suggestions to end the conversation, I took the initiative to hang up myself. I expect they'll call again in a few months, and the whole circus parade can begin anew. Since they are always so eager to stay on the line, perhaps I'll buy a karaoke machine for the occasion.
I get about 200 per day, but never spend more than 30 seconds addressing the lot since I have a nice spam filter set up, and messages from people I know are flagged.
The salary is LOWER? It's been my impression that game salaries are some of the lowest in the field.
Stand your ground
on
NYT on EA Games
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I've just finished an internship (hourly, not salary) working for a small game company. I left so I could finish college in a somewhat reasonable time frame. I never worked over 40 hours a week, rarely more than 25 during the school year, and only once over the weekend on a special request. Granted, many of my co-workers were consistently working quite long hours. I had been asked to work longer, and there was playful co-worker pressure, but I knew that I would burn out if I did (and end up getting LESS done), and they seemed to respect that, and have indicated that I am welcome back when my schedule eases up. Whether or not this is a rarity, I can't be sure. Personally, I'd gladly take a low-hours job, even at a lower salary. I was in it for the experience, not the money, which also seemed to help the dialogue.
"secretary that helps you out by sitting between you and the rest of the world, letting you know about things that are interesting and taking notes."
Isn't this what the irritating green parrot, and later purple fuzzy monkey-thing, were supposed to do? We all know how effective and well-loved those things were. Cute for a week, then you wanted to strangle them, and never once did I get a useful suggestion.
None come to mind immediately, though I know I've seen it. It's an effect likely much easier to pull off with a good art sense (visual-arts-challenged coder speaking here). It would take some finesse, and a good deal of careful, tasteful tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.
Draw with thick lines, preferably somewhat straight. I'd shy away from squares and ellipses unless that is your entire theme... precise lines are not your friend when drawing imprecise, except perhaps for borders and background. Whatever the graphics are made to represent, make sure they do so blatantly, with great prejudice. This may sound silly, but I'd be sure to be slightly upset or passive-aggressive when doing this ("I'll show YOU a 'back' button!").
Think crayons on the wall of an insane asylum.
Granted, to do this effectively, it helps to distance yourself from the modernist "professional" ideal for an application's look, and rather aim yourself toward a (key word) unified view of subdued madness peppered with nostalgia. Perhaps most important is that the interface should be aware that it is a programmer-art interface (which can and probably should still have a theme), and not pretend to be an official government form or a real spaceship control panel, as most interfaces seem to try to be.
Does this serve as an equal substitute to proper artwork? Likely not, for most situations. However, if you are going to use programmer art, the most effective way, imho, is to not pretend to be something it is not, but rather declare to the world "PROGRAMMER ART AND PROUD!" Most people can spot programmer art a mile away. This approach replies "So What?"
If the product allows, there's a certain quasi-postmodern charm in "programmer art", if it is cohesive as a whole. Stick figures and such. It has to be completely confident in its kitchiness, though... amateurish art that is supposed to look professional is awful.
If it's for an office-esque app, though, the highly "modern professionalist" users would likely cringe in self-righteous disgust at such a suggestion.
Unfortunately, that's still SOMEWHAT the case. You now get a choice between generic animated ads, and less-intrusive text ads. If you choose the text ads, it tracks your browsing activity to give relevant ones, so I won't touch that "feature" with a ten-foot pole.
I know the feeling. Sometimes, when I have to use IE or Firefox, I feel like I have to get out and push (hitting reload to get it to go "faster", not entirely unlike pushing the crosswalk or elevator button lots of times). Perhaps Opera's loading/status bars are just more responsive and encouraging, but it feels faster than other browsers. The net connection always feels like the bottleneck, rather than the browser.
I think a lot can be said about more subtle aspects of software -- placement of buttons, speed of graphic animation, responsiveness of tooltips and context menus, etc. -- that can psychologically make a program feel more or less efficient or coherent. A bit of feng shui for the computer screen perhaps... sounds odd, but I've noticed that I greatly prefer some programs over others for stupid reasons that are hard to pinpoint. Some programs "feel" aggressive, some lazy, some defiant, some helpful, some idiotic, and some like they're doing the best they can but please be patient because it's their first day on the job.
Perhaps most Opera users aren't taking their computers to computer technicians. I've never had to take either of my Opera-running boxes in for service, but then I built them myself.
I personally quite like the Opera interface, and have grown quite accustomed to it. I use the free version with the ad on top, which I find pretty benign (though not as good as no ads at all).
Slashdot Mirror
... my head asplode.
...and beating me senseless in Starcraft with shouts of "n00b" by just thinking about it.
Indeed. I was expecting a "funny"
I remember a few years back they sold something along these lines... but instead of a horrid high-pitched tone, it was a friendly pre-recorded voice that informs the caller that you don't respond to telemarketing.
Education: "No, don't push that button right after pushing this one. Bad things will happen."
Feedback: "You just pushed those two buttons in order. Your system will now crash."
Software: "The system that is now crashing."
The horse saying "neigh" was not obvious. It's not even close to how I would've spelled/pronounced it.
I hope they get the patent and litigate heavily. Then perhaps parents will spend time with their children, rather than plopping them in front of various boxes that they believe will do the work for them.
If only...
Cool, sounds like a great system. Hopefully the person on the other line isn't using it as well :)
Military recruiters are the worst. I had been expecting a phone call from a company where I was ordering something. A message was left on my answering machine around that time, asking to speak to me and leaving an 800 number, but not saying who was calling. Foolishly thinking this could possibly be a call regarding the order (from a mom&pop operation), I returned the phone call. The phone was answered by a recruiter, US Army. Miffed (they'd called recently already and I'd asked to be taken off their list), I hung up without so much as a hello. Not surprisingly, I was greeted with a return call, asking if I'd just called and hung up. I informed him that his call was unwelcome. He said it was rude to call someone and immediately hang up. I informed him that it was even more rude to leave a phone message on my machine without identifying oneself, especially since the call was unwanted.
