Agreed. The only thing I wanted to stress is that there has to be *some* reasonable sandbox within which the compute power of these machines is measured. Otherwise just keep tacking those nodes on to move higher and higher on this most useless of rankings...:)
You know, I think there should be a kind of "size cap" on these stats. A computer should be ranked higher if it can squeeze more performance out of so many cm2 worth of die or something. Otherwise you can just keep making computers more powerful by just adding more and more nodes. That does not excite me *shrug*.
-naeem
We work with the major carriers for our GPS software (which tracks their cell phones for our corporate customers), so we are fairly plugged in to whats coming down the pipe.
HSDPA is part of the W-CDMA standard, which is Qualcomm's next generation high speed cellular tech. The current generation is CDMA data 1xRTT (slow as shit), which is being phased out by the higher speed EVDO (about 400 kbps down, much less upstream), and in some markets by EVDO revision A, which will provide about 400 kbps in both directions.
FYI, CDMA is a peer of GSM. CDMA is used by Sprint, Verizon, Alltel etc, while GSM is used by T-Mobile, Cingular. 1xRTT is CDMA data, while GPRS is GSM data. EVDO et al are high speed CDMA data, while the EDGE stuff is GSM's answer.
That is:
CDMA -> 1xRTT -> EVDO Rev 0 -> EVDO Rev A
GSM -> GPRS -> EDGE
I am more familiar with CDMA, so a GSM expert can fill the holes in my info:)
An important parameter for all the data tech is connection initiation time, which can be substantial. In the case of 1xRTT and EVDO, for example, it can be as much as 3 to 5 seconds, which is a big reason for the perceived slowness. Similar times apply for GPRS and EDGE, I believe. EVDO Rev A, however, has times of less than 1 second, which rocks.
-naeem
[shameless plug]My company, Agilis Systems makes GPS tracking and job management software, AKA Mobile Resource Management.[/shameless plug]
We develop software for various Black berries, Treo 650, several Windows PDA Phones, as well as some symbian based phones as well. Here is my take on it.
The BB has probably the best j2me support. Very easy to program for. Supports many JSRs without much nonsense. I don't care for the form factor or the scrollwheel though. The push email is very nice, though not necessary, for me.
The Treo 650 is a pretty sweet device. This is my primary phone/pda.The latest software patches seem to have made it fairly stable. The keyboard is the best, the screen is amazing. Developing daemon software for it in j2me is not feasible, however, since the device suspends java apps when the screen turns off (which is all the time). However, we are dedoing our app in Palm's native stuff, and it is not bad.
The windows phones are not too bad either (Sprint 6600, 6601, 6700). We did have to redevelop our software in.Net for it, but again, this was not a huge deal. I don't like the keyboard much, but otherwise, not too shabby.
So, for anyone to select what they like from these devices for daily use, it would probably come down to personal preference. My favorite is the Treo 650. But the others definitely have their own stuff that can make them more attractive to users of a different profile.
-naeem
[shameless plug]Check out our company, Agilis Systems for GPS tracking and Mobile Resource Management software[/shameless plug]
Wow! The response to my post is opening my eyes to how the public thinks. Lets see:
My post gets modded up high, then gets modded to 0 as being flaimbait. I am sure the moderators were very objective
A whole bunch of name calling - and not much else of substance - in posts by people who pretend to be "civilized"
A whole bunch of stereo typing of muslims by people who do not know anything about the muslim religion or culture beyond what the media says
Here is something else to think about:
Religion is the most easily used tool to push agendas, Osamah used it to push his anti-american agenda, just like Hitler used it to push his anti-jew agenda (actually it was more like anti-everybody-who-is-not-aryan agenda, but whatever)
Violence begets violece. Osamah killed 3000 innocent people. Bush killed 150,000 innocent people, now more people are dead
I had expected people reading slashdot to have more sense, but I am seeing a lot of the same kind of lame regurgitated rhetoric (kill the muslims, bomb them some more, you are stupid) that I would expect from brainless drones.
Its a sad day for me, I had expected more from fellow geeks.
