Last year we removed some ex-employees e-mails from our servers. During this, we found a lot of garbage, tons of PPT's and viruses. However, there were two guys that were being "not loyal" to us:
a programmer that spent most of the time in forums, often mentioned in his e-mails that was "writing just to waste time";
a guy was sending to a gmail account a ZIP file with the full source tree of the project he was on, every week or so.
I did R & D for an elevator factory 12 years ago, and back then we made a box that called home when something went wrong. The system scanned some critical points of the circuit and, if the readings were not in the expected pattern, an external modem was used to call the maintenance and send a full report of the readings, indicating the cause of the failure.
For example, a broken door sensor could make the door fail to slow down when closing, and the only symptom would be the louder sound of the door slamming. However, in a few days other parts would be damaged, increasing the cost of the repair and rendering the elevator out of service.
The tech could get in the building before the elevator stopped working. According with the marketing guys, it would gave us an image of excellence in hardware and service.
All this was written in 80C51 Assembly using less than 16 Kb. The PC code for the field service central was written in C, and featured a nice EGA graphic (640x350 in 4 pages) of the electric circuit. In real-time mode (when the central called the elevator) the graph could show the relays, interruptors, buttons, etc all animated. We could even tell how many people entered the elevator by the number of times the door sensor was activated, or which buttons were pushed. Cool!
I heard this joke a few days ago. GW Bush was at some high school doing a lecture, and after he finished the students were allowed to ask questions. A student named Bob took the microphone and said:
- Mr. President, I have 2 questions. First, where are the Iraq's WMD? And second, where's Bin Laden?
After a few seconds of embarrassing silence, Bush was "saved by the bell", and the room was quickly emptied. After the break, another student, this one named Peter, was given the word:
- Mr. President, I have 2 questions. First, why the bell rang 20 minutes earlier? And second, where is Bob?!?
Funny or insightful? A few years ago this would be a "Soviet Russia" kind of joke...
Holidays in the beach, early 80's. I was drinking some champagne (from New Year's celebration the night before), and my younger brother came from outside with a soccer ball in his hands. I was coding in my ZX Spectrum and just for fun (just to piss him off, I admit it) I managed to write a little BASIC program that PRINT'ed his name all over the screen, followed with some random insults.
He thrown the ball in my direction, I ducked and the ball hit the glass of champagne. It spilled in the Speccy and it crashed instantly; I managed to unplug it from the wall, and rushed after my brother. I catched him in some sand banks half a mile from home, and kicked his butt. Actually I dragged him back home and kicked his butt...
The good thing: I disassembled the Speccy, and after a hair-dryer session it worked again. That was a stylish liquid-spill-related crash, with Champagne, not an ordinary beverage!
When I was in the Army, there was a guy named Simm (sounds like "Yes" in portuguese). In the first days in the troop, when the sargeant/lieutenant asked his name, he replied, shouting loud: "Simm, senhor" (it sounded like "Yes, Sir"). That was funny.
One of the first banks to use Linux was Banrisul, that is running thousands of ATM with Linux since 2001. I found a picture of the guys behind the project. There is a small embossed picture of Tux in the welcome screen.
I think the real issue is the production cost. How much Intel spends to make a Pentium chip? Even if it under $10, it is a huge cost. For Microsoft, the cost is probably under $0.01: many OEM Windows have no CD at all. Often, all the consumer gets is a piece of paper. If it is not actually printed at MS's expense, the cost of production is actually zero.
This tech has been used for years: RFID includes even GPS-located trucks. However, the price limits its applications. According the report, "As demonstrated by applications of RFID today, at each price point market opportunities exist for RFID, increasing in demand volume as the price drops. However, RFID is not expected to replace product bar codes until it can reach a target price of $0.01 or less, as indicated by some of the largest retailers in the world (e.g. Wal*Mart and Tesco's).".
In order to reduce the tag cost, a lot of research has been done. Quoting the report, "Since silicon chips currently represent 60-80% of the total RFID tag cost, reducing chip cost is the primary area of focus. Opportunities for reducing chip cost include decreasing the chip size, increasing wafer size, and even one day using non-chip based materials such as plastic transistors or silicon film".
When I had a full-time job, I also had some independent projects being done at home, mostly small ERP-like for small companies that could not afford SAP. When the business grown up, I rented an office 50 meters away from home (I happen to live in the only commercial street in my area).
