Nokia had a huge launch event in London on the 29th to announce a US 3G version of the N95, the N81, the new version of the N-Gage platform, the Ovi brand (maps, games, & other services), as well as to demonstrate the touchscreen S60 interface mentioned in this article.
Douglas Coupland - Microserfs was extremely important to me. It made me aware of the pitfalls awaiting the unwary software engineer, and so I left University determined to ensure I maintained a sensible balance between my working and social lives.
It's done wonders for my mental state and, not coincidentally, the quality of my work.
There's lots of other good books mentioned in this thread too, so good luck trying to choose just one! That said, make sure that whatever you get is a nice hardcover edition.
This announcment refers to the encryption of columns (which, yes, mySQL has).
That said, Microsoft are correct in stating that the hard part is key management. It's a pain in the arse to make sure everything is kept where it needs to be, and is available for recoveries etc.
Since when are 3D interfaces 'just around the corner'? There have been commercial systems available for at least a decade (and probably much longer), but their widespread adoption seems no closer than it was a decade ago...
Microsoft could be banking on something that seems to be ever-so-close to happening: the complete dissolution of the EU.
Where do you get this? The EU is probably less likely to dissolve now than it has been at any other period in its history.
The recent disagreements over Iraq are in a policy area traditionally not covered by the EU, and given the amount of history between France, Germany, England, and Spain, it's not surprising that there are issues. After all, in various guises these countries have been at war with each other for much of the last thousand years. However, they're not stupid enough to break up the EU over a foreign policy squabble. The benefits are just too great.
The EU was originally the EEC (the European Economic Community) and that's where it's strongest at building consensus. That's not to say that the sailing is always smooth (see the discussions over CAP reform, or fishing rights). A common market with common standards make goods cheaper and raises standards, and governments recognise this.
The standard GSM frequencies internationally are 900 and 1800MHz. 900MHz isn't on its way out - the 1800MHz band was introduced primarily to provide additional capacity.
900MHz and 1800MHz networks usually co-exist in any one country, though in countries with less capacity need or older systems, 1800MHz may not be available.
To the best of my knowledge no country operates 850 and 900 together (nor 1800 and 1900 for that matter). It's unlikely to be technically feasible, but it's a long long time since I've looked at specs for the radios on GSM phones.
1900MHz was introduced in the USA, as 900/1800MHz wasn't available. For the record, if you buy a tri-band phone outside the US it'll be 900/1800/1900.
Programming can be a creative process, but for 99.9% of projects it's not. How is putting next weeks sales targets on an intranet site creative? Or allowing customers to check their bank balance online? Those are engineering problems, and can easily be solved using well-understood methods and techologies. There's nothing creative involved, nor should there be.
These are the kinds of projects that are getting outsourced overseas and, to be honest, Americans have no business complaining about overseas competition. After all, your country has been the driving force behind free trade throughout the world!
Why would you want a built-in laser pointer? It'd add weight and size and provide a useful service to 1% of the population (salespeople and professors).
And for that matter, why on Earth would you want PalmOS?
For my money, you missed the most important point: a decent flash for the camera.
Sorry mate, but I don't believe you. It's an ancient story. I first heard it best part of a decade ago, and in that version it was the Americans who were being idiots. Just goes to show, huh?
Orange didn't manufacture the phone; HTC did. Orange are a mobile phone network in the UK, orginally started by Hutchison Whampoa, and later sold to France Telecom.
HTC do OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture; making something from someone else's design) and ODM (Original Design Manufacture; design and manufacture) work for all sorts of electrical goods. They're based mostly in Taiwan.
Um, because they've got to design, test, and manufacture the fucking thing? If ideas sprang fully-formed from my head as functional items I'd train a BFG on your ass boyo...
I don't think you really understand Sun's core business. It's got nothing to do with the desktop and everything to do with servers.
Sun is hurting because now I can replace my low-end and midrange boxes with commodity x86 kit running Linux for about 10-15% of the cost.
At the mid-to-high-end (16+ processors) Sun is still viable and a good choice (I haven't seen good Intel kit that scales over 8 processors), but the volumes in that market probably aren't enough to sustain the required R&D effort, especially as Sun's consulting business - which would push their kit - isn't great. Still, I like our E10000s... they do the job we ask of them pretty well.
If you're a contracter then I've no sympathy for you. Working as a contracter means that you make a shedload when times are good and get squeezed when times are bad. That's the nature of the business.
Oh, and don't complain about being given the opportunity to expand your skillset. That is a Good Thing and will improve your marketability.
And yes, I work in the City too, so I have a fair idea of what you're making.
"Chip" and "Chipset" are different words, and have different meanings.
Chip = one physical package.
Chipset = group of related (possibly interdependent) chips.
Before you blame CNN learn to use a dictionary;-)
It runs Symbian OS, it's got a full (though small) keyboard, a 4096 colour screen, MMC card support, and a total 40MB of RAM as standard (8MB for app execution).
What more do you want? You can even use it to make phone calls!
Slashdot Mirror
It's no hoax.
Nokia had a huge launch event in London on the 29th to announce a US 3G version of the N95, the N81, the new version of the N-Gage platform, the Ovi brand (maps, games, & other services), as well as to demonstrate the touchscreen S60 interface mentioned in this article.
It's about bloody time, given that their career has been built on sampling other people's tracks.