Finally, I asked him to take me off his list and never call again. He replied that SINCE I HAD CONTACTED HIM, he could not remove me. Knowing the conversation never goes anywhere and such people have rarely been considerate of my suggestions to end the conversation, I took the initiative to hang up myself. I expect they'll call again in a few months, and the whole circus parade can begin anew. Since they are always so eager to stay on the line, perhaps I'll buy a karaoke machine for the occasion.
40 per day upsets you?
I get about 200 per day, but never spend more than 30 seconds addressing the lot since I have a nice spam filter set up, and messages from people I know are flagged.
"Has the entire USA become a free-for-all (big business that is) annoyfest?"
Yes.
The salary is LOWER? It's been my impression that game salaries are some of the lowest in the field.
I've just finished an internship (hourly, not salary) working for a small game company. I left so I could finish college in a somewhat reasonable time frame. I never worked over 40 hours a week, rarely more than 25 during the school year, and only once over the weekend on a special request. Granted, many of my co-workers were consistently working quite long hours. I had been asked to work longer, and there was playful co-worker pressure, but I knew that I would burn out if I did (and end up getting LESS done), and they seemed to respect that, and have indicated that I am welcome back when my schedule eases up. Whether or not this is a rarity, I can't be sure. Personally, I'd gladly take a low-hours job, even at a lower salary. I was in it for the experience, not the money, which also seemed to help the dialogue.
That's all fine and good until he's offered a truckload of money from a company with less-than-stellar motives.
From their FAQ: "Using IM Smarter is pretty cool"
Like "Quality food", "Exciting sale opportunity", and "Innovative new features", if you have to say it, it probably isn't.
"secretary that helps you out by sitting between you and the rest of the world, letting you know about things that are interesting and taking notes."
Isn't this what the irritating green parrot, and later purple fuzzy monkey-thing, were supposed to do? We all know how effective and well-loved those things were. Cute for a week, then you wanted to strangle them, and never once did I get a useful suggestion.
None come to mind immediately, though I know I've seen it. It's an effect likely much easier to pull off with a good art sense (visual-arts-challenged coder speaking here). It would take some finesse, and a good deal of careful, tasteful tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.
Draw with thick lines, preferably somewhat straight. I'd shy away from squares and ellipses unless that is your entire theme... precise lines are not your friend when drawing imprecise, except perhaps for borders and background. Whatever the graphics are made to represent, make sure they do so blatantly, with great prejudice. This may sound silly, but I'd be sure to be slightly upset or passive-aggressive when doing this ("I'll show YOU a 'back' button!").
Think crayons on the wall of an insane asylum.
Granted, to do this effectively, it helps to distance yourself from the modernist "professional" ideal for an application's look, and rather aim yourself toward a (key word) unified view of subdued madness peppered with nostalgia. Perhaps most important is that the interface should be aware that it is a programmer-art interface (which can and probably should still have a theme), and not pretend to be an official government form or a real spaceship control panel, as most interfaces seem to try to be.
Does this serve as an equal substitute to proper artwork? Likely not, for most situations. However, if you are going to use programmer art, the most effective way, imho, is to not pretend to be something it is not, but rather declare to the world "PROGRAMMER ART AND PROUD!" Most people can spot programmer art a mile away. This approach replies "So What?"
The lens flare... helping amateurs feel like professionals and professionals identify amateurs since 1996.
If the product allows, there's a certain quasi-postmodern charm in "programmer art", if it is cohesive as a whole. Stick figures and such. It has to be completely confident in its kitchiness, though... amateurish art that is supposed to look professional is awful.
If it's for an office-esque app, though, the highly "modern professionalist" users would likely cringe in self-righteous disgust at such a suggestion.
Arr! That be the pirate of the by-mail art school what's commercials be played between ITT and DeVry on Thursday afternoons during Elimidate.
Suing people for things you didn't invent in the first place...
This is exactly the type of thing the Campaign for Real Time was created to prevent.
"Does anyone else get the feeling we're on a slippery slope here in terms of tech business ethics etc?"
There's still a slope? I thought it was a long-time mudslide that receded into the ocean years ago!
Unfortunately, that's still SOMEWHAT the case. You now get a choice between generic animated ads, and less-intrusive text ads. If you choose the text ads, it tracks your browsing activity to give relevant ones, so I won't touch that "feature" with a ten-foot pole.
I know the feeling. Sometimes, when I have to use IE or Firefox, I feel like I have to get out and push (hitting reload to get it to go "faster", not entirely unlike pushing the crosswalk or elevator button lots of times). Perhaps Opera's loading/status bars are just more responsive and encouraging, but it feels faster than other browsers. The net connection always feels like the bottleneck, rather than the browser.
I think a lot can be said about more subtle aspects of software -- placement of buttons, speed of graphic animation, responsiveness of tooltips and context menus, etc. -- that can psychologically make a program feel more or less efficient or coherent. A bit of feng shui for the computer screen perhaps... sounds odd, but I've noticed that I greatly prefer some programs over others for stupid reasons that are hard to pinpoint. Some programs "feel" aggressive, some lazy, some defiant, some helpful, some idiotic, and some like they're doing the best they can but please be patient because it's their first day on the job.
Perhaps most Opera users aren't taking their computers to computer technicians. I've never had to take either of my Opera-running boxes in for service, but then I built them myself.
I personally quite like the Opera interface, and have grown quite accustomed to it. I use the free version with the ad on top, which I find pretty benign (though not as good as no ads at all).