They don't have to be. Iraq is the rallying call for terrorists everywhere - a made-to-order rationale, generously delivered to them by our fearless leaders, Bush & Blair.
Mindless violence begets mindless violence - and the only people who really suffer are the innocents, be they Iraqis, American, British or anyone else.
You seem to have bought the claptrap that Bush fed us - that 9/11 and Iraq were related. They were not, and your other points are cogent enough to suggest that you should already know that.
I agree that there were terrorist attacks before, but the problem I have is that the (completely uncalled for) war in Iraq has given extremists a made-to-order training camp.
It was bound to happen, sooner or later, unfortunately. The US & UK went to war on a country that had done nothing to them (Iraq), and created a fertile breeding ground for terrorists. The results are going to impact us for a long time, I fear.
George Bush & Tony Blair are as much to blame for this atrocity as the idiot terrorists.
That is not what I meant. What I do mean is that it appears that to be a part of the OpenBSD team, a developer has to offer more time & commitment than the average developer throwing in a patch or two for linux. This is why linux will always be able to attract more, average, developers than OpenBSD. I might be totally mistaken, but that is my perception anyways.
As Theo says, his 60 person development team puts out quality code. Whereas Linux evolves by thousands of people putting in code that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.
OpenBSD's approach reminds me of "regular" CPU development, where all elements of the CPU have to just work. Linux's approach reminds me more of the new CPUs being worked on which are fault-tolerant, simply because there are many, average quality pieces in it, and the system as a whole can recover from some pieces failing.
I guess what I am saying is, what happens if a few of "Theo's 60" don't pull their weight anymore? What if some knock off? He has a problem. Linux does not have the same issues simply because there are so many people who are allowed to step in and fix things, even if they are not aces like "Theo's 60". I think in the long run, the Linux development model is better, and will enable Linux to survive long after the high-quality OpenBSD is dust.
BTW, I get to be the guy who coined the "Theo's 60" phrase;)
We develop some highly sophisticated field services software (GPS tracking, jobs sent to phones, black boxes, GIS etc etc). One of our key modules is "Call Ahead". When a cable guy, for example, completes installation at customer A, our software automatically calls the next customer on his job list, informing them that the cable guy is on his way, and will be there in x minutes. We do this via Asterisk (obviously). We charge our client (the cable company in this example) a small fee per call. If not for asterisk, we would have had to use some proprietery solution from Avaya, Intertel Tech etc, along with service from a carrier like MCI or SBC etc. This would have cost BIG dollars. We could not have provided our clients with an economical solution. This is a perfect example of open source enabling a business that could not happen otherwise.
Asterisk is a really extremely full featured high-end telco switch. The configurations is a little painful, but the quality is superb.
Depends on your point of view, doesn't it. A lot of people see the war in Iraq as the murder of a 100,000+ innocent people by a bunch of Christian zealots (GB&Co). Thats far more people than Islamic terrorists killed in the last 100 years. And this does not even take into account the murder of millions in WWII by Hitler, who used the Christian religion liberally to justify his actions.
Its a crazy world, all religions have their loonies, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc etc. Don't hang the blame on one religion's door, thats disingeneous.
Be pleasant to everyone under you, no need to piss anyone off
Be patient - sometimes you might feel frustrated at a team member because "they don't get it", but it is *your* job to mentor them so "they get it"
Weekly team meetings. After each meeting, each team member should have a clear idea of what is expected of them in the next couple of weeks
Hold team members accountable! If they do not finish something on time (and they have no valid excuse) let them know that they have let you down, and they need to step up to the plate
When you need to mention to someone that they need to step up to the plate, do it in private. BUT also CYA and let your own boss know whats going on
Learn how to manage up as well as down. It is important for your boss to have a weekly summary of whats happening in your department. This will make him/her feel involved, and will stop them from trying to micromanage you!
Yup. We (Agilis)actually sell software that uses this value added functionality that some large telcos provide. Allows companies to not only track their workers, but geofence them (can't go here, can only go there etc). Also beams daily jobs down to them so they can go about theie business using just their cell phones.