Early this year I quit my job at HP to dedicate myself 100% to my company. There's a lot of advantages:
My car sits on garage all day long (except when I go visit a customer);
In order to arrive 8:30 I may leave home 8:29;
When I need to work after hours, I go home to change clothes - for something like a short and sandals;
When I need to work after hours, my kids often come by to fight LAN parties, or just to use one computer each, as I have only one at home;
When my wife (or a visiting grandmother) cooks a cake or pie, it is easy to give me a piece;
The working environment quality is a bonus, and one employee actually refused an offer, choosing to stay here - as he also lives in the same area.
Of course this works because we are an IT company, once our customers are all located elsewhere. With tools like VPN and even ICQ we managed to reduce the number of visits to customers, but when it is needed we often engage a trip crossing the city.
They call it AVL, acronym for "Automatic Vehicle Localizer". Google is our friend.
According to this site, "AVL is a microprocessor-based module with integrated GPS, and transmits all the vehicle's geo-reference and status data via radio or celullar phone. The AVL module, of compact size, is assembled in a high-resistence aluminium box (sealed), has simple and discrete installation and excellent performance and safety".
Another text states that "From your office, the [truck] fleet's owner controls and communicates with all his vehicles. It is possible query the status, the location, send short messages, commands and, among other possibilities, even shut down the engine remotely".
The first article has funnier comments, too. You may say that the first one was posted before the actual voting for the naming, but damn, it took place almost two months ago!
Here in Brazil we have a law named CDC (Codigo de Defesa do Consumidor) Consumer Protection Code that clearly states that the consumer is the weak side of any business relationship.
Before CDC, credit card companies used to send cards to anyone, being it requested or not, and all you needed was to unlock the card. With the new law, this kind of behaviour is not tolerated anymore.
There's a point on that, but it must not include restricting the choice. That's what freedom is all about.
As developer, I don't care to run some 0.7 alpha version and eventually get it crash on me. After all, I knew the risks I was taking. I would also read TODO, README and others and discover that some of the expected features are missing.
But Joe Six Packs would not. He would curse the distro (or even Linux as a whole) when SomeApp 0.31 alpha crashes, or when he realizes, after running it a couple hours, that the features he needs most are not yet implemented. That's a bad thing that could hurt Linux reputation, and maybe scare a potential user.
Most "famous" distros avoid to put unstable software in their packages, but incomplete apps still are out there. Maybe a separated disk (or directory) with "incomplete" software could be added, to clearly draw the line between "production-ready" and "take a look, it will be cool when ready".
Seriously: my wife is a Physical Education teacher (and gymnastics coach). Her knowledge of computer is near zero, my kids use to teach her.
She uses Open Office, and used Star Office before that. Since she was never a hard-core computer user, she never memorized that keyboard shortcuts. So, she takes the mouse and clicks on that icons, that are almost the same for both packages. That's an important thing: anyone can use either M$ Office or Open Office without noticing any significant difference.
The only thing that she complains is the need to use the "Save As" feature to send documents to other people, because they can't open O-O files. Sometimes she forgets...
This shows the importance of light pages. The wide use of broad band has led many to ignore old guidelines. There's a lot of bloated pages with tons of ill-optimized pics and unnecessary gadgets.
According this, the average web page is around 90 Kb. Google is a little over 10 Kb.
Oh, it is to save the people of Iraq... Come on, why the US did not came in a hurry when the same was happening in Timor Leste? Why US backed so many dictators in Latin America that were as bad as Saddam? Not to mention that US backed Saddam himself once. So this nullifies that excuse.
Oh, wait, Saddam has WMD (and Bush has the receipt to prove). So North Korea, Pakistan, and, well, United States. This so-called reason could justify invading US, indeed. But having WMD with intent to use is different... Well, what country is the only that has used WMD against people in the past? Ask Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Ah, the freedom. US is bringing freedom to the people of Iraq. Well, it could bring it to many other people in poor countries Africa, or even rich countries in Asia. But they have no oil, or are happy business partners, aren't they?
I have a cousin in Kwait, right now. He is an US soldier, and God help him to come back home safe, and let this war end soon.
When RIAA says file sharing, copying, etc is piracy, I always remember RMS, when he says that to copy a file cannot be compared to "attacking ships on the high seas, kidnaping and murdering the people" (link below). Pirates used to steal gold, but this time the pilleage is oil.
I think it would be nice. Nowadays anyone have an huge disk (20 Gb is a huge amount of space, don't fool yourself because of your mp3/pr0n collection), and may store extra versions of DLL's (or.NET components).