I'm assuming you're from the USA. If so, here's a Nokia 1100. Simple, cheap, small. All good.
Douglas Coupland - Microserfs was extremely important to me. It made me aware of the pitfalls awaiting the unwary software engineer, and so I left University determined to ensure I maintained a sensible balance between my working and social lives.
It's done wonders for my mental state and, not coincidentally, the quality of my work.
There's lots of other good books mentioned in this thread too, so good luck trying to choose just one! That said, make sure that whatever you get is a nice hardcover edition.
Rage Against the Machine - Bullet in the Head.
It perfectly describes my attitude to being on hold.
Seen the version number? It's 0.7 for a reason. If this was a 1.0 -> 1.x release, that'd be a very valid complaint.
As it is though, I don't think we can really complain.
SQL Server 2000 SP3 supports SSL connections.
This announcment refers to the encryption of columns (which, yes, mySQL has).
That said, Microsoft are correct in stating that the hard part is key management. It's a pain in the arse to make sure everything is kept where it needs to be, and is available for recoveries etc.
Since when are 3D interfaces 'just around the corner'? There have been commercial systems available for at least a decade (and probably much longer), but their widespread adoption seems no closer than it was a decade ago...
The recent disagreements over Iraq are in a policy area traditionally not covered by the EU, and given the amount of history between France, Germany, England, and Spain, it's not surprising that there are issues. After all, in various guises these countries have been at war with each other for much of the last thousand years. However, they're not stupid enough to break up the EU over a foreign policy squabble. The benefits are just too great.
The EU was originally the EEC (the European Economic Community) and that's where it's strongest at building consensus. That's not to say that the sailing is always smooth (see the discussions over CAP reform, or fishing rights). A common market with common standards make goods cheaper and raises standards, and governments recognise this.
Yeah, just ask the Birmingham Six...
The standard GSM frequencies internationally are 900 and 1800MHz. 900MHz isn't on its way out - the 1800MHz band was introduced primarily to provide additional capacity.
900MHz and 1800MHz networks usually co-exist in any one country, though in countries with less capacity need or older systems, 1800MHz may not be available.
To the best of my knowledge no country operates 850 and 900 together (nor 1800 and 1900 for that matter). It's unlikely to be technically feasible, but it's a long long time since I've looked at specs for the radios on GSM phones.
1900MHz was introduced in the USA, as 900/1800MHz wasn't available. For the record, if you buy a tri-band phone outside the US it'll be 900/1800/1900.
Actually, they're the two-letter ISO country codes. And Germany is .de - Denmark is .dk
Programming can be a creative process, but for 99.9% of projects it's not. How is putting next weeks sales targets on an intranet site creative? Or allowing customers to check their bank balance online? Those are engineering problems, and can easily be solved using well-understood methods and techologies. There's nothing creative involved, nor should there be.
These are the kinds of projects that are getting outsourced overseas and, to be honest, Americans have no business complaining about overseas competition. After all, your country has been the driving force behind free trade throughout the world!
Amen brother. You've just said everything I wanted to say, and phrased it better to boot. Atta[boy,girl].
Why would you want a built-in laser pointer? It'd add weight and size and provide a useful service to 1% of the population (salespeople and professors). And for that matter, why on Earth would you want PalmOS? For my money, you missed the most important point: a decent flash for the camera.
Get yerself a Nokia 7210. Nice form-factor, well made, useful addressbook and calendar display features, and no camera. Sorted.
Sorry mate, but I don't believe you. It's an ancient story. I first heard it best part of a decade ago, and in that version it was the Americans who were being idiots. Just goes to show, huh?
Orange didn't manufacture the phone; HTC did. Orange are a mobile phone network in the UK, orginally started by Hutchison Whampoa, and later sold to France Telecom. HTC do OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture; making something from someone else's design) and ODM (Original Design Manufacture; design and manufacture) work for all sorts of electrical goods. They're based mostly in Taiwan.
I don't think you really understand Sun's core business. It's got nothing to do with the desktop and everything to do with servers.
Sun is hurting because now I can replace my low-end and midrange boxes with commodity x86 kit running Linux for about 10-15% of the cost.
At the mid-to-high-end (16+ processors) Sun is still viable and a good choice (I haven't seen good Intel kit that scales over 8 processors), but the volumes in that market probably aren't enough to sustain the required R&D effort, especially as Sun's consulting business - which would push their kit - isn't great. Still, I like our E10000s... they do the job we ask of them pretty well.
If you're a contracter then I've no sympathy for you. Working as a contracter means that you make a shedload when times are good and get squeezed when times are bad. That's the nature of the business. Oh, and don't complain about being given the opportunity to expand your skillset. That is a Good Thing and will improve your marketability. And yes, I work in the City too, so I have a fair idea of what you're making.
So, not cheap, but if the guy's gotta have it...
"Chip" and "Chipset" are different words, and have different meanings. Chip = one physical package. Chipset = group of related (possibly interdependent) chips. Before you blame CNN learn to use a dictionary ;-)
It runs Symbian OS, it's got a full (though small) keyboard, a 4096 colour screen, MMC card support, and a total 40MB of RAM as standard (8MB for app execution). What more do you want? You can even use it to make phone calls!
And last time I was there, four people got stabbed by some coked up arsehole. Lovely.