We (www.agilissystems.com) make software that can GPS track cell phones and beam jobs down to them. There are some pretty cool advantages to this tech beyond just tracking people. The following illustrates this:
One of our customers is a large midwest grocery chain that has a fleet of trucks that deliver all kinds of groceries to their stores. All the drivers carry our GPS tracked cell phones - the cell phones lists the jobs (deliveries) that the driver has to do that day. As soon as a driver is done delivering at one store, the system automatically calls the next store in line (using VOIP via Asterisk, no less:) with the estimated arrival time. The store preps its loading dock to receive the truck. This allows them to turn the truck around quicker than they could otherwise. This leads directly to significant savings (more deliveries per truck, fewer drivers needs etc etc). They don't care one zot of where their drivers are, just that their stores are ready to unload their trucks when they arrive.
</shameless plug>
Oh, and a quick note. Don't be fooled into thinking thats its only GPS enabled devices that can be tracked. We can (and do) track *regular* cell phones using cell tower triangulation as well
Our company just entered into a partnership with another company whose main product runs on SCO. Needless to say, one of the first things we are doing is moving it to Linux:)
Even the suits understand that SCO is a really bad bet.
Start counting the days till SCO gives up the ghost, boys!
What annoys the crap out of me is that with all this cool science available just begging to be explained to us unwashed masses, what do Discover & TLC show? Home decoration and plastic surgery shows. Aaaargh! I need a real science channel!
Sony just sank a huge amount of cash in building a new LCD plant with Samsung. Why would they want to promote OLED? This was in the news all over the place in the last couple of days.
Slashdot Mirror
Mod parent up! That statement sums up the problem really well.
And you bring religion into this because??? Just proves you are a bigotted idiot.
kind regards.
-naeem
You know, I think there should be a kind of "size cap" on these stats. A computer should be ranked higher if it can squeeze more performance out of so many cm2 worth of die or something. Otherwise you can just keep making computers more powerful by just adding more and more nodes. That does not excite me *shrug*. -naeem
Mind you, I *am* against the current patent system, I just don't think your suggestion would fly ;)
-naeem
HSDPA is part of the W-CDMA standard, which is Qualcomm's next generation high speed cellular tech. The current generation is CDMA data 1xRTT (slow as shit), which is being phased out by the higher speed EVDO (about 400 kbps down, much less upstream), and in some markets by EVDO revision A, which will provide about 400 kbps in both directions.
FYI, CDMA is a peer of GSM. CDMA is used by Sprint, Verizon, Alltel etc, while GSM is used by T-Mobile, Cingular. 1xRTT is CDMA data, while GPRS is GSM data. EVDO et al are high speed CDMA data, while the EDGE stuff is GSM's answer.
That is:
CDMA -> 1xRTT -> EVDO Rev 0 -> EVDO Rev A
GSM -> GPRS -> EDGE
I am more familiar with CDMA, so a GSM expert can fill the holes in my info :)
An important parameter for all the data tech is connection initiation time, which can be substantial. In the case of 1xRTT and EVDO, for example, it can be as much as 3 to 5 seconds, which is a big reason for the perceived slowness. Similar times apply for GPRS and EDGE, I believe. EVDO Rev A, however, has times of less than 1 second, which rocks.
-naeem
[shameless plug]My company, Agilis Systems makes GPS tracking and job management software, AKA Mobile Resource Management.[/shameless plug]The BB has probably the best j2me support. Very easy to program for. Supports many JSRs without much nonsense. I don't care for the form factor or the scrollwheel though. The push email is very nice, though not necessary, for me. .Net for it, but again, this was not a huge deal. I don't like the keyboard much, but otherwise, not too shabby.
The Treo 650 is a pretty sweet device. This is my primary phone/pda.The latest software patches seem to have made it fairly stable. The keyboard is the best, the screen is amazing. Developing daemon software for it in j2me is not feasible, however, since the device suspends java apps when the screen turns off (which is all the time). However, we are dedoing our app in Palm's native stuff, and it is not bad.
The windows phones are not too bad either (Sprint 6600, 6601, 6700). We did have to redevelop our software in
So, for anyone to select what they like from these devices for daily use, it would probably come down to personal preference. My favorite is the Treo 650. But the others definitely have their own stuff that can make them more attractive to users of a different profile.