There's some Artificial Intelligence: (from the article): "The system will first look for a local version of the component, and will then look in the cache to find an exact match for the strong name of the required component. Failing that, the system will use heuristics to find the next best component".
I used to write EFI apps (in C) for HP. Think in a BIOS with a shell instead of menus, and where you can write apps to do whatever you want (there are access levels, of course). Your app can flash the firmware, change boot order, blink panel's LEDs and so on. Very nice.
By the way, there's another dupe: a brazilian magazine has cloned the Focus' logo. Epoca is far younger than Focus, so it was a shameless copy (and maybe trademark violation?). See for yourself:
Disclaimer: I'm not associated with this book in any way, just found it in, er, Google. Maybe the next edition will include this lovely search engine...
Re:WOW, I love it, but how much will it cost the b
on
Instant Concert CDs?
·
· Score: 1
Interesting parent's sig. Mine could be:
* rejected (15)
But anyway, I think there's nothing interesting in any of them. Maybe that invisible technology made public a few days ago by that japanese professor is not cool enough to be at Slashdot.
I've found this picture . This photo gallery has more, and it says that one was taken during an interview (for TV, I guess). Anyone has more info on it?
Re:Not the only person in US history ....
on
Kevin Mitnick Answers
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
This is no different then what happens in south america. The people the govt doesn't like disapear.
In South America? May you name a country where this is actually going on? Sorry guy, but these days it happen only in the US. After 9/11, anything may be an excuse to ignore civil rights - or to bomb Iraq.
Slashdot Mirror
For example, a broken door sensor could make the door fail to slow down when closing, and the only symptom would be the louder sound of the door slamming. However, in a few days other parts would be damaged, increasing the cost of the repair and rendering the elevator out of service.
The tech could get in the building before the elevator stopped working. According with the marketing guys, it would gave us an image of excellence in hardware and service.
All this was written in 80C51 Assembly using less than 16 Kb. The PC code for the field service central was written in C, and featured a nice EGA graphic (640x350 in 4 pages) of the electric circuit. In real-time mode (when the central called the elevator) the graph could show the relays, interruptors, buttons, etc all animated. We could even tell how many people entered the elevator by the number of times the door sensor was activated, or which buttons were pushed. Cool!
Nothing to see here. Move along. At least /. says so.
- Mr. President, I have 2 questions. First, where are the Iraq's WMD? And second, where's Bin Laden?
After a few seconds of embarrassing silence, Bush was "saved by the bell", and the room was quickly emptied. After the break, another student, this one named Peter, was given the word:
- Mr. President, I have 2 questions. First, why the bell rang 20 minutes earlier? And second, where is Bob?!?
Funny or insightful? A few years ago this would be a "Soviet Russia" kind of joke...
He thrown the ball in my direction, I ducked and the ball hit the glass of champagne. It spilled in the Speccy and it crashed instantly; I managed to unplug it from the wall, and rushed after my brother. I catched him in some sand banks half a mile from home, and kicked his butt. Actually I dragged him back home and kicked his butt...
The good thing: I disassembled the Speccy, and after a hair-dryer session it worked again. That was a stylish liquid-spill-related crash, with Champagne, not an ordinary beverage!
When I was in the Army, there was a guy named Simm (sounds like "Yes" in portuguese). In the first days in the troop, when the sargeant/lieutenant asked his name, he replied, shouting loud: "Simm, senhor" (it sounded like "Yes, Sir"). That was funny.
One of the first banks to use Linux was Banrisul, that is running thousands of ATM with Linux since 2001. I found a picture of the guys behind the project. There is a small embossed picture of Tux in the welcome screen.
The limit of their profit margin tends to infinite, that's the easiest money in the world. There's no other market like this.
Emerging Chip-Based RFID Technologies
This tech has been used for years: RFID includes even GPS-located trucks. However, the price limits its applications. According the report, "As demonstrated by applications of RFID today, at each price point market opportunities exist for RFID, increasing in demand volume as the price drops. However, RFID is not expected to replace product bar codes until it can reach a target price of $0.01 or less, as indicated by some of the largest retailers in the world (e.g. Wal*Mart and Tesco's).".
In order to reduce the tag cost, a lot of research has been done. Quoting the report, "Since silicon chips currently represent 60-80% of the total RFID tag cost, reducing chip cost is the primary area of focus. Opportunities for reducing chip cost include decreasing the chip size, increasing wafer size, and even one day using non-chip based materials such as plastic transistors or silicon film".
Early this year I quit my job at HP to dedicate myself 100% to my company. There's a lot of advantages:
- My car sits on garage all day long (except when I go visit a customer);
- In order to arrive 8:30 I may leave home 8:29;
- When I need to work after hours, I go home to change clothes - for something like a short and sandals;
- When I need to work after hours, my kids often come by to fight LAN parties, or just to use one computer each, as I have only one at home;
- When my wife (or a visiting grandmother) cooks a cake or pie, it is easy to give me a piece;
- The working environment quality is a bonus, and one employee actually refused an offer, choosing to stay here - as he also lives in the same area.
Of course this works because we are an IT company, once our customers are all located elsewhere. With tools like VPN and even ICQ we managed to reduce the number of visits to customers, but when it is needed we often engage a trip crossing the city.According to this site, "AVL is a microprocessor-based module with integrated GPS, and transmits all the vehicle's geo-reference and status data via radio or celullar phone. The AVL module, of compact size, is assembled in a high-resistence aluminium box (sealed), has simple and discrete installation and excellent performance and safety".
Another text states that "From your office, the [truck] fleet's owner controls and communicates with all his vehicles. It is possible query the status, the location, send short messages, commands and, among other possibilities, even shut down the engine remotely".
The first article has funnier comments, too. You may say that the first one was posted before the actual voting for the naming, but damn, it took place almost two months ago!
Before CDC, credit card companies used to send cards to anyone, being it requested or not, and all you needed was to unlock the card. With the new law, this kind of behaviour is not tolerated anymore.
Our Ministerio da Justica (kinda DoJ) have a division of consumer protection (in portuguese).
As developer, I don't care to run some 0.7 alpha version and eventually get it crash on me. After all, I knew the risks I was taking. I would also read TODO, README and others and discover that some of the expected features are missing.
But Joe Six Packs would not. He would curse the distro (or even Linux as a whole) when SomeApp 0.31 alpha crashes, or when he realizes, after running it a couple hours, that the features he needs most are not yet implemented. That's a bad thing that could hurt Linux reputation, and maybe scare a potential user.
Most "famous" distros avoid to put unstable software in their packages, but incomplete apps still are out there. Maybe a separated disk (or directory) with "incomplete" software could be added, to clearly draw the line between "production-ready" and "take a look, it will be cool when ready".
She uses Open Office, and used Star Office before that. Since she was never a hard-core computer user, she never memorized that keyboard shortcuts. So, she takes the mouse and clicks on that icons, that are almost the same for both packages. That's an important thing: anyone can use either M$ Office or Open Office without noticing any significant difference.
The only thing that she complains is the need to use the "Save As" feature to send documents to other people, because they can't open O-O files. Sometimes she forgets...
According this, the average web page is around 90 Kb. Google is a little over 10 Kb.
Oh, it is to save the people of Iraq... Come on, why the US did not came in a hurry when the same was happening in Timor Leste? Why US backed so many dictators in Latin America that were as bad as Saddam? Not to mention that US backed Saddam himself once. So this nullifies that excuse.
Oh, wait, Saddam has WMD (and Bush has the receipt to prove). So North Korea, Pakistan, and, well, United States. This so-called reason could justify invading US, indeed. But having WMD with intent to use is different... Well, what country is the only that has used WMD against people in the past? Ask Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Ah, the freedom. US is bringing freedom to the people of Iraq. Well, it could bring it to many other people in poor countries Africa, or even rich countries in Asia. But they have no oil, or are happy business partners, aren't they?
I have a cousin in Kwait, right now. He is an US soldier, and God help him to come back home safe, and let this war end soon.
Some Confusing or Loaded Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding
There's some Artificial Intelligence: (from the article): "The system will first look for a local version of the component, and will then look in the cache to find an exact match for the strong name of the required component. Failing that, the system will use heuristics to find the next best component".
Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) Home
I used to write EFI apps (in C) for HP. Think in a BIOS with a shell instead of menus, and where you can write apps to do whatever you want (there are access levels, of course). Your app can flash the firmware, change boot order, blink panel's LEDs and so on. Very nice.
FOCUS
EPOCA
Disclaimer: I'm not associated with this book in any way, just found it in, er, Google. Maybe the next edition will include this lovely search engine...
* rejected (15)
But anyway, I think there's nothing interesting in any of them. Maybe that invisible technology made public a few days ago by that japanese professor is not cool enough to be at Slashdot.
In South America? May you name a country where this is actually going on? Sorry guy, but these days it happen only in the US. After 9/11, anything may be an excuse to ignore civil rights - or to bomb Iraq.