-naeem
[shameless plug]Check out our company, Agilis Systems for GPS tracking and Mobile Resource Management software[/shameless plug]
- My post gets modded up high, then gets modded to 0 as being flaimbait. I am sure the moderators were very objective
- A whole bunch of name calling - and not much else of substance - in posts by people who pretend to be "civilized"
- A whole bunch of stereo typing of muslims by people who do not know anything about the muslim religion or culture beyond what the media says
Here is something else to think about:- Religion is the most easily used tool to push agendas, Osamah used it to push his anti-american agenda, just like Hitler used it to push his anti-jew agenda (actually it was more like anti-everybody-who-is-not-aryan agenda, but whatever)
- Violence begets violece. Osamah killed 3000 innocent people. Bush killed 150,000 innocent people, now more people are dead
I had expected people reading slashdot to have more sense, but I am seeing a lot of the same kind of lame regurgitated rhetoric (kill the muslims, bomb them some more, you are stupid) that I would expect from brainless drones.Its a sad day for me, I had expected more from fellow geeks.
naeem
Mindless violence begets mindless violence - and the only people who really suffer are the innocents, be they Iraqis, American, British or anyone else.
naeem
I agree that there were terrorist attacks before, but the problem I have is that the (completely uncalled for) war in Iraq has given extremists a made-to-order training camp.
Hope that makes my point clearer.
naeem
Why, it wasn't enough that you bombed Iraq? Killed countless people who had done *nothing* to you? Thousands of women and babies? Was that fair?
Use common sense. Bush & Blair LIED and killed an incredible number of people, and created a terrorist breeding ground where there wasn't one!
Bush & Blair are as much to blame for the deaths of poor innocents in their countries as the idiot terrorists.
naeem
George Bush & Tony Blair are as much to blame for this atrocity as the idiot terrorists.
naeem
naeem
OpenBSD's approach reminds me of "regular" CPU development, where all elements of the CPU have to just work. Linux's approach reminds me more of the new CPUs being worked on which are fault-tolerant, simply because there are many, average quality pieces in it, and the system as a whole can recover from some pieces failing.
I guess what I am saying is, what happens if a few of "Theo's 60" don't pull their weight anymore? What if some knock off? He has a problem. Linux does not have the same issues simply because there are so many people who are allowed to step in and fix things, even if they are not aces like "Theo's 60". I think in the long run, the Linux development model is better, and will enable Linux to survive long after the high-quality OpenBSD is dust.
BTW, I get to be the guy who coined the "Theo's 60" phrase ;)
naeem
Northern Telecom is Canadian...
Asterisk is a really extremely full featured high-end telco switch. The configurations is a little painful, but the quality is superb.
naeem
Agilis Systems
Its a crazy world, all religions have their loonies, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc etc. Don't hang the blame on one religion's door, thats disingeneous.
naeem
naeem
naeem
We (www.agilissystems.com) make software that can GPS track cell phones and beam jobs down to them. There are some pretty cool advantages to this tech beyond just tracking people. The following illustrates this:
One of our customers is a large midwest grocery chain that has a fleet of trucks that deliver all kinds of groceries to their stores. All the drivers carry our GPS tracked cell phones - the cell phones lists the jobs (deliveries) that the driver has to do that day. As soon as a driver is done delivering at one store, the system automatically calls the next store in line (using VOIP via Asterisk, no less :) with the estimated arrival time. The store preps its loading dock to receive the truck. This allows them to turn the truck around quicker than they could otherwise. This leads directly to significant savings (more deliveries per truck, fewer drivers needs etc etc). They don't care one zot of where their drivers are, just that their stores are ready to unload their trucks when they arrive.
</shameless plug>
Oh, and a quick note. Don't be fooled into thinking thats its only GPS enabled devices that can be tracked. We can (and do) track *regular* cell phones using cell tower triangulation as well
-naeem
Even the suits understand that SCO is a really bad bet.
Start counting the days till SCO gives up the ghost, boys!
naeem
*What* an amazingly stupid idea...
naeem
naeem
sorry...
